"Broadhead Tuning" - legit method or a crutch?

[Sooner State Hunter]

Disclaimer: I'm not a "Supertuner" or a "Guru", just a guy who is striving for perfection in my equipment. Please read and feel free to comment.

There is a sticky on AT about"Broadhead Tuning" in the bowhunting forum that gets alot of attention.Check it outif you wish to learn all the details, but this is it in a nutshell: you move your rest and nock until the POIof bothbroadheads and fieldpoints is the same and you then have yourself a finely tuned hunting bow. The author says this method replaces "Walkback" and "Paper Tuning".

I decided to try it out a month ago and ended up with my rest alot further away from the riser than it had been when I walked-back tuned the bow. My FP's and BH's were hitting the same but my groups were alot "looser" than normal. I knew my arrows were somewhat stiff according the OT2 program so perhaps that was the reason.

Our season starts Oct. 1 so I kept thinking "Sooner, it's too late to change anything, just keep it like it is b/c afterall, your bh's and fp's are hitting the same and that's all that matters".

Last week, I got fed up and decided to experiment. I pulled out the paper tuner, went over all my specs and noticed my idler wheel lean wasn't exactly like it should be. I tweeked this and that until I had perfect bullet holes thru paper. This led me to adjusting my rest considerably, actually very close to where it had been withwalkback tuning.

Guess what? FP's and BH's hit the same at all distances and my groups are tight again. That leads me to the conclusion that in many cases people choose "easier" methods that lead them to believe they a tuned bow. I believe if it's tuned properly, it should shoot good (maybe not perfect) thru paper, pass walkback tuning criteria and shoot fp's and bh's the same. The way I see it, it's a system of a check and balances.

I slept like a baby Friday night, peace of mind is a good thing ...

[rybohunter]

So the way I read that, your bow wasn"™t in the best tune to begin with. You tweaked a bunch of stuff, redid things and came out better.

[Sooner State Hunter]

ORIGINAL: rybohunter

So the way I read that, your bow wasn"™t in the best tune to begin with. You tweaked a bunch of stuff, redid things and came out better.

That is my point. If you have to modify your setting much to get POI of bh's and fp's the same, then your bow isn't tuned properly to begin with and one should step back and address that issue prior to worrying about bh's and fp's hitting the same.

[Bob H in NH]

There are LOTS of reasons for the bow to be out of tune, walk back and BH tuning assume the only thing out of whack is the center shot or nock point. If ANYTHING else is out of whack then it won't work so good, as you found!

Other things to check:
- tiller measurement
- cam timing (yes even on a single cam)
- cam lean
- arrows, are they tuned, bent, aligned

It's really a fun game, LOTS of variables.

[HuntingBry]

You make a good point in that you shouldn't rely on only one method to determine if your bow is tuned. If you check everything over and use seveal methods, broadheads and field points should be close to, if not the same in flight. If they are not, it's more likely and arrow problem than a tuning problem.

[Sooner State Hunter]

ORIGINAL: HuntingBry

You make a good point in that you shouldn't rely on only one method to determine if your bow is tuned. If you check everything over and use seveal methods, broadheads and field points should be close to, if not the same in flight. If they are not, it's more likely and arrow problem than a tuning problem.

My original post was too long winded, but that's what I was trying to convey

[Doegirl75]

What I've found is that if one has to move his/her rest way out of centershot to get broadheads and field points to group, something else other than the rest is out of whack. Bring that rest back to centershot and figure out what's really going on.

[im ocd]

IMO...Paper tuned for a repeatable bullet tearIS tuned.
If selected broadheads don't fly same POI as field points from a paper tuned bow, try different heads.

[RobinAim Low]

Well...IMO, paper tuning may end up being final tuned, may only be a good starting point. Whether crutch or legit, I have ditched the paper all together the last couple years and eyeballed everything level (actually a hair nock high) and centershot, sighted in for 25 and 35 yards, then bh tuned. I can tell you thata shot with a bh and lighted nock at dusk really shows off how good your flight is or is not! I am going out right now to put the finishing touches on a new bow I got last week...I'll let you know how it goes. I am thinking it will be 5 shots or less for bh's to be fp's at 30 yards...but we'll find out.

[Rob/PA Bowyer]

As far as I'm concerned, paper tuning can untune a bow. To acheive a bullet hole, you possibly might be untuning a bow to everyone but you. You might be torquing the bow and untune the bow to that and when someone properly shoots the bow, it's untuned.

I think it's more important to properly tune a bow and then see if paper shooting shows the shooter is untuned and then work on the shooter. I learned this the hard way too many years ago. Back in the early 90's I had a Jennings Carbon Extreme XLR. To acheive bullet holes the rest was so far out away from the riser that we would run out of adjustment with the sights. I could acheive bullet holes but would you say this bow was tuned? Hell no, maybe for me but it was improper because my form was improper. We worked on my form and the rest came back in to center.

Today, I laser center, then level and rarely does the rest have to be moved again for broadheads. Most if not all after checking everything else, all our broadheads are grouping with our field points. I say "our" cause I've worked on a pile of bows and I'd call them "supertuned" according to the feedback I'm getting at Poorguy's Archery.