Your Thoughts & Knowledge Needed???

[The Ghost]

I am right handed, which helical should I have on my arrows, right or left? Also do you measure your draw length, at full draw, from the string to the far side of the riser or what? Any and all knowledge would be greatly apprieciated.
Thx, Donald

[WidowEater]

Not sure on draw length but you can use whichever helical you want to whether you are right handed or not.  It is a matter of personal preference.  Some people however can get better fletching clearance from one or the other depending on their set up.

[Bjorn]

From the string to the far side for draw length, and I have heard a variety of stuff about the helical but at the end of the day-it does not seem to matter at all.
I shoot right and use RW fletch. There are more color choices if you choose LW.

[novahunterpa]

I shoot RW now but thats just because my local shop had a lot of those, I have mad arrows with both RW and LW and cant tell any diffrence.

[Rick P]

Rw or Lw only matters if your using single bevel broad heads. If so just match the bevel, Rw on right handed bevel.

[leatherneck]

Old rule of thumb is right handed-left helical. Left handed-right helical. Doesn't really matter as long as you shoot the same all the time. Then I have not seen it make much difference. Draw is measured from the string to the front of the riser.

[Daddy Bear]

The standard for AMO draw length is to measure 1.75inches forward of the deepest part of the grip (Pivot Point). Many bow makers use the AMO standard to measure and mark their bows, some do not use the AMO standard and measure to the front of the shelf regardless how long the shelf.

Most of my longbows have standard sized straight grip handles with small risers and short shelves when compaired to many of the recurves available. It just so happens that most of my shelves just happen to fall near that 1.75inch range so they are close enough for government work. I have one such longbow that the maker used the AMO standard whereas on my latest longbow the bowyer did not use the AMO standard to measure and mark. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples when measuring your draw to compare to the measured weight of your bow.

I'm right handed and shoot RW helical on my selfbow and longbows. On all of these bows I have little to no shelf width and I grip the handle heel down with the arrow on top of my hand and riding across my knuckle. At times I've used turkey feathers that had too much quill on the leading edge where the RW fletching caused the point of the quill to penetrate the meaty part of my finger next to my knuckle. I have several scars from this over the years. This would be the biggest reason I could see for choosing LW feathers when right handed, but most people today do not shoot the arrows off their hand like I do.

[Daddy Bear]

Just to clarify, the above is the AMO standard and not all bows were measured and marked using this standard. So if it is marked AMO 55pounds at 28inch draw, it is measured when drawn 1.75inches in front of the pivot point. If it is not marked AMO, it is probably measured to the forward edge of the shelf. When measuring your draw to know how long your arrows need to be to clear, you measure to the front of the shelf and allow additional length to clear your gloved hand.