I have been shooting archery for about a year now and I have been sighting in my own bows since about a month after I started shooting. I am wanting to really work on fine tuning the bow I just got on trade yesterday. I changed the sight out so I am starting from scratch basically. It has the old spring loaded launcher style rest. I actually like these rest and right now I can't afford to go buy a drop away rest like I want. I know that a straight flying arrow is a faster more accurate arrow. I shot it with only using the sight to reference the target, not trying to hit X but more to see how the arrow was flying. I started at 5yd and the arrows were zinging way to fast to see the flight and I knew it would be but, I wanted to see what angle if any it was hitting the target. It was hitting with the nock to the right a good 3-4" maybe even 5". When I moved out to 20 yards I could see the flight and the nock was flying in a circular pattern almost straightening out by the time it hit the bag. I then moved out to 30yd and when it hit it was almost straight on impact. I know the rest alignment has a lot to do with it and I know taking it to the pro shop would be the easiest and fastest way to fix this but, thats not me. This is part of the experience in my eyes. Learning how to tune my own bow and help others tune theirs is something I know I would enjoy. Thats part of who I am. I enjoy teaching people things. I didn't have this bad of an issue with the last bow. I guess when I put the rest on it I lucked up. Oh and I don't want to use a laser or any thing like that and I don't know anything about paper tuning or how to make something to hold paper. I am sure I can figure the paper holding thing on my own. I am an engineering major and I have pretty good mechanical skills so I will figure that one out myself. I want to get the arrows flying straight before I sight it in and I would like to have it all done before this weekend. Any advice on getting my arrows to fly straight will be greatly appreciated.
shooting at 5 yds,your arrow hasnt had time to straighten out (flexing)to get that perfect flight,i generally start at 10 yds and back up in 5 yd increments,if i get were im shooting left or right of the target i stop there and adjust my site pins by falling the arrow,as i move back further then i start adjusting my rest for the fine tuning,if your arrow is still flying wild when you get around 40 yds you should try a stiffer arrow.hopes this helps you out some,gud luck.
Walk back tuning will get your arrow fling as straight as it will. Hang a weighted string from a nail on a target. Stick a round sticker on the target face so that the string splits the sticker. Use your existing 20-yd pin, step back 20-yards from the target and fire at the sticker. Don't worry about where the arrow hits. Walk straight back to 30 yds, and using the same 20-yd pin setting, fire an arrow at the sticker. Repeat at 35 yds and at 40 yds, using the 20-yd pin and firing at the sticker. Starting at 5-10yds and working back also works but can be harder to do and may ruin some arrows as well as close as the arrows may be. If your arrows look like this pattern " / " or “\”, then pick a direction and move your arrow rest 1/16th inch. For right hand shooter and arrows lined like / move rest to right. If the pattern gets straighter (more vertical), then that is great. Keep adjusting in that direction. If the pattern gets more crooked, then adjust in the other direction. Keep firing arrows and keep adjusting the arrow rest position until you get a vertical pattern of arrows. Eventually, your arrows will hit in the target is a straight up and down line like this " | ". LOCK down the arrow rest setting. Your centershot is perfect. But, your vertical pattern of arrows may not be hitting the string. The vertical pattern of arrows may be on one side of the string. Let’s say the arrows are say 6-inches to the left of the weighted string. Pick a direction to adjust your sight ring windage. Adjust the sight ring windage 1/16th of an inch. Repeat the test. Fire arrows at least 3 distances, and see if the vertical pattern of arrows gets closer to the string. If the vertical pattern of arrows is getting closer to the string, then that is great. Keep adjusting in that direction. If the vertical pattern of arrows is getting farther away, then adjust in the other direction. Eventually, you will have a vertical pattern of arrows right on top of the string. Lock down the windage and lock down the arrow rest. Windage and center shot are now perfect. Hope this helps you out.
This is not entirely true. Tear in paper isn't showing you flex unless it is a grossly underspined arrow. It shows a kick from a torqued arrow,misaligned rest or improperly spined arrow.(or fletching contact.) I have found that french tune is the best way to adjust for centershot for me recently. Very simple to do. Sight in at a couple yards, shooting at a plum line on your target,then back up to 15 or 20 yards. Shoot and if the arrow hits left or right, adjust REST to hit with the first arrow. Repeat process until you hit the line at both distances. If you have a tear in paper at this point, you have a torque, spine or idler/cam lean issue.(some rare cases it can be a rest issue) Here is the paper I got after french tuning my Hoyt Element. Here is my broadhead tune at 23 yards.
That's a pretty cool explanation Mystic. Stick, go to the easton archery website and download their tuning guide. There's a number of things you can do. I like to paper and walk back tune. Paper tuning isn't hard at all. My first paper holder was a cardboard box that I modified with some bracing (duct tape). It actually lasted quite some time. What I typically do is paper tune. Walk back tune. Then check the paper again. Then you know they're coming out of your rest straight, and continuing that way all the way down range. Welcome to the site by the way, nice to have some more engineers.
Coming off the rest correctly is what I am trying to do. Arrow flight. I know arrows flex but not enough that the nock end of the arrow is rotating in a huge circle instead of spinning. I am good on the "X" and "Y" axis for lack of better description. I can get a good arrow launching bow hitting a 3" group at 40yd all day long. Sighting the pins is easy to me. I just want this bow to launch off the rest without the tail of the arrow going around in a big circle. If the arrow is sitting on the rest nocked on the string with out being drawn back shouldn't the arrow be perfectly square with the string? Should the center of the arrow shaft, center of the spine of the handle, center of the rest, the string, the sight pins, and cams all be perfectly aligned at full rest? Also, I am nocking the arrow odd vein up so I have two down and one up. So I know it is not the vein hitting off the launch. Thanks for everyones help so far. I have been on other sights that take all day to get a response if you get one at all. This is a great site from what I am seeing.
Oh I am shooting 400 spine Gold Tip arrows and the bow is set at around 65lbs so these arrows shouldn't flex that much. Not enough for the human eye to see the back end of the arrow moving around that much. One more thing to add and I am done. When the back end of the arrow rotates, at 30yd it makes one to one and a half full rotations if that helps the description of what it is doing.
Sounds like fletching contact to me. If your arrow is in line with the string by eye and nock is set level or slightly high your arrow shouldnt be making such a large circle imo. I would double check clearance. If you shoot fingers then arrow should be slightly left of string if right handed
I believe my veins were hitting my riser. I checked it last night and the rest was way to close to the riser. I adjusted it out to where the center of the rest is now even with the middle of the riser and handle and all lined up with the string. I did this by sight of course so it may still be off some. I have not had time to shoot it yet so I don't know for certain if that was the issue. I feel sure it didn't help though. it appears the veins will not strike the riser now. I plan on paper tuning the bow next week if I don' t have time this week. The arrow nock point is level with the rest. I feel like this will fix it. Thanks for everyones help.
In terms of a paper holder... 1" PVC is pretty stable and very easy to work with. besides with all the nice fittings it makes putting it together a snap. Not an engineer but mechanically minded (built one early last week and my only flaw is i made it a little too tall). The Easton tuning guide mentioned had been an invaluable resource to me.
