Feather Length

[DanielB89]

Alright, I have been wondering something. I have read where, "perfectly tuned arrows don't need as much feather", which makes perfect sense if you think about it.  

But I am wondering if there is a point to where the feather becomes too short.  The reason I ask is because I have "perfectly tuned" bareshafts at this current time.  And I would like to try some shorter feathers.  

I know for sure that 4" feathers would be fine,

I am wondering about 3" or so.

Any input would be appreciated.

Anyone out there shoot a 3" feather?

[dhermon85]

Should be "perfectly tuned arrows, form, release and execution". I'm not that good so I opt for 5 inchers.

[JRY309]

I shoot 3" feathers on one of my ILF bows,along with some 2" Blazer vanes also.It has an elevated magnetic rest on it.I use this ILF mainly for target shooting.

[JimB]

Perfect tune culminates with broadhead tuning.All broadheads have different degrees of wind shear and this affects how much feather you need.You need to shoot broadheads and see what works under all conditions,not just perfect.

[Bjorn]

I have tried shorter and settled on a lower profile just under 5" feather. I use a bamboo skewer in my chopper to get the feather profile I want.  

[Jarrod Reno]

I shoot four 2" rayzr's with a right helical. They fly awesome

[ridge runner]

I've shot 3 ,4" feathers with broadheads for years including big snuffers with perfect flight, even tried 3" and they flew great.I keep the back height to 5/8" and that keeps them quiet.I stuck with the 4" pretty much because it looked better.

[Terry Lightle]

I shoot 5 1/2 inch feathers,my arrows fly perfect bare shafting.But when I have been sitting in the cold for hours and my cold stiff fingers do not come off of the string perfect my BIG feathers help me out with arrow flight.

[dbd870]

Tried my broadheads out of the other bow last night, flew fine as well. I'm using 5" feathers and I guess I'm of the mindset if it isn't broke don't fix it.

[DanielB89]

Originally posted by Jarrod Reno:
I shoot four 2" rayzr's with a right helical. They fly awesome

wow!  I that sounds like a pretty sweet set up if you ask me.  

The main reason I was wanting to swap feather lengths is I notice my 5.5" high shield cut feathers were almost "dragging" my arrows down.  I had 2 arrows I experimented with.

1. standard 3 5.5" fletch with a left helical.

2. 4 fletch 4" feathers and the trajectory at farther distances was different.  it was not much but it was different.  

this was based off of non concrete, subjective testing, but these were my findings.  

I have since fletched all my arrows with 3 4" feathers, i was wondering if it would benefit trajectory even more if i went to 3 3".

[kbetts]

I just switched to four 3" and found they work great even with big Snuffers.

Not sure about trajectory, but wind drift is greatly minimized.

[DanielB89]

4 3" and 3 4" have the same feather surface.  I am not 100% sure, but i would bet that the feather surface is actually what matters.  

I think if i would have just swapped to a lower profile 5.5" cut, i would have had better trajectory.  

By switching from 3 5" hi profile shields to 3 4" parabolic, i am liking the trajectory at farther distance(25+) a lot more that the 3 5.5".

[Pete McMiller]

Daniel,

I started experimenting with smaller fletch last year by trimming down some already fletched 5".  Seemed to work pretty good but my confidence level wasn't there.

Then this year, after listening to Ed Ashby at Compton, I got some new shafts and bare shafted with 31.6% FOC.  Then fletched them up with 3x3" ACE type fletching that I had cut myself.  I have been shooting them exclusively since about the first of July.  I shoot both field tips and Grizzly Kodiaks and find they both hit the same point and fly great.  The big advantage to small fletch is when shooting in the wind.  Much less yaw in a cross wind.

I am convinced I could reduce the size even further but for now 3" works great and is what I will be taking on hunting trips this year.  I was concerned that the big Grizzly Kodiaks might overwhelm the fletching but that has not happened.  I shoot in a broadhead league every week - thru cardboard.  Even now, with really ratty fletching, my broadheads are flying great.

As Ashby said, the higher the FOC the less steerage the arrow needs, and that has proven accurate to me.

[DanielB89]

Originally posted by Pete McMiller:
Daniel,

I started experimenting with smaller fletch last year by trimming down some already fletched 5".  Seemed to work pretty good but my confidence level wasn't there.

Then this year, after listening to Ed Ashby at Compton, I got some new shafts and bare shafted with 31.6% FOC.  Then fletched them up with 3x3" ACE type fletching that I had cut myself.  I have been shooting them exclusively since about the first of July.  I shoot both field tips and Grizzly Kodiaks and find they both hit the same point and fly great.  The big advantage to small fletch is when shooting in the wind.  Much less yaw in a cross wind.

I am convinced I could reduce the size even further but for now 3" works great and is what I will be taking on hunting trips this year.  I was concerned that the big Grizzly Kodiaks might overwhelm the fletching but that has not happened.  I shoot in a broadhead league every week - thru cardboard.  Even now, with really ratty fletching, my broadheads are flying great.

As Ashby said, the higher the FOC the less steerage the arrow needs, and that has proven accurate to me.

Pete, i am trying to raise up my FOC and lower my arrow weight.  The problem is that I can not find an arrow that is what I need that isn't $130/dzn.  

I am currently shooting beman MFX's 340's and they shoot very well, but they are 10.4gpi that are 30.5" long with standard inserts and 175 grain head.  

If my calculations, my FOC is less than 15%.  But also, my arrows are over around 550 with a #53 bow.  I know that every believes that 10gpp is "the standard", but I want about 9 gpp.  

the only arrows I have found are the easton HEXX which are about $10/arrow, which i just can't see paying because i buy a dozen for under $60.  

Just by changing arrows, it would raise my FOC by 2%.  But i'd be out of $120.    

[Legolas]

Some want a longer fletch to help the arrow stabilize faster for increased penetration and if it hits a twig it will recover faster.

That was advice I got from Byron Ferguson.

[KenH]

I go longer and shallower -- ancient Chinese style 4-fletch.  The fletches are 1/5" the arrow length (closer to 6" than 5") and the height of the fletch is the diameter of the shaft(5/16 or so).

[stagetek]

I shoot three 5" shield cuts with a right helical. I get good flight so, I never felt the need to experiment.

[Pete McMiller]

Daniel,

Take a look at Victory VForce HV shafts.  6.8 to 7.2 gpi - They run about $60/doz. if you shop around.

My setup - 60# R/D at 28".  29.375 BOP Victory VForce HV 300 shafts + 100 gr. insert + 75 gr. adapter + 235 gr. Grizzly Kodiak = 650 gr. with all the epoxy, nock, fletching, etc. & 31.6% FOC.  They fly like lasers.

[LookMomNoSights]

I think once you have the broadhead on there,  you could be rolling the dice with feathers too short...you'd have to just try and see.  I dont spend too much time thinking about this type of thing but then again I havent felt the need to do any drastic tinkering with my set ups.  I few years back,  I swithced to 4 4inch feather after shooting 3 5inch since I started this bit.  Got great flight then.....get great flight now,  maybe a tad better with every broadhead I have tried,  using the 4 fletch.  With the little "pros" to using 4 and getting great flight, i dont see myself ever changing it up again.

[Sam McMichael]

I just like the look of 5" fletching, even though I have gotten good performance from 4" feathers.