Dairy King, there are a lot of boards here that are not archery related, just because someone has a high post count does not mean they know everything.
I think i know the answer to this question but i am not 100% sure so i will let someone smarter than me answer it
Not that I'm smarter than anyone, but I'd say that helical are superior by far. If everything is perfect, then offset works just as well, but if the spine is a bit off, or the tuning not perfect, or the wind is blowing, then helical will work better.
It causes the arrow to spin faster which tends to correct any deviations in flight.
My suggestion is this, if you are using feathers, and can get the clearance though the rest, use helical, if you have a drop away, then there should be not problem. For vanes, personally, I like an decent offset and not a helical. Helicals can be put on using vanes however, but it is somewhat difficult.
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"I do not Hunt animals to Kill them. I kill animals because I Hunt." Roger Rothhaar
I have went around the world with fletchings and arrangements for years ! I shot feathers on an offset for the last 3 years and just switched back to vanes with a hard helical this year !
An offset IMO is fine for target shooting and expandables ! It can also work with fixed blades........but IMHO........nothing works better ( accuracy wise) for fixed blade heads than a good helical........assuming your getting good rest clearance !
...An offset IMO is fine for target shooting and expandables ! It can also work with fixed blades........but IMHO........nothing works better ( accuracy wise) for fixed blade heads than a good helical........assuming your getting good rest clearance !
Very well said indeed! However, if you have your bow tuned really well you can still have very good accuracy using fixed blades and offset fletching. But, when you shoot that same broadead and arrow combination but with a good helical, then look out nocks and fletching because something is going to get torn up!! (goodbye great groups...hello robinhoods and shredded arrows!!) IMO anyway. I've had much, much tighter broadhead groups with helicals.
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zak I agree with the above statements. It can go back to the whole deal about why they put rifling in gun barrels now, just to add rotation for greater accuracy. They can also be more forgiving (as mentioned earlier). If you got rest clearance, then do it.
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The Rebellion's "Oklahoma Twister of Words"...
Four years ago, I went to the PSE shooter's school at Creekwood Archery, just outside of Brockport, New York. The instructer was George Chapman, who will forget more about archery in a day than most of us will learn in a lifetime. Anyways, George told us about a test he did with three differently fletched arrows, one fletched straight, one fletched offset, and the last one fletched helical. At 20 yards, there was no real world difference between the offset and helical, but both of those grouped tighter than the straight fletched arrows. He then went to some insane distance like 90 yards, and his findings were quite eye opening. The straight fletched arrows were garbage, the offset were something like 20" group, and the helical was under 6". This of course was done with a shooting machine to test just the ability of the fletching, not the archer.
For the past several years, I have used 4" helical feathers, and I don't think I will go back to anything different. They seem to stabilize very well, and my broadheads, Steelforce 100's, group right along side of my field points.
Helical vs. Offset
