Photos added. Tuning new predator recurve.

[Tedd]

I got a new Predator recurve. 60-61lb@ 31". It's giving me a fit trying to find the right shaft. This should be easy! I can't get the nock left/weak or false weak out of it. I have tried pretty much every possible shaft combination. I can't determine if I and when it's too stiff and bumping of the side. I have been from .400 to .340 to .300 and numerous point weights and shaft lengths.
I am getting wear on the near side of the strike plate.
The three rivers spinve calculator won't work tonight. It gave me a 79.1 dynamic for the bow but the arrow side just keeps coming up zero.
Anyone have a arrow recipe that works for this scenario?
I'll take any ideas on why I can't get the bare shaft to fly and why it's wearing the strike plate just on the near side (towards the shooter).
It has less cut to center that what I am used to but it is also more powerful.
Thanks,
Tedd

[NBK]

NOT an expert but I've had some bare shafts give me fits also.
You've probably already checked this but here is my advice.
1:  check nock fit. Too tight will throw everything off.
2:  check nock height. Try raising it some to give the shaft more clearance.
3:  take the shaft that "should" work and play with brace height.  Arrow may linger on the string too far into paradox.
4:  side plate wear nearer shooter usually indicates too weak. You may be driving the shaft into the side plate on its initial bend.
Good luck.

[ESP]

Not to be a smart eleck but try a 250 spine like the Easton FMJ dangerous game.  I think gold tip makes one too.  For what it is worth I ran the numbers on stu's calculator and  53 @ 30.5 with the same recurve you purchased and I need a 300 spine with a 175 gain point, full length shaft.

 Your bow sure makes me want a predator recurve.

[Duncan]

I have a Predator too. Mine is 50#@28" and I had a similar experience. What NBK said made me think about what I did to solve my problem. First, finding the brace height that it likes is important. Then I found that raising the nocking point slightly higher than what is normally accepted cured my arrow tuning problems. I had put some fleece silencers on the strings and moving them about a hands width from the limb tips and trimming them down to about 3/4" which made them way smaller than they were made a huge difference. This combination of things got my 45-50# cedar shafts flying perfectly.It did take more piddling with than any other bow I have ever had get to good arrow flight but once we get there it is awesome and probably the fastest 50# bow I have. Good luck and above all have fun tuning yours. It will be worth the effort.

[ISP 5353]

Fast, high performance bows are usually a little tougher to tune.  I had the same problem with my Palmer at first. Your long draw provides a lot of power at release.  I would try some .340s with about 150 up front to start.  

Based on my results with the .340 shafts, I would not be afraid to move up to .300 with around 200 up front.  These two arrow set ups usually help give me an idea of which way to go.

Try tips weights from 300 to 100.  If you are still not seeing any changes, I would try to find the best trad shooter I could, that had a long draw.  Have them shoot a few bare shafts and see what the results are.

Don't get discouraged.  You have an awesome bow and it will just take a little time to find the best set-up.  Good luck!

[Tedd]

Darn blizzard isn't helping me get any testing done! I'm just glad I'm not one of those who has to be out in this stuff.
Got some more pics. I do like the looks of this over my BW PCH. Not in love with it yet though.
You can see in one of these photos how I was getting some weary on the strike plate. I still am but now as much. I got the AD trade shooting good. They don't bare shaft quite the same as other carbons. Sometimes they do the opposite of what you would expect.
But I still haven't got a parallel shaft to straighten up. All show nock left.
I no cited now that that bow likes to be griped by the throat more so than the widow I had been using.
I havent' had a chance to shoot it without snow, wind or cold.
Tedd  

[Tedd]

[Tedd]

[PaulDeadringer29]

Do you have a 31" draw?

[Arctic Hunter]

I draw around [email protected]". I have always had this issue. I believe that a longer draw requires a stiffer arrow than what a lot of people with short draws really believe. Which really sucks since with most shafts only being around 32", you are really limited by how much you can shorten the shaft in order to reach the desired stiffness (which, in my opinion, is the easiest way to achieve the desired tune).

On my PSA, I've found the following to be helpful. First, strings and silencers (type and placement) can have a significant impact on bare shaft tuning. The further from the tips and the bigger/heavier the silencers are, the stiffer your arrow will become. However, it will also be slower. The same applies (though in my experience, in much smaller proportion) to a string. I make my own an have been able to experiment some with this. Skinny strings, seem to slightly make the arrow show weak for me.

Arrow weight has an affect as well. Adding 50-100 grains could be just enough to make the string have to work a little more to push the arrow, thus slowing it and causing what was a weak arrow to straighten out. I've found that with my bows, 10gpp really was a good "rule of thumb". Maybe it was just pure accident, but I took a shaft that was consistently coming off weak and switched from 175 gr tips to a 200 gr tip. And it seemed to help. However insert weights, brass inserts, and weight tubes are fun to play around with. A tooth pick behind the strike plate can also help straighten out a weak shaft, I you haven't tried that already.

I went from 400-300 spine trying to get rid of the weakness in my arrows with this bow. I eventually went back to the 340's, which I thought should have worked in the beginning, and started over. 340 axis traditional shafts seemed to always get close at around 31". A 50 gr insert and 200 gr tip got the arrow weight up and seemed to have them flying good.

I have never seen any real changes when I mess with the brace height. And putting lighter tips on to stiffen the arrow (or heavier to go weaker) just never seemed to make a huge difference for me.

Hope this helps. Your mileage may vary....

[Tedd]

Thanks Arctic. I pretty much have the same experience.
longer draws are really hard to tune with carbon shafts.  I was short drawing this new bow to see what would happen and it seemed like everything flew perfect.
There aren't many shafts made in .300 spine and long enough.
This afternoon I got the AD trads flying real good. But I think I might get the Hammer Heads for a little more weight. The arrows are at 675 grains now.

[VA Elite]

My strike plate is 10 times worse than that. But it seemed to bare shaft ok. Broadheads and field tips fly the same to 20 yards. Who knows, maybe Im way out of tune and the feathers really are steering my arrows well.

[Al Dean]

What your strike plate shows and what you describe can also be a sign of plucking the string.

[Arctic Hunter]

Are the AD shafts that are flying good 300 spine?

[Tedd]

Arctic the ADs are tapered. Where I spine em is at about 95lb but it depends where you spine them. The shoot my Grizzly broadheads incredibly well.
I's say they would be comparable to a .300.
Also it seems the more I shoot  the Predator the better arrow flight gets. I must have developed a hold on the Widow that is somehow different.
I have a shortened up .340 with 250 grains up from almost flying straight bare shaft.
I tried several point weights with the .300 and can't tell what is happening to make it nock left. Had to plow the snow on the lag all day so not much shooting time.

[ChuckC]

Just a thought about that wear spot.  If I recall from mine ( when I had two) , that is the only spot the arrow actually touches the strike plate anyway due to location and radiused areas.  

If there is contact at all, anywhere on the shaft, it will be there.  That MIGHT be a misleading factor.

As I stated, I had two and one of them was my go to bow, till I went left handed and sold them both.  I may yet get another.  They are fast and they feel good in the hand.
CHuckC

[Tedd]

Well I have tried every possible scenario and can't get a bare shaft to anything but fly nock left.  Up and down in point weight, spine and length. Up and down in brace height and nock point. Built out the side plate and took it back down. Changed my string hook, made a new string, tried with and without silencers…etc, nothing works. I am out of ideas. There is no way every shaft scenario I tested was too weak or so stiff if bumped off the side plate.
I guess I'll call Predator and find out what the heck I'm doing wrong.
Been testing and shooting bows for 15 yrs. Never had this problem.

[ESP]

Any update?

[Shadowhnter]

The only thing I can think of to try, is to go to a very thin strike plate and/or rest. Velcro type material has occasionally but rarely caused me some tuning headaches. Just throwing something out that has worked for me when I could find nothing else. Good luck, I know it's frustrating at times......

[katman]

I had a similar problem not being able to tune with one bow a while back, turned out the grip did not work well for me and I was torquing the bow with the shot. Shot it with a finger sling and open hand and problem went away. Try making sure your bow hand is super relaxed on release and pressure point is in the right place. Just a thought. Good luck.