Interesting this thread should come up.
Recently my good friend and one of our illustrious moderators, Matt/PA, sent me some finished arrow shafts, and they were fletched w/ 3" vanes w/a pretty good offset bordering on a slight helical. I enjoyed really good accuracy with them at least out to 40 yards. For mech' s I don' t see this as a problem assuming a well tuned bow and enough offset.
To continue the story, since I' m a " feather guy" , I went out and bought some 3" feathers for another dozen arrows, knowing that feathers offer more stability per inch than plastic. I fletched these in a heavy right helical. A tad noisy in flight at 287 FPS, but very accurate. Unfortunately my fletching jig is old, and I was having a hard time keeping the feathers on because the helical clamps wouldn' t sit right. So I pulled out another old fletcher, but I only had a straight clamp for it. W/ the 3" feathers I wasn' t able to get much of an offset without the same prob as I had w/ the old jig....so I put on what I could get..it was very close to a straight fletch.
Although quieter, there was a noticeable drop-off in forgiveness, especially at 30 yards plus. I just wasn' t holding the groups as tight when I' d make a mistake. So over the weekend I found a bargain on a 100 count bag of 5" feathers. I used to shoot 5" feathers with agressive offset on ACC 3-71' s for a few years, but it' s been about 6 years since I switched to 4" feathers with a helical.
Long story short, I forgot what I was missing w/ those 5" feathers. Talk about massive stability (without increased weight)! As I told Matt in an email I think I could attach a bayonet to the front and get them to fly. My groups tightened up noticeably, my " pin gap" closed up a bit (less downrange velocity decay yet I still gaining stability), and even intentionally making a mistake, my misses ended up being good hits, especially at 25 yards plus. In addition to alot of extra stability, I have better fletch clearance (I' m not using a drop-away) and much less feather " hiss" due to using only an offset as compared to a heavy helical w/ shorter feathers.
Moral of the story: IMO, you can never have enough stabilization when working on a hunting rig. The short vanes/feathers WILL work w/ a mech or very small fixed blade head, but you' ve got to put one out there as good as you do on the range all day long. IME, I alway seem to be in awkward positions shooting, and nothing ever goes right. I like knowing that when I make a mistake, that I' ve got something working for me instead of against me to help minimize those inevitable goofs!
