Do you put yours in out or up?
Out for me.
when I shot 3 fletch it didn't matter how I nocked my arrow, I shoot 4x4 now.
Mike Palmer always recommended shooting cock feather in and I did notice a better tear when I was paper tuning. My naked eye cannot tell the difference though.
I prefer cock feather up.
In and out
With three fletch I prefer two down and one up.
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2: :campfire:
Always in no matter 3 or 4 fletch, been doing that way for over 3 decades. I get the lowest possible nock point with best feather clearance this way.
Doesn't make any difference
I orient the cock feather in, towards the riser. The Black Widow manual recommends this orientation, and their reasoning makes sense to me. The arrow bends around the riser as it exits the bow. Shooting three fletching this orientation avoids one of the feathers from dragging across the shelf. I've noticed very little wear of the feathers over time shooting with this orientation as well as good paper tune tears.
In for me.
In.
I would recommend trying it both ways and making your own decision. This has got to be one of the easiest things to test that there is, and YMMV, as they say.
In.
Shooting "in" makes sense. I tried shooting that way today and now it's how I'll shoot from now on. Thanks guys!
With feathers it didn't make a difference for me but I usually shot one out
Pretty much have been cock feather out; but have shot cock feather up and in; See no problem with cock feather in.
Shick
Quote from: trad_bowhunter1965 on May 12, 2025, 10:42:04 AMwhen I shot 3 fletch it didn't matter how I nocked my arrow, I shoot 4x4 now.
I forgot I like my arrows a little on the stiff side for me no contact on the riser.
I use 4 fletch. :thumbsup:
Feather in the corner of the shelf.. one feather up.. cock feather brushing shelf edge..but I can flip it and it'll shoot fine..as long as I'm on with everything else in the cycle..
In, most the time I don't think it matters much though.
Cock feather in. As Kelly said, this puts feathers in position for best possible clearance. I've seen guys leave a gap between sideplate and rest for hen feather to pass through. If anywhere near tuned that hen feather is nowhere near that gap. Contact w hen feather when shooting an inverted Y most often occurs near outside edge of shelf. Cock feather in eliminates this. I always have my set ups well tuned, but Cock feather in buys forgiveness if I do something wonky on my end ( like short drawing by 1/4" from an awkward hunting position).
The biggest advantage to cock feather in besides great flight/fletching clearance is the ability to lower one's nock point. Because the lower hen feather is no longer striking the shelf causing the back end of arrow to kick upwards, whereas most archers raise their nock point till this upwards kick stops, with cock feather in this no longer happens so most archers having their nock point set for cock feather out can lower this nock point when shooting cock feather in.
Sure just turning the cock feather in will fly great but the real benefit comes when one lowers the nock point. Lowering the nock point raises the front of arrow creating longer trajectory without having to raise the bow. When I first did this over 30 years ago was able to lower my nock point from 3/4" above square to 7/16" above square. (I've always nocked below and still do.)
I have always been shooting cock feather out, until I read this post. Tried shooting in, and I believe I get better precision that way. Don't know about nocking point, though. It hasn't been touched since I got the bow from Kirk. Maybe i need to tune a little bit...
One of the things I liked about shooting carbons was I easily switch from cock feather in or out to cock feather up.
But as people have mentioned I really like four fletch these days.
I'll offer a different take on this. I shoot 3 feathers. All are positioned 120 degrees apart ...right?? I rotate and position my nock to put a feather in the corner of where the shelf and riser meet. Any feather. The bow doesn't know nor care what colors my fletching is. I can have the odd colored feather (the cock feather) positioned in, out, up. The bow doesn't know, nor does it care. Ergo...it doesn't matter. It can't possibly matter. All I use a cock feather for is to look at quickly and know which way my nock is positioned.
I try not to need or use fletchings of any kind. :saywhat: :o :archer2: :dunno: :bigsmyl:
I use fletching once in a while too:)