EFOC and small fletching

[Chris Pharr]

Wondering who, if anyone, has tried using small fletching with EFOC arrows. Right now I'm at around 26% foc. I'm looking at some gateway razyr fletching, which I believe are about 2" long. I believe my arrows are tuned well, at least they fly good from my perspective, bare shaft and fletched impact is good, just a little nock high. Thanks all

[damascusdave]

I have used that fletching with arrows that have considerably lower FOC...an arrow that bareshafts properly does not require a whole lot of fletching as long as you can count on having solid form under pressure

DDave

[Doc Nock]

Chris,

What Dave said... I rely on fletching to correct my errors under field conditions, NOT to tune my arrows...

Great thing about TRAD is that there are endless ways to get to the same place and whatever makes you comfortable and feel confident.

YMMV

[fnshtr]

I bought some used GTs on here that happened to be fletched with four 4" parabolic RW feathers. I've always shot three 4 1/2 or 5" shield cut LW feathers.

I like the smaller feathers. Interesting topic... I'll be following this.

[DanielB89]

I never use anything longer than 4".  I think at some point it starts deteriorating performance.  I  recently bought 300 3" feathers to try out yet, but my current set up is working very well.  I think the 4" are the perfect compromise for me.

[Pete McMiller]

Chris,

I shoot three 3" feathers and might even go shorter.  My arrows are Victory Vforce HV 300, 29.375" BOP.  100 gr brass insert and 300 gr. field tip or broadhead.  FOC = 31.5%  They fly like darts and have much less wind drift than anything else I have ever used.  I believe with that much FOC I could almost shoot unfletched arrows with good performance.  Try the short fletching and see what you think - you can always take them off and go longer if they don't work for you.

[drewsbow]

i have used four of those with efoc yes , works ok

[macbow]

Many years ago there was a good experiment with extreme FOC and short frathers.

Many guys testing. Bottom line was yes you can use 2 inch feathers with Extreme FOC. Most ended up using 3 or 4 inch.

[ALDO]

My current set up is Axis 500, 200gr razorcap, 75 grain insert and 3 2.5" feather, works well for me, I think the foc is just about 27%

[katman]

Buck in my avatar was taken with a 2 3/4" long by 1/2" high 4x90 fletched arrow (similar to a A&H fletch) with foc in the low twenties. Very quiet in flight. Since I had a bunch of 5 1/2" shields I just cut them from the tip to 2 3/4" long to get the 1/2" high fletch, cheap and easy.

[Chris Pharr]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I'm going to go ahead and try it next payday.
Another thought, how much, if any, helical twist has been used in conjunction with the short fletching. I'm thinking that since well tuned arrows only need fletching to correct my flaws and to stabilize the wind plane created by the BH, would severe helical be necessary? Am I wrong in thinking the more helical twist, the louder the arrow flight would be, also in relation to the cut of the feather(shield, parabolic, etc, etc), height, and length?
Thanks all!

[katman]

Dr. Ashby recommended straight fletch I believe. I used slight offset. Taller fletch has been louder to my ear.

[Pete McMiller]

Chris,

I use a right helical as that is the fletching jig I have.  No doubt straight would also work since I also use single right bevel BHs.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I've tried it, and had some of the best shooting arrows ever.

[sticksnstones]

If you want to save a bucket of money, just buy some full length feathers and cut them up with scissors and a razor blade. There is a video of a guy making them somewhere on the interwebs.

Kind of nice to play with length in 1/4" increments and determining how tall you like them.
Thom

[30coupe]

If your arrows are tuned properly, other than eliminating any small form flaws, the size and shape of the feathers is more aesthetic than practical.

I started with 5 or 5 1/2" shield cut feathers on POC arrows, mainly because I thought they looked cool, but also because there is by their nature more variation in the spine and weight of wooden arrows than either aluminum or carbon. If I do a good job of matching my shafts, the 5" feather is plenty, even with woodies.

I've never been able to tell a difference in performance of shield cut vs. parabolic. I just like the look of the shields better.

With high FOC or EFOC carbon arrows, you don't need much feather. My hunting setup is a GT500 with 50 grain brass insert and 175 grains up front with a 21.1% FOC. They fly like lasers! I'm going to downsize next time I order feathers because 1) shorter=cheaper and 2) bigger is not necessary. I might have to try to find that razor blade and scissors video!

[30coupe]

Sorry about the double post. Not sure how that happens.

[Sam McMichael]

Like some of the others, I need fletching to overcome form flaws as well as to compensate for slight tuning issues. I like 5" shield cut, because they look good. Smaller feathers, even though they may be more efficient, simply do not appeal to me. Fortunately, they make many sizes of feathers, so any archer can find what he likes.

[3arrows]

When it comes to killing stuff,prepare for the worst and hope for the best.