Bare shaft

[Don B]

Just for the heck of it I took some of my new HT-4's that were ready for fletching and shot them bare. All I can say is I am glad I shot them only at about 10 yards, they almost didn't hit the target bales...WTH?
My fletched arrows fly like darts no matter what yardage I shoot them. The bare shafts take a nose dive down to the left then come up to the right. If I would of shot at 20 yards I would of had to go to the next county to find the shaft.
What would cause this? How do you bareshaft tune a bow? This was the first time I have ever shot a unfletched arrow shaft, how the heck can they hit were a fletched arrow does?
Thanks,
Don.

[MLN1963]

This was the first time I have ever shot a unfletched arrow shaft, how the heck can they hit were a fletched arrow does?
Thanks,
Don.

Tuning! See Easton Archery's Tuning Tips. http://www.eastonarchery.com/pdf/tuning_guide.pdf

But Paper tuning is just a good start, after that you may still have to move the rest around a little. At least this is what I know of it.

[bfisher]

Bare shafy tuning is very similar to paper tuning, except that it shows more as you shoot longer distances. Another thing is that your form has to be more consistant as there won't be any fletching to correct the shaft. Here's a brief summary of how I've bare shaft tuned over the last 35+ years:

Start at about 6' shooting at a target at shoulder height so you can shoot level. I often kneel down in front of our bag targets at the archery club. It's important to use a target material that is omidirectional so the shaft isn't affected by the target any more than necessary. Straw, excelsior, or bag targets work OK.

Start close and shoot a shaft. Follow Easton's Tuning Guide to reading the shaft and making adjustments. It's sometimes good to make several shots just to make sure the target isn't affecting the arrow. Once you get the shaft entering level and square at 6' then back up to 10 yards or a little less and do the same thing, making finer adjustments as necessary. Then 15 yards; then 20 yards.

Understand that the farther you move back the finer adjustments have to be so as not to over correct for any flaw. You can try tuning this way as far back as your form and shooting ability will allow. I would normally try to get a perfect bare shaft flight out to 35 yards. What you're looking for is a bare shaft that flies like it's lazer guided. All you'll see is a nock going directly away from you.

If you can get it this good then try shooting bare shaftds and fletched arrows together. They should shoot so close to each other that you can't tell a difference. And in most cases broadhead tipped arrows will shoot to the same POI, too.

It can be frustrating. There are a lot of things that can mess you up. Some can be mechanical like cam lean (limb twist), poor cam timing, but most often it will be arrows that are underspined, too little FOC, and others things. It will also show you real quick if your form is off or inconsistant. Grip the bow and all bets are off.

Easton's Tuning Guide covers a lot of this stuff.

[NeilMac]

I have tried bare shaft tuning on a number of occasions over the years, and I have always felt that being a finger shooter makes life an awful lot harder due to archers paradox and the fact that there are no fletchings to help damp out and correct it.

I have taken competition winning bows and tried bare shaft tuning (for fun) and have given up on each occasion, especially at shorter ranges, where I have bent aluminium shafts and done terminal damage to carbons.

The Easton guide is excellent, and when I get in trouble, the first thing I do is put a vertical and horizontal line on a butt and use the fine tuning method detailed in the guide, but I gave up on bare shafts a long time ago.

[Don B]

Thanks everyone for the info.
I think I am just going to leave everthing as it is. You know what they say...If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
My fletched shaft all hit right where I try and hit...LOL
Don.

[bfisher]

Thanks everyone for the info.
I think I am just going to leave everthing as it is. You know what they say...If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
My fletched shaft all hit right where I try and hit...LOL
Don.

That's your choice. Some people like to tinker more than others. Bear in mind that a fletched shaft with target or field point will always shoot where you aim it because your bow is sighted in for it. It doesn't mean your bow is tuned well, though. There are lots of other methods of tuning also. Tiller tuning, french tuning, walkback, broadhead tuning, and others. You may not like any of them or get the results you are looking for, but it never hurts to experiment.

I, for one, have never accepted the thought that "If it ain't broke......". Unless you never try different methods you may never find out what method would wrk to make things even better.

As I said, bare shafting can be very tricky. That's why I start out close and work back. I have always just liked the challenge of it and hardly ever accept "good enough". That goes for other aspects such as perfecting form. I've never shot a perfect score in any venue of archery so there is always something to tinker with.

[Don B]

Barry,
I did play around with trying to get bare shafts to fly, all weekend. I tryed tiller, timing, nock point placement. None of it seemed o really do any good, unless I was doing everything wrong.
I have my fletched shafts flying like darts right down the center.
I am going to get ahold of some guys I know that are past national and state champions to see how they tune thier bows.
Don.

[Don B]

Barry,
What would cause my bareshaft to take a nosedive downto the left then comeup hard to the right?
Thats what they do.
The POI at 10 yards is the same as a fletched shaft but they are sticking in the target at a upward right angle. The nock on the bareshaft is only about 10" from the target, it's almost laying down.
Don.

[bfisher]

Barry,
What would cause my bareshaft to take a nosedive downto the left then comeup hard to the right?
Thats what they do.
The POI at 10 yards is the same as a fletched shaft but they are sticking in the target at a upward right angle. The nock on the bareshaft is only about 10" from the target, it's almost laying down.
Don.

My gut tells me there are several things going on. The diving down would indicate a high nocking point, usually, but it could be such things as arrow spine, cam timing, nock fit to the string (much overlooked). If using a launcher type rest maybe the blade or spring tension is to high. Left/right issues usually point to a spine mismatch which calls for adjusting the rest left or right and/or adjusting the draw weight, but don't rule out cam lean as well.

If you have the means I'd suggest shooting the bare shaft through paper up close. As I said before, paper tuning with a bare shaft is similar to bare shafting. My guess is that shooting through paper is going to show you a high, right tear. And again, work on the vertical first

[Don B]

Barry,
Would all this apply shooting fingers and no sights too?
Don.