How big of a deal is arrow straightness?

[snowplow]

Hey guys. I recently ordered some trad lites and trad xlites at the lowest straightness level (.006"). I figured this wouldn't be noticable as a sheet of paper is .002-.005" thick.

But these things wobble like crazy.

I have another very old set of ADs that shoot noticeably better than anything else I have. I have always attributed it to their higher FOC but now I wonder if it is due to straightness at least in part. They not only fly better but my groups go from 6" to about 3".

I always figured my shooting ability would not allow me to notice if they were not perfectly straight. How much does this effect a traditional shooter?

[wingnut]

It is probably more then the straightness that's causing the shooting problems.  I found that AD shafts can vary a great deal in straightness (+.01)
and in spine.  You might try increasing your FOC to see if they behave.

Not my favorite hunting shafts.

Mike

I would bet there was some other cause to your dilemma, like maybethe new and old arrows are not the same spine (even though they both may have the same number printed on them). I don't thing the straightness between the .003 and the .006 could be noticable to most anyone.

Bisch

[Doc Nock]

I second the above.

A GT rep once told me the "runout" (straightness) difference is in the ends...

So when you decide how long your arrows need to be, cut 1/2 off both ends and you're home.

Another gent I've never caught in a windy story, tole me he used to build arrows for competitive shooters and he checked EVERY arrow out of every dozen of EVERY mfg!

He said there were always a few that were way out of spec in a given dozen!  

Good luck figuring it out...it can be maddening!

[Michael Arnette]

I've gotten bad batches before from arrow dynamics. The ones I got most recently were great. I'm selling them to go to woodies.
However, after shooting wood arrows for a bit I'm not sure straightness is as much of an issue as we would think.

[damascusdave]

Originally posted by Doc Nock:
I second the above.

A GT rep once told me the "runout" (straightness) difference is in the ends...

So when you decide how long your arrows need to be, cut 1/2 off both ends and you're home.

Another gent I've never caught in a windy story, tole me he used to build arrows for competitive shooters and he checked EVERY arrow out of every dozen of EVERY mfg!

He said there were always a few that were way out of spec in a given dozen!  

Good luck figuring it out...it can be maddening! [/QUOT

I was talking to a very competent FITA shooter earlier this year who told me he generally only gets 8 or 9 shafts out of a dozen that are usable for his purposes...the shafts he was talking about are the Easton x10...next time you think you shoot expensive arrows take a look at the price of a dozen of those

DDave

[ChuckC]

They wobble. .  in flight or on a spinner ?

If they wobble so much you can see it, then maybe there is a bit of issue, but really, my wood shafts never ever get to be even close to .006" straightness and they shoot fine.

I am thinking that either they are WAY out of spec, or ( most likely) there is something else going on.  Hell even the tightness of the nock on the string can affect how the arrows fly.
ChuckC

[snowplow]

My arrows seem to fly great, I have tuned nocks, brace height and everything else I can think of.

But when I spin them on a broadhead tester with field points, they are totally wobbly. Ill measure today. I can measure it with a tape measure...

I know the really old and new trad lites have different spines, but how would you figure out where to start on that? Say you want a consistent 550 gr each. Do you just start cutting down the long one? How would you know its going the right direction? (since you cant bareshaft these?)

If these were normal shafts I could figure it out. But they dont seem to move around left to right for me?

[elkbreath]

don't cut the knock end of your AD's.  

Being tapered, they are a different animal.

I know I keep trying other arrows (cant help myself) but always come back to AD's.  they are so forgiving in flight!

[Tajue17]

I took first place in a selfbow class once and the same arrow I kept shooting clearly was not straight and when I was going to straighten it someone said "I wouldn't touch anything"  so I didn't and shot one of my highest selfbow scores that day, that arrow hit within 2" of where I was looking every time...

now I'm not sure if arrow speed plays a factor in this but with my slower bows I can shoot slightly crooked arrows with reasonably sized broadheads and they hit just as good as if they where perfectly straight,,, I really can't and won't argue this but again with my slower selfbows I do not see much of a difference.

[Friend]

Prominent an unbiased detailed studies reveal that only a quite limited number of trad archer could benefit from an arrow straghtness closer than plus or minus .005. Recall that, while the olympic archer were using sights, they could still maintain aprox 4" groups at 50 yards until the arrows exceeded a straightness of plus or minus .005.

NOTE: Since straightness can be verified, the manufactures are likely to stay close.

Spine variation and the actual targetted nom of the spine categorized may be vastly different, and that it is much more difficult for the consumer to verify...can and has caused significant tuning issues

[Russ Clagett]

If I could shoot straighter, it might matter.

[Sirius Black]

I've always believed that spine is more important than straightness. I have shot just as well on 3D courses, even with compounds, with arrows of .006 as I did with arrows of .001 in straightness.

[JR Williams]

SnowPlow, don't think you can't bareshaft these shafts. I have successfully bareshafted ADs with 3 of my bows......the arrow won't lie to you.

 With the variance on point weights that these shafts can handle I would say strip of the fletching of one and see what it does.

Another thing you may try first is to change your brace height a little and see if that helps.

[JR Williams]

Oops, just re-read your post and noticed you said they were flying good but wobbled on the spinner....in that case I would leave well enough alone since the flight with broadheads is what matters.