after a few days of shooting my viper deluxe 55lb longbow with 29in 2016 arrows with 125grain heads the result is a bloody finger and a very confused person (that would be me) and i shot through 2 arrows to blow them clean in half i shoot it and the arrows dont fish-tail on course no they do like a corkscrew thing but stay straight and i went to paper tune them just about 2min ago the paper looks like it has been shot with a 410gauge slug (the times i cold even hit the paper because the corkscrewed so much) but there is always a cut pointing to the left from the fletching ALWAYS TO THE LEFT and my theory is they hit the shelf being i am a right handed shooter and kick to the left and the feathers dig in to the paper and the arrows are always slighty to the left when they hit the target i dont know whether i have a poor release to cause them to jump around like i am shooting in a tornado (but not fish-tail mind you they just move) and yes i am using a tab i dont know if it the release or if the arrow is to light or to heavy maybe i should go to 2018 29in 125grn points what do you think because it beats me

Paper tuning a longbow? [:'(]

Number 1, the arrow is going slow enough that you can actually SEE how it's flying; And since you're pretty new to shooting a longbow, you most likely have some progress to make with your form and release technique; And remembering that paper tuning is just as much a test of shooting form as it is bow tune; And considering that arrows shot from longbows have a LOT of paradox and the arrows flex back and forth for a good distance downrange before finally stabilizing; And realizing that you ain't nowhere near likely to get a good paper tear with a longbow..... unless, you just get doghouse lucky and manage to find just the right distance to catch the arrow between one of it's flex cycles....

In my opinion, there's not a bigger waste of time than trying to paper tune a longbow. Or even a recurve! Forget it. If anything, bareshaft tune the bow.

The three key points to tuning a tradtional bow are matching the arrow to the bow, nock height and brace height. At this point, I'd recommend twisting the string to raise your brace height until your arrow flight clears up. Higher brace height will usually help offset a rough release.

First how is your form? if not great work on that first. I don't know aluminum arrows, but I would try 2018's that is what I shot out of 55# recurves. with a corkscrew there is contact and either a spine problem or release problem, and I also agree witht he paper tuning. I tried it once and it didn't show me anything, look at your flight, and were they impact, left to stiff, right to weak, high or low = knock point.

Wow, dose this sound like me a few mounth ago. I had the same problems and let me tell ya it wasnt the equipment. My arrows would fly all over, I tried 2020s, 2117s and 2216s, and they all flew bad. Then one day things started to come together and my arrows were flying like darts. Now I can shoot all three arrows andget great flight.

Just like theseguys said you may just need to tune the bow,it tuck alot of exparimenting tell I got the bow were I liked it. You can tell alot by the noise a bow makes, a well tuned bowsoundssmooth. You will need to get to know your bow to tell when it is sounding good. Now I can tell wether or not it is going to be a good shoot just by the noise of the bow, if I get a plang sound top right of the target, I think it is because I pluck the string.

My advice is shootthe bow more befor ya get all worked up, it will come with time and practice. Good luck and have fun.

Like others have said, I would not try to tune the bow for a while until you get used to it. Just work on form. When you can start to group decently, bare shaft tune. FWIW, I do think your arrows area bit underspined.

What happened to your finger?
How did you break two arrows?

well first off i was shooting it yesterday somemore and i just concentrated on my release and form and they flew better and before i knew it i was getting groups in a paper plate from 20 yards away and i also changed the rest material to moleskin instead of velcro and the moleskin wasnt as high as the velcro so it automatically raised my nock point and it shot way better ok my ring finger got a tear in it some how and it hurt so when i was shooting instead of using one finger over two under it was one up one down and that also made it shoot better i broke two arrows belive it or not when i was paper tuning (which i will never do again because...well you saw the posts) i used them to hold up the paper and when i went to shoot the arrow did that spiral thing and took the arrows right in half so i have them saved in my room

See Rick Welch, Volume II. Most of what you need to know starting off is in there. Also, do a google for O.L. Adcock's Tuning guide. Also some very good info there as well. And last but not least, pick the brains of LBR, ArthurP, and Bobco.

Were you using brass nocks? If so, you may want to use a tie on. A tie on is nice because you can twist it up and down the string if you need to adjust the nock position. It is also lighter. And it won't cut your finger.

a tie on? i have never heard of them only brass and thats what i am using now

Brass can be real tough on a glove, tab, or fingers. Plus they are nothing less then a big pain to adjust. Try this link if you are interested.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/ragiwarmbear/diy/ton/tie.html

I don't use the tape that he mentioned, and I also aply just a dap of glue on the last knot before waxing it. You don't want the glue to soak into the string at all though.