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Bareshaft/ arrow tuning

jtw0057

jtw0057

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2021
Messages
621
How far do y’all typically stand from the paper you’re shooting through? And any thoughts on how that distance could change things.

Got some new arrows and have bullet holes through paper with bareshafts from like a foot or 2 away. Is that too close to be shooting to check tune?


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You can shoot bare shaft from twenty yards if you want to. I’ll shoot bare shaft at thirty and forty. It really shows you how dialed in your bow, your torque and arrow rest and everything are.
It’s also amazing to know how accurate you are with the arrow mentally. Then once you add fletching it’s like adding even more confidence because you know if a shot doesn’t go where you wanted that it wasn’t the equipment.
 
For paper tuning, I shoot at about 10'. When I have good flight through paper, I shoot a group of fletched arrows at 10 yards and then shoot bareshafts, adjusting so they group together. Then I repeat at 20 yards, then 30. When my fletched arrows are grouping with my bareshafts at 30 yards, I'm done.
 
I start by shooting bareshafts through wax paper (really anything except newspaper which doesn't tear as well for me) until I get bullet holes every distance I shoot from 10 feet out to around 30 feet. I just randomly walk around in that range really. I am a bit more systematic if I encounter a problem. I then shoot fletched and bareshafts together at 10 yards and then 20 and then 25 yards. I then shoot fletched field points vs fletched broadheads at 40 yards.
 
To those who can get good consistent bareshaft flight past 10-15 yards I salute you… maybe it’s the bow I currently shoot combined with my grip, or arrow spine, but at 15-20 yards I have a hard time with perfectly consistent bullet holes no matter how hard I try. I start close to paper, work back to the length of my garage and that’s about as good as I can get. Decent results from that point with big fixed heads, but still not perfect. Don’t forget to shoot some fletched through paper as well, I was getting fletching contact with my drop away that of course bare shafts weren’t showing, that goofed me up for 6 months. Also, if you’re going to shoot heavier lighted nocks might as well buy the practice nocks to match those if they’re available.
 
Alright so should probably shoot past a few feet. I can probably stretch out to 10 or so on my balcony but past that I’ll have to head to the range.

My process this past year was set up center shot 13/16” then shot bareshaft through paper and got a bullet hole (couple feet on balcony). I then fletched and shot through paper at about 5-10 yards and was still good. When shooting broadheads I had to move my rest and it ended up more like 12/16 but the broadheads hit better. I’ve been missing left on deer a lot this year and it’s been quite frustrating so working on some new arrows currently.

I returned my center shot to 13/16. I have heavier inserts and am switching to smaller broadheads to hopefully help with tuning as well. I don’t have any way to shoot through paper at longer distances but I can head to the 3D range and check how straight the arrows are pointing on impact. Assuming those are straight and hitting with fletched arrows I should be good to go when I throw on the broadheads.


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Shooting past a few feet really exaggerates the tears which makes it easier to see what to adjust. Further you go out the more micro tuned your bow gets.
 
jtw0057 said:
Alright so should probably shoot past a few feet. I can probably stretch out to 10 or so on my balcony but past that I’ll have to head to the range.

My process this past year was set up center shot 13/16” then shot bareshaft through paper and got a bullet hole (couple feet on balcony). I then fletched and shot through paper at about 5-10 yards and was still good. When shooting broadheads I had to move my rest and it ended up more like 12/16 but the broadheads hit better. I’ve been missing left on deer a lot this year and it’s been quite frustrating so working on some new arrows currently.

I returned my center shot to 13/16. I have heavier inserts and am switching to smaller broadheads to hopefully help with tuning as well. I don’t have any way to shoot through paper at longer distances but I can head to the 3D range and check how straight the arrows are pointing on impact. Assuming those are straight and hitting with fletched arrows I should be good to go when I throw on the broadheads.


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Click to expand...
This is what the fixed blade crew seems to ignore, tune all you want and you still can’t guarantee good flight from the stand. There are some fixed that fly pretty close to field points though. If you’re missing left could be a grip or form or panic issue, and many fixed won’t forgive it.
 
neonomad said:
To those who can get good consistent bareshaft flight past 10-15 yards I salute you… maybe it’s the bow I currently shoot combined with my grip, or arrow spine, but at 15-20 yards I have a hard time with perfectly consistent bullet holes no matter how hard I try. I start close to paper, work back to the length of my garage and that’s about as good as I can get. Decent results from that point with big fixed heads, but still not perfect. Don’t forget to shoot some fletched through paper as well, I was getting fletching contact with my drop away that of course bare shafts weren’t showing, that goofed me up for 6 months. Also, if you’re going to shoot heavier lighted nocks might as well buy the practice nocks to match those if they’re available.
Click to expand...

Are you shooting bareshafts through paper at 20 yards? I haven't heard of that before. Most compare bareshafts to fletched point of impact and angle in target at that distance.

It does become hyper critical of form, tune, and wind at that range.

Also, "perfect" bareshaft flight at that range is sometimes a bit overstated. Someone on archerytalk will post a hero picture of a bareshaft and fletched touching at 40 yards and declare perfection (same thing as posting 100 yard groups and acting like you do that all day).

I tune bareshafts and fletched at 25 yards until they are close enough to same impact that they look like my normal groups at that range, which is around tennis ball sized. I shoot multiples to make sure it wasn't a fluke that made them touch (some folks tend to think bad stuff might be due to chance but a randomly good thing is obviously not due chance...common bias). I also look for kick in the bareshaft. My bow at 265 fps is slow enough that in good lighting I can watch the arrow. If the bareshaft behaves and goes down range like a little laser, then that's important to me.

But the proof in the pudding for a hunter is how your fixed blade broadheads fly.

If someone is having issues with shooting bareshafts at 20 or more yards due to needing to work on their grip, then I'd suggest getting perfect bullet holes through paper with bareshafts at close range and then getting broadheads and field points to hit together at the farthest range you will shoot at game.....and just skip the long range bareshaft tuning for the time being. It is common to chase your tail with bareshafts due to inconsistency and you are just randomly de-tuning your bow based upon what the wind or your grip did on the last few shots.
 
neonomad said:
This is what the fixed blade crew seems to ignore, tune all you want and you still can’t guarantee good flight from the stand. There are some fixed that fly pretty close to field points though. If you’re missing left could be a grip or form or panic issue, and many fixed won’t forgive it.
Click to expand...

yep, some fixed heads are way less critical to form and tuning flaws

some of the best flying heads that are almost hard to make fly bad have been, for me, QAD Exodus swept blades

folks say it doesn't matter what head you shoot if your bow is perfectly tuned....sure, but that requires a perfect shooter in the field while in a tree stand wearing a parka with a big buck making you nervous.....i go with a forgiving setup to make my job easier.....on days where i might have to shoot past 30 yards or it is really windy, i use a sevr 1.5 mechanical (i keep 2 qads and 2 sevrs in my quiver)
 
neonomad said:
This is what the fixed blade crew seems to ignore, tune all you want and you still can’t guarantee good flight from the stand. There are some fixed that fly pretty close to field points though. If you’re missing left could be a grip or form or panic issue, and many fixed won’t forgive it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I had some 175 grain single bevels I was shooting. I’ve missed 4 deer to the left all within 30 yards and smoked one at 50 back in September (first deer). I’ve hit all 4 of those deer I “missed” with only one shot appearing to be lethal but never recovered. It may be some form issue but I had some vpa 3 blades that would miss left consistently whereas the single bevels flew closer to the field points. So probably a combination of slight tune issue and form problem when a deer is in range.


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jtw0057 said:
Yeah I had some 175 grain single bevels I was shooting. I’ve missed 4 deer to the left all within 30 yards and smoked one at 50 back in September (first deer). I’ve hit all 4 of those deer I “missed” with only one shot appearing to be lethal but never recovered. It may be some form issue but I had some vpa 3 blades that would miss left consistently whereas the single bevels flew closer to the field points. So probably a combination of slight tune issue and form problem when a deer is in range.


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Click to expand...

pulling the bow down to watch the arrow hit the deer while the arrow is on the bowstring still can cause this
 
raisins said:
yep, some fixed heads are way less critical to form and tuning flaws

some of the best flying heads that are almost hard to make fly bad have been, for me, QAD Exodus swept blades

folks say it doesn't matter what head you shoot if your bow is perfectly tuned....sure, but that requires a perfect shooter in the field while in a tree stand wearing a parka with a big buck making you nervous.....i go with a forgiving setup to make my job easier.....on days where i might have to shoot past 30 yards or it is really windy, i use a sevr 1.5 mechanical (i keep 2 qads and 2 sevrs in my quiver)
Click to expand...

Those are the exact heads I’m looking at. Got the qads for Christmas and just found some sevrs and going to give them a shot too.


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raisins said:
pulling the bow down to watch the arrow hit the deer while the arrow is on the bowstring still can cause this
Click to expand...

Interesting. I finally remembered to turn my GoPro on for this last deer and I definitely moved the bow down and to the right after the shot. The arrow was already in the air at this point though.

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Ok so maxed out at about 7’ or so on the balcony. The 100 grain shoots a bullet hole bareshaft and fletched. 125 was nock left barely.

So after this shoot the 100 grain heads out to 20 yards or so, bareshaft and fletched and make sure they group close enough? If they do we’re assuming broadheads should fly good as well. If the broadheads don’t group with field points after this what would y’all do?


d9b3fccabc392f1b5d42cac89c95f6b8.jpg



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Picture is oriented wrong. Down is actually right and up is left


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