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Accuracy issues with lighted nocks

Outdoorsman33

Outdoorsman33

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2019
Messages
366
I’m not new to hunting or anything I’ve been shooting more and paying attention more to my shooting. And I’ve been getting better through the years but I’ve grown to notice with lighted knocks my shots tend to vary up to 6 inches sometimes with lighted nocks vs regular nocks. I know that there is a weight difference from regular nocks to lighted but it seemed like the years of me shooting and newer lighted nocks the accuracy just isn’t what I used to get out of them or I’ve just became a better shot I’m not sure. But I’m just curious if anyone else has issues with this and is it enough to you to keep shooting them or are you doing anything different to still get the accuracy out of them? With my regular nocks I can pretty well put every shot in a softball at 30 yards but lighted I’m outside of that.
 
What brand you using? Lumenocks did that to me. Erratic and inconsistent flight even at 30 and und0er. Nockturnal ones didn’t have any issues.
 
Is it consistently off? Down and to the left or straight up? Or is it erratic? Are you using the universal fit or size specific model? I have had no issues using nocturnal nocks for hunting and practice or off brand chinese models for practice. Switching over to glory nocks. I will try to report back if I have issues with that brand.
 
My arrows are nock tuned spun straight I mean any micro tuning I could do at the shop I did it. My arrows are darts with regular nocks but my bow for me is also pretty torque sensitive but I can still drive tacks and shoot through paper and be perfect. It’s just to me growing up and shooting I never really paid attention enough I guess to how much different a lighted nock vs reg nock is. I shoot nocturnals because I’ve tried just about everyone out there but fire nocks and just found that for the price they were the best and quality does vary but weights variance I haven’t found any over 2 grain difference. As I shot today 80% of the shots with lighted nocks were tending to be around 3 inches or more low and sometimes 1-2 inches left I know plenty of people who would be fine with that but not me. I also haven’t ever thought about shooting with lighted nocks through paper to see just how much it changes the spine of my arrows either might need to try that.
 
I really like watching the little fire fly of an arrow zip through stuff but I don’t like sacrificing accuracy for it. I’m just curious if I’m the only one that notices this much or is it just me. I’ve shot with just field points today and I tend to find that when shot with broadhead it can make it worse but it’s just hard to me to believe that on a 300 spine arrow out of a Mathew traverse at 29 70lbs 243fps I think at total weight of 584-586 grains that 10 grains on the back of my arrows would make that much of a difference.
 
I am in full agreement, they look cool but not cool enough to lose accuracy. Since most of the lighted nocks are meant to fit a range of shaft sizes I don't feel you get as good of a connection with the arrow. As we all know if things are just a little off it can produce big problems. For that reason I switched back to factory nocks and haven't had an issue since.
 
I have noticed the same thing with lighted nocks. I want to use them but for some reason they didn't fly as well as non lighted. Only thing I could guess at cause was the tiny change in foc? But perhaps how they fit in the shaft has something to do with it as well. They seem to fit fine?
 
The insert end of the arrow gets too much attention compared to the nock end. I've read credible archers state that alignment (being square) at the nock is more important than at the insert end (but spinning the head is so much more common). This makes sense to me regarding direction of force applied. Also, weight variance at the nock end will have more effect on FOC variance than will weight imprecision at the insert end (because the balance point is closer to the insert and therefore the nock end has more "leverage").

I only had to mess with lighted nocks for a few weeks to know that I'd stick with my Beiter Hunter weight pin nocks (if anyone is looking for a nock recommendation....Beiter pin nocks hunter weight are the best I've used).
 
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Outdoorsman33 said:
I really like watching the little fire fly of an arrow zip through stuff but I don’t like sacrificing accuracy for it. I’m just curious if I’m the only one that notices this much or is it just me. I’ve shot with just field points today and I tend to find that when shot with broadhead it can make it worse but it’s just hard to me to believe that on a 300 spine arrow out of a Mathew traverse at 29 70lbs 243fps I think at total weight of 584-586 grains that 10 grains on the back of my arrows would make that much of a difference.
Click to expand...

I bet the weight and straightness tolerances of lighted nocks are well below premium nocks. Also, I didn't like how they attached to the string. They were too firm and also did not click but then also freely move on the string up and down. Also, they were wider than a standard nock, so I would have to move my tied in nock points inside my d-loop to use them and not get nock pinch.
 
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I agree with a lot of you guy's complaints with lighted nocks. I have tried several brands and wanted to like them because I wanted to be able to check my arrow flight as well as I wanted to be able to see my point of impact on game but there just seems to be to many inconsistencies with them as far as working well. Most were also thicker than my normal nocks effecting my nocking point and they just didn't seem to fly as well and affected my shot groups by 2 or 3 inches. They just weren't worth all the hassle for me even though I sure could have used them to help my aging eyesight.
 
I personally haven't noticed a difference in accuracy with any brand I've tried. Tie d loop with the lighted nock u plan to hunt with. Test and tune with the nock u plan to hunt with. My main problem with them is inconsistency lighting up. IMO they are too useful in hunting situations to not use them. Save all the bad ones to use for tuning and target practice in the yard. IMO all the brands suck but some suck less than others. Nocturnal has given me the least problems. Haven't tried glory nock and when current nocks need replacing I try those. Currently have a couple nocturnal that lasted more than 1 season and some of the thunder nock they sell on camofire... Price is good on those but I need some plyers to turn them off.. Not a problem in the hunt woods but a pain in the butt for shooting around the house.
 
Sounds like nock pinch to me...you may need a smaller diameter center serving if you want to continue using those nocks. Don’t know that for sure without the bow being in front of me, but that would be my first guess.
 
I had a similar issue with lighted nocks. Every single one I tried (I got 6 for a birthday present) was approximately 2.5 - 3" low at 30 with field tips as compared to the standard nocks. I pulled them and ran the standard nocks as I wasn't going to fight that issue so close to hunting season. Maybe give them another shot this year.
 
Outdoorsman33 said:
I really like watching the little fire fly of an arrow zip through stuff but I don’t like sacrificing accuracy for it. I’m just curious if I’m the only one that notices this much or is it just me. I’ve shot with just field points today and I tend to find that when shot with broadhead it can make it worse but it’s just hard to me to believe that on a 300 spine arrow out of a Mathew traverse at 29 70lbs 243fps I think at total weight of 584-586 grains that 10 grains on the back of my arrows would make that much of a difference.
Click to expand...
You might be close to underspined with your setup and the lighted nocks might push you over the edge. I shoot 300 spine with 60# weight and 30" DL out of a halon x. My arrows hit the same lighted or regular nocks.
Our total arrow weight is almost identical.
 
I’d guess nock pinch. There aren’t many other factors that could cause the difference in accuracy you’re describing. Definitely not the few additional grains of weight.

What’s your arrow length? Spine is the only other thing I can think of. Have you run the numbers through archers advantage or some other software? I’m shooting 300’s at 63 pounds with 185-210 up front. You might be close to underspined.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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