For those of you who prefer to bare shaft tune, what type of target do you prefer to use? It seems to me that it would be possible to get false readings with something like a bag target.
Actually I prefer the bag as it has some give to it and is less likey to break wood arrows that are way off to start with.
Foam, when new, will give you the best readings. But I use a bag target with no issues.
If I can get a decent distance from the target, I don't care much how the bare shaft is sticking. If it lands on top of, or slightly "weak" from the fletched arrows I'm a happy camper.
I just use my large round hay bale or the Block target I keep by the deck. I don't pay a lot of attention to the angle the bare shaft presents when stuck in the target. I'm more interested in the relative position of the bare shafts to the fletched. I like to shoot two or three bare shafts and two or three fletched and see where they group relative to each other.
In a perfect world with a perfectly homogeneous target and a perfect release bare and fletched will both group together and be at the same angle as your fletched shafts. Life isn't always perfect though. I just make sure the bare and fletched shafts are grouping together at 25-30 yards...and usually the bare shafts match the angle of the fletched.
I think the kind to stay away from are the ones with layers of material stacked on top of each other, as the layers can deflect the arrow. I really want to see the angle the arrow impacts the target. A bag target might not be the best, either, as the arrows sometimes sag after they hit it. Things with non-directional material, like Rinehart animal targets or bullseye targets made out of similar stuff, work well for me.
I have had pretty good luck using a bag target.
The "cut" end of a bale or roll of hay, or a sand pile.
I like to use a foam target like this to bareshaft. But plan on a good sand pile on day. (http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj633/darinputman/IMG_20120831_192509-1.jpg) (http://s1271.photobucket.com/user/darinputman/media/IMG_20120831_192509-1.jpg.html)
(http://i.imgur.com/9tQHxKH.jpg)
Don't know about best, but if it hits the same hole...
It doesn't matter. I can see the orientation of the shaft in flight to get the gist of what's happening. Tonight I shot a bare shaft and it flew nock left and hit right of fletched arrows, ergo weak arrow.
The big layered poly blocks like you see at the ranges work superbly well. Any target where your arrows remain in the vector they entered the target in.
Kris
Are you talking about shooting a bare shaft and watching it fly to the target or are you talking about bare shaft plaining, shooting 3 fletched and 3 bare?
Hay bales work for me
I started using my normal target, with a thin piece of cardboard a couple feet in front. (In my case I used a pizza box on its side, open, shooting through only the lid.) That straightens the arrow enough (my aluminums) to keep it from bending when it goes into the target behind it, but I can tell from the cardboard whether the arrow went through it crooked.