Bareshaft help

[Vroomvroom]

You’re right as if I go any shorter than 30” shafts. They show stiff real fast, even with 220 grains on the head.  This is as short as I can trim them. I should have ordered 500s.    Much of a downside having so long?

[Vroomvroom]

Yes. That’s part of the reason I was building arrows. After shooting the bow for a bit I realized my arrows were about 450 grains total. Where I assumed I was about a 28” draw, 450 gr divided by 55 lbs gave me the minimum of 8 gpp.  Thought I may be harming the bow so wanted a 10 gpp.   

Yes I assumed that because they had an extra 0.2 gpi they may be stiffer maker vs the other arrows I had. Didn’t realize it may just be the coating on them.  The crest doesn’t come off with acetone like I was hoping. Not that it looks bad.  Just would have preferred a natural look.

[McDave]

There is no real downside to having long arrows, as long as they are in tune. 

Howard Hill said that any arrow length in front of the shelf was a waste.  He had two reasons for saying that: he shot wood arrows with very heavy bows, and high spined wood arrows are more difficult to find in longer lengths, and he checked his draw length by drawing the arrow until he could feel the back of the broadhead touch his forefinger.  His two reasons mostly don't apply anymore, although I’m sure there are those who shoot wood arrows and draw the bow exactly the way he did, or at least wish they could.  The modern thinking is that your broadhead should stay at least an inch in front of your forefinger for safety reasons.

What is important is to have all your arrows the same length.  For people who aim using the tip of the arrow, the reason is obvious.  But even for instinctive shooters, I think the subconscious mind notices the arrow length, although there are probably those who will disagree with me.

My feeling is that no one should cut their arrows shorter than 29”, because I think they fly best at that length or longer, although I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me on that too.

[Rmason6210]

How do you know if your fletcher shafts are hitting correctly if your bare shaft is not tuned when you fletch it ? Hmmm

[Rmason6210]

Learn to bareshaft tune. How do you know if your fletched arrows are hitting correctly if they are not tuned correctly when you fletch them ? Hmmm

[McDave]

I personally prefer to bare shaft tune, even with wood arrows.  However, not everyone feels the same about that.  Rick Welch, 5 time winner of Trad World Championship, does not bare shaft tune.  There is no mention in anything I have read about Howard Hill that he bare shaft tuned.  Many wood arrow shooters do not bare shaft tune because the variability of wood shafts can give inconsistent results.  From conversations with Rick Welch, watching the flight of fletched arrows tells him everything he needs to know. I'm not sure how he does that, but it seems to work for him.

[Terry Green]

Moved here from Shooters FORM Forum....