Help me understand bare shaft tuning...

[Dairy King]

How exactly does this work?

[thesource]

If you do a yahoo search you will find all the details, but I will summarize what I do.

Put a rough mechanical setup on your bow (level nocking point, eyeball the centershot by splitting the riser with the string and adjusting the rest inline)

Get close to the target - 10 yds if you're brave.

Shoot a group of 3 normal fletched arrows aimed dead on center ( don't worry if the group is off center yet). Now, without adjusting your aiming point, try to shoot a bare shaft (normal point, normal nock - no fletching) into the group.

Tune vertical offset first. If the bareshaft shoots higher than your fletched group, raise your nocking point or lower your rest. If the bareshaft shoots lower than the fletched group, lower your nocking point or raise your rest.

Repeat until the bareshaft is on the same horizontal plane as your fletched group.

Still at 10 yds, tune horizontal offset. If the bareshaft is left of the fletched group, move your rest to the right. If the bareshaft is right of the fletched group, move your rest to the left. Repeat until the bareshaft is on the same vertical plane as your fletched group.


Now you have a rough tune. I usually adjust my sights at this point, because additional tuning is on a much finer scale after this step.

Now move back to 20 yds, and repeat. Fire the 3 arrow fletched group, follow up with the bareshaft. Even though we were decent with the 10 yd tune, we can really dial it in now at 20. Tiny adjustments will bring the bareshaft back into the fletched group.

I usually realign my sights (if required) and walk back again to 30 yds, and repeat. From this far, you can see the bareshaft in flight, and it always amazes me that an unfletched arrow can fly so straight! (Of course, a bare shaft probably wouldn't flyso good with a broadhead on it!)

Which brings me to my final tuning step. Even with a bow tuned to shoot bareshafts with fletched arrows to 30 yds, what matters is our broadhead tipped arrows. I do the same walk back tuning with fletched broadheads, eventually refining the tune on the bow so that broadheaded arrows shoot with fieldpoints to 30 yds.

Hope that helps.

[zak123]

Never shoot broadheads on bare shafts. The fight is extremely dangerous.

[ewolf]

ORIGINAL: thesource

If you do a yahoo search you will find all the details, but I will summarize what I do.

Put a rough mechanical setup on your bow (level nocking point, eyeball the centershot by splitting the riser with the string and adjusting the rest inline)

Get close to the target - 10 yds if you're brave.

Shoot a group of 3 normal fletched arrows aimed dead on center ( don't worry if the group is off center yet). Now, without adjusting your aiming point, try to shoot a bare shaft (normal point, normal nock - no fletching) into the group.

Tune vertical offset first. If the bareshaft shoots higher than your fletched group, raise your nocking point or lower your rest. If the bareshaft shoots lower than the fletched group, lower your nocking point or raise your rest.

Repeat until the bareshaft is on the same horizontal plane as your fletched group.

In my opinion this is correct. If the bareshaft is left or right this is spine. If the bareshaft is left (Release, RH) then MOST LIKELY (sometimes this is backwards) your arrows are weak. To fix weak arrows, decrease draw weight, decrease point weight, or shorten arrows. The opposite for stiff (right bareshaft) arrows. Now once you get the bare shaft hitting into the group, then you need to check centershot. Shot arrows in a vetical line, starting at 10 yards and shooting to 30 (every 5 yards). If the arrows make a C, the arrows rest needs to be moved in. If the arrows make a backwards C, then the arrow rest should be moved out. Then bareshaft again once the centershot is set.

Here is the reason why I decent to the other method of bareshaft tune moving the arrow rest. Once the bareshaft hits dead on at 30 yards, change point to 125 or 100. The bareshaft moves. Why would a point weight change effect centershot? Moving the rest will effect the spine reading, but this is simply a bandaid in my opinion.

[thesource]

ewolf - valid points.

I assumed that most folks will put in the time and research to have a properly spined arrow and proper point weight to begin with.

[Dairy King]

So, since Im WAY overspined, (I shoot 55# but Im good all the way up to 72#) would bareshaft tuning work for me?

[ewolf]

ORIGINAL: thesource

ewolf - valid points.

I assumed that most folks will put in the time and research to have a properly spined arrow and proper point weight to begin with.

I would be interested to see how well your bow shots the step back test that I use. I also know some that set a 20 yard pin, and shot at 30 with that pin. Then move the rest to make the 20 pin shoot dead on (left and right) at 30. Generally, if I have to move the rest it is very very little(this is not very often, I shot longer ATA length bows and centershot is always dead in the middle of the grip).

Do your broadheads fly right with the field points, Without tunning them there?

[Dairy King]

Do your broadheads fly right with the field points, Without tunning them there?

Got me. [&:] I just got the bow last Monday, and so far all Ive done is paper tuned it. I dont have a broadhead target to see, I would have to go to my cousins to see, but that may be forever til then.

[ijimmy]

If you are shooting off of the risor , with fingers , it may be of some use to you , as you shoot an oneida , without a cabel gaurd . This tuneing method is mostly for traditonal shooter useing fingers .

[thesource]

ORIGINAL: ewolf
I would be interested to see how well your bow shots the step back test that I use. I also know some that set a 20 yard pin, and shot at 30 with that pin. Then move the rest to make the 20 pin shoot dead on (left and right) at 30. Generally, if I have to move the rest it is very very little(this is not very often, I shot longer ATA length bows and centershot is always dead in the middle of the grip).

Do your broadheads fly right with the field points, Without tunning them there?

With bareshaft tuning to 30 yds, My broadheads fly into the field point group without any tweaks. In fact, I shot Muzzy 4 blades, Thunderheads, and Cabela Lazer Pro Mags into the same spot with no additional tuning.

Needless to say, I was quite pleased.

I hear what you're saying, though. Generally, rest adjustments are TINY, even from the mechanically gauged centershot. When I used a TM hunter rest, it would take hours of fiddling to get it in since I would over-adjust the left-right (and mess up the up-down while I was at it. If you ever used the original TM, you probably know what I mean)