@Allegheny Tom 12 o'clock cock feather - you are breaking some biblical law! LOL. I have never heard of that, but like you said with push in nocks, it's easy to try and I am about to start my morning practice. Thanks! Also, let us know how the AA fletch works. I have been contemplating burning some of my feathers down to test that out.
The Samick Sage is what my (9 year old) boy and I shoot - i am a lefty. I like that he can shoot 30# limbs at a short draw and I can shoot up to 50# limbs (even higher if I wanted) at 30" draw and it'll slang an arrow very well. Now, I am no expert, and I have not tested more expensive bows, I think that would ruin me. I am going to try and hunt with my samick a few times this coming season and with a bow I built.
As for arrows: Check out the Ranch Fairy youtube arrow tuning video. I had read and read and read about arrow tuning to bow, but watching his videos just made it all come together.
There is a lot of useful info in a Black Widow owner's manual. Page 13 talks about shooting the cock feather in different positions. Black Widow mentions that their Signature arrows are fletched with the cock at 12. I'd never heard of that until my buddy and I started our UEFOC arrow builds and we were having trouble getting great flight, (I believe it was because of being over-spined but that's another subject).
My experience with the A&A fletch and also shooting the cock at 12 o'clock is limited to this UEFOC arrow build, so this may not apply to everyone. For many years, I've shot (off the shelf) left wing, 5" parabolic with a high degree of helical and offset, and left single bevel heads. With that old set-up I never tried 12 o'clock cock, or A&A style fletch, or the way Ashby says to set it up.
My new set-up is a big change. 1st,
left bevel heads in the heads I wanted are not made so I needed to switch to
right bevel, which meant switching to right wing feathers. And as per Ashby, I did away with the helical and the offset. I'm shooting straight fletch with no helical or offset.
A&A are pretty much commercially non-existent. Tuff Head sells little ones (3"??) but nobody sells 4" or 5"A&A so you have to cut them yourself, which isn't really that hard to do with sharp scissors.
At the time, all I had in right wing was 4" parabolic that came with my Grizzly Stik shafts. I cut those and in order to get the A&A shape, I ended up with them only 3.5" A&A...really too short for me. I did have trouble getting the 3.5" to fly with the cock feather at 9 o'clock and I was really skeptical of a 12 o'clock cock but I tried it anyway...wow, they flew a lot better but still not perfect.
I got some full length feathers and cut some 5" A&A and tried them out. I've not yet shot them thru paper or with broad heads, but otherwise, they shoot field points and judo points really nice.
2 advantages with the A&A...They are a lower profile feather, so shelf clearance is better, which may be important to shooting a 12 o'clock cock, I don't know for sure...I've never tried shooting a "standard" style fletch with a 12 o'clock cock.
The other advantage to the A&A fletch is how quietly they shoot when compared to parabolic, helical, offset fletch. A&A shoot faster too, which can offset some trajectory loss when shooting these heavy arrows. My (brave) buddy stood down range to listen for the sound of the arrow in flight. All he heard was the bow...the arrow was silent.
