I'm shooting mfx 500's, 30 1/2 inches w/125gr tips.
About 435gr total weight. 48# recurve. They bareshaft and fly beautifully. Shooting at 20 yards I warmed up on field points and waited 'til I was consistently shooting 4" groups before I switched over to 125gr screw in snuffers. Using identical technique and hold, my 4" groups moved to 6" out from center @ about 5 o'clock (4:30 actually). Why ? What can I do to correct it?
You are just about there, the next step in the tunning that i use is as follows.
Use 3 field point and 3 broadhead arrows and shoot them together. Treat the broadhead arrows as if they were bearshaft. Compair them to the impact point of the field points. If broadheads hit low and right (4:30) (assume you are right handed) then thay are a touch week and nock point is a touch high. Make one change at a time and make the change to both field points and broadhead arrows. Once they are hitting togeather you are right on with your tune.
Here is a link to some good info
http://www.bowmaker.net/index2.htm
do you have helical fletch on the arrows ?
One other possibility.....
When I used to do a lot of FITA target shooting, hitting low & right is often a sign of a slight short-draw.
If you're consciously 'aware' of the fact that you're shooting broadheads rather than fieldpoints, it can lead to a touch of nervousness. (In the way that you're 'nervous' when you are carrying a loaded firearm, rather than one that is unloaded.) This can lead to a very slight short-draw causing a low/right hit.
Try marking one of each arrows at the far side ofyour bow, at full draw & get someone to watch you shoot them both. It's a quick & simple thing to do, that takes no time & could solve the problem without having to actually change anything, other than your brain!
The first time I ever shot broadheads, I found this to be true. May be the same for you, may not, but definately worth a look ;)
"do you have helical fletch on the arrows ?"
Brian, I'm right handed and my arrows are RH helical. 3 fletch, 5".
The rest of you, thanks so much for the quick feedback and great suggestions. I'll try all of it and get back to you, I really want to go hunting....
do the spin true when you spin check them?
You're using a field point that weights 125 and a BH that weights 125 plus the weight of the adapter 30 to 40 grs. They're not going to fly in the same place. (That's unless your using that ss 125er.
Try this. I hate shooting groups of BH's. If your any good your going to smack ONE BRAND NEW ARROW. Take a golf ball and put it in front of the target. Put the point of the arrow on the ball and shoot. This takes the mental aiming out of the equation and should close your 4 inch groups to 2. Shoot the broadhead first.
QuoteUsing identical technique and hold
Something else that will give you fits when shooting broadheads is the extra length of the head. If you are using the point of the arrow as reference in your sight picture (i.e. putting the point on a specific spot in relation to your intended point of impact), broadheads will throw you off completely. If the difference in point of impact is consistent, I bet this is the culprit.
I have spin tested them and they're true.
They are the ss snuffers, so no adapter. Same weight @ 125gr.
I thinking that both wtpops (slightly weak spine) and Jeff Strubberg (longer arrow tip causing me to hold lower) are on it.
Bowmania, that golfball trick sounds like a great idea (with a minor correction for broadhead length).
I'll be able to get to the range tomorrow and try these great suggestions.
If you use the golf ball trick, don't worry about the difference in up and down impact. That comes from the difference in point length. The difference will be minor anyways. What your concerned with is the L and R which is the spine. NP is set from original bare shafting don't change it. Let us know what you discover.
When I fine tune with Bh's I don't make a change on info from one shooting secession. I'll shoot two days in a row and hopefully get the same results and them make a change.
"my 4" groups moved to 6" out from center @ about 5 o'clock (4:30 actually)"
Well, I tried that golfball thing and it worked pretty good to ensure a repeatable hold. Thanks Todd, I'll definitely keep that one in my toolbox.
It turns out raising my brace height 1/4" took care of the hitting right. Thanks for that suggestion Rick.
I shoot instinctive, and just look at where I want that dang arrow to go, but of course I'm aware of my arrow in the bottom of my sight picture. The hitting low was a result of putting the tip of the broadhead in the same place as I was putting my field point for that 20 yard. Since the broadhead is a bit longer I was actually holding a bit lower. Thanks for that Jeff.
Thanks everybody for all your great suggestions! I'm hitting pretty good with those snuffers now and looking forward to putting them to good use.