3 blade vs. 4 blade

[Straight Shooter]

I have been using some of the older Muzzy 3 blade heads and have them inline with the fletching on my arrows, how do you line up 4 blade heads because I have a set of 115 gr. Muzzys that I would like to try. Will I see any different arrow flight with the 4 blade over the 3 blade.

[wis_bow_huntr]

Well theres really no way to do this becasue youll always have 2 blades by themselves and one fletch by its self.. And to be honest, you dont really gain much out of lining theup. sure its less wind to cut but that doenst count more much loss of FPS. But when I used the the 4 blades i just lines 2 up....no big deal.

[rh160kid]

When i used three blade muzzys i always had to adjust each one to get em right. Some would fly good in line with the fletchings, some offset with the fletchings and some in between there. They were all different. Then i switched to 4 blades and they seemed to fly good however i screwed them on. Once in a while i had to adjust one but not often. Now i shoot mechanicals so i dont do either!!

[Rhody Hunter]

the blades don't have to alien with the fletching. that is a myth . put them that way if you think it looks cool but it doesn't effect flight . try the 4 out and see how it flys

[bigbulls]

I don't know who in the world started this lining up the blades with the fletchings B.S. but I would really like to have their name(s) so I could shoot them in the foot with an arrow that has a 4 blade head and three fletchings.

I hate to be blunt about it but you completely wasted your time lining up the blades and vanes. Only in a perfectly controlled laboratory environment would this produce any measurable benefit. Change just one variable like wind speed, arrow velocity, wind direction, etc... etc... and all of your calculations to get it right go right out the window.

[SwampCollie]

Originally Posted by bigbulls

I don't know who in the world started this lining up the blades with the fletchings B.S. but I would really like to have their name(s) so I could shoot them in the foot with an arrow that has a 4 blade head and three fletchings.

I hate to be blunt about it but you completely wasted your time lining up the blades and vanes. Only in a perfectly controlled laboratory environment would this produce any measurable benefit. Change just one variable like wind speed, arrow velocity, wind direction, etc... etc... and all of your calculations to get it right go right out the window.

I've got a theory about how that mess started.

Back in the aluminum arrow and tapered nock days... somebody probably had some broadhead wiggle, and took their torch and twisted around their broadhead/insert/both and kept shooting until they got perfect flight. It just so happened that this person (likely someone of prominence in the hunting/shooting community and also almost certainly a writer) noticed that after his tweeking, his blades were in line with his fletches. It does kinda make sense to the lay shooter/tuner I suppose, but it is surely snake oil. Just a coincidence that someone ran away with.

The way you'd tune a 4-blade is just like a three blade.... you can use some o-rings if you need to, or twist your nock 120 degrees at a time... odd vane might end up to the side... but just use a magic marker and number your new index vane with that arrows number... or draw and UP arrow on it so you'll remember you tuned that one a specific way. Thats part of why I fletch my arrows with three white blazers.

I have to admit, guilty. Before about 10 years ago, I used to buy in the aligning Blades theory. I remember late nights before hutning season heating up inserts and getting just right. Total waste of time.

[Bernie P.]

+1 on what others said.
FWIW-I have the full broadhead test data by Dr. Ed Ashby.He strongly recommends 2 blade heads but 4 blades consistently gave better penetration than 3 blade heads.

[ArrowMike]

lining up blades is a waist of time. If you want your heads to fly good spin test them.

[2eagles]

Lining up the head and fletching isn't a waste of time. I don't know OR care if it makes an arrow fly any better. But, just like so many other games we play, it's mostly mental. If you believe in and have confidence in a skill, you'll probably do it better.