FOC questions....yes, some more....

[mobow]

OK, I know what FOC is and how it's calculated, but what's the big deal w/ it? I mean, how is arrow flight affected, what's the optimum FOC for performance, is there too high, too low? What can ya'll tell me about it?

[ButchA]

I've heard serious archers refer to FOC as "F***** Over Complicated"

Actually, with too light an FOC your arrow still get more blown around a bit by a slight breeze and your accuracy will suffer. Too heavy an FOC and your arrow will have a tendency to nose-dive on you at longer distances.

There's tons of internet articles and confusing physics topics about it too, much of which goes right over my head. [:-]

[nodog]

Well, you need some! Read recently that the javoline used in the olymics until recently had none and there was a problem with that, they would not stick. Now they have some. Best way to find out is get your rig to shoot and then try different shaftmake up's and see for yourself, I haveand what I thought once was such a big deal isn't.

[Paul L Mohr]

The more FOC you have the more it forces your fletchings to correct arrow flight. Which means the arrow will correct it's self faster. The down side is takes a toll on your trajectory. Long distance shooter and pure target shooters use less FOC like 6 or 7 % sometimes. I have even shot fixed blades with FOC that low. You have to be criticle of your bow tune and have really well matched arrows though. I prefer 12 or more percent for any kind of shooting personally. I like to use large feathers and lots of FOC for all the control I can get as fast as I can get it.

Paul

[mobow]

The more FOC you have the more it forces your fletchings to correct arrow flight

I'm trying to understand this. Why? I mean, if you have too much weight in the rear of the arrow, the arrow will want to go end over end and fly nock first, right? I'm not arguing here, I just don't get it. As near as I can figure, I am right around 9%. There are obviously a lot of physics involved here that just hurt my brain...[&:]

[nodog]

I have read that the wobbel of an arrow, if it does,the pivot point-isat the foc point, so the father ahead it is the less the head moves back and forth, the less it moves the straighter it flys regardless ofwhat the rears doing (your loosing zip and punch though) and is why a higher foc is often prefered by hunters using a fixed blade , amoung other reason's,but there's an obvious trade off spoken of often.

[Paul L Mohr]

If you shoot an arrow without fletching and have enough tip weight the arrow will fly slightly nock high through the air. When you put fletchings on the arrow the drag opposes this and causes your arrow to fly straight instead of nock high. The more FOC you have the more it forces your fletchings to work which can help stabilize the arrows a bit faster.

I'm sure there is a point of diminishing returns though. It doesn't really make the arrow more accurate, just a bit more forgiving. If you have good arrows and a good tune it really doesn't make a big difference. I have robin hooded arrows while bare shaft testing them at 20 yards.

My personal opinion would be the less the fletching you have, the more FOC you would want. Like I said, that is just my thing though.

Paul

[mobow]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[Dairy King]

High FOC means the nock end is lighter which means its easier for the fletching to correct bad tune. If you have a low FOC, like I have, its harder for the fletching to correct bad tune, which could show you that your bow isnt exactly like what it should be. Like Paul said, there is a point of diminishing returns. If you have too high a FOC, and a slight breeze, your arrow will probably be thrown around like a rag doll, but a low FOC and it would be harder for the breeze to mess with the back end of the arrow.

[mobow]

So, would 7.5% be too low?