broadhead tuning question

CAT22 · August 25, 2011, 05:35:00 PM

I'm going to start my first go round at bare shaft tuning. Thanks to some sound advice from Shawn Leonard I've got a good idea what I can expect. When I get that done, obviously I have to get some broadheads. Is a 2 blade easier to tune, fly better? 3 balde? any difference? Any insight would be great. I really want to avoid an adapter/glue on point and options are limited for heads as heavy as I'm expecting to have to use. thanks.

swamprooter · August 25, 2011, 06:06:00 PM

Don't be afraid of adapters and glue on points, IMO it gives you more tuning options. Just glued up some Zwickeys today and got them spinning good. Chris

Bill Carlsen · August 25, 2011, 07:08:00 PM

Well, my experience has been this. After I stopped shooting a compound I came back to traditional. Traditioanal was a new term and to be traditional you had to shoot off the shelf. My old recurves all had elevated rests. For quite a few years I shot off the shelf and noticed that my accuracy was never as consistent and my wounding rate went way up. About 6 years ago I got a DAS bow and in my old stuff I found some rests and plungers. So I put them on the DAS just to see how well I could tune it. To my surprise the bow was faster than when I shot off the shelf, it was more consistent and I found that I could shoot any broadhead I wanted as long as point weights were close. My point is this, at least in my case, I got better broadhead flight out of all the broadheads I have (it's a bunch) using an elevated rest. Most 3 and 4 blade heads shot very well off the shelf but a lot of two blades were very finicky especially if they deviated much from the 3:1 ratio. The best shooting 2 blade was the 125 Magnus or the old Hunter's Head which is not being made any longer.

wtpops · August 25, 2011, 07:19:00 PM

Use the same system to tune your broadheads to you field points as you do your field point to your bare shafts and the blade count will not matter.

As far as ease between 2,3 and 4 blade to get to tune to your field points i dont have a lot of experance with that ive shot 3 blade most of my life so cant comment much on the deference.

CAT22 · August 25, 2011, 07:24:00 PM

appreciate the advice. I'm affraid of losing broadheads in the block once I start shooting fletched shaft with them. The cost difference is so great, I may just use glue-ons. Do I coat the whole adapter with glue? how much to I apply? reheat if not square right on the broadhead or remove and start over?

smokin joe · August 25, 2011, 09:05:00 PM

Then there is "broadhead tuning" which is simply shooting both field points and broadheads and making small adjustments until they group together -- which is the goal anyway.

For a right handed shooter, a broadhead arrow will shoot to the right just like a bare-shaft field point would if the arrow is too weak.

The last time I tuned some new arrows, I bare-shaft tuned and then fine tuned with broadheads. I probably could have skipped the bare shafting and been finished with the job faster -- but I like to tinker around with things a bit sometimes.

Glue in-glue-on adapters are great. They are all I use on non-wood arrows these days. You will like them.

Onlyaspike · August 25, 2011, 09:10:00 PM

I just bareshaft tuned to get the correct point weight/ correct spine for my bow.... I dont know if I got lucky or not but my broadheads and fieldpoints have the same POI.

Friend · August 25, 2011, 10:17:00 PM

Typically, if my bareshaft tuned arrow is repeatably on the mark at 25 yards, then I am w/i 1/16" of perfect nock placement and a few string twists to accomodate spine needs for either a 2 blade or up to a wide 3 blade. My last two set-ups required no additonal modfications when switching to a wide 3 blade BH.

Since some of my practice sessions are barsehaft only, I become quite intimate with the actual tune quality of my set-up as well as the 10X magnification of my form errors.

Charlie Lamb · August 25, 2011, 10:37:00 PM

Cat22... just put a few dots of hot melt cement (some use epoxy)on the adapter. It should be fairly hot.
After cleaning the inside of the broadhead with a strong solvent to remove oils get the ferrule and just the ferrule really hot. This is where a clean gas flame comes in handy. Cigarette lighters and candles create too much soot and should be avoided.

Put the two together and twist 2 or 3 complete revolutions of the broadhead around the adapter.
This is the critical part. Even spreading of the glue used can make the difference between a head that spins true first time or one you have to fight.

I press mine against a piece of steel and cool with a spray bottle.

CAT22 · August 26, 2011, 11:01:00 AM

Thanks all. I'll let you know how my first tuning session goes shortly. Any other suggestions are certainly welcome.

Bowmania · August 26, 2011, 11:16:00 AM

The best broadhead out there are glue on. Use them. Check out www.bowmaker.net and click on tuning for more info. Towards the end is BH tuning with a big Snuffer.

I shoot through paper at 12 feet and 12 yards for the final fine tuning.

Bowmania

sawtoothscream · August 26, 2011, 12:02:00 PM

ive been lucky. i never had to broadhead tune a trad bow or compound.

i just bareshafted my arrows and my broadheads flew spot on.

Bill Carlsen · August 26, 2011, 06:42:00 PM

sawtothscream...that is what I have found 99 % of the time.

Bob Morrison · August 26, 2011, 07:17:00 PM

Have to agree...If your tuned field points don't shoot, your broadheads won't either. Learn to bare shaft tune...........................

S C Mercer · August 26, 2011, 08:09:00 PM

Guess I'll pile on with my experience bare shaft tuning... When my bare shafts are flying lazer beam straight, I have never had to do any adjusting with my big ole' Magnus I broadheads. They fly exactly with my field tips. FWIW, I use an elevated rest (Bear WeatherRest) on my Morrison Shawnee riser. Maybe thats why my bareshafts fly so straight and are so easy to tune... Steve