I recently spent some time shooting with a good friend of mine. He switched from a compound to a recurve bow 6 or 7 years ago. At the time he used one of my bows as well as arrows I setup for him.
After he took his first deer with it he then bought his own bow and has gone along hunting ever since.
The thing is....he has struggled with his shooting ever since and has never shot as well as he did with the setup I gave him.
Today I was talking to him on the phone and he was telling me his shooting woes.
Under suspicion, I told him to take the fletching off one of his arrows....take a few shots and then send me some pictures of the result.
He agreed and did so. His arrows were entering the target at less than a 45 degree angle from 12 yards consistently. They were way too weak. This guy has been hunting for years with arrows that are nowhere near tuned correctly for his bow.
This got me to thinking and I started to think that there are probably a lot of newcomers to our beloved sport who are suffering because they don't understand how to tune arrows.
So I have a couple of video suggestions for new guys or other guys experiencing difficulty to watch.
The two best videos to watch that will explain arrow tuning in my opinion are the ones made called "Tuning for extreme accuracy with Byron Furguson" and the video that Ken Beck of Black Widow bows made. There are lots of explanations out there on how to do this but I believe these two to be the easiest to understand. Tuning correctly is imperative. No amount of form work will correct arrows that are not tuned to the bow.
My buddy has struggled for years to shoot as well as he used to shoot all the while thinking it was all form issues. Some of it may be form issues but his arrows were tuned so badly that no amount of form work was going to help. Get the arrows tuned right and then work on form. Life will be easier!
Amen Brother!!!
Great post. Better for someone to do the tedious work up front than to suffer in accuracy and penetration later.
Hit the nail on the head
Good post. Hope someone that needs to read it does read it.
Dead on Jon! Those are the two I ways recommend also. Both are very down to earth , simple and quick.
I shot a couple of years and did not know how to tune arrows. Some shots were good but when I missed it was always to the right. Then I watched Ken Becks video. Much more fun...Now when I mmmiss (right left high low) it is all ME.
Is that Byron Ferguson video on Youtube?
In my experience tuning gets a whole lot easier as soon as that second person is involved...had your friend told you earlier what was going on you would have helped him solve his issue earlier...when I tune arrows I tend to do it in my friend's basement where he, with an arrow sales business, pretty much has everything I need to create just about any arrow point combo I can think of...that is how I recently found that a bow which most would think would tune nicely with 500 spine arrows actually tunes nicely with 340 spine...if I can find someone like that maybe you can too...if you are having tuning issues start looking today...videos are great, but before many of us had videos we actually used human contact to learn things and compare...and human contact with like minded folks is always a good thing
DDave
I got into bare shaft tuning after buying my first widow and recieving that Ken Beck video,,,, ever since then my arrows have been perfect. I don't shoot them so perfect all the time but its good to elliminate the entire arrow from the guessing game if something isnt right.
Good job letting him borrow a bow and helping him Jon. That is what Trad is all about, its not the kill.
:clapper:
QuoteOriginally posted by jonsimoneau:
Get the arrows tuned right and then work on form. Life will be easier!
That can be a bit of a double edged sword! If a person does not possess a certain level of form, good tuning can be almost impossible to achieve!
Bisch
Bisch yea. You are right about that. It's kind of a tricky deal but this guy already has reasonably good form. But he's been shooting arrows that are terribly out of tune. But yep I agree with you on that one.
One of the "Masters of the Bare Bow" videos has a segment with Ken Beck explaining his method of Bare Shaft tuning.
Thanks, I need to get my bow tuned!
QuoteOriginally posted by jonsimoneau:
This got me to thinking and I started to think that there are probably a lot of newcomers to our beloved sport who are suffering because they don't understand how to tune arrows.
Here's one now! Started doing trad archery about 6 months ago and other than setting my brace height, I have never done any tuning to my bows or arrows. That Ken Beck video was very helpful.
My question is: Is there a way to do this without buying a half dozen of several different arrows along with different weight points?
Arrow building isn't something I want to get in to at the moment so I had planned on having some built for me. I've got a Toelke Whip and Dan specced some arrows out for me but I wonder if they would be tuned just right for me or not. I'd hate to order a nice set of arrows from a custom maker and find that they are either the wrong spine or length.
How do I get started?
NotDylan, what arrow material are you wanting to shoot? In my opinion Aluminum shafts are easiest. Next is carbon, and then wood. Carbon is a much different animal though in my opinion. That Ken Beck video is an excellent way to do it.
An arrow maker will most likely get you in the ballpark but each bow shooter has his own characteristics etc. that can change things. As far as bareshaft tuning goes...there are actually a lot of variables which can cause confusion. But the best way that I have found to at least get in the ballpark is to follow the Ken Beck video or the Byron Furguson video. If you have an arrow maker make you some arrows...you can always request that he leave one shaft bare, so you can test from there. Aluminum is the easiest because you can typically look at a chart and be very close. If I were just starting out I would go the aluminum shaft route first.
Tuning arrows is actually just simple physics. I know a lot of guys trade their compounds in for recurves or longbows because they want the simplicity but tuning them is more difficult than a compound in my opinion. I'ts not hard once you understand what you are doing. But my guess is that a lot of guys give up shooting recurves and longbows due to inaccuracy and A LOT of this inaccuracy is due to not knowing how to tune arrows. It is VITAL. You cannot reach your potential shooting arrows that are not tuned correctly. Good luck!
NotDylan, to answer your question better, yes there is a way to do this. If you are wanting to use carbon shaft then pick the size(spine) that is most likely to work for you. Leave it full length. Put the insert, and point on it that corresponds with the weight broadhead you want to use. The idea is to start out with a shaft that shows weak MOST of the time, and then trim it down from the nock end until it flies straight. This is a very simplistic way of doing it, and there is more to it than this but this will get you in the ballpark. Read up on arrow spine and know what it means. Understand what you are doing each time you make a change. If you want help, do not hesitate to get a hold of me. I can walk you through the way that has worked very well for me.
I agree, tuning your arrows to the bow is fairly simple and is important for so many reasons.
I'm amazed at occasional threads stating, "it's not important when shooting at hunting distances, any spine will work"
If ya don't know then you just don't know...
When I read post that say no need to shoot a bare shaft, I cringe a bit. It's not easy, but it's not that hard either. Put a video camera on the bale facing you and watch your arrow flight. Even arrows that bare shaft well can still be going through ossolations after being in the air for 30yds. I've got video of weak fletched arrows you can see fly all the way to the target at about 8deg. I recently grabbed (2) tuned arrows and (2) that most shops/spine calculators would suggest and shot them from random distances 15-35yds. I was looking for a grouping trend more than accuracy. Out of 8 rounds the non tuned only grouped closer to each other 1 time(hey I'm human, probably got plucked it). Lol seriously the trend showed that there is accuracy left on the table if your arrows aren't tuned for your form and bow.
YOu can tune you arrow to your bow or tune your bow to your arrow. There is just as much mainpulation on the bow sight window, rest/window material, nock, brace height, etc...
I prefer to do this as I use same arrows from most of my bows. Of course The arrow shafts have to be in the ballpark to begin with.
I shot a bow for 30 years before I met Dan Quillian and he introduced me to bare shaft tuning. Solved all my problems.
I noticed while checking out broadheads that Three Rivers has a kit of several spines for tuning. I was looking at wood, but maybe they have them for other materials too.
I just finished tuning my dozen broadhead arrows this morning. After confirming that I have the right spine by bare-shafting, I put broadheads on and found I needed more weight on one batch to compensate for a length adjustment, added 190 Ribteks, Tuskers, and Grizzlys and they flew perfectly.
Which reminds me, bare shaft tuning should only be done with field points, not with broadheads.
Lots of good input guys. Hopefully the newcomers can get some good info. DaveT1963 you are right. I use a combination of both. As an example: First I bareshaft my arrows. I get them flying as perfect as I can. I know some guys say to leave them a little weak but I don't. When They are flying perfectly straight out to 25 or so yards then I am done cutting the shaft. Now if they are flying straight, but consistently hitting to the right (I'm a right handed shooter) then before I do anymore cutting, I will build out the side plate of my bow. Normally this does it. If they are still consistently hitting a little right then I may trim 1/8 inch off to very slightly stiffen them up. These things have worked well for me.
By the way...my buddy who I was originally talking about at the beginning of this post is now giddy because He has gotten his arrows flying better than ever. Good for him!
Then there is arrow assembly too.....
On a whim I grabbed one of my buddies hunting arrows and spun it and it wobbled like crazy! Plus it was a bit dull from being shot into a target..."good enough" he said......ugh, No!
Tuning does get a bit tricky when adding a bunch of weight to the front like using the heavy inserts. I'm still fairly new to trad but found it easiest to download Stu's calculator off the internet and get my carbon arrows close then bareshaft tune from there as described on either Easton tuning guide [free download] OL Adcocks site or Bob Morrison's site.