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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Bakes168 on November 09, 2009, 10:22:00 PM

Title: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: Bakes168 on November 09, 2009, 10:22:00 PM
I bought a 50# straight limbed longbow a little while ago, which is a lot like a Howard Hill but it's a Martin ML-10. I'm shooting full length 2016 Easton aluminums out of it with a little over 125gr. up front.
I like to shoot cock feather in and the cock feather gets pretty worn in a hurry on all my arrows so it's obviously contacting the shelf too much.
Whould this indicate too stiff a spine or too weak?
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Zack
Title: Re: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: 30coupe on November 09, 2009, 10:38:00 PM
What is your draw length? If it is 28" or more, your shafts would be weak at full length.

If I shoot cock feather in, it wears pretty quickly too though, and my shafts are tuned to my bow. If I shoot cock feather out, it is the bottom hen feather that wears. I haven't found a way to keep that from happening.

BTW: my son has a 50# ML-10. It's a pretty nice shooting bow, not especially fast but pretty smooth and not much hand shock. He shot 1916's with 125 gr. up front. I think they were cut to 29", but I'm not sure about that.
Title: Re: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: Fletcher on November 09, 2009, 10:51:00 PM
Normally, that would indicate stiff.  You can make some tuning checks to verify, tho.  Paper tuning will let you know quickly if you are stiff or weak.  You can also try some heavier points and shoot cock feather out to see if either changes or improves things.
Title: Re: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: Ragnarok Forge on November 09, 2009, 10:53:00 PM
First bare shaft to fletch tune and make sure your nock point is set right, and the arrow is spined properly.  If that nock point isn't the problem then you are most likely to stiff.  

A weak shaft should have the back of the arrow flexing away from the bow as the fletch pass the shelf.  A stiff arrow will have the fletch end bent into the riser as the fletch go by.  This means the fletch hits the riser, and the fletch gets worn.  Try running your tip weight up and see if it goes away.  If not go to a ligther spine arrow and fiddle around with tip weights and lengths until the fletch wear goes away..
Title: Re: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: bigiron on November 10, 2009, 09:37:00 AM
you are to stiff. start with a 1916 full length & play with point weight & length. have a wide range of tip weights, (100-200gr.) to play with.
Title: Re: Help please, feathers wearing from shelf
Post by: DannyBows on November 10, 2009, 01:13:00 PM
Sounds too stiff. Quickest way to check is put more weight up front, when it stops decide if you are happy with the arrow weight you end-up with. If not, take BigIron's advise and go with a lighter spine and start over til you get what you like. This is how I do it as I am not able to set up to bareshaft or paper-tune. I am also sold on substsntial tracers made of Chartreuse Rabbit Strips. I wind them around the last inch near the nock, set in contact glue. They allow you to really see every movement of the nock all the way to the target. They look cool in the target too. Those bright 1 1/2" circles really show your grouping.