1. Is it ok to paper tune with feathers instead of vanes? I was using 4" feathers since my other arrows are fletched with 4" right helical vanes. 2. I got bullet holes tuning, get dead center with field points on my target at 20 yds and good groups with both FP's and BH's but my Rage practice heads hit to the right about three -fourinches. I have 300 Easton Axis ST's, Software for Archers shows them as acceptable but marginal for spine. So I can go to a lighter BH (100gr right now) or decrease my draw weight. What would you do before decreasing draw weight or changing to a lighter head? Should I adjust to hit with the BH's and not worry about FP impact?
That is exactly what was happening to me. I just sighted the bow in so that the broadheads were hitting consistently. This worked for me for hunting. I have recently bought new arrows that have a stiffer spine.
I would shoot bare shafts (with only FP's of course) and see what that tells you. The bare shaft is the most accurate method of checking your dynamic spine IMO. If your using arrows that are older I would consider rotating the nock 180 degrees and see what that does as well.
That's what I am figuring... How dramatic? 1/4 turns? 1/2 turns? I am going to paper tune it again with vanes instead of the feathers, wasn't getting the clean cuts I got with the vanes and I want to make sure I am dialed in. This is frustrating since I already did this and its seems to have all come apart on me.
I paper tune with feathers all the time. I do not look so much at where the feather tears but more at where the nock tears. It seems very unusual that BH's and FP's impact the same but rage practice points don't. Have you changed anything since you did this before? Going from vanes to feathers causes the dynamic spine to weaken (less weight in the rear) so you should settle on a configuration, tune for it and stick to that until you retune for any new configuration. Did you tune the setup with the wraps on or off? That could make a difference too. Being marginal in spine, little things like rear weight (feathers,vanes.wraps) might make a difference.
Oh and the other question. I generally go in half/quarter turn increments when I think I am close. If I just want to see what changes with the change in DW I will do a whole turn or more and see how much things change. The nice thing about adjusting DW is that it is real easy to make a dramatic change and then go back to the original setting and start anew with smaller changes or just start backing up with smaller changes. But it is always easy to get back to the original setting and start over.
Bruce, might have confused you. I am only shooting field points and rage practice heads. I do have some Muzzy 3 and 4 blades and am somewhat curious to see how they fly. You bring up a great question that I may have goofed on... I paper tuned with feathers and then moved over to my vaned arrows when I was shooting to dial in my sights. I put a right helical on the vanes and didn't think that would be a good idea to paper tune with that, figuring it would give me funky tears so I used some of my remaining feather fletched arrows. All have onestringer wraps. But with the feather/vane thing I have induced a variable. Back to the drawing board/paper rack.
