I am having a friend of mine fletch up some 2016`s with some parabolics. He shoots Goldtip 35/55`s with a 2% or degree offset,,not sure which is correct. He says I do not need a helical,and the way he does his arrows will be fine. At the moment,I will be just shooting field tips..eventually I will hunt.
You definitely need helical if your going to be eventually hunting with them.
QuoteOriginally posted by wv lungbuster:
You definitely need helical if your going to be eventually hunting with them.
Well,I will not be hunting till at least next season,,it`s my first trad bow,and first set of feathers..will the flight be affected that much? I will be shooting mostly under 20yds.
I want to point out what I'm about to say is just my opinion. It's strictly from observation.
I believe a fletched arrow with lots of helical twist helps stabilize a large broadhead, like a Simmons Treeshark, in a good crosswind.
Night Wing is correct, but since you are not hunting as yet or this season I say go for it, some of my best shooting arrows are mounted straight with no helical.
QuoteOriginally posted by Night Wing:
I want to point out what I'm about to say is just my opinion. It's strictly from observation.
I believe a fletched arrow with lots of helical twist helps stabilize a large broadhead, like a Simmons Treeshark, in a good crosswind.
Yes,,I agree,,have seen what you are saying with my own eyes.
A little offset will be fine for field points. As others have pointed out, more helical will stabilize the arrow quicker, but a little offset will also do the trick with field points, and by next year, your arrows will be ready for refletching. Put more helical on them then.
If you won't be hunting till next year these will be fine. You'll probably want to get a jig and learn to fletch your own in the near future and you can set them up the way you want. It's easy to learn so jump right in.
I fletch all my arrows with straight offset and have never had a problem with broadheads. Early on I tried Helical and thought the arrows were too noisy and slowed to fast.
I'm with james. I found helicals to noticeably slower and noisier. The most I'll do is a 2° offset with my straight jig. This seems to have enough rotational stability for any broadhead I've shot.
I have always used 3 5" LW shield feathers,left straight offset and never had any problems with stabilizing a broad head. Heck I did not know what a helical jig was till the early eighties. I have played with helical but always wind up back where I started.I remember the first set of arrows I bought in around 1964 and they were offset and just used them forward.Why was the helical jig invented in the first place? Anyone.
If your arrows are matched well to your bow and your release is clean, offset will be fine with field points or broadheads. I prefer helical because in a hunting situation with lots of clothes, a wet glove, cold muscles, etc, my release may not be great. Also, wet feathers lose some effectiveness so a little extra drag makes sense to me.
QuoteOriginally posted by Glunt:
If your arrows are matched well to your bow and your release is clean, offset will be fine with field points or broadheads. I prefer helical because in a hunting situation with lots of clothes, a wet glove, cold muscles, etc, my release may not be great. Also, wet feathers lose some effectiveness so a little extra drag makes sense to me.
X2
I bought whatis nowcalled a jo-Jan multi-fletcher more than 45 years ago. It was used and it came with 6 straight clamps and 6 RW helical clamps. Them man I bought them from also sold me young feather trimmer, a cresting jig and a paper sack full of rw feathers. I paid the princely sum of $25.00 for everything about 1965 or so as I recall.
This old fellow suggeasted i fletch my arrows with the helical clamps which I have always done since. I have used the straight clamps on rare occasions when fletching arrows for someone else who requested that I do so.
I really like helically fletched arrows and I find they work extremely well for me. However, I would not argue with those who posted a preference for straight offsets either. If you are able to do so, try both for awhile and determine which works best for you.
Joe
You don't need helical to hunt. Back in the day, we used offest to stabilize broadheads because we didn't have helical fletching jigs and they work just fine. I have jigs that do both helical and offset and I don't notice an appreciable difference with arrows fletched either way. I would use greater than 2 degrees offset though for broadheads.
im new and i bought a grayling with left helical clamp. i took a early 70's feather fletched bear arrow to set up my jig. it has offset marks on the jig.
with the bear arrow it set me up 1` 1/2 lines on front and 1 1/4 on back to reproduce the original
bear feather set up. i guess 3 degrees front and about 2 1/2 back. i stripped the vanes off a set of 80's bear wood arrows and fletched them up. a few with 4in. parabolics and a few with 5in. shield feathers. they fly great and dont make much noise. broadheads and field tips hit pretty much the same place if i do my part. im using woodsmans and bear razor heads both fly about the same.
hope this helps you im new and just learning
myself.
good luck