How often do you guys replace nocks? Man Im going thru them . I shoot off the string with no cusion , dont know if thats leeding to short nock life , but its definately an issue for me . I've been shooting mostly beman matrix 400's and bought some 3-60 nock inserts thinking they would work with g-nocks , but they fit kind of loose , so I went back to shoot'n my acc 3-49s . One of them was hitting 3" high at 20 yards consistantly , so I spined it and it was fine , rotated nock after checking fletch , ext , and same thing . I put a new nock on and it went dead x , seems like Im getting 200 to 300 shoots out of them and they are gone . I dont want to go to a loop and dont know if that will make any diferance anyway .

What bow are you shooting? Is it a real short ATA? I'm kinda at a loss for suggestions, but maybe your string angle is so accute that you are damaging the nock from pinch with your release and making it get brittle over time. I'd definitly take a serious look at that. You don't want a nock coming apart at the shot. Possible dry fire and injury might happen then you'll have bigger problems. You definitly want to make sure those nocks are snug inside that arrow too. If they are loose, that will eventually cause problems as well.

A string loop will help pinch if that's the problem. Some short ATA bows you almost have to shoot with a loop to keep you arrow from falling off if you have to let down and to eliminate nock pinch.

Several reasons nocks can readily break. Two common causes are 1) too tight on serving, or 2) serving (string) not full seating in nock.

Another cause often overlooked is that when the shafts were fletched the chemical used for cleaning shafts got on or to near nocks. Also, when the shaft is point down while fletch is drying, the vapor from the glue (especially super-glue type) and the cleaner can rise and engulf the nock. Any of these chemicals do have the capability of affecting the integrity of the nock and causing the nock to weaken or become brittle.

C903, I never thought of that. Plastics are very sensitive to harsh chemicals, especially acetone or denatured alcohol. I clean my shafts with denatured alcohol before fletching and I do get some on the nock occasionally while I'm wiping them down. But the stuff evaporates extremely fast. Is it enough to cause issues?

It can be. It is a matter of "Who knows if?"

When I clean a shaft for fletching, I do so the day before I fletch, or several hours before. I clean the area to be fletched with acetone, but with the nock removed (Uni-Nocks). Then I swirl the end in water, shake the water off, and then let the shaft completely dry, nock end down. Some moisture is an activator for certain glues, but not of an amount you will readily see.

When I begin to fletch, I insert the nocks, making sure I do not touch the cleaned area. When I have completed a shaft, I let the glue dry with shaft resting nock down so that the fumes rise away from the nock. I have a small fan that blows on the shafts and dissipates the glue fumes. Real important (fan) if fletching in high humidity.

I don't use chemical cleaners. I sand my carbons to get the slick film off of them. 400 grit paper. Lightly. Clean with denatured alcohol. and start slapping on the feathers. I have never had a feather come off of a shaft. I let them dry about an hour before rotating them. The reason for no chemicals? Carbons have lots of glue in them, just don't like chemicals and glue together. Just the way i do it.

Nocks can make a HUGE difference.

I learned that lesson back in Sept. 1996 (and remember the scenario vividly). I was shooting my Hoyt Raptor Carbonite w/ A-cams. I had set the bow up with AFC 2300 Accell pultruded carbons with their “pin nock” system. I had the bow tuned up really nice and it was spitting out the AFCs w/ Wasp SST 75s very accurately.

I was shooting it so well in fact that I was busting nocks left and right. The AFC nocks were very brittle/soft and would break with any kind of hit. I was making a order from Cabelas for some clothes and other garbage and noticed they had the AFC nocks, so I ordered a dozen.

Well I took off the rest of the old nocks, and installed the new ones the evening I got them, and did not shoot them for a few days. The day I did, I had broadheads careening and cartwheeling like you wouldn’t believe. I tried re-aligning for clearance, powder testing, check cam synch, shot field points..No matter what I could NOT get the broadheads to shoot. I was at a loss.

To make a long story short, I eventually realized I had inadvertently received the wrong throat size nocks (they made two). I reinstalled what old nocks I had left, and instant perfect broadhead flight. And the new nocks didn’t snap much harder than the originals. But that little bit of difference really screwed everything up.

I always change my G-nocks out after a few months now. They do get loose and in effect cause the arrow to act weaker (and too tight makes the arrow act stiffer)

I’m sure that you having the release up against the nock itself is causing premature wear or there is a chemical issue involved. Easton makes it pretty clear in their documentation what you can and cannot get on the shaft/nocks. The only thing they recommend for A/C/E or G-nocks is rubber cement if you want to lock them down. Acetone will screw them up (makes them soft). I found out that Bohning Fletch-Lac (for arrow dipping) will definitely put a hurtin’ on them too Turns the nock shank into jelly over time..

Thanks guys for the reply's . The thing about it is , we strive to get perfectly matched arrows , cutting them square and the same length is easy for me , fletching them I dont have a problem , but nocks are a diferant animal . They can look and seem to fit perfectly , but changeing one can result in atleast a 3" diferance in point of impact . So I guess the moral of the story here is if your haveing consistancy problems from arrow to arrow , make sure you put new nocks in them , given that they look fine otherwise . Or change your nocks and change them often .

Bingo!