Bareshafting: Should this concern me?

Browning_1 · 08-11-2003, 12:29 PM

I have recently been tuning my bow. Shooting great through paper. Shooting good groups at 20 yards and fair groups at 30yards. I tried shooting a bare shaft just to see what it would do and I could see it fishtail hard left. It also hit the target very far from the fletched arrows. I am shooting a HCA 4 runner single cam with CX300 carbons and 100 grain tips. I don' t hear all that much on Bareshafting single cam bows.

Should I be concerned?

Macdaddy · 08-11-2003, 12:59 PM

Browning, I must ask why would one shoot a bare shaft? Would you ride a bike without handle bars? Fly a plane without wings?

You should not shoot a bare shaft at a target. Sometimes guys paper tune their bow with a bare shaft so that they don' t missread the fletching tear on the paper.

Should you be concerned? not with the results it' s lucky that you even hit the target. I would suggest that you head over to the local magazine rack and check out some good Bowhunting mags. With the fall comming up there will be many articles on safety, setup, success etc.

BobCo19-65 · 08-11-2003, 01:08 PM

Everything you want to know about bareshaft tuning. I rarely use it because I usually tume my bow with broadheads. Don' t ever try bareshaft tuning with broadheads.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joetapley/bst.htm

Arthur P · 08-11-2003, 01:21 PM

Never bareshaft with a broadhead on the arrow, for sure. But there' s nothing wrong with using the method with target or field points. I do it all the time, out of all my bows. Mostly with my stickbows, but occassionally on my compounds too, generally using it for setting a rough nockset height and checking arrow spine. I do shoot fingers with all my bows though and I think the method is better left to fingers shooters.

However, a bareshaft arrow shouldn' t react that badly, no matter whether you' re shooting fingers or release. Something' s not adding up. Either your centershot is way off or your arrows have some spine issues. Or you' re torquing the snot out of your bow.

How about posting the rest of your particulars - arrow length, draw length, draw weight. I assume you' re shooting release.

Browning_1 · 08-11-2003, 01:44 PM

I understand the fact that bareshaft tuning is more or less for finger shooters and recurve bows. I read somewhere where someone was using bare shafts to tune his compound. In turn, I was curious to see what kind of flight I got with the bare shaft.

At this point it did not concern me because I was shooting pretty good. 2" groups out to 25 yards and 3-4" groups at 30-35 yards. I have done many tuning steps to get to this point . My shooting form seems very consistent. Hand torgue was somewhat of a concern but I think I have greatly reduced it from daily practice. I try and shoot about 80-100 arrows each day. I tuned for nock height using the horizontal line method and tuned the rest using the vertical line method.

In essence I was just wondering with all the given points if shooting a bare shaft would fly this much differently since I had never tried it in the past.

I am shooting HCA 4 runner with cx300 carbons tipped with 100grain FP. Draw weight is 73#. Draw length is 30" . Can' t remember what the arrow length is exactly but 32" sounds right. The rest is a Quicktune 2000 Drop away. I am also shooting a release. This is only my second season shooting this bow and has been a big change from the bows I used in the past. Solo cam VS. Dual cam and axle to axle length are among the biggest differences. Since gettin this bow I had to adjust my form somewhat to reduce torque due to the more unforgiving nature of the shorter bow length. All in all I think it is a great improvement.

Thanks for any advice.

CAJUNBOWHNTR · 08-11-2003, 07:06 PM

If your arrows are 32" at 72# they are under spined according to the carbon express charts.try reducing the poundage and the tip weight.I bet the bare shaft will impact alot closer.If they are 30 inches you are right on the edge between 300' s and 400' s.If your draw lenfgt is 30" why are you shooting 32" arrows?depending on what rest you use you may be able to cut them down,this will increse the spine.

CB

Rack-attack · 08-11-2003, 08:25 PM

A bare shaft should not fly that poorly.

You say you are getting good groups with field points.

How about broadheads?? That bow needs to be tweaked for good broadhead flight.

Macdaddy - I can group bare shafts very tight at 25 yds. - they fly perfectly straight if the bow is tuned for it.

A properly tuned bow will " usually" but bare shafts withen a few inches of fletched shafts at 20 yds.