Broadhead alignment....is there a BEST or PROVEN alignment?

[archer66]

Just a point of curiosity....I screwed in three broadheads last week....they're Vantage Point two blade (solid) double bevel heads...200 grain.  They went on 500 spine Gold Tip traditional arrows with three 5 inch sheild cut feathers.  Anyway....I didn't pay any particular attention to aligment when I guled the inserts in but as it turns out my arrows fly the same with broadheads as they do with field points.  

But I've read a lot in different places about aligning broadheads to fletchings and was wondering if there's a magic alignment that seems to work when it's needed or if all of the variables in form and set up make it unpredictable??  Seems like if the arrows are well matched to the shooter and the bow there shouldn't be much need to align??

[Orion]

Nope.  No best way to align them, except straight.  Some like to align broad heads vertical, others horizontal and others somewhere in between to accommodate a cant.  Many just don't care.

If you are shooting a single bevel broad head, you should select a feather of the same wing, i.e. left bevel head with left wing feathers, right bevel head with right wing feathers, but that's not an alignment thing.

[AZ_Longbow]

I use to be overly concerned with alignment.
every one was perfectly set vertical. decided one day to just put them on, spin test them and shot them. out 30 yards they hit exactly the same place the first 3 shots ruined the fletching on 2 of the arrows.
so now I just make sure they spin true and go shoot.

It is mostly just a visual preference.  I saw a variance on a set of cedar arrows with wide Magnus heads with the blade vertical, when they were shot with a cross wind at a foam target. In that one situation, flat came out of the guys bow better and more like the field points. I prefer vertical for sighting.

[archer66]

Originally posted by pavan:
It is mostly just a visual preference.  I saw a variance on a set of cedar arrows with wide Magnus heads with the blade vertical, when they were shot with a cross wind at a foam target. In that one situation, flat came out of the guys bow better and more like the field points. I prefer vertical for sighting.

That's a good point about aiming....when I first drew and hit my anchor I was a bit confused by my sight picture as the broadhead looks completely different to my eye than field points do.....kinda threw me off...apparently I was really keying on that black field point.  It also really struck me how much of a gap shooter I am when I noticed that I had to pay particular attention to make sure I was lined up with my target.  So now I'll always have some broadheads mixed in with my field points for practice.

[mec lineman]

In my opinion it never hurts to be consistent with anything. For me it helps my sight picture to stay the same more so than arrow flight. esp. with big two blades.

[GoBow]

In theory, the best way to mount two blade BH's is horizontal.  The reason being, the greatest arrow flex from paradox will be the first flex off the bow.  A horizontal mounted BH offers the least amount of "rudder" on this first flex; whereas, a vertical BH presents the most.  With that in mind, always mounted my two blades horizontally.  Prolly didn't make any difference, but I always felt better mounting them that way.

I'd imagine that most archers probably prefer the less visible vertical mount though...

[tomsm44]

I try to align mine towards the target.  :D   seriously though, I try to get mine so that they are roughly vertical when my bow is canted.  Makes my sight picture look the same as with field points.  If I see the flat side of my broadhead, it seems harder to focus on the target.

Matt

[Bowwild]

Doesn't matter a bit too me and I use the point of my arrow to aim.

[Fletcher]

Several years ago I made some arrows fly better by mounting my heads horizontally, so I've mounted them flat ever since.  In reality, if everything is well tuned, it probably won't matter.

[Gdpolk]

For accuracy at the range, I've not noticed a bit of difference.  For hunting, I prefer mine to be aligned the horizontal in my sight picture so that I can have a consistent sight picture and better see elevation changes.

[Pat B]

When my arrows spin true on my finger tip the broadhead is aligned properly. The broadhead's orientation doesn't matter.

If your arrows are well tuned, it does not matter about broadhead orientation. Broadhead alignment would be something different. You would all your arrow/broadhead combinations to spin true. Orientation is all personal preference. I like mine angled so that when I draw my bow, canted, my broadhead is horizontal in my sight picture. The next guy likes his vertical. It all depends on how you shoot them the best.

Bisch

With Hill and Grizzly broadheads I have never noticed that they suffer from being vertical.  However, since I use my broadhead as a draw check and just barely tag my finger with the blade before releasing, I am sure that not having it there would cause me to not trust my draw when shooting at a deer.  This can be very hard to do with arrows that need to have much extra length to meet the spine or with heads that have a tapered blade, one of the advantages of wood and old size aluminum shafts, as they can be gotten in more spines for us short draw people.  As an example, I could cut my arrows a 1/4" shorter if I were shooting Zwickey Eskimos, because of the tapered shoulder.

[damascusdave]

I shoot those broadheads because they fly like field points...sometimes I orient them and sometimes I do not...I will have to take a look at the ones I put together last year but I think I have the blades set up vertically, not a big deal when using hot melt with my Full Metal Jackets...I am not an aimer so do not even notice the head when shooting

DDave

[Archie]

Several years ago, before I learned how to tune my arrows to my bow, I had some 3-blade Bodkins that corkscrewed something awful when I shot them.  I didn't know what was wrong, so I painstakingly started rotating them and shooting them, adjusting a few degrees at a time, and watching them fly.  Eventually I hit on an orientation where they flew perfectly.  Dumb luck?  I don't know, but I shot them that way for a couple of seasons.  So I learned most assuredly that that were some wind-planing factors that were in play, and that there was a way to avoid or at least minimize the effect.

[Red Beastmaster]

I've been mounting my 2-blades horizontally for over 25 years for the wind plane reason. No testing, just made sense.

Last year I tried screwing them in with random allignment. They flew perfectly but it just looked weird! It was all I saw when at full draw.

It messed with the fletching orientation in my bow quiver too. The cock feathers were not all facing forward! My gosh, we can't have quivered arrows in disarray!  

My buddies who know me well understand how this would drive me nuts. Needless to say, my broadheads are now all mounted perfectly horizontal and all is well with the world again.

[reddogge]

Align so they visually appeal to you. A tip for aiming if you aim is use the radius where the insert meets the shaft as your arrow reference. Therefore the field point and broadhead will give you the same sight picture.

[Wheels2]

I mount 2 blades horizontally.  Three blades I mount so that one of the blades is horizontal.
I mount them all the same so that when I put them in the quiver, I do so that the blades don't touch and neither do the fletchings.

[archer66]

Good stuff guys!!!!  Red Beastmaster.....I hear ya on the quiver in dissarray!!  Cracked me up....