Can a bow be.......

[robtattoo]

...inherently inaccurate?


I've always believed that no bow can be classed as inaccurate by itself. It's always the archer at fault....until tonight.

I recently bought a very cheap Ragim Impala ($40) as a handy fishing bow & as a lendout for 3D novices. It's 50# & centre cut, shot off the shelf with B50 string. I've tried every single one of my arrows through the darned thing & simply cannot hit what I'm looking at!

I tried all the same arrows out of my 50# Shakespeare, again centre cut & shot off the shelf, B50 string & guess what...I'm grouping 12 arrows in a 6" ring at 20yds!

Tried the Impala again & was struggling to get a 20" group!!! I honestly believe that this bow couldn't hit the sky if I shot it straight up! I'd probably miss the sea if I was sat on the bed!

Now I know that the arrows are mismatched, but can anyone here explain how two bows, shooting identical weights, at identical drawlenths, with the same arrows, can be sooooo different accuracy wise???

The differnce wasn't just in a horizontal line, as you'd expect from weak/stiff arrows, these puppies were at all points of the compass. It looked like I'd set about my Block with an arrow shotgun! It is even shooting 2 identical arrows in 2 seperate places! Not slightly off, but off by maybe 16"!! Far enough off that I know for certain that it ain't me!

HELP!!

Should I continue to try & shoot the bloody thing; keep it as a lendout (So at least I'll stand a chanceof winning some trophies  :D ) or just burn the damn thing?

[R H Clark]

Have you shot any bareshafts yet? If so what are the bareshafts doing at 20yds?

[NY Yankee]

I think any bow (or gun for that matter) can be inaccurate if it has some sort of major manufacturing defect that cant be seen, or somehow, something got assembled incorrectly (like with the wrong parts, etc). I wouldn't keep shooting it If I were you. It would drive me crazy and probably develop some bad habits.

[nailbender]

Try moving the nock point and trying different brace heights. Both of these things can affect accuracy.

[robtattoo]

Originally posted by R H Clark:
Have you shot any bareshafts yet? If so what are the bareshafts doing at 20yds?

Yep. There's no pattern to 'em! Up, down, left, right & even occasionlly, dead on!

[robtattoo]

Originally posted by nailbender:
Try moving the nock point and trying different brace heights. Both of these things can affect accuracy.

Not to this extent! I've tried it from 7" up to 8", made no difference. Nock point anywhere from level with the shelf to 1/2" up! ther's just no pattern to it!

[R H Clark]

robtattoo

You probaly know more about bareshaft tuneing than I do but I'll ask anyway because sometimes the answer is simple AFTER you discover the problem.

Do you mean the same spine ,length,and point weight bareshafts windplane left and right without changing anything on the bow like brace or nock point?

If that is the case your shaft must be bouncing off the shelf on release.If they are ,my guess is that they are too stiff.

What is your draw length and arrow length?

[vermonster13]

Have you checked the tiller, where the string actually goes down the bow, shelf material and radius? Could very well be a defective build as it is a low cost bow and fit and finish isn't always up to par. Do the limbs actually match up(one might even be a different weight than the other, quality control isn't all it could be)? Are the limb pins set right? Getting any strange noise at the shot?

[Tree man]

For pity's sake guys -don't burden the man withb a bunch of bareshaft stuff-he is trying to get it shoot consistently period.

Rob, Firdt off, what is the brace height? I have had bows be completely inconsisten but upon rasing the brace they straightened up just fine. i also once had a bow thatWOULD group okay but I never got perfect arrow flight from it-I beleive that problem was with differing recovery rates in the limbs but  can't prove anything. Tiller was fine but every shaft  of many differing spines always had at least a little corkscrew oscillation no matter what I did to the nocking point and the cushion plunger.

[Van/TX]

I think you just got a bad bow...Van

[robtattoo]

Originally posted by R H Clark:
robtattoo

Do you mean the same spine ,length,and point weight bareshafts windplane left and right without changing anything on the bow like brace or nock point?

What is your draw length and arrow length?

And up & down too! I'm drawing 29-1/2" with arrows from 30-32" point weights of 75, 100, 125, 145 & 200gn
Nothing works!! I've tried 40/45 POC, 45/50, 55/60, 35-55 CX termintors, 500 Easton Lightspeeds, 1916 XX75 & 2213 XX75s with a huge combination of point weight.

The worry I've got is that at least half of these fly predictably, if not well, from my other 50lb bow, but when I try the same shafts in the Impala I'm not even getting consistent results (ie, 2213; first arrow 8" high at 12 o'clock, second arrow 3" low at 7 o'clock, 3rd arrow 12" to 3 o'clock, 4th arrow 4" to 2 o'clock) Now I know for a FACT that I can consistently shoot a 2" 6 arrow group at 20yds, so I'm ruling myself out of the equasion.

I haven't checked tiller, but limb allignment seems OK (from peering down the string,nothing scientific!) I did check to make sure the limbs were fitted the right way up & they seem to work to the same degree, so I'd guess they're the same weight.

It's just got me baffled!

[robtattoo]

Woops! double post!  

[vermonster13]

Sounds like you just got a bad bow as Van said. Simple as stickbows are, there still are things that can go wrong with them in the building that doesn't show until the shooting.

[UK Bowman]

Rob, I had onre like that too the lower limb looked OK until I had someone look at it whilst I was at full draw, It was weaker than the top limb and my arrows were going everywhere.

Adam
(from Hull)

[heydeerman]

Any chance for a refund???

[R H Clark]

robtattoo

The only thing I know to do is look the bow over for correct tiller,twisted limbs string alignment or whatever else you can think of.
 
If you can't find anything wrong start with your best shooting shaft and if you can't weaken by adding weight or lowering brace, stiffen by less weight or raising brace to the point to get arrows to hit the same spot somewhere,then you've got me stumped also.
 
I would bet that if your arrows are that bad they are striking the shelf or riser somewhere on release.

You might try letting someone watch to see if they can see anything while you shoot or let someone close to your draw shoot a few while you watch.

It might be a bow that won't tune because of some defect but I know I've seen selfbows shoot fair when out of tiller with the string not in line.You might lay it down a couple days and think about it before you get too frustrated.

I wish you good luck and let us know if we can help confuse you any more    

[insttech1]

Stop second-guessing your instincts...something internal to the limb structure is not recovering equally from shot to shot...or the string is torqueing out of alignment at full draw, but managing to re-center after the shot.

even a hideously tuned bow should have some minor manner of consistency...and the only thing i have seen that would show that amount of serious problem is a bow about to fail or nocks that are WAY too tight and can't come off the string at the same point in the power stroke...

short of trying another string, and doing some basic setup with it of brace and nock point, dump the thing or get another set of limbs...

it's not worth the frustration for a $40 bow...

take care,
marc

[Eric Krewson]

Bad tiller for sure.