Last night I shot my muzzy 100gr 3 blade for the first time. Was using the practice blades. The braodhead was 5" high and 5" to the right at 25 yards. My field points fly "dead nuts" out to 35 yards.
I am shooting carbon express arrows, TM hunter arrow rest, Legacy at about 65lbs wiht 28.5" draw length.
I am not experienced in tuning a bow and was wondering if there is something simple that I can adjust to possibly correct the problem. I was hoping that the Legacy would be tuned coming out of the box.
Thanks in advance..

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MJR10,

Sorry, but bows are not rifles, in the sense that you open them up, sight in a scope, and anyone can go hungting with it. Also, any Mathews Legacy will be no better "tuned" out of the box than a new PSE $200 combo right off the shelf at Wal-Mart.

First off, your field points and broadheads may NEVER shoot in the exact same spot. You can go crazy trying to achieve it. If you have good flight with broadheads, just change your sight settings for hunting.

Second, to achieve good broadhead flight, it is critical that you have good arrow spine. That means having the right stiffness arrow to match your bow. Perfect spine is a FINE adjustment, although "close" is often good enough. The better your spine, the more forgiving your setup, and the easier time you'll have swapping to broadheads. IF you selected the right carbon express arrow and you are close to being the right spine, you can adjust your bow's draw weight to control how much force is shoved into the arrow.

A quick and easy way to test your setup (especially good for tough carbon arrows like yours) is bare shaft testing. Take one or two arrows and cut the fin portion off the vane (leaving the base and glue on the shaft to maintain arrow weight.) Shoot your fletched arrows and bare shafts (both with field points only) at a target from about 10 yards. If your bow-to-arrow spine relationship is good and your centershot settings are acceptable, the bare shafts will hit close to the fletched ones. If they don't hit close, you know that your fletchings are having to do too much work to correct the flight of the arrow after it leaves the bow.

MJR10,

Sorry, but bows are not rifles, in the sense that you open them up, sight in a scope, and anyone can go hungting with it. Also, any Mathews Legacy will be no better "tuned" out of the box than a new PSE $200 combo right off the shelf at Wal-Mart.

First off, your field points and broadheads may NEVER shoot in the exact same spot. You can go crazy trying to achieve it. If you have good flight with broadheads, just change your sight settings for hunting.

Second, to achieve good broadhead flight, it is critical that you have good arrow spine. That means having the right stiffness arrow to match your bow. Perfect spine is a FINE adjustment, although "close" is often good enough. The better your spine, the more forgiving your setup, and the easier time you'll have swapping to broadheads. IF you selected the right carbon express arrow and you are close to being the right spine, you can adjust your bow's draw weight to control how much force is shoved into the arrow.

A quick and easy way to test your setup (especially good for tough carbon arrows like yours) is bare shaft testing. Take one or two arrows and cut the fin portion off the vane (leaving the base and glue on the shaft to maintain arrow weight.) Shoot your fletched arrows and bare shafts (both with field points only) at a target from about 10 yards. If your bow-to-arrow spine relationship is good and your centershot settings are acceptable, the bare shafts will hit close to the fletched ones. If they don't hit close, you know that your fletchings are having to do too much work to correct the flight of the arrow after it leaves the bow.

Sorry for the double post.

Thanks for the input guys. I thinkn the easiest thing for me to do it take it to a pro shop and let them tune it. This is my 2nd year of hunting and I really have no experience with paper test, arrow spine, etc. I had the pro shop set me up. I am shooting a 29" carbon express 300. I have looked at the arrow chart and for my draw weight it seems to be the right arrow. I could always go back to my rocket steelheads that were successful last year. I just wanted to see what all the hype was about with the muzzy. Thanks guys.

Matt

Matt,

Hopefully you have a good shop, but I would strongly recommend starting to tune your bow yourself. For one thing, continuing the rifle analogy, they CAN'T set it up exactly right for you because every person puts their own amount of torque on the grip in their own way. Through tuning, you can set up your bow to "cancel out" your particular effects.

Once you get into it, it's a very enjoyable aspect of archery. There are only 2 needs you have to tune to: 1)spine and 2)alignment. Assuming the shop got you in the right ballpark with the arrow, you could use the bare shaft testing I mentioned to adjust your spine. If they don't hit close together, take 2 turns or so off your limb bolts and shoot again. You'll either get better or worse results. If it's better, keep going. If worse, tighten your bolts back in the opposite direction.

No tuning guide rules apply to ALL bow setups. For instance, the published "rules" you see for bare shaft tuning were intended for finger release shooters. But, you should go to Eastons archery website and download the Tuning Guide from the tech section. It will at least give you a feel for what settings you can adjust on your own and what effects they might have.

Good Luck!

CapestoneME. Thanks for the info. I think I will give the bare shaft test a try. That doesn't look too difficult. I will also take a look at the Easton tuning guide that everyone speaks so highly of. Thanks again.

Matt

I have a Mathews MQ1 and it always shot my carbon arrows / 100 grain Thunderheads 2" high and 1" to the left over field tips. I brought the bow to the pro shop and we re-tuned the bow. The broadheads and field tips shoot identical out to 32 yards (as far as I practice). It is great. I believe that you can get it really close with testing and I personally would start with a pro shop and pay them the $15-$25 bucks to help you out. Money well worth it in my opinion.

I have a Legacy as well and shoot the GK Mirage rest. I've found that once my bow was properly tuned that it shoots broadheads about as good as the field/mechanical tips. At 45 yards my field tips group about 3" while the braodheads group about 5". Both hit right on or near my aiming point. At closer yardage things tighten up even more. My advice to you is to check your setup for proper tuning, then check your arrows for spine and shoot at least 4" feathers/vanes. Spinning your arrows helps as well to make sure everything is straight. This should fix your problem. Remember though, most likely broadheads will never shoot as well as fields, is just a matter of aerodynamics. Good Luck