Bols

After just three indoor range sessions, my brand new arrows are looking beat up. The vanes have taken the brunt of the load, most of them are beginning to ripple and even a few of them have torn.

My question is, changing vanes isn't necessarily done on a time frame correct? It is more of, when they are showing wear you change them right? And how much wear is too much wear? I know my shooting form probably ins't perfect when I shoot yet (since I am a new archer) but I am wondering if my old nocking pattern (fletching clearance of my rest has now been fixed) and these rippled and tornvanes are causing more of the inaccuracy then my shooting form, bow setup, etc.

Right now I have 5575 Gold Tip Expedition Hunters on a 50 lb. 29'' draw length bow. They are fitted with Gold Tip nocks and inserts along with Gold Tip 4'' vanes. When hunting season rolls around, I hope to be up around 55-60 lbs of draw. I will also be buying new carbon shafts before hunting season as well. I am thinking about going with Gold Tip Pro Huntersbare shafts andhave them fletched with adifferent vane ordo them myself.

If I did go to a switch of vanes on my current arrows, what type of vane should I be looking into getting? (Quickspin, Duravanes, Blazers, etc.) I am not really impressed with the Gold Tip vanes, the shafts are nice, but not the vanes. They have seemed to wear out a little faster than I have expected. Maybe this is common, I really don't know since I haven't been around the sport very long.

Any help regarding this matter would be great!

Thanks for your time, I appreciate all the help I get from this forum.

The Rev

As I stated in another post, for me blazers work best. But then you're proably going to get different answers, but the question should be why are you vanes getting tore up? Are you making contact with your arrow rest. Have you done the powder test on your rest? Spray your prongs of your rest with foot powder, and shoot an arrow, and look to see if you have powder on your vanes. This will tell you for sure, then you can adjust your nock to see if you're getting clearance.
Bob <><

nubo

First of it sound's as as though you are using a whisker biscuit rest ,because sometime's this is usually the reason for your veinwear ,or maybe your pulling your arrow's through your target and not pulling them out like you should be .
As for your arrow's Gold tip make's a great arrow ,try the Blazer's vein's I'm sure you'll like them ,but if your using a biscuit ,I'm sure it wouldn't matter what vein your using ,you'll continuously run into this problem.

nubo

Bols

I will fill you in on some of the questions you guys raised.

Rev, I know for sure my vanes were striking the prongs of my Bodoodle rest, you can see a nasty wear mark already on the bottom of the rest. LOL. The plastic that is on the prongs are also pretty well wore out. Stupid me. Never even though about vane clearance until I got to think about it for a while. That is anew shooter for ya! I haven't been able to shoot yet since I worked on my clearance issues, so hopefully I get can get out there and start trying my new nock position. I will definately try the powder test and see if I have indeed fixed the clearance issues.

Nubo, I have only been shooting on an indoor range and I have been pulling the arrows out instead of through. Thanks for the advice though, that could definately put some strain on the vanes. My rest is a Bodoodle Zapper 300. It is a total containment style rest with 3 prongs to hold the arrow in place throughout the shot. I got a GlenDel Full Rut Buck for Christmas, so I can't wait till I can practice outdoor on my family farm.

So with that information out of the way, I am pretty sure I know that my old nocking position was causing the vanes to hit the prongs on the rest, but I guess I was wondering whether I should go ahead and change the vanes, or just shoot for a little while longer with them torn and rippled. When is a vane just too wore out to perform properly?

Thanks again guys.

The Rev

Bols I wouldn't change the vanes until you have worked out your clearance problems. I shoot a boododdle pro series and I love it, just make sure you rotate the nocks until you get the proper clearance, you may need to adjust your prongs to open up more.I only have about1/8 you may need a little moregap between the prongs. Then after you've worked out all the issues, then change them out.As far as the arrows not flying good. If I were you just concentrage on not making contact and good shooting form. Replace your vanes as you destroy them.
That is one reason, I went to the blazers, I was shooting the vanes off my arrows target shooting.

gibblet

besides what you're doing, and what those 2 fine fella's said, you can take a hair dryer on hot and it will straighten those vanes out.

Bols

Thanks for the help gibblet. You learn something new everyday, then there are those days where you learn more than you had expected!

Primitive Weapon

I bought a Bitzenburger fletching jig and have been re-fletching my arrows with 2" Blazer vanes. The seem to be super durable and are simple to put on with the bitzenburger jig.

ijimmy

The kind that are made of feathers

AllenRead

The vanes that have been the most durable for me are the
Vanetec's.I heard ofadhesion problems with some of the colors, but I have firsthand experience with green and orange and have had no problems.

I understand that Gold Tipbought Vanetec. This is recent enough that your arrows almost certainlydon't have them as original vanes.

Aneven better feature ofVanetecs is that they are the least expensive vane available.

Like the others posted, be sure to get the clearance problem fixed as soon as you can. It will affect arrow flight and accuracy.