EFOC & bareshafting

[Dave Earley]

Anyone tried bare shaft testing an EFOC (or whatever the proper terminology) shaft?  My 2020's spine just fine (left / right) but seem to leave the bow straight and impact nose down, nock high no matter what I do with the nocking point.  I have been trying an extra 100 or 130 gr using the PDP system from Three Rivers.  While I haven't tried bare shafting 2020's w/o the extra weight, bare shafting 2018's they hit only slightly nock high, which in my experience is fine and corrects fine once there are feathers.  Any ideas are apreciated !

Thanks

[Jesse Peltan]

Hitting nock high means you have to adjust your nock point. I have a bow that I had to shoot 1 and 3/8in above 90. I reshaped the shelf so that my contact point (where the arrow touches the bow) was directly above the deepest part of the grip. My nock height only has to be 3/8 above 90 now.

[Elk whisperer]

I have had the same problem with EFOC. its not easy you have to get it just right and you can still have trouble.

[robtattoo]

Please forgive me for saying this, but I think some folks are missing the point.

The idea is to bareshaft your arrows so that they would need a lot of front weight to tune them up correctly (ie: using shafts that are waaay too stiff at regular point weights) notbareshafting so you get perfect tune with 125gn & then just screwing in 300gn to get EFOC.

If you are trying to tune your arrows correctly with heavy point weights, then please accept my apologies!

For setting your nock-height, it helps to start off high & come down, not the other way around. Try your nock point at 1" to 1-1/4" high & then reduce it by 1/8" at a time. A low nock point can read the same as a high one, dueto your arrow contacting the shelf. If you start high you know that you'll have to come down, notthe other way around. If you happen to start off too low & get a false reading, you'll end up tearing your hair out trying to figure it out! Also bear in mind, your form will play a large roll in nock-height & not everyone will get it perfect. As long as your left/right spining is OK, nock height is less critical as you will more easily, mentally compensate for high/low arrow flight.

[Bill Carlsen]

For locating the nock point take a bare shaft and stand about 8-10 feet away from the target. If the arrow enters the target sraright, that is, parallel to the ground you're good to go. If it  hits nock high lower the nocking point...vice versa for low nock in target. Once that is settled for you then continue bare shaft tuning normally. I have had no trouble bare shafting EFOC shafts. Start with a stiffer shaft and adjust the point weight until you are getting perfect flight. I can get out to 35 yards, at least, but that is as far as I have worked on it. If you are trying to achieve perfect flight for a particular point weight then you need to have various spine arrows available to arrive at your desired point weight. My whole goal is to get an arrow shaft, cut to my length, with the heaviest head that will fly perfectly. For me that is a Beman/Axis, 340, 29" BOP from a 60# @28" DAS bow. These shafts shoot  best with 200-225 grains. If I wanted to shoot 300 grains I would have to try a 300 spine shaft and perhaps play with arrow length to get that perfect flight. I have found that Razorcaps at 200 grains or Phantoms at 220 shoot perfectly for me. Depending on the head I use my finished arrows are 580-600 grains...perfect for my 60#'s.

[trapperDave]

its always gonna be nose down nock high at any distance past spittin    the arrow is dropping and its going point first.      

[Bill Carlsen]

trapperdave: That has not been my experience at all. In actuality, for me, the fact that the shaft has no feather drag at all, I have found that the bare shaft tends to  shoot a bit flatter than my fletched arrows....especially at the longer distances.

[trapperDave]

when you chuck spear, does it land flat or point first?

[Smallwood]

i have found the same results as bill carlsen.
my bare shafts shoot flat, but for fletched, i have to raise the nock about 1/8" to get great flight. Otherwise, the fletched arrows hit the shelf a bit.

[trapperDave]

so whats the point of messing with nock hgt when bareshafting? Your just gonna make changes to shoot a fletched shaft.

[caleb7mm]

the point is to have a good starting point for your fletched shafts so you know your not out of tune to start with. Being out of tune from the beginning can result in loss of speed and loss of down range energy. I for one would like to have the most down range energy as possible when shooting at a live animal.

--c--

[trapperDave]

I bareshaft. Just dont see why ya tweak the nock for a bareshaft when ya gonna shoot fletched. i can see the point on a new bow starting from scratch... but not one youre setting up new arrows for.

i bareshaft for group placement, not tweeking nock hgt.
to each his own, your mileage my vary

[Dave Earley]

true confessions, guys !

I was canting the bow - once I held it vertical, all my problems went away, the arrows shot flat once I got the nocking point right.

duh .......

[Bill Carlsen]

Trapperdave; I think we need to remember that when an arrow leaves a bow it does so by flying in an arc...ask any gap shooter and they will tell you that there is a point where the point on for them is at two distances...one is very close and the other is out a ways...because the arrow is flying in an arc and will rise and fall as it travels towards the target.  The arrow will land point down once it begins its decent but otherwise it is still maintaining an arc and not falling until it reaches that point where it begins to descend. So, arrows or bare shafts that enter the target nock up at close range are not tuned properly, IMO, unless you are shooting down, say from a treestand My best arguement from personal experience is trying to shoot under a branch. If the arrow was dropping all the way none of us would ever have had the experience of "missing" due to the branch grabbing the arrow.

[Bill Carlsen]

Trapperdave; I think we need to remember that when an arrow leaves a bow it does so by flying in an arc...ask any gap shooter and they will tell you that there is a point where the point on for them is at two distances...one is very close and the other is out a ways...because the arrow is flying in an arc and will rise and fall as it travels towards the target.  The arrow will land point down once it begins its decent but otherwise it is still maintaining an arc and not falling until it reaches that point where it begins to descend. So, arrows or bare shafts that enter the target nock up at close range are not tuned properly, IMO, unless you are shooting down, say from a treestand.

[huntindad]

The arrow only arcs up because it is pointed up if it is held parallel to the earth it is dropping from the point of leaving the bow just as any projectile is including bullets. Bill