have been out of the trad for too long , who has the best feathers? and whos running 3 or is 4 better? 4 or five inch ? will better grade hold up better? helical or staight? cant remember if  RT or LFT helical flies better and yes there is OCD in the air , just the way i am, thanks for any helpjavascript:void(0)

Check with Magnus he is a sponsor here.Great guy to work with.

Wild Turkeys have the best, most durable and water resistant feathers available. Biggest difference I've seen between the cheaper and more economical commercial feathers is the consistency of the base, but in my oppinion the cheaper ones hold up fine. For the most part RW or LW is a personal preference as far as flight and accuracy, but with some bows a LW is better for a right handed shooter and vice versa for a wrong handed shooter. This comes into play if the feather will touch your hand as the arrow crosses the shelf, the RW feather might burn you as they call it, if your hand is far enough below the shelf so that the feather won't touch it then this won't come into play.

Magnus processes wild feathers that are great and the wild feathers are tougher than any domestic bird.  Their only drawback is that they disappear when you shoot em.  Among the commercial brands, I much prefer TrueFlight.  The grinds are best and the only ones I know of that are still grown and processed in the USA.

I agree on the Trueflight brand feathers. Very consistant base grind. I shoot RW now but used to shoot LW.  They both fly to same spot for me and I am right hand shooter.

Tureflight's work good for me.  LW or RW doesn't make any difference if you aren't shooting off your knuckles.  4" feathers can work, but will be more sensitive to tuning issues than 5" feathers.  likewise, 4-fletch are more forgiving of tuning issues than 3-fletch.  Lately I've been shooting 5" 4-fletch.  helical always if you are shooting BHs.

plenty of superb fletchings to be had via trad gang sponsors - pick one and go for it.

but, you really need to find out for yerself what feather shape, length, colors, offset/helical, right or left wing, and much other suff will work out best for you.  

there will be yeas and nays about *everything*, which really means that it's all a personally subjective matter.

have fun.  

Rob x2

magnus feathers on my arrows

Long as you have a turbulator you'll be fine....
     

I agree with Rob so +3. I have been doing exactly what he suggests lately. I normally shoot 3 - 4" shields but I've been experimenting with 3" and 2" RW shields. I can see no difference in flight what so ever, none, even with broadheads.

I've also tried left wing and right wing. I see no difference there either. But in order to not get my hand cut I have to shoot left wing feathers cock out and right wing cock feather in.

YMMV    

Get with Magnus he'll get you where you want to be.

Are there any difference in flight between the parabolic and shield shapes? Is it possible to make your own barred feathers from solid colored feathers?

Shields have more area usually than a parabolic, but more noise in most cases.

I like 4x4" parabolic.  You can put arrow on the  string either way without looking at the arrow.  Plenty of feather area with 4x4.  

Wild turkey feathers are great, but I like AMG feathers for their bright colors and lower cost.  4" parabolic are a little lower profile than Trueflight but with 4x4 I got all I need for feather area.  They are not as nice as Trueflight, but I can get 100 4" for $30 to my door.  Bases are good most of the time.  Much better than the couple packs of Gateway feathers I have had.