Cock feather in: eye opener

[slowbowjoe]

Went out to my hay bales for a little practice this morning. First few shots (shooting one at a time, same arrow) were wandering, and kicking a bit, just weren't flying well.
Nocked it cock feather in just to see if it made a difference… and it flew just fine, hit pretty close to where I was looking.

Alternated shots, one cock feather out, next in, for the next several arrows. None shot well, or were close to where I was aiming - missing by around 4-6" at 15-18 yards. Every shot with cock feather in hit my 5" plate, at the same distance, with good flight.

I've played around with it before, never noticed such a clear difference though.

[Tradcat]

Interesting ! I'll experiment this weekend just out of curiosity

[Harry]

I have had the same results. Interesting.

[Biathlonman]

My bows seem to much prefer in with my Right wing feathers.  Left wing doesn't seem to much care.

[slowbowjoe]

Got me wondering whether the difference is more noticeable if arrows are not ideally spined?

[Bladepeek]

I believe I have my arrows pretty well set up for my bows - both bare shaft and fletched - and I seem to get more consistent groups with cock feather in.

It may be all in my mind but, as that great sports philosopher said, "It's 90% mental and the other 10% is all in your mind".

[bigbadjon]

If your arrows are spined correctly the tail end of the arrow should bend around the riser and never come close to touching it. That said you should still shoot for maximum clearance in case you torque the bow or something goes wrong.

[Red Beastmaster]

I've heard it many times that the feathers (cock feather out) on properly tuned set ups will clear the bow. Maybe the riser but not the average size recurve shelf. The bottom hen is  likely going to contact.

Flipping the cock feather in definately goes a long way toward bottom hen feather clearance. And there's not a thing wrong with doing it. Ask Jack Howard.

I really don't care how my fletching is oriented when shooting target but I always nock with cock feather in when shooting broadheads. It makes a difference.

[bigbadjon]

If the nock height is set properly and the arrow is of correct stiffness it will bend up and to the left for a right handed shooter clearing the shelf and the riser completely. Tuning for clearance just gives the operator room for error or corrects for really tall fletching. The arrows paradox moves the arrow up and down as well as side to side. That is why a bare shaft looks like its barrel rolling.

[goingoldskool]

I've shot cock feather in since I read about it in my Black Widow owners manual. ... that being said,  I was called out on it by one of my shooting partners at a 3d shoot this summer.  I told him that I've shot this way from the start.  After that shoot, I tried it both ways and found out my bow doesn't care.   I nock my arrow whichever way it comes out of the quiver.


God bless,
Rodd

[BigJim]

I no longer use a cock feather (all feathers the same color)  and don't make an effort to set up with specific orientation.

As mentioned earlier, when properly tuned it makes no difference.

bigjim

[iii]

I dont care which way I nock my arrow as they fly well either way. All my feathers are yellow.

I did however a loong time ago try shooting plastic vanes of a not so well tuned setup off the shelf and that only worked with cock feather in. Being a only partially tuned setup, you can take it for what its worth.

[ChuckC]

Ryan, our Hawaii connection did quite a layout showing his experimentation in this regard, not too long ago.  He included photos of paper tuning results that were impressive for sure.

I shot some yesterday, but it was so windy the arrows were flying sidewise halfway down range.

CHuckC

[slowbowjoe]

Good feedback about the tuning element, it's appreciated. I'll be keeping it in mind for sure as I'm about to fletch up another set; sounds like I might be spined slightly stiff. Definitely will play around with nock height also, I know it's higher with my current set up than I've ever had before.

[Mint]

Mike Palmer turned me onto this years ago. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference if my release is perfect but on a bad release it does help.

[kadbow]

In or out, lw rw, 4 fletch 3 fletch, I notice no difference on my bows.

[cahaba]

My arrows are paper tuned and it doesn't matter whether cock feather is in or out. This is from a Hill style bow that is not cut to center.

[slowbowjoe]

I think I'm getting it. I regularly shoot some pretty closely matched arrows from the same set, and find it usually doesn't matter whether I shoot in or out also - kind of why this particular time showed a clear difference.

The set I'll be fletching up today are a pound or two lighter spine, and about 1/2" longer, same weight and all doug fir. I go for tuning for 125grn point, and have 100's and 145's to play with on hand. I've got my own curiosity up now to see how they fly, oriented both ways. Will definitely be revisiting my nock height.

I mostly fletch all one color too, and as mentioned sometimes shoot in, or out, so I don't really have a preference. I AM really appreciating the input here which is really helpful for my tuning.

[hickstick]

yup....4 fletch @ 90 deg carbons and I've shot them on the 45 (like an X) and on the clock (12, 3, 6, 9,) + and had no difference.  I just nock and shoot, no need to look.

[snowplow]

So would you guys say that if you are under-spined you will not have feather clearance?

So basically if you have feather contact it is simply another indication of weak spine?

Is it as simple as that? I can accept that, but it does make me think of a couple of questions.

1. Why does anybody bother with 4 fletch then?
2. Why don't trad guys shoot vanes? I know they are lame, but wet feathers are horrible and if that was an easy possibility I would imagine at least a few would want to do it.