Hunting Set-Up Problem

[billkay]

It's time to get set up for hunting and I have a problem. I'm shooting around 275fps at 70#'s and can't get consistent groups with 100 grain Thunderheads. What do I do? Turn down speed to 250fps, which seems to be optimum for fixed blades, and try to group them or switch to mechanicals? Which are the best mechanicals? Will they kill a 350# hog? An elk?

[BowDoc]

http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-banghead-yellow.gif

Did you spin check your braodheads? did you index the broadheads to the vanes?

[Trebark]

Hi billkay,
First thing is, is your bow tuned? If it&#39;s not, fixed blades won&#39;t ever fly out of it, and mechanicals, although they will fly, will not function properly upon impact.
Second, are you spin testing your broadheads? A broadhead that wobbles is just as bad as one fired off of an out of tune bow.
Third thing to check is your form. Slight hand torque, lack of follow through, or other form flaws are magnified by the broadhead.
I am a firm believer that any bow can group broadheads well. Thunderheads are a fine head, very tough, sharp, and very accurate. Definately one of the best. Although the faster the arrow, the more "touchy" the broadhead becomes, I have heard of people shooting as much as 290fps with fixed heads, accurately.
The mechanicals that I have heard the best things about are the Rocket Steelhead, the Rocky Sniper, and the New Archery Products Shockwave. There are many good ones out there, though, perhaps someone else will respond with their choice. Keep us informed of your progress, and good luck this season!
Trebark

[billkay]

The broadheads seem to spin fine without wobble. I&#39;ve been getting good groups out to 50 yards with field points. The bow is a Darton Fury, a single cam. The blades are indexed to the vanes, but I wonder how important that aspect actually is since there is no way to index them when shooting 4 blade or 2 blade heads. I have a hog hunt this Dec. and do not want to have to change my set-up from mechs for deer to fixed for hogs. If the mechs will undoubtedly take a hog and will alleviate the broadhead tuning problems, then that is what I&#39;d prefer, but I want to be sure.

[Trebark]

I don&#39;t know what heaeds you&#39;re shooting, but the Muzzy 4 blade will fly very well, and won&#39;t plane as much as the larger head. Don&#39;t let the 1" diameter fool you. It cuts a square, and that square has more area than the triangle cut by the larger 3 blades! Bigger hole, better flight. By the way, lining up fletch with broadheads does no good. The people that have done this with sucess, have turned their insert to align, and without realizing it, have eliminated wobble from the head. That is what has made the difference. I&#39;ve heard debate on mechanicals for hogs, might want to do a search and find more info. Hope this helps you some!
Trebark

[BowDoc]

http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/afraid_face.gif

In referance to your question about four blade heads. That is why most do not shoot them. It is hard that you find one that will fly correctly no matter how much you tune them.

I think that mech heads have proven themselfs on just about any game that you can think of other then some in the africa.

If you are grouping well with field points out to 50 yards I would have to think that the bow is well tuned. Have to tried another type of head maybe the head is not compatable with your set up. Find some freind with some other makes of heads and give them a try

[bradj]

you need to tune your bow with a bare shaft first, any properly tuned bow will put broadheads in the exact same spot as a fieldtip, and no the blades do not need to be indexed.

[billkay]

How do you tune a bow with a bare shaft? Where do you start? What&#39;s the advantage?

[BowDoc]

Bare shafts you basiclly stand in front of the target about two to three feet and shoot bare shafts into the traget noting at what angle hey hit the target. You can do the same thing by paper tuning with feild points. As for the indexing I even index my mech heads. Just call it piece of mind

[Gator]

I would also recommend paper tuning your bow to make sure your arrow is flying straight, take a box and cut out both ends, then take newspaper and tape across one end, put the box on something about waist high, put your target behind the box, then stand about 10&#39; from the box and shoot thru the paper. Look at the paper and note if you have 3 tears where your fletchings went thru with your shaft hole in the middle, if so your bow is tuned, if not then your bow is out of tune or you have poor form. If your bow is out of tune you may be able to shoot field points consistantly but as soon as you put your blades on you will have problems. Also you said your blades didn&#39;t seem to wobble. How were you checking them? The only way to properly test them is to lay your arrow shaft in something that will allow you to spin them in place, then put a box or something stationary in front of the arrow with the point of the blade almost touching the box, push the box into the point making a mark on the box, then move the box back slightly, start turning the shaft in place and note the point of the blade and see if it stays pointed and the mark on the box, if not the your blades are not tuned. Good luck

[bradj]

Okay to start you need to weigh each shaft, each field tip, and each broadhead and make sure that they all weigh the same. then you need to spin check each shaft without a tip also spin check your nocks, then put in field tips and spin check. Now we need to tune with a bare shaft, because if you paper tune it the fletching will try to correct your problems and you will not get a true reading so you need one of your shafts bare this will let the arrow fly the way it comes off the bow. Now you need to make the shaft weigh as much as the fletched arrows and you can use duct tape or electrical tape to accomplish this. Ok now using field tips stand about 5 yards from the target. After the shot do not move. Look at the arrow if the nock is below the tip of the arroweither move your string nock up or rest down. And check to see if the arrow is pointing left or right and move your rest to compensate. Keep repeating till the arrow is going in straight. after that move back to about 20 yards, at this distance don&#39;t worry about the height of the nock just correct left and right.

[Arthur P]

One thing to make clear. Do NOT bareshaft tune with broadheads. They can make an unfletched arrow do wild things.

It would help if you gave some info on your setup. What bow, what kind of cam(s), what draw weight, draw length, arrow, arrow size, arrow length, broadhead weight, release or (if you&#39;re an oddball like me) fingers?

[bradj]

Authur, Thanks for clarifying that I guess I didn&#39;t say not to tune with broadheads. You may have prevented a tragedy.

[Hideandwatch]

My question is, if you paper tune and have to move the rest either up down or to the side....do you then need to adjust your sight pins again? Or does moving the rest from side to side only correct the angle of the nock end of the shaft? I just had a new string put on my bow, and it turned out that the sight bracket had a crack in it and had to be replaced. I kept the same sight (cobra), but the bracket was different. Had adjusted the pins till I couldnt go any higher, so I seen that the sight bracket had 3 positions that it could be mounted in, I moved the bracket up, (ended up being moved up about 1/2") then I resighted the pins. It&#39;s perfect now as far as centershot and groups being consistant. But I notice that the fletch end of all the shafts kinda lags to the left as I look at the target, as if I were shooting from a position more to the left, angled. Is it paper tuning that will cure this? Be patient with me, I never get it the first time around.

Reflex Whitetail Hunter
29" draw
62#
Easton Gamegetter II 2315
Fieldpoints 125 grain
reflex cams
Tiger Tuff rest

[jayber]

Hideandwatch,

If you don&#39;t change anything else other than you rest position (up/down or left/right), chances are that you won&#39;t have to resight your pins......but be sure to try them all to verify. I went through a similar scenario. And because your arrows are entering the target tail left, it doesn&#39;t necessarily mean that&#39;s how the arrow is coming off the bow. The arrow may be fishtailing and that&#39;s how it&#39;s ending up. I&#39;d fire a couple (with field tips) through paper standing at 3-5 yards and see what kind of tear you get and go from there. Here&#39;s a link where you can download a Bow Hunting Guide to help you Easton Archery (http://www.eastonarchery.com/). Good luck!

As far as bare shaft tuning, that&#39;s a good starting point, but you may never be able to get a perfect bullet hole. Get things as close as you can and then move on to paper tuning with vanes/feathers.

[Hideandwatch]

jayber,
Thanks for the info..and the link to Easton Archery, that is a good link. Took awhile to download, but what the heck...32 pages...lots of good info. http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-dancin-red.gif

[jayber]

Hideandwatch,

Let me add that the tuning portion of the guide is merely &#39;typical&#39; adjustments that can be made. If you can&#39;t get an improvement with what is suggested, try the opposite and see what happens. For example, I had my rest all tuned for field points, but my broadheads were grouping differently. I made the move to my rest that the guide suggested, but I never could improve the spread. I went back to where it was originally set and move slightly the other direction and WAH-LA! It can get frustrating at times......hang in there!

[TheStonedArcher]

You never said - carbons or alloy shafts? Carbons are a lot less forgiving in terms of accuracy.

Shootin a release? Up the trigger so as to eliminate those &#39;o shit i wasnt ready for that but its close anyway&#39; shots/moments. I tend to shoot better when I know exactly when my trigger is about to pop - u develop a feel for it, much like a rifle.

Try lengthening your shafts a little. An inch can sometimes be all thats needed. A longer arrow is more aerodynamcally stable.

Read eastons tuning bible until you know it backwards.

[jayber]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
Here&#39;s a link where you can download a Bow Hunting Guide to help you Easton Archery.[/b]

If I may correct myself, you&#39;d want the Tuning Guide (http://www.eastonarchery.com/downloads/). In my defense, the T.G. used to be available for d/l from the homepage. Sorry.... http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smiley-rolleyes-green.gif