ORIGINAL: mobow
The rest needs to guide the arrow as long as possible to be forgiving ,that is untill the string no longer has contact,then you don't want the rest to be in contact.
Ok....but.....In the case of a nondrop away rest, isn't the arrow in contact w/ the rest after it leaves the string, and not so w/ a drop away?
I referred to this as being soft in germs thread the other day.The prong rest is stiff and allows for little to no contact.RJ pointed out what Cousins did with the cock vane down on a spring steel.Do you think that would be possible to have that much contact with a prong rest and still be accurate?On a prong style,as long as you have the same contact from arrow to arrow,you should be able to repeat somewhat but forgiveness would be out the window.
BUT,the prong rest does give more guidance than a fallaway but it has limitations for clearance.
Watch how the arrow starts to float a little on the prong rest,this is why I don't like a WB,it restricts this from happening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3s2Vq_ZnUo
A spring steel will still be catching the arrow and guiding it,the prong does to,a drop away is out of the picture at this point in most instances.Usually by the time the arrow releases from the string,the arrow is floating above the rest.Not an absolute though.
This is getting into the smallest of details,I can say from experience when I was shooting a deflex bow with a spring steel,the forgiveness was unbelievable.I made shots that I knew was less than perfect but they hit the middle at distance.More than once I said to myself,how did that happen?