I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why I can't get a Martin Howat Hunter to tune for me. Any ideas you all have would be great... Here's what I've got. It's an older Hunter, 50@28, with an 18 strand B50 and 4 spider silencers. I use rug rests. The arrows are 29", 11/32, 60-65, with 150 up front. I've also tried 28" with 150 up front. According to Stu I should be right around 28" to match up, but even with one cut to that length, I cannot get consistent shots. I'm not Howard Hill by any means, but I've never struggled to get a bow to tune as much as this one. Any ideas?
You don't say what your draw is but I imagine you are overspined and need to leave your arrows longer. I am guessing the bow is cut to center. See what happens with a full length shaft and go from there.
My draw is 27". When I plug everything into Stus, it says I'm on the money or within range. I could try a 190 grain tip?
With the high strand count and two sets of silencers, the heavy string will slow down the arrow quite a bit, requiring less spine generally. More point weight might work.
Are you tying to bare shaft tune. I've never found wood to work very well that way.
I'm going to disagree with Bjorn. If the bow is actually 50# as marked and you are shooting 60-65 with 150 grain points I would suggest you are underspined. When I was making arrows I would add 10# for a center shot recurve, anorther 5# for the 25 grains over 125 on the head and another 5# for the extra inch. That would put you at 70-75# spine. And remember, Martin had a reputation for their bows actually being heavier than marked.
What are the arrows showing you? Have you tried to paper tune or bare shaft? I Orion might have hit the problem on the head with the string. Also Bill has a good point with the poundage issue with some of the Martins.
It would be fun to find out what the spine issue might be I made my calculations like Bill; but discounted due to the string and silencers.
QuoteOriginally posted by snag:
What are the arrows showing you? Have you tried to paper tune or bare shaft? I Orion might have hit the problem on the head with the string. Also Bill has a good point with the poundage issue with some of the Martins.
I don't believe you are over-spined. I had 30" cedars with 160 grain broadheads and points for my 60# Martin Hunter (63# at my draw), and I used 80/85# cedars. They shot well.
If I were in your shoes:
1. go to a 125 tip and see what happens.
2. go to a 16 strand B50.
3. ditch the silencers until you get set up.
4. check and double check brace height. then check it again after shooting for a few minutes.
5. you don't mention it, but doublle nock your string with tied on string nocks. It helped my arrow flight immensely.
6. I'll back up what was said about full length and then cut to tune. It helped me with my Super Grizzly.
Keep us updated on your progress. I finally got good flight with woodies from my #50 @ 28 Bear. I shoot 60-65 Douglas Fir cut to 31.25 BOP with a 125gr tip and the same shaft at 29.5" with a 145gr tip. I draw 29". The longer one weighs 588gr. The shorter is 586gr.
You got it nailed Bud. Seems we always are looking for the quick and easy. But starting from square one often times actually saves us time and heart burn!
Gents thanks for the advice!! I finally just took some heavier spines arrows and put 190s and shot them. They hit way left or where I was looking. I then tested an arrow with the Stu calculations. Turned out to be 28" BOP, 150 grain tips. I also went to my faster B50 string... I believe it's 12 or 14 strands with beaver balls and set the brace to the lowest 7 1/4". Had good spine, no real fliers... But elevation was still off. For that I simply tried removing the match stick from my arrow rest. Then I got a good group. By the way, it's interesting to her that martins pull heavier than marked, this one has read 53# on the scale several times, but I always thought the calibration was off... Guess I was wrong!
Thanks again for all your help gents!
QuoteOriginally posted by mrpenguin:
... elevation was still off. For that I simply tried removing the match stick from my arrow rest...
...this one has read 53# on the scale several times, but I always thought the calibration was off... Guess I was wrong!...
1) I bet your nock is set too low rather than having a matchstick under the rug. These bows are designed to have a higher than normal nock placement.
2) I was going to mention this. Both Howatts I owned and weighed were exactly three pounds heavy. Every Hunter I have heard having been weighed was said to be three pounds heavy as well.
Joshua
Joshua, very interesting... You might be right... I did an experiment today and took the point weight down to 125. Everything tightened up even more pleasingly... I was shooting int he rain and took advantage by wetting the feathers down on one arrow, almost like a bare shaft. Spine looked perfect but it showed nock slightly low... I'm getting such nice flight now I may not mess with it, but I also was thinking if I moved the nock up a tad, it would likely show perfect flight! Plus, at 20 yds, the arrow went low... Which also makes me suspect low nock. Hmm. Think I'll move it tomorrow AM!