Arrow "Chasing" my drop away rest

[CO Coyote]

I read a post about the arrow following the drop-away because it wasn't supported long enough. That got me thinking about my set-up with the Rip-Cord drop-away.

To begin, my nock was positioned almost exactly center from the rest, no 1/8" high or anything. Plus, the rest is very sensative to fletch contact, I even shaved off some of the arrow supports on the side to keep it from contacting.

The previous post talked about attaching the launcher cord to the cable further down to force it to support the arrow for the last 3" of arrow travel. When I drew mine back, it "popped" up to support the arrow right as the cam was rolling over, only supporting the arrow for about 1". It is set exactly the way the company advised. They have you set it up "loose" then draw the bow. It will pull the right amound of slack, and at the pre-set amount of tension. Then you lock it down with very little pressure on the cable and launcher cord (because it only needs a tiny bit of "pull" to load the launcher and there should be no further pressure).

I wanted to play with this some, so I tried to adjust the "football" attachment piece down the cable, but couldn't get it tight enough...it would slide up the cable when I drew. So, I served a short section above the football to keep it from moving but then it wouldn't hold the launcher cord, which would slide through the "football" when I drew. So I removed the football, tied a knot in the end of the launcher cord, split the cable in half and poked the cord through. Then I served above and below it to keep it from moving.

Voila! It now supports my arrow for about 3" at the end of the draw. Result: I had to move my nock point up a ton to get it to paper tune. And my fletch contact isn't a problem.

But here is the question that took me a page to get to...how do you know what is enough? It seems that my nock point is too high, plus, I think I'm putting a ton of pressure on my cable and rest mechanism. Why is the company having it hold the arrow as little as possible? Do they not want ANY pressure on the rest? Should I try having it hold the arrow for only 2" instead of three?

Sorry about the long post...thanks for your input.

[Browning_1]

I had somewhat the same problem. I couldn' get complete clearence because the arrow was following the rest.

Solution: Extra high nock position.

Shoots like a dream and is also shooting bullets through paper. I was using a NAP Quicktune DA but it frustrated me too much so I bought a Vital Bow Gear ultimate fall away. Started out having the same problem as the NAP then I just kept moving the knock up and finally I had good arrow flight and total clearence. Mind you, this is a single cam bow which normally calls for a higher nock position anyway. I can't recall how high the nock is but it is probably about 3/8" above center if not a bit more.

She's splitting hairs now and is ready for the WI opener.

[CO Coyote]

If I changed my nock point higher without also changing how long the arrow is held, I would be tearing paper fletch-high (I tried this once, to avoid the fletch contact). Did you have to adjust your rest to hold the arrow longer?

[Browning_1]

I did not adjust the rest to stay up longer. I did have to adjust the rest to go up a bit higher than the recommended 1 1/8" above the shelf. I think mine is closer to 1 1/4" above the shelf. I think by raising everything up it changed my nock travel to it's optimum position. Maybe worth a try anyway.

[oniedaeagle]

i found that a slight high nock tear with a drop away is very good this give you max flecth clearance. i have a nap 2000 on my bow with a 1/8 inch nock high tear and the arrow is flying like a missle and broadheads are hitting right with field points... when i was first started out i tought you needed a perfect bullet hole but when i started learning and fine tuning broadheads so they hit with field point then paper shoot it again i would get slight nock tear.. like every body tells you paper tuning is a startin point.

[oniedaeagle]

buy the way on my hoyt havotec i have the rest come up 1 to 1 1/2 inch before full draw

[dwaasp]

Why is the company having it hold the arrow as little as possible? Do they not want ANY pressure on the rest? Should I try having it hold the arrow for only 2" instead of three?

I do not know the rest you talk about but.

The 3 rest we use are GKF & the company instructs to let them come up the last 1-2"� and this is to correspond to an 8-12"� drop into the power stroke.

So 1"� will let it drop at about 8"� into the power stroke while the pressure on the arrow is accelerating: thus the bow will not become loose in the bow hand before the rest drops.


There must be enough tension on the spring to get it out of the way once it is activated.

The rest mount holes are designed to be at about the elevation as the center of the free string on the bow. That is the fast part of the string and any departure from that setting may cost you speed. The string slows as you get closer to the wheel or cam.

If you have serving at the point you wish to tie the lifting cord you can use a string nock to adjust it: just screw the string nock up & down the serving like a nut.

There should be some elastic in the lifting cord but GKF sells both kinds: if not tie it on with a ring cut from a surgical tube looped on the lifting cord so it will get tighter as pressure is applied.

Sometimes the launch pins are not shaped so one can get the rest low enough. GKF said they were going to ship new ones; but I just reshaped the ones we had.

Even though you have a fall-away rest you still may need to rotate the nock to avoid fletch contact when it is set at correct elevation.

[Mike from Texas]

I just installed my Vital Bow Gear fall away and after getting frustrated a few months back with it, i have it shooting perfectly. I had to set my nock point high as well actually having the arrow over 1" above the shelf. They are now flying like darts out to 50 yards and no fletch contact whatsoever. I have the lift cord served into my down buss cable and set to pull it up in the last 2-3 inches of draw.

I had the same problem when I originally set the rest up , but after talking to some people about it I realized that it would not work using the cable slide and I had it set up too low. I also had it coming up too late and falling too fast so I was getting the same problem as you. As long as I'm getting good grouping and arrow flight and no fletch contact I am not worried about my nock point being high.