Hello!  Any help would be appreciated on these two:

1)  I am new to trad as well as to fletching....currently I am fletching for both myself and a friend using right helical.  I'm using 4 inch parabolic feathers (RW)----- Both of us are right handed shooters and I was told yesterday we should be shooting left helical to spin the arrow away from the bow.  My question is--- "Is that correct?"  Both of us are grouping well enough at 10-20 and I'm doing ok at 30--he's not shooting that far yet.  I am using full length arrows could I help stabilize flight with 5 inch or will it make that much difference?

2)  Arrow weight---I am shooting targets and hunting with a 47lb @ 30' draw...my arrows are around 475 grain tip and all....
My buddy is shooting 375 grains tip and all from 50lbs at 28......
Is he too Light for Hunting?  He is grouping fine and shooting straight  But he can shoot my arrows just as straight......

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Right vs Left makes no difference as far as I've seen, just as long as every feather on the arrow is the same. 475 for #47 is fine, thats a shade over 10 grains per #. 375 is awfull light for #50, that's onlt 7.5 grains per # and most folks consider 8 the absolute minimum. If he can shoot yours just as well the extra 100 grains would only help with penetration, as long as he's getting good arrow flight.
Welcome to the fire!

I have experienced no difference with right or left either. Your friend should be careful with the 375's. That is almost like dry firing the bow and could shatter it. Most bowyers recommend 9-10 grains per inch.

Green-Shanks

PS.

You could tell your friend to take 2 strips of weedeater string the length of the arrow(two strips of .080 stringives a little over 100 grains of weight)and gleu them with a drop of super glue into the nock and insert the rest into the arrow to the insert and he should be fine.

Green-Shanks

As far as fletching length is concerned, the larger the diameter of the arrow shaft, the longer the feather it takes to stabilize the arrow. So, generally, with aluminum shafts, I like to use 5" feathers, with the exception of maybe 2016s or 1916s. On these, along with micro-diameter carbon shafts, you can very often get by with 4" feathers.

I, too, think your buddy would benefit more from using arrows closer to the weight of your arrows than the ones he's using now.

I myself am using a 557 gr. arrow and pulling around 51# with my Beeler longbow and am very satisfied with the speed and penetration of my arrows.

"...spin the arrow away from the bow." I hope whoever told you that also warned you to wear rubber boots so you could wash off the used hay.

If you think about it, the top hen feather is spinning away from the bow while the bottom hen feather is rushing into the bow at the same rate.
And really, the whole thing is moot because the string is holding the arrow and keeping it from spinning until just before the feathers pass the rest and the arrow comes off the string. From what I have seen in high speed photography the arrow isn't really spinning until it's out in front of the bow.
This is one archery legend that refuses to pass.

Guy