Is there any advantage of having a helix to the vanes on a bolt? Which is better, right or left and why? I shoot the fixed straight 3 blade broadheads. Thanks much for the input.
I do not think there is any advantage to having any helix to the vanes. I shoot straight vanes on my bolts. Putting any curve on the vanes could interfere with the rail. Some also say that this will also decrease arrow speed as the spin of the arrow will cause more drag vs less drag with straight or traditional vanes. I have shot the helix vanes on my compound when I had a plunger rest, however never on my Excalibur crossbow. I say leave them straight and true on your crossbow. If you are wanting to see if it really is possible contact the manufacture of your crossbow and see what they would recommend. Hope this helps chieffan.
Thanks Excalibur. Appreciate the education. My crossbow is an inexpensive build, due to budget restrictions as well as not wanting to invest much in something I may not like. Not sure I can get any information from the mfg. since the instructions to assemble it were printed on the box. I hope to find a much better quality crossbow when one comes up on sale, or possibly a used one later this spring. I did replace the vanes on 4 of the aluminum bolts with the new Bolt vane from Bohning. They are a different design and a stiffer material the the originals. They seem to fly straighter and the 3 bolt group has tightened up to about 5" at 30 yds off a camera tripod. Am sure some of the variance is the person holding the crossbow and not the bolts. I kind of have the feeling a lot of the 'fancy' (for lack of a better term) items available is geared to sell and not all to improve the overall sport. I am a firm believer in KISMIF.
