Ideal FOC?
 

What is the ideal FOC to achieve consistent and accurate arrow flight? I installed some tracer nocks in my ACC' s this year and now I' m getting a little erratic arrow flight, especially with fixed blade broadheads. The tracer nocks weigh 28 grains each nad it' s all the way on the back of the arrow. I can' t go to a 125 grain head because that puts me out of the recommended spine range for my draw length, weight, and cam type. I suspect that it shifted my FOC to the rear a pretty good bit.

Any help would be appreciated.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I like to keep it around 12-15% FOC

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

Personally, with my setup, I have my FOC aroun 14-15%. I personally like to keep it on the high side. It seems to work well with Fixed Broadheads. Inorder for me to keep the FOC where I like it, I use a 135 grain fixed broadhead with an additional 50 grain weight.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I like being over 10%. If you' re shooting 4" vanes and need to bump FOC up a notch, you can shave about 16 grains off the aft end of the arrow by switching to 4" feathers.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I feel like the oddball because mine is only 8.6%. I get great broadhead flight and with a 600gr arrow at 230 fps incredible penetration.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

What is the effect of having an FOC of less than 10%...say in the 6-8% range?

Is there any published information or report on these findings.
My FOC was around 10%, but when I crested my hunting arrows the FOC went down quite a bit. I was thinking I may have to increase my point/broadhead weight to counter-balance the weight of the crests.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks!

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I' m like Turk_man. For some reason, I could never get the FOC up where everyone said it should be. Mine stayed around 7 percent, but cut bullet holes thru paper, and could group 5 arrows inside a 2" circle at 20 yards. And, my broadheads (Thunderhead 100) hit the same place as my field points.

BTW, my set up, was 43" axle to axle bow, 7" brace height, 70 lbs pull, 65 % letoff, 230 fps, 31" XX78 2514 arrows, three 5" plastic vanes with a pretty severe helical, and 100 grain points. Oh, I shoot fingers too.

I think, maybe, that the old school of 12-15 % FOC was for the majority of hunters (back in those days) that didn' t meticulously fine tune their bows.
Maybe???

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

Bones creaking, hair turning white, face getting wrinkled, my life flashing before my eyes...

Somehow, I don' t seem to recall not meticulously tuning my bows, but then...

memory fading, eyesight blurring, Depends soaked....

[:@]

It' s a point of aerodynamic physics that the more weight forward, the more stable the arrow is in flight. Put enough weight up front and you can do away with fletching altogether, but that would mess with trajectory.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

OK Arthur P...from your rocking chair...and with your experience...what %number works the best? assuming your memory serves you correctly.[&:]

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I' ve done okay, not great, with FOC as low as 9%, but like I said, I prefer being over 10%, generally between 10-12%.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

Sorry Art, no offense meant. By the way, that 45 after my name doesn' t just stand for my favorite caliber any more! [:@] LOL

I just seem to remember that a lot of people didn' t put in the time to tune like I did, and apparently you did too.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

Danny, most ' old schoolers' I knew that bowhunted ' way back when' were also competitive shooters. We had our bows tuned. There were a lot more competitive shooters back then and a good deal fewer bowhunters, but even then compeitive shooters didn' t make up a majority of bowhunters. Today there are a lot more bowhunters and a lot fewer competitive hunters. Competitive shooters aren' t anything but a tiny fraction of everyone out there now. Most bowhunters swear they don' t even have time to shoot a few arrows once or twice a week. If they refuse to make time to practice, I seriously doubt they are making time to meticulously tune their bows.

People that hang out on these forums are far removed from the average ' bowhunter' and that' s a fact that a whole lot of these folks don' t seem to understand. Someone that' s highly experienced can probably get an arrow to shoot pretty decently with low FOC, like 7-8%, but I think it' s an unstable arrow that will be deflected easily and blown around more by the wind than it would be with a higher FOC. That goes especially for shooting into a stiff breeze!

Bump up around 15% and that arrow will plow right along and not much will affect it. There will be detrimental effects on trajectory but those effects won' t be much of an issue over normal hunting yardages. I like to split the difference between those two points.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I like to get mine around 10% or a littl over.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

:Dsomewhere in the 10-14% range....just seems to make the arrow less critical in windy conditions or a less than perfect release(not that I ever have one[:-]).

>>>---DAVIDP---SILERCITY,NC--->

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

This all sounds great, but does this % number need to change if you use those crazy " Turbo nocks" ?

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I think the ideal FOC varies with each set-up. A buddy of mine just got a new Merlin Quest 35, and I don' t know what it is about it' s nock travel with the new Omega cam, but that arrow comes off so straight, I think he could shoot the biggest fixed blade broadhead there is, at around 5% FOC.

A little story about his bow - he was practicing at 20 yards with field tips and noticed something didn' t feel right on his last arrow in a group, and he noticed a very slight fishtail to the arrow. When he pulled it out of the target, he saw that it had lost the field tip and insert on the prior shot. Funny thing, it was dead center in his 1.5" group! Even so, his hunting arrow will have an FOC of about 12%. In a brisk wind, higher FOC becomes far more important.

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

Can I then assume that if your bow is finely tuned that the F.O.C. is not as critical unless there is a stiff cross breeze?

RE: Ideal FOC?
 

I think it depends on the bow. Some need all the help they can get. It seems to me that poor nock travel may affect broadhead flight more than it does a field tip. For instance, if I shot an arrow out of my bow, with no tip, (unlike my friend' s bow) it would probably hit the target sideways, no matter how I tuned my bow. It doesn' t seem as forgiving in this area. However, when I get my FOC up to about 11%, fixed blade broadheads fly quite well.