...after a few hundred shots they wouldn' t " zip" back together and thus they were taller than originally.
Jason, when feathers do that, running them over the spout of a steaming teapot will zip ' em right back up. Even holding them over a pot of boiling water will do it. Just don' t get the feathers soaking wet and stand the arrows up to dry where the feathers won' t be leaning against anything.