Paper tuning vs bare shaft tuning

[Caughtandhobble]

Green,

I hope to meet you down the road. Do you ever shoot any 3D? I started 3D shooting this year and I love it more than ever shooting traditional. I would be at the state LB championship this weekend but my son is visiting from the Navy.

If you decide to go with some carbons, get GT's and I can offer some help. I have most GT combinations memorized, LOL...

[manitou1]

Actually... neither.  I used to be a tuning freak.  I did, however, have a couple of bow/arrow combos that shot bullet holes through paper and bare shaft tuned great.  Put feathers on and they didn't do so well.  Why?  I have NO IDEA!!!  All I know is I go with the Rick Welch theory now.  Do you hunt without a fletch?  Why worry about it.  Shoot an arrow that flies true, where you look and make sure your broadheads are hitting the same point.  I don't paper or bareshaft tune any more.  I just make sure my arrows fly like darts WITH their fletching, and that I get good, even penetration and "entrance channels" into the targets.
Sorry, I know this will go against what a lot of us have been taught, myself as well.  Not trying to change anyone's ways... just stating what works for me.  Saved me a lot of time and energy too.
Happy shooting.

[Green]

Ben, yes I shoot 3D...as much as possible anyway.  I generally hit three monthly shoots in the Austin vicinity, and anytime Waco holds a TboT shoot I'll go.  Next year I should be able to travel a little more and plan on hitting Vanderpool for the first time since '97, Chester, and the TSLBC (don't have a qualifying bow yet for this shoot) as I haven't shot that one since '98.

I've got GT's no problem, I just prefer wood and am on a quest this year to beat Bisch with 'em.  Tall order I know, but a quest nonetheless.

[JamesKerr]

I've always bareshaft tuned a bow. I find that when bare shafting you will find that most bows (center shot) will shoot a wide variety of spined shafts equally well.

[Friend]

The bottom line verification, for me personally, is in BH tuning.

Typically, I will bare shaft tune (feathers trimmed to quill) first. When I bare shaft tune to my point-on which is 30 yards, my large Big Three's are spot- on at ~25 yards.  Note: Found this method quite effective even though I utilize a nose-tip anchor. Also, other bare shaft set-ups tuned to 30 yards, including this particular one, consistently produce bullet holes thru paper w/o any modifications to the set-up..

There are several valuable advantages in carrying one in my quiver. One is for simple set-up verification. Also, frequently conduct bare shaft only practice sessions to highlight form errors. Have also shot bare shafts, with much success, during extremely wet 3D events.

Note: Keep in mind that tune ability is limited primarily to the preciseness and consistency of ones shot execution.

[Brad Arnett]

I've never bareshaft tuned in the past and had always shot wood. I made the switch to carbon and figured I'd give bareshafting a try after reading the OL Adcock guide. I had no issues at all with it except for I ended up shooting arrows that show weak when you plug them into the online spine calculator. After some research this seemed quite common.

[gringol]

I sort of agree with you Manitou.  Bareshafting is a pretty unrealistic scenario for an arrow.  It you actually could perfectly tune an arrow by bareshafting, why would anyone bother with fletching?  Also, both bareshafting and paper tuning (especially bareshafting) are highly sucseptible to form imperfections.  A bad release will give you poor flight and will throw off your tuning results.  

Having said all that, I do bareshaft to get close to the right spine and get the nock point set, but I don't sweat it too much.  The most time I've ever spent doing it is about 15 minutes.  It seems like a lot of guys spend weeks or even longer tuning, and that doesn't seem entirely necessary to me...

[jonsimoneau]

I will still do both but as far as getting your nock point perfect I now think paper tuning is better for that.  I mean you can see it in the paper! As far as left and right goes..well you don't need paper for that.

[jhg]

I paper but bareshaft first and paper second- just because I found doing both has helped me understand how different things effect the performance of my tackle.

More than anything else this has been the greatest benefit for me. Tuned tackle is second.

Joshua

[longrifle346]

I use OL Adcock's method of bareshaft tuning too. Seems to work very well for me.

[JParanee]

I have bare shafted for 20 + years and my arrows with or without BH's fly great