A friend of mine bought an older Northern Mist last month. His is 68", 60# @ 28. With a locator grip. He has about a 27" draw, and shoots split finger. When I shot his bow for the very first time, with my arrows, a 30" draw, and shooting 3 under, I quietly grouped 3 arrows into a 4" bullseye at 22 yds. I was blown away. I never shot a bow like that.
So of course I had to have one. I received mine last Friday. A 68" Shelton, 55# @ 28. Straight grip. Seems like no matter what I do, about half of my arrows are just plain loud when I shoot. I've jacked the nock a whole inch above the shelf and worked it down to 3/4 to get a good bare shaft. I've maxed out the brace height to 6 5/8, which really helped with the string slap, but still not "Hill bow" quiet. If I shoot split finger, the noisy shots are less frequent, but still pop up. I'm shooting 600+ gr arrows. Couple that with the fact that I can't seem to shoot it very accurately, even at 15 yds, and you can start to see why I'm getting a little frustrated.
I'm pretty sure it's me, and not the bow, so I'm hoping someone out there has had a similar experience, and can offer some tips.
Sounds like your arrows are slapping the riser at the loose. That'll make for a loud, inaccurate bow if it is the case.
Have you confirmed your DL is 28 inches (with a Hill you can sometimes loose a little length if you've previously been shooting high wrist grips etc...)?
What is the arrows set up your using?
The shelton I owned liked a much weaker arrow than a straight Hill bow. After I figured that out It shot very accurate .RC
I just measured my draw length on this bow, and I'm at 30 1/4. I'm shooting 400 spine Warriors, with 200 gr field tips, and 100 gr. inserts. When I bare shafted, this set up seemed to fly the best. No porposing or fish tailing. I've really been putting a lot of effort in trying to keep my anchor, and release as consistent as possible too. What really bugs me is that I don't have any of these issues with my friends bow, and its set up for a shorter draw, and split finger.
Put a piece of masking tape on your strike plate and use a thin coating of lipstick over it. you'll see where its whacking the shelf RIGHT now.
Sounds to me like you've got an arrow tuning problem.
I'm no expert on carbons and 3 under shooting for ASLs but maybe try dropping 50gr of point weight and see if that helps.
A 400 spine would be pretty stiff usually but with that kinda DL I suspect you're shooting them full length and may have ended up with a weak arrow set up.
Thanks guys. I'll do some more experimenting tomorrow.
Remember good heel pressure on a straight grip. I can change pressure points on a straight grip ( shifting grip to put more pressure on the web of the hand rather than even pressure) and get similar results like you're describing. When I see nock high and hear arrow slap the culprit is lack of, or less, heel pressure for me.
Just came back from a 3D shoot where I had the opportunity to get some input from guys with a lot more experience with these bows than me. The general consensus was that my arrows are a little stiff, AND I wasn't putting enough heel into it.
I was initially thinking of converting it to a locator grip, but after 3 rounds on the course, I got this bow figured out, and it was a joy to shoot. I can't afford new arrows right now, so I'm just gonna add some weights I have to the insert to soften the spine as much as I can for now.
I appreciate all the help.
David