Tuning without spine?

Originally posted by Sam McMichael:
Although I only shoot wood, these threads are interesting. If I ever decide to go to man made materials in arrows, I will at least have a starting point to be able to ask intelligent questions.

I do have a question about paper tuning, particularly at very close distances. It seems to me that at 5 yards, any release problem, ever how slight, could have very significant effect on the paper hole. Am I way off base here? Or, do you tune to accommodate your personal "normal" release?

You are not off base at all! In fact, you are spot on. I do my main tuning with paper. I guess, according to the posts above, my arrows are not tuned because paper tuning is useless for trad bows!                                                      

I start out at 6 feet from the paper, and shoot fletched arrows, and adjust until I have the hole I want. I then move back to about 15 feet to confirm the close up results. If you go any further back than that, you will likely see false results because the arrow flight is being stabilized and corrected by the feathers. This system has worked well for me for years and I have very well tuned arrows that will shoot well with feathers laid down in the rain, in stiff winds, and other like situations. I also get quite a few pass-throughs on animals, and I get entry and exit holes in nearly 100%. The only time I do not get exit hole is when I get tied up in the off-side shoulder bones. My draw weight is on the lighter side, 50# at my DL.

For paper tuning to effectively tell you what you need to do, you HAVE to have a pretty clean and consistent release. It will just drive you nuts if you don't have a good consistent release. In fact, you have to have pretty consistent form in general. I do not bare shaft tune, but I would assume that an erratic release or inconsistent form would mess that up some too???

Bisch

[Bladepeek]

Bisch, I can guarantee that a bad release will mess up bareshaft tuning. In fact, I shoot 10 arrows and throw out the ones not in the group (leaving me about 5 - 6) and see where they are hitting relative to point of aim. I just shot some paper for the very first time and found I had to do the same thing - through out those shots that were different from the rest and read the pattern of those shots that were alike.

I figure that will get me close enough until I reach the point where I no longer make a sloppy release. Sure hope I live that long!

[stonewall]

I have got a question about tuning . This may relate to this post.I just started shooting some goldtip carbons after years of saying I wouldn't shoot carbons. Anyway I'm shooting 1535's cut to 27 inches  I'm  pulling 45#. My arrows show tuned with 150gr heads and show stiff with 200 gr heads at 15 yrds . Now thats backwards.

[BWD]

Originally posted by stonewall:
I have got a question about tuning . This may relate to this post.I just started shooting some goldtip carbons after years of saying I wouldn't shoot carbons. Anyway I'm shooting 1535's cut to 27 inches  I'm  pulling 45#. My arrows show tuned with 150gr heads and show stiff with 200 gr heads at 15 yrds . Now thats backwards.

Are you sure your arrows with 150gr. heads aren't bouncing off the shelf, while the ones with 200gr. heads, while not bouncing off the shelf, are showing stiff because they are with a 27" shaft?

[BWD]

 double post...I reckon.

[stonewall]

I forgot to say that they have 100 gr. inserts. If they are bouncing off the shelf ,they are grouping in a pie plate at 20 yards and consistently bouncing the same every time.

[BWD]

100gr. inserts make a difference.