Bare Shafting and Cut of the Bow...Fascinating

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I will keep this short, and like any good fable, it will have a moral.
I normally shoot GT 7595 trads out of my hunting bow. These arrows have a marketed deflection of 0.300 and I leave them full length, with 350-365 grains of weight up front. My bow is something like 68 lbs at my draw, cut 1/8" shy of center, and these arrows bare shaft quite well.

The other day I was working on form with an old recurve my great grandfather made. I don't know what its draw weight is but I do know it is somewhere closer to 40 lbs than 50 lbs at my draw length. The bow is cut about 1/4"-3/8" shy of center, and I decided on a whim to see how poorly my arrows would bareshaft. I was shocked to find that they flew just as well out of the low weight recurve as my go to hunting bow.

I can't tell you why. I don't know what the science is behind it. But there you have it. The moral of course, is to try these things for yourself. You never know until you try it, how an arrow will fly from YOUR bow.

[Orion]

Yep.  Another way of looking at it is that a lot of bows will shoot a wide range of spines. Afraid we get a bit too anal trying to tune to the nth degree.  Now, if you stripped the feathers off your arrows, they may not shoot as good out of the lighter bow. But most of us do use feathers on our arrows.  They're job is to provide guidance, and they make up for a myriad of less than perfect bow/arrow combinations.  If you got that result with bare shafts, it gives even more credence to the statement.

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

Yep, what got me was that the arrows are shooting well out of two bows that are at least 18, maybe 25 lbs apart in draw weight, without fletching.

[parshal]

I know what you mean.  My 51# Tall Tines bareshafts best with 30.5" Heritage 350's and 175 up front. My new 50# Hummingbird Kingfisher is bareshafting best with 30.5" Heritage 150's with 125 up front.  The difference is the cut to center, the best I can tell.  For comparison, to get 175 grains up front on my 55# Tall Tines I had to go with GT 7595's at 31.75 OAL.  I would never have believed it without seeing it.

[longrifle346]

Get caught in the rain and you'll see the difference....but I can appreciate what you're saying...

[parshal]

Double post

[LongStick64]

Might be that you have a change in your release between the different bows due to the weight difference which could affect arrow flight.

[old_goat2]

yeah, it's all relative, cause I shoot the same arrow as you full length, but with only 225gr up front and that's off a bow pulling 63 at 31"  on a chastain wapiti and I don't know what the actual cut is, which is quite a bit less horse power than your pulling and an inch shorter draw and they fly great! I'm also getting great flight with the same arrow off Dryad Legend limbs pulling only 54lbs at 31", but the ACS limbs are launching the arrow a little quicker than the wapiti is, those things are amazing. It's why you have to tune everything you shoot, but sometimes you get lucky!

[Nativestranger]

Could be the difference between a recurve and longbow. A faster and more efficient bow may shoot a stiffer spine than a less efficient one. Also keep in mind a stiff arrow may still fly good but they will impact left of where you aim. And you should never try shoot way under spined arrows for safety reasons.

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I am guessing I have a super clean release with the recurve. Other than that, I think I'm just lucky to have the magic combo. Makes me want to try taking a whitetail with my great grandpa's bow. Now I just need some narrower broadheads. (I don't think this bow has the giddy up to shoot Treesharks through anything big).