Broadhead tuning

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

If your arrow is properly tuned it won't matter. With marginal tuning it may make a difference.

[mookie]

if your arrow is properly tuned it won't make any difference if your mind is tuned like mine it's vertical-vertical-vertical!!!

[OS]

I agree if the arrow is right it doesn't but thats the key.  I always figured it this way I had 5lbs in arrow spine for every inch over 28" and another 5 lbs for heads over 150gr. or larger than 1 1/4 inches.

[Bowwild]

If my broadheads are true and my set-up and form are well-tuned it doesn't matter.

I pay little attention to this alignment except that it bugs my eye if they are horizontal. I think this stems back to the mid-70's when I didn't know how to tune and blamed every errant arrow on the broadhead. I still remember a horizontally oriented broadhead zooming well over a nice mulie doe above Steamboat Springs, Colorado in August, 1977.

[traditional beagle]

Stumpkiller nailed it. Uh Huh.

[oldtimerbow]

If you want to have them all aligned the same withsrew ins I have some smallcrush washersand can usually can get them all the same.

[DJR]

I make my arrows specifically for my broadheads. I shoot aluminum. Put the inserts in the shafts with no feathers or nock. Put on the broadhead spin them on the side of my index finger.  When I get them adjusted by heating the insert and twisting it till I get NO felt wobble. Number the broadhead to the shaft then put the nock on, for me the broadhead will be vertical, then fletch. By doing it this way I KNOW  the broadhead is straight with the that shaft and the feathers are not hiding any spin wobble and the broadheads will ALL line up the same.  IF your arrows are spined properly to the weight point you are using, the only thing that would that would throw it off is A) A bent shaft, B) A misaligned (wobbling)broadhead.   DANNY

[GANDGOLF]

Good Stuff fellas! Keep it coming.. My 45* angled 2 blade bh's were diving to right. Went to the Wensels for expediency. But, still want to shoot zwickeys. JUST LEARNING.  

[ishoot4thrills]

I don't spend too much time turning my broadheads any certain way, mainly because I use carbon arrows and I don't want to heat anything connected to a carbon shaft! NOT a good idea.

But, if I were going to turn my two-bladed heads a certain way, it would be horizontal. Even though I don't think it makes much difference, if any, I prefer horizontal because of the higher possibility of side-to-side wrist torque upon release. Just a minute possibility that the arrow will plane for just a fraction of a second when leaving the bow, because of slight wrist torque, with a b-head mounted vertically. That might be just enough to start the arrow off the mark. Then, helical fletching kicks in and spins the arrow, which in "turn"(pardon the pun) makes little difference how the b-head's position was to begin with!  

[TRAD900]

I set my 2 blades at 10 o'clock, when it hits my knuckle I let her fly.

[Knapper]

If you are talking about a single blade I have found from experience and it follows logically that the head should be horizontal.  The reason is that as the arrow is leaving the string it is oscillating from side to side and if the broadhead is perpendicular it catches the air creating a resistance and opposes the feathers which are trying to stabilize the arrow.  Whereas if the blade is horizontal it is cutting the air not hindering the feathers purpose.

[TDHunter]

Yup Well said stump killer!    
Horizontal, spined right or not, the arrow is still going to flex side to side do to archers paradox.

[wtpops]

If you glue in your inserts with epoxy the only way to get the head to where you wnat it is to screw in the head and then fletch, but if you switch to another head it will be off again. I use hot melt so i can adjust as needed.

Im going to try out a low temp hot melt made for carbons, 1 it taks less heat so as not to get the carbon to hot and 2 it does not get brittle and should hold better than normal hot melt.

[JimB]

Unless you use glue-ons with adapters,then you just turn the broadhead on the adapter.

[KentuckyTJ]

For what its worth I used to set them horizontal. The thinking behind that was if I was getting a harsh side wind when shooting the head would not alter the initial paradox of the arrow at the beginning of its path.

[Archie]

If you are a little nock-high or not quite tuned, the position of the broadhead will make a difference.  The not-perfectly-tuned broadhead will catch air even on a non-windy day, based on which way that "wing" (broadhead) is facing.  Just like a kite that floats on wind resistance or falls like a rock without it.  

The trick, in my limited experience, has been that if a broadhead doesn't fly straight, I can start heating up the insert and rotating it from 12 to 1 to 2, etc.  The timing of the rotation of the arrow at the time of the strongest oscillations -- before the feathers straighten it out - will affect the arrow's flight.  At some point on the clock, that head should encounter the least planing effect.  

In a perfect world, an arrow should fly perfectly and this shouldn't matter.  But I'm having a tough time getting a bareshaft tuned perfect without some nock-high.  Evidently, it's due to my release.  When shooting some Zwickeys with my best-tuned set up, they were not flying consistently.  After I spent an hour shooting one, rotating the head, and re-shooting, I found their sweet spot.  I then rotated them all to match, and get good flight out of them.

Archie