Why make it so dang difficult?

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by acadian archer:
I keep mine simple. I shoot 10 gr.#, a sharp broadhead and the arrows fly right.

+1        

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HOWEVER, messing with higher weight arrows (increased gpp) or higher weight forward arrows (increased foc) might make for better penetration and better flying arrows.  don't listen to anyone, don't make up yer mind 'til you do the testing to see your own results.  

same is true with 'skinny strings'.

you'll only be guessing with any of this stuff unless you try 'em all first.  i have, and higher gpp and efoc are things that work to my added advantage, so i use 'em.  big ditto's with skinny strings, too.

'added advantage' - those are the key words.    

keep 'em sharp, get 'em to fly great, hit 'em in the right spot.

[James on laptop]

It is only difficult if you don't know how to do something.I have never found any of those things difficult at all.It is just part of the things I do involved with shooting my bow.I think no more of it than stringing a bow and picking an arrow from a quiver.It is just part of the process for many of us, not something difficult or out of the norm.Like putting on your boots in the morning,it is easier if you put your pants on first.  

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by James on laptop:
...Like putting on your boots in the morning, it is easier if you put your pants on first.    

that's the perfect answer and sums it all up nicely.  :D

[Earl Jeff]

I think you should go with what you are  comfortable with. I personally like to fiddle with the technical side of things. I don't think making a arrow more effecient to kill when it strikes its target takes away from being traditional. I think its the right thing to do It doesn't give you any advantage in placeing the arrow where it belongs it just might help you make a cleaner quicker kill. JUST MY THOUGHTS.

[Covey]

I've messed with brace height, nock point setting's, spine, tip weight, string silencers and such. I want the best arrow flight possible and I want to make good clean kill's. I believe I've achieved that. My dad alway's told me if it aint broke don't fix it!! so when I get it where I want it I leave it alone. Like I said JMHO!      Jason

[NDTerminator]

Fiddling and trial & error leads to greater understanding of archery and greater independence as an archer.  It's a step toward maturation.  Let's face it, I bet most here don't have a trad saavy pro shop close to their home.  Heck, for me, the nearest true compound pro shop is 100 miles away. The nearest trad shop is half a day's drive east in Minnesota!

Not knowing how to tune your tackle is like being a great guitar player who doesn't know how to set up & tune his own guitar.  I don't care if you can shoot groups inside a duct tape roll all day, I know lot's of good to great shots.  If you want to impress me, combine that with a thorough understanding of the tuning required to allow this to happen.

As an aside, this is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way about modern archery.  I'm willing to bet if you gave the majority of compound shooters a bow and everything he needed to set it up & get good arrow flight, he wouldn't have a clue where to start let alone how to do it.  Hey, I know guys who don't even know how to adjust their sights!  I get asked to set up, tune, or help sight in several every year and the only payment I require is the owner watch & learn.

Something else to ponder;  if it weren't for folks fiddling & experimenting, most all of us wouldn't be shooting the bows that we own as they wouldn't exist...

[wingnut]

I find it ironic that "keeping it simple" includes being on the internet and complaining that others want too know why instead of just  shooting in the backyard to be "good enough".

Heck I've been at this a while too and spend a lot of time talking to others that know more about things then I do.  Why?  So I can learn and be better at what I love too do.

Never heard of EFOC until a couple years ago.  You know that if you try it, dang if it don't work.

Stu's spine calculator has been around a short while, but dang it's saved a lot of people a lot of money in buying shafts that are not right for their bow.

If everyone learns a little more, we all get better.  Maybe we can go to a shoot or gathering and actually see good arrow flight and bows that are setup correctly.  Be a nice change.

Mike

[Killdeer]

"We do these things not because they are easy, but   because they are hard  ."
~John F. Kennedy

I heard that speech when I was a little girl. I remember his voice, and it stayed with me. Didn't always let it guide me, but it stayed with me.

As archers, we take the road less traveled, going an extra mile or two. We do not shy from a little extra effort, because we feel that the rewards are sweeter that way. We get what we give, and the harder the journey, the more we savor getting our boots off and stretching out before the fire.

That being said, we each have a different idea of how much is too much work, or even what   is work. While I flee from figures like a cockroach from the kitchen light, others like to play with them, tweak them into backflips and revel in the pure logic of math. Just as some take to 3-piece recurves and some to selfbows, we are all vastly different. This is to our benefit, this is the advantage that a flock has to a single bird, as the penchant that one pursues serves to aid and educate those of the flock who pay attention.

So, before this turns from filet to jerky, here is the crux of the biscuit: Take what you want from the knowledge that is presented. If it intrigues you, try to disprove it, or build on it. Find out the truth.

If it bores you, and you find it no fun, ignore it and go have fun in your own manner. Perhaps you will experiment with horse archery, or survival skills, or something juicy like that, and let  those who love the absolutes of math frolic as they flirt with the sometimes fickle physics surrounding the workings of the bow and its missiles.

And in the end, we will all benefit from knowledge gleaned as we pursue our own individual joy.
Killdeer  

[Rob DiStefano]

indeed, as with our archery tackle, we are all 'experiments of one'.

[Richie Nell]

Wingnut,
I totally agree with you.
But haven't you heard?  The fast, flat shooting out to 40 yard arrows are way too addictive to do that EFOC stuff.  Why do anything different?

We are in control of everything so a shoulder bone will never be hit anyway because that is not where we are aiming.

[ishoot4thrills]

Well said NDTerminator and wingnut! AMEN, AMEN. You too, Killdeer!

The ones who are lucky enough to get everything set up correctly on the first try, I guess don't need any "tech advice". That's alright, just wait 'til they get a new bow and it doesn't work out right on the first try. Then, they just might need some of that technical direction after all.