In another thread, well, several of them to be honest, we were having a discussion about bow tuning. I got to thinking about spine tolerance and how much the equipment itself had to do with that. Now I know that bow cut past center will certainly allow for a wider range of spines to work, but I was wondering how much of a difference that actually would make. I was also wondering how much more tolerant carbon is than wood.
So, I went out and did some bareshaft shooting today. The bows I used are a Black Creek Banshee, 55@28", drawn to a little over 31"; a Hill Halfbreed, 45#29, drawn to a little under 31"; and a BBO, 55#@30" drawn to 30". I only had carbons for the Banshee, and only wood for the BBO, but I did have both for the Hill. I have two strings for the Hill. One setup to shoot the woodies, and one to shoot carbons.
Shooting at 20 yards, my Hill would send a 70 spine Surewoods dead on with a 145 point. With a 125, the shaft would fly slightly point left. With a 160, slightly point right. I'm talking about maybe a 4" difference from straight. Not bad, but not perfect. This bow definitely has a sweet spot with the surewoods.
I restrung and shot some GT 5575s. My tuned set up for this shaft is 31.5", aluminum insert, and 175 grain tip. A 25 grain weight change resulted in left or right by only 3" or so from perfect. I could see the shaft flying slightly point right or point left, but not as much as the wood shafts did with a 20 grain change. A 50 grain change made the difference much more noticeable and flew maybe 5-6" or so off from straight. Again, this was at 20 yards.
I then decided to break out some AD Trad Lites. I shoot them 32" with 175 grain points. I've never bareshafted these. I needed to raise my nock point, but to my surprise, there was very little difference in flight when I changed point weights with them. They showed stiff with 125 grain points, and weak with 225s. They are a very forgiving shafts, much more so than the GT 5575s. My fletched groups were consistently the best out of that bow. There is still a sweet spot with the carbons, but I could shoot a bigger variety of point weights and still get good results. Especially with the AD Trad Lites.
I took a break and then broke out the Banshee. First I tried some gt 7595s. These arrows are 32.75", aluminum insert and aluminum footing, and a 175 grain point for a total weight of a little over 600 grains. Twenty five grains didn't really make too much difference. Again, like the Hill took 50 grains difference to start seeing the point left or point right. The difference wasn't as dramatic as the comparable weight change that showed up with the Hill, though. Maybe half as much. I was getting a little tired at that point, though. The Banshee is cut to center, and I'd bet one cut past center would tolerate even more point weight changes.
I then changed the string and shot some AD Hammerheads. I didn't shoot enough to make an accurate assessment, but they did fly as well as the Gold Tips. I threw on some really heavy points(250 grain), but they flew like crap. I like to use a 175 grain broadhead with them, too, and they weigh 675 grains.
I took another break and then shot my favorite BBO. It has the a bulbous handle and no shelf cut. The arrow rest is 1/2" from center and I have a 16 strand b-50 string on it. It's 55#@30" and my arrow choice out of it is a 60#/160 surewood. This was the first time I ever bareshafted that bow. Fortunately, my combo, which I came to by shooting broadheads, worked beautifully. However, a 20 grain change, threw it way off. I'm talking really bad. I actually broke a shaft on my third shot, when it hit the target at an angle. I didn't try to bareshaft my bamboo arrows.
So, what did I conclude? That a bow's centercut does affect the amount of tolerance it has for a spine range. That carbons are more tolerant of the parallel wood shafts. That, within the carbons, the AD shafts were the most forgiving. And that my BBO is one sweet shooter.
Topic: The Bareshafting Chronicles.. (Read 167 times)
