Tuning overviews and theories

[Dan Adair]

It's that time of year again...  Silly Season.  Hunting season is over, and it's too early for any 3D shoots.  I'm sure I'm not in the minority when I say I'm always looking for the perfect setup.  But in my dedicated 15 years of shooting trad bows (I know, I'm still a rookie)  I've learned a few things.

Don't base any tuning outcomes on a sample of one

Bareshafting from 20 yards is a 1st class BISH, but if you can find a setup that way, it'll never let you down.

Don't get too worked up over a bareshaft setup that is slightly tail high.

If you have serious form issues (it's hard to admit if you do) no setup is ever going to work...

"Really Forgiving" setups don't exist, they're right up there with Sasquatch and Unicorns.  If you pluck one so bad that you're waving at the target, that arrow isn't going to go anywhere close to where you were looking.  Get over it, and move on.

Long arrows almost never shoot as good as arrows that stick out 1" past your riser at full draw.

Paper tuning at 5 feet will make every arrow made look weak.

Paper tuning at 4 different yardages (inside 10) with the same setup will yield soft,stiff,soft,stiff.

Think dynamic, not static.  Everything flows downrange.

Think about this...  When you dump the string, your arrow pretty much goes from zero, to in the neighborhood of 120 MPH, in around 20" of travel.

Spend some time with each setup you try.

You tune just as much to the archer as you do the bow...  Identical hardware in two archers hands with the same draw length, will get different results.  So, just because somebody else has a 55 pound recurve doesn't mean their setup will work for you too.

Don't be shy about adding point weight with carbons.  I've never seen a definitive study, but you'll go at least 50 grains more on the same static spine that you would on Aluminum (I have no real knowledge of what works with woodies)

Aluminum and wood, the numeric spine is with a 1.94 pound weight hung on the middle of the arrow over a 26" span.   Carbon is measured on a 28" span...  At least every fletcher I know that has a spine tester tells me this is the case.  I cannot verify it on.

The ABS GrizzlyStick steel field point test pack is worth it's weight in gold, even though I rarely use the 250 and 315 grain tips.  But someday I might hunt Africa, I guess...

When all conventional wisdom ceases to yield a result you're looking for.  Take a break, drink a beer, and think about things...  Then sacrifice a goat under the light of a full moon.  :D

[Steve O]

Pretty sage advice.

[ozy clint]

Originally posted by Dan Adair:

When all conventional wisdom ceases to yield a result you're looking for.  Take a break, drink a beer, and think about things...  Then sacrifice a goat under the light of a full moon.   :D  

i've been having fits trying to tune lately and this is what i'm doing now.
going to start fresh with different arrows.
seriously though you mean a six pack right, not one beer?

[Dan Adair]

6 packs are the American standard...  However in Montana, we're the #2 per capita beer drinkers in the US.

We buy 30 packs and call them "weekenders"

I've got the same problem...  I'm starting fresh, looking for a setup that isn't 180 bucks worth of shafting.

[Orion]

Hey Dan, I think Wisconsin might be #1 per capita.  We call a 30 pack a good start to the weekend. That's not necessarily a good thing.  

One minor correction.  I believe a 2# weight is used for wood at 26 inches.  1.96# at 28  inches is used for carbons.

[Peckerwood]

I think the reason most people ( myself included ) do not achieve good tuning results relates to form issues. If you do not have the fundamentals like a proper form and release , you will never be able to tune properly because of erratic arrow flight.

[Knawbone]

I have a form, its just not very good. Thanks for sharing your experience.  

[jwhitetail]

Wow... that was really helpful and as a newbie fighting with my arrows through paper and bare-shafting, I found a couple of those things to be a true thus far.  
#1 is the fact that I have two bows that show slightly knock high - no matter where the knock point seems to be.  They do OK fletched and are not too weak or stiff so I guess I'm ready to live with em (cause it could be form issue).
#2 it seems like one of these bows will shoot my GT 3555's with a BUNCH (4--50 grns)of weight piled up front without much affect during bare shaft... Interesting.
Thanks for the experience all boiled down and readable, like. This newcomer will refer back to it.

JW

[Richie]

Nice, thanks for sharing.

[riverrat 2]

I agree totally with the adding of point weight in carbons. ALL the carbons I shoot fly the best with a .100 bushing,and either a .145 or .175 point. They are .400 and .500 spined arrows. rat'

[Bowwild]

Interesting list.  

While it took me nearly 40 years to find it, I wouldn't think to start with an arrow set-up without consulting Stu's Calculator.  To date it hasn't failed me yet. I might have to change points by 25 grains or build out or reduce the side-plate a sketch but that's probably because I didn't enter centershot or string strands correctly.

[Dan Adair]

Stu's calculator has worked just as good for me as reading an arrow catalog while sitting on the toilet.

I usually enter my own "personal form factor" either way  

[hvyhitter]

One big advantage in shooting aluminum for 30 yrs is that I can just grab an arrow that should work, both broadhead arrows and fieldpoint arrows and just fine tune the bow.......havent bare shafted a bow in a decade or more.........playing with carbons too much work and frustration for me but you guys can have as much fun with that as you want.........

[ISP 5353]

Great post Dan!

[toddster]

first good form, don't worry about hitting asprin at 10 yards, take time and work on form.  Then take the time to tune the bow.  Don't settle tune it right.

[Dan Adair]

Heavyhitter.

I agreed with that statement wholeheartedly until 2115's dissapeared.  In the last 10 years, aluminum choices have came down to about a quarter of what used to be on the scene.

My old Martin Hunter used to shoot 2115's like lightning bolts from the heavens.  Ask anyone of the Whitetails it taught how to 'play dead'   But then I bought a buddies used Silvertip....

[ishoot4thrills]

Quote by Dan Adair:
"Long arrows almost never shoot as good as arrows that stick out 1" past your riser at full draw."

Really???.......Guess I better toss out my long arrows that fly and shoot great because they're too long.

Never heard that one before. Can't agree with that one at all.

Everything else you listed seems pretty sound though.

Oh yeah, by the way, hunting season isn't even near being over around here.

[Bowwild]

What is "BISH"?

[Jeff Strubberg]

I can agree with almost every one of those statements.  Especially those that allude to "slow down, relax".

I don't agree on longer arrow.  Although I can't stand having a lot of arrow hanging out past the riser, every time I shoot a longer arrow they are more stable and easier to tune than a shorter arrow.

I've also had the opposite result with papertuning.  I tune at five feet, then again and ten feet and twenty feet.  Unless you are talking about that last 1/8" of tear, I get consistent results at all three ranges.  That last 1/8" I just ignore.

When you tune, remember, you aren't doing this to spend a weekend mesing around with your equipment.  The idea is to eliminate variables and let yourself forget about your equipment, and concentrate on making the shot.  Tuning and shooting are two seperate acts with two seperate goals.

[FarmerMarley]

Interesting list. Agree with a lot of it. That article "Aiming the Arrow" recently posted by ROb DiStefano said that having an arrow sticking out past the riser helps a lot with split vision or gap styles of aiming because you can see the point easier.