Tuning different bows and why

[stan v]

New to trad, only 3 yrs now but am looking forward to hunting season again.  Readying all my stuff I started retuning each bow.  Been practice shooting a while and stick with 15-17 yds. 

Have several bows, a 55" Necedah at 40#-, a Browning Nomad (52") 40# and a Wing Redwing Hunter 58" 41# + all these are at 28" draw and I draw 28.5"

The eye opener is the Nededah and the Browning Nomad.  Both excellent shooters. 

Necedah tunes with a carbon 500 at 28 5/8" with 225 up front.  Darts

The Browning Nomad with a carbon 600 at 28 3/4" with 275 up front.  Could use some tweaking but it's close.  I doubt I'll ever be perfect with bareshaft. 

I'm lost on how the Necedah shoots a 500 spine and the Browning shoots a 600?  The Wing?  carbon 500 full length (30") with 300 up front.  Darts

[Orion]

Could be due in part to differences in arrow shelf depth.  The closer to or past center they're cut, the higher the spine needed.  If the Wing shoots a 500 with 300 up front, it will also shoot a 600 with less weight up front.  If your draw is 28 1/2, you're going to draw the broadhead into your bow hand when you put broadheads on the 28 5/8-28 3/4-inch arrows. 

[stan v]

Those shaft lengths are carbon to carbon, add another 1/2" or so for nock.  That's a good point about the shelf cut, I overlooked that.

[McDave]

Just an FYI for the future.  Arrow length is measured from the valley of the nock to the base of the point (BOP).  Since arrow length is an essential part of tuning, people will not give you accurate feedback if you measure it any other way.

Something that has always confused me is how to measure arrow length with an insert/outsert.  For purposes of drawing the bow, you can draw the insert/outsert right up onto the arrow rest with no problems, but it doesn't bend, so shouldn't be counted as length for tuning purposes.  So when I'm discussing length with someone for purposes of tuning, I just measure to the base of the insert/outsert, but for my own purposes, I know I can "cheat" if I want a stiffer arrow and can cut the shaft a little shorter than my actual draw length.