bare shaft tuning vs paper tuning

[adam]

Which way do you guys prefer to tune your bow?

The reason i'm asking is my wife bought me a new recurve and i was trying to get it setup. I started off bare shaft tuning watching the arrows in flight. I stopped shooting at 20 yards and the arrows were flying pretty good. Hitting where i looked but they still showed just a tad stiff.

Just to do it, i went in my shop grabbed a flecthed arrow identical to the others and shot through paper and couldn't ever get bullet holes. Didn't matter if i moved the nock up,down, added weight, subtracted weight it never got any better.

So, i guess i'm asking what yall would do. I'm kinda confused considering they looked good shooting bareshaft but were awful through paper.Thanks for any help!

[Looper]

So, your bareshafts are hitting with the fletched? How do your broadheads fly? If they hit with your field points, I'd say that's all you can ask for. I've never seen the need to paper tune, and really don't ever bareshaft.  If I can get my broadheads to hit with my field tips, that's all I want.

[bryan r]

How far back were you from the paper? I believe an arrow still in paradox won't shoot "bullet holes."

Greater minds than myself, correct me if I'm wrong.

[cbCrow]

I have never bare shafted and will not because of all the varibles involved. I was taught to paper tune arrows. Never had any complaints with the flight of them. For an interesting read go to the Elite arrow in the sponsors here to see what Paul has to say. The only area I differ with him is the distance he says 6' I use 10' and get results of well tuned arrows!

[Tajue17]

I live for bare shafting and i can tune a bow in minutes now.  paper tunign is too much prep and dealing with newspaper, I just shoot at a flat target..
the basics; when you shoot that bareshaft 1st thing is hold the bow perfectly verticle,, 2nd make sure you have even tension on all your fingers and a clean release, 3rd don't aim or pick a spot and do not move anything when you release (which you should be doing anyway)like paper tuning your form must be perfect,, while watching that arrow,,,,accuracy comes latter when they are fletched and never mind the bare shafts hitting with the fletched ones thats a compound thing we used for quick tune when tuning our compounds,, with bare shafting you will be able to spin anythign from a tree shark with 4" fletch to a field point with no impact difference PLUS when it rains or snows and your fletching gets wet and  lays down it still flys perfect as long as your form is perfect(a few of my bows I re-tune for late season and heavy winter clothing and find I need a heavier point or lower my brace height.

you can fine tune even more later using your own style of holding or canting the bow  once you have the arrow flying good from here which is all most people do..

when you shoot that shaft you should see nothing but the back of the nock,,, it should fly like there is invisible fletching on it,, sometimes you need someone looking over your shoulder to confirm what you think you saw.

everyone has their own way and it works but this is my way that I found gets me much better results quicker.

[Javi]

Some folks can bareshaft and some can paper tune, either are dependent on a good release and consistent form. I teach my students both methods and let them choose which they prefer. IMO paper tuning should be done at 6’, 10’ and 12’ for best results… shooting at only one distance is only going to show what the arrow is doing at the exact moment it passes through the paper, and while you may have a perfect hole at one distance the arrow could be upset at another.. Get it right at three different distances. After 15’ the fletching should have control of the flight.

Personally I get bareshaft, fletched field point and fletched BH to group from 10 yards to my personal maximum hunting distance, after all that’s what it’s about….

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I agree with Javi; either method, when done correctly will get you there provided they're done correctly. The Easton tuning manual is available online and is a great how-to resource. You should be able to find it with a quick Google search.

[adam]

Thanks for all the info guys! I played around with 3 different shafts today with different point weights and i'm getting close. Guess we will try again tomorrow.

[widow sax]

I like paper tuning myself it does not lie it lets me know if the bow is tuned and if my form and release is good.   Widow

[Bowwild]

I'm a paper-tuning fan and then I check for sure with broadhead followed by field tips. I shoot from 6' and then begin backing to 21'. So far, I haven't noticed differences as I move back from 6'. Seems if I get it right there I'm done.  Also, once I get a bullet-hole or very near one, the broadheads always fly with the field tips.

I fix up and down first -- doesn't take much of nock locator move to change the porpoising.

Then I fix fish-tailing. Recently I had to double my sight plate pad (1/16")to get the right tear (I'm Lefty) out of a Habu with 500 MFX Classics.  I start with very closely spined set-ups using the Stu Calculator.

A friend who knows more about these things than anyone I've ever met uses only the field tip/broadhead method. He is good at setting up the likely arrow spine, trustworthy form, and a good eye for arrow flight.

One of my cheapest thrills in archery is when the arrow makes an impossibly neat little bullet hole with 3 fletch dashes around the edges.

One reason I don't paper tune (and this is weak I know) is I HATE removing fletch from carbon shafts. It seems no matter what I do I scrape the shaft finish when using blades to remove the fletch. I've even dug into the carbon. With aluminum removing fletching was super easy and a joy to do. But, I don't use aluminum shafts these days.

[Night Wing]

I use the third "unnamed" method.  

[JimB]

Paper tuning can work well if you have really good form.

I use OL Adcock's planing method.This is it:
 http://www.acsbows.com/bowtuning.html

[Kentucky Jeff]

Originally posted by widow sax:
I like paper tuning myself it does not lie it lets me know if the bow is tuned and if my form and release is good.   Widow

This is the issue for me.  Paper tuning DOES in fact lie.

If you are trying to tune your bow and lets say the tear is nock high indicating too high a nocking point...or maybe you've got too much tension in your string hand and forearm and are causing the arrow to bounce off the shelf?  Which is it?  Only an experienced archer will know...

Move the nock point down and the arrow still tears nock high?  Maybe its your release.  The only thing paper tuning does is tell you what is happening with your arrow.  It does not diagnose the illness--only the symptoms.

[Shawn Leonard]

Have to disagree with above statement, unless you have a real poor release paper tuning does work. Most people if they take their time can concentrate can get a good enough of a release to use paper tuning. Bareshaft is no better if you have a sloppy release. I use both now and get my bows an arrows tuned pretty quick just using diffrent point weight. Shawn

[RM81]

I've never been able to paper tune since switching to trad gear.  It's my sloppy release.  I could get good holes sometimes, but not consistently.  I just bare shaft plane.  Get my bare shafts grouping with my fletched shafts, and I'm good.  Then do some fine tuning if needed with fletched broadheads, and fletched field tips.  Some have success with paper tuning, but your release has to be great if not perfect every shot.

All I do is paper tune (thats not to say the other method is not a good one). It has worked well for me for years and I have killed a ton of critters with my bows.

Bisch

[Jeff Strubberg]

I've done both, and both work well.  The one thing I prefer about paper tuning is that I can concentrate on the shot, then check the results after a good follow-through.  Bare shafting I tend to want to watch the arrows fly.

[USN_Sam1385]

Wait...

Ur wife bought you a new recurve???

That is awesome.

Did she know what to look for, brand, weight, etc???

[LV2HUNT]

I think accurately answering the questions in Stu Miller's calculator will get you darned close.

[big grey]

Bareshaft first and then paper tune , it`s not that complicated, once you know that the arrow is flying well ive never had a problem adding broadheads if I see changes in flight it`s usually a bad or improperly installed head.