hey guys i need help. hunting starts in a little over a month and i cant keep a good grouping at 30yd. today i was shooting and the first arrow was close to where i was aiming the next was a foot off and the other 2 were 6-8in off in either direction. ive turned the weight up on my bow this year from 55ish to somewhere between 60 and 65. do you think my arrows are too weak? i dont know what any of this means but my arrows are easton axis 400 9.1gpi... my field tips and broadheads up until now have been 85grain but i wanted to upgrade to 100 grain this year since my poundage is higher but i dont want to put heavier heads on if my arrow isnt right. any suggestions? would i be better off just backing down my poundage to regain my groupings or is it worth getting a couple heavier arrows?
Depending on draw length an arrow length an how aggressive the cams are arrows could be on the weak side. Turn your bow down a half turn at a time an see what happens if your groups come back together there weak Sent from my hand held hunting device
when i lowered the poundage my groups got a little better but i still kept having that one erratic arrow. i tried numbering my arrows but its never the same one... i increased the weight back up to what i had it and my groups were about 6in. if my arrows are borderline weak would putting a 100gr tip on instead of the 85gr be a bad idea? or is there a chance it would help my groupings?
It could be a number of things, but to me it sounds like you might be torquing your bow or trying to peak around at your shot. Slow down, leave your bow turned down, shoot a few groups each day for the next few days. See if you can get your groups back to normal. When was the last time you tuned your bow?
I did this myself ^^^ and i couldnt get good groups. so i went to shooting both eyes open. it took a little while to get use to but when you do its great. Now im shooting nocks off at 30 yards.
the last time my bow was in the archery shop was about a year ago wen i bought it but all they did to it was fit it to me and got it set up. as for the both eyes open thats how i was taught to shoot everything so i already do that
maybe take it to get checked again just in case to make sure everything all good. and i wasnt sure if you did or not but i read a forum on it and i tried it and it has help me since i switched over.
If I take it in to the shop will I have to reset my pins afterward? I know I have both eyes open but is it possible I'm not using both of them or something? Ive been working on keeping aim after the shot cuz I used to move too soon
A few other thoughts: Take your arrows with you if you're headed to the shop-see if the tech see's something obvious, ask if they have a scale and compare the weights. If the arrows are good quality, aren't cracked, or bent, then they probably don't need to be replaced; may/may not need some attention, but not necessarily replaced. Once the bow is checked over and/or tuned... If the shop isn't busy and they have a range, ask one of the folks there to watch a few shots--they may also be able to provide some quick feedback or spot something. When you are practicing, try some blind bale shooting to check your form: gentle grip on the bow (not the whole hand wrapped around it), a gentle/gradual release (not a jerk/pounce on a release), make sure nothing funky is going on just after release, etc. You can then try to move up for a few rounds to build some quick confidence, then, space permitting take some practice out further (may seem counter intuitive, but after some shooting at 40+yds coming back in 30yds are often amazingly tight).
so to shoot out past 40yds.... i have a 3 pin sight (20 30 and 40) should i move one of the pins and reset it later or is there a different way?
i did some searching on the forum and learned a new way to grip the bow. i tried it and it helped alot. my groups are generally within 6in now.
If you were to take the bow into the shop, they may also be able to spot any problems with the hardware (bow or arrows), but they may also notice something breaking down in your form. Form problems tend to be more pronounced with distance. So, if it is a form problem, and you work through it at say 40 yds, as (I think Fitz said), the shorter distances are 'like a chip shot'. If found this to be true and words that resonated with me. Start with some of the things at the top, eliminate any of the various potential problems one by one like a check list. If you are tight on $ you can always try to focus on form, but you won't overcome any hardware problems. Likely, you can only self-diagnose so much in form problems, this is where tools like the collective brain trust of the forum, a set of eyes from a coach or a self-vid may help...
