Feather Wear

[CareyE]

The bottom hen feathers are showing wear. I'm shooting a 27 inch cedar with 160gr point out of a Shrew Recurve which is 53#@28". My arrows are spined 50-54.

Thanks.

I usually end up with an arrow that's weaker than recommended.  I don't know why, they just bare shaft that way.  You've got some contact issues of some kind, but if you're getting good flight, it may not be a problem.

I started shooting cock feather in a few years ago and get virtually 'no' wear at all.  You might give it a try.

[bsigal]

Shooting cock feather in is one alternative.  Another would be to leave a gap between the bottom of your strike plate and your shelf rest for the bottom hen feather to pass thru.  That's how my bows are set up and I've never seen any wear on the bottom hens.

[CareyE]

Thanks. My flight is good. I was just wondering if the wear of the hen feather was normal.

[SHOOTO8S]

Hmmm, Thats according to whether your shooting off the shelf or using an elevated rest...with a rest hen feather wear is not normal....off the shelf, I've never shot or seen a bow setup that didn't have some feather wear(other than a couple very narrow shelf's...if you shot them much at all.

[SHOOTO8S]

Yes, of course you always do whatever is possible to obtain the LEAST amount of feather contact with a normal shelf...but in the end your still launching arrow's with relatively high fletching off a shelf and even when tuned the the best degree possible...that pesky bottom hen fletch is gonna rub on some part of the shelf(other than the extremely narrow shelf's I mentioned) and some feather wear in arrows that have been shot a good deal is normal in even the best tuned setups. Sometimes arrow spine needed to have the least amount of shelf contact can actually be too weak for consistent accuracy...of course too stiff a spine will always result in excessive fletch contact. I'd agree that arrows showing fletch wear after only a few days of shooting is not normal.

A few years ago, I was shooting an ACS-CX that was undoubtedly the best tuned off the shelf setup that I've ever shot. Bareshaft flight was amazing(even out to 100yds) and I actually won a couple local tournaments shooting bareshafts, but that was also during the time that I shot 5-6 hrs 5-7 days a week and the bottom hen feather's was well worn after only a week or so of shooting.

Not trying to dispute your post Bradd, only pointing out that blanketed statements can sometimes only be correct up to a point. In the end all you can do is bareshaft tune, powder the shelf or use lipstick to check for contact, then eliminate all the fletch contact possible by rotating nocks.

[CareyE]

Thank you both, Rod and Bradd. I do try to shoot at least 20 shots every day and I'm shooting the same four arrows. I save the rest as needed. I shoot broadheads about a month out from the start of the season.

[mczilla]

It might have something to do with the side plate or rest material.
I notice more feather wear using velcro than I seemed to have with calf hair.