Bare shaft tuning successful; same arrow fletched is stiff

[Noctis]

Odd problem. Subject says it all. Bare shaft is dead on up to 15 yards. 400 carbons at 32" with 125 grain points. Shield cut RW 5". I figured with those fletchings they'd straighten quickly. Shooting a 45# recurve. Pulling more like 53#.

[last arrow]

When fletching the arrow you probably added 15 - 25 grains to the back of you arrow so you need to go up 25 grains in point weight to counteract the added rear weight.  I generally start by bare shafting and end up adding 25 grains to the head of the fletched arrow to make my broadheads shoot with my field points. The other option is to add weight to the back of your shaft when bare shafting with masking tape to match the fletched weight.

[Bill Carlsen]

Ideally when you bare shaft you want to have the shaft shooting slightly weak as the fletching will "stiffen" the dynamic spine a bit. In your situation you can either add point weight or leave your finished arrows a bit longer if they haven't been cut to length yet.

[McDave]

I'm a strong believer in bare shaft testing, but I prefer to use bare shafts that were made from a previously fletched arrow with the feathers trimmed down to the quill. This leaves the weight of the quill and glue on the rear of the arrow, which I think gives me a better reading than a completely bare shaft.  Even then, I tune for a slightly weak shaft.

I think you'll be happier with 150 grain points anyway.  125 grain points don't give you much FOC with that stiff a shaft, even for target use, let alone hunting.

[Noctis]

Thanks all. Very helpful.

[DarrinG]

Since hunting season is basically over for me, I recently decided to try a different shaft. They bareshafted a wee-bit weak. Fletched up a couple and waazam...perfect! The 5" shield cut feathers  stiffened the shaft just a wee bit to make them fly like lazers. And they shoot a Snuffer like lazers too. At first bareshafting I thought maybe the shafts were gonna be a wee-bit too weak. The fletching did the trick and stiffened them perfectly. I've had a few folks say that fletching don't help with a weak spine. That is probably so but I found that if you're teetering on that line and they are a wee-bit weak, the fletching will indeed bring them back to proper spine.

[DarrinG]

Or in your case if you're teetering on the line of your shafts being too stiff, fletching may push them on over the edge of actually now being too stiff.

[Sirius Black]

I do what McDave does, and pull the feathers from a fletched and wrapped (if I'm using them) shaft, leaving the wrap and quill. Most weight is in that 8" wrap and quills, and only a very few grains in the actual feather. I feel this gives me the best reading.

[Biathlonman]

You can also play with brace height to fix something that close.

[Shadowhnter]

Once you have the bare shafts flying straight and end up stiff with fletching on, how do you fellas know your arrow is too stiff, instead of just fletching deflecting off the bow somewhere? Serious question here.

[Bladepeek]

I shoot bare shafts with fletched shafts, with the object being to get them to hit the same point. I either do what McDave suggested and trim the feathers down to just the quill for the bare shaft, or I wrap masking tape at the rear of the shaft to replicate the weight of the feathers and wrap that I will later add.

[katman]

Noctis, shoot the bare shaft out to 25 yards and see if it does not show a touch stiff. Like Mcdave said also try 150 gr points.

[matt steed]

I absolutely believe  100% in bare shaft testing. I have used cap wraps to add a little weight to the rear before. When I was a touch weak; but wanted to stay with extra weight in front, I would add a 7-9 inch cap wrap. I know this is getting to the nitty gritty but it sure is fun.


On another note: at least with me; I have found that carbon arrows respond better with weight up front than aluminum shafts. They both are awesome. Good luck and God bless

[last arrow]

After I bareshaft to get close, I shoot field tips and broadheads to fine tune. For right hand shooter, broadhead right equals a weak spine, broadhead left equals stiff spine.  As I said earlier I usually end up going up in tip weight to get the broadhead and field tip shooting together.  Varying brace height and the position of string silencers also help in fine tuning.

[NothingHappenedToday]

This method works for me -- when I get my bareshafts (feathers trimmed down to the quill) flying perfectly straight, I then add 10-15 grains up front (with those brass weight washers) on my fletched arrows.

[NothingHappenedToday]

And Shadowhnter, I will play with cock-feather rotation to see if that helps with fletching bouncing off the riser. Cock-feather in works better on one of my bows

[Tedd]

For carbon arrows a perfect bare shaft = a fletched arrow that is 1/2" too short. (not scientific but that holds out pretty well).
Tedd

[Medley]

As said above, I get a new bow, some new arrows......

I take 1 arrow and commit it to being a permanent bareshaft. I wrap it, fletch it, do whatever I'm going to do to the other 11 arrows. Then I cut the feather off, leaving the quills.

This becomes "the" bareshaft, and stays in my practice quiver. Becomes my coach, every time I shoot.

Thanks Ken Beck!