This subject recently came up on another forum and the person posting the thread asked: "Can someone tell me if i can shoot broadheads using straight vanes, or if i need to replace them with helical ones...". The answer is 'yes', you can shoot broadheads using straight vanes - that is, IF your bow is exceptionally well-tuned.

In my shop we always tune to straight fletching and then offer the customer whatever style of fletching he/she desires. The tuning of a bow with helical puts a 'bandaid' into the system that may have a corrective action before you really identify the real problems. If your bow is tuned finely with straight fletching, and then you desire to go to an offset or helical, you much further ahead in the confidence and forgiveness areas.

Another poster entered into the conversation on the other forum with a statement about wind affecting arrow flight and how helical would correct this problem. My response was: "As far as wind is concerned, any object will drift with the air flow/current. Airplanes, in order to arrive at a specific destination, sometimes have to fly many degrees off a straight line to counter the wind. Arrows cannot make 'in-flight' course changes; therefore, no amount of helical will really correct for a crosswind."

Another poster brought up the comparison between rifle rifling and arrow spinning. His question was: "If straight fletching is perfectly acceptable... wht then did rifles get away from smoothbore and go to "rifling"???

Simple... it still stabilizes the projectile.

End of story.."

Well, that wasn't really the "End of story.." I responded with: "The ratio of diameter to length of a bullet is QUITE a bit different than that of an arrow. The spin put to a bullet is to attempt to keep it from tumbling. We're also talking about something that travels over a much longer distance at a much greater speed when referring to bullets.

If analogies are to be used, I think we should compare the arrow to a spear (such as those used in the Olympics). If helical fletchings made that much difference on an arrow. why not use them on a spear, which has similar diameter to length characteristics?

Keep in mind that I believe helical fletchings can be helpful; but, I try not to use helical as a cure to insufficient tuning."

Then a poster named "hickock" (USAF) enter the thread with this authoritaritive response: "Okay back to the real question.......the spin induced on the arrow is beneficial always. what it does is insure that no abnormality in weight...glue....or what ever stays on one side of the projectile where it will be allowed to pull it off course....it spins the abnormality and ensures it cancels it's own self out....It shouln't be compaired to the rifling of a bullet because the rifling of a bullet will enduce a centrifical force that will stabilize the bullet like a gyro......arrows won't spin fast enough for this.

The interesting thing about helical fletching with broadheads is that you can induce barrel rolls.....where a particular head attempts to plane but the arrow's spin pulls it around and the result is a nauseating barrel roll towards the target resulting in complete unpredictability."

My final response was: "hickock: Thank you for that clarification. Helical was originally done for wooden arrows to do just what you stated - "....it spins the abnormality and ensures it cancels it's own self out....". Wooden arrows were not straight and had many abnormalities in their design.

I look at the helical more as a drag coefficient rather than a spin characteristic. Too many try to correlate the spinning arrow to the spinning bullet."

While you have my comments/feelings on the subject, I believe it is in the best interest of the sport to get other points of view and to relate them. I hope all this helps.