my howatt hunter will shoot a bare shaft in the same tight group from 0-30 yards.  the bare shaft (with efoc) appears to be "kicking" off the shelf giving me a high nock indication with the nock coming off the bow to the left (rh shooter) but still finds its mark.  ive tried everything i know how to get the bare shaft to fly true out of the bow with negative results.  my question is to be bare shaft tuned properly, does the bare shaft have to just group with the fletched shafts at all distances regardless of how it flies or does that bare shaft have to fly perfect with no fletchings and goup the same?  thanks in advance.

Rut,  I'd say you're close enough to move on to broadhead tuning.  I prefer my bareshaft to be a tad low just because in my experience if my bareshafts are a hair (2" or so) low then my broadheads group perfect with my field points.  Strap on a couple broadheads and shoot a couple groups at 25 - 30yds and then you'll see what you need to do.

Sounds like you have a weak spiked arrow.  Cut the shaft in small increments until you get good flight.  You also could shoot a bit lighter points.  

All that said I like to have bare shafts shooting like darts.  If they shoot straight then fletched should be fine.

Also it should be pointed out that fletching will slightly alter dynamic spine.  If you are slightly weak then you will be fine.

Grouping is the goal. Lots of things can effect the flight of the bare shaft besides nock point and spine - nock tightness and release being 2 of them. Time to compare broadhead POI to feildpoint.

QuoteOriginally posted by RUTANDSTRUT:
  my question is to be bare shaft tuned properly, does the bare shaft have to just group with the fletched shafts at all distances regardless of how it flies or does that bare shaft have to fly perfect with no fletchings and goup the same?  thanks in advance.

Yes, it just has to group with the fletched shafts, regardless of how gracefull it gets there.
Also, I have found with efoc arrows that I usually get a nock high flight of the the bareshafts, it's because there is so much weight up front. it's ok. just don't drop your nock point down so much that the shaft is going to hit the shelf and bounce off giving you a false nock high. this is why I like the planing method of shooting bare shafts with fletched shafts to see where they are grouping. Now your ready to shoot bhs with field points and see if they all group together.  

As long as your bare shafts group amongst your fletched arrows, you're in good shape. I wouldn't sweat it that your bare shafts don't fly perfect. Heck, if bare shafts were that easy to get perfect flight, we wouldn't need feathers on them and Tru-Flite would be out of business.

I would try raising the nock point abit before anything else. If its right, it will fly true. Mark

Yes you want the bare shaft to fly true and hit with the fletched.  Identifying the problem can be tuff.  Poor release, tight nock,  nock height ect..  I  always start by working towards a perfect release.  If your bare shafts are hitting with the fletched, then the problem should be in release or nock tightness or brace height, something other than arrow spine and nock height.

thanks for evryone's help.  i ended up increasing the brace height 3/8", raised nocking point 1/16" along with bumping the rest up an additional 1/16", and lowered point weight 25 grains - bare shaft arrows fly perfect to 40 yards right with fletched shafts.  now im happy!