Helical Feathers from a Compound??
Equipment
Do helical feathers from a newer compound shoot well? Pros and cons? , I like feathers but have not tried the helicals from my compound [ have with my recurve!] Thanks in advance!!
Feathers can work great out of a compound. I tried them but went back to vanes. Too much of a pain in the arse when it rained/snowed. I know there are ways to help keep them dry/waterproofed, but just didn't want to deal with something else to worry about.
I shoot helical feathers from my bowtech. Does great for me. It might just me but I think feathers are quiter. Helical does what Quick Spin fletching does, spins the arrow faster than straight. I use Magnus two blade broadheads and they work fine. They do not work with a whisker biscuit rest though.
W.S. - how do you rain proof them???
3bears, they do work with a WB. I shoot three 5 inch feathers in a hard right helical off my compound and through a WB w/ no problems at all. No feather wear, doesn't tear off. Works great.
I also like feathers out of the WB. Switched back to feathers from vanes a couple years ago.
Quiet, durable. I don't see any flight differences when it rains, but then I don't usually do much hunting in the rain. I see more deer out feeding then, but have always been apprehensive of washed out blood trails.
I will hunt rainy days when its going to be the only choice available, but I limit my shot selection even more closely than in dry weather when I do.
Use something like Bohning Fletch dry. Works great.
Mission man......sent you a PM
I shoot 4" helical feathers out of my Pearson Stealth at roughly 280fps, and I am now convinced that the only thing that shoots better than a 4" feather is a 5" feather. I have shot blazers, duravanes, quickspins, and AAE Maxhunters and nothing flies like feathers. I can shoot them wet out to 40+ yds with fixed blade BH without problem. It would be different if i were in a place where it snowed and they froze wet, but down here in the south, we dont usually have that problem. I just keep a vane in my quiver for just that occasion.
J
Feathers work great out of my WB and to water proof them, the best stuff I found is hair spray from the Dollar store. OK, so Im cheap to.... Kenny
Helical 4" feathers shoot very well out of my compound. Bohning Fletch Dry keeps my feathers crisp and dry even after hours of rain.
5" right helical feathers off a DXT. They shoot/group very well. You may not like the hiss created by them, but it doesn't bother me any. The hiss didn't seem to bother the doe I shot at 25 yards or the turkey at 47 yards.
3" right helical feathers here... for my broadheads that is... for field points any vane works fine for me.
Feathers, 5", hard left, water prof with silicone spraw (one can will last a lifetime), I'm using WB and went from feathers to vanes back to feathers. I'm shooting a Jennings Arrow Star Compound at over seventy pounds with a 31 1/2 inch aluminum XX75 2117 arrow. The setup is great for me.
I shot 5" feathers with helical for many years, a couple years with a WB. They work great together. The edges would fuzz up a touch but it was never any problem and they held up well. Shot fingers at the time. Nothing as forgiving with any contact. Because of their texture nothing steers as well as feathers do in a traditional fletching configuration. (i.e. no wings, turbos or fan blades, etc.) And yeah, I know technically fletching doesn't "steer". But I hate to use the word "drag" in this day and age.
I shoot vanes now from a drop away and release. I didn't ever mind the noise feathers make in flight. Like broadhead noise, I don't think it makes any difference at all. My main gripe with them is the noise they make whenever anything and everything touches them. Vveerrrriiippp! That and vanes are a bit more durable and I don't even have to think about any waterproofing. And downrange they bleed off a bit more speed than vanes. (See "steering" above.)
I shoot three 5 inch feathers on a hard right helical out of my bowtech. No feather wear and great shooting to boot.
I found feathers help with broadhead flight, I use 5 inch with a pretty good spin on them, my broadheads stabilize much faster and stay straight.
Glenn and others, they did not work as well a a drop a way rest on my setup. Probably I didn't have the WB adjusted properly. Sorry if my opinion was misleading or incorrect.
I could comment but best not,However they should shoot fine our of lots of rests,but fletch right wing if right handed and left if other. If you live in western wa. or Oregon use a st. charles type quiver or a good spray as stated above.
Milt
I'd always heard fletched right hand in the northern hemisphere and left hand in the southern hemisphere.
Or was that flushed?...=D
"I'd always heard fletched right hand in the northern hemisphere and left hand in the southern hemisphere. "
Not durring Daylight Saving time. And only on months with 30 days.
Does the right helical for RH and left for LH make that much difference. I have shot right helical left handed out of a recurve for years.
Makes no difference what so ever.
Just make sure you put all the same (right or left wing) on the same arrow. As long as feather clearance isn't an issue it makes no difference if you shoot right or left feathers with compound or traditional equipment. I shoot 4" feathers through a whisker biscuit rest with no problems. I shoot 5 inch feathers in my recuve. Half the fun is fletching up your own arrows.
Right or left doesn't matter as far as arrow flight goes, but I like right wing so my points stay tight on the shafts. Left wing can cause them to loosen.
I use 4-inch helical feathers.
If you are right handed and shoot cock feather down with left helical fletch, the right hen feather will twist toward the cable and may catch on the cable while drawing.
If you are right handed and use right helical the right hen feather will twist away from the cable creating more clearance and will have less chance of catching on the cable while drawing.
I know because the guy that got me started fletching my own arrows is left handed and I copied what he did and bought a left helical fletching jig because I didn't think it mattered.
I need to buy some right helical clamps or a new jig and a new inventory of feathers to eliminate the annoying hen feather catching on the cable.
shot feathers in past and used the wb spray
I have had 5" feathers and shot them out of my compound...spirals like a football.
I go back and forth this year I have vanes.
Seen this thread and figured I'd add to it.I've always shot 5" LW feathers,left helical.PSE and Jennings and martin compounds.picked up a onieda aero force with a low brace of 7". My feathers won't work.thinking about going to 2" feathers or blazer vanes.never shot small vanes or feathers before.grandson uses them and they smoke from his bow.I'm a finger shooter.
If your feathers catch on a cable, just rotate the nock slightly. I shot LW for many years out of right and left handed bows. Then I switched to RW just so it helps keep the points from backing out. I have shot RW and LW from the same bow and they group exactly the same.
Lots of good info here, another consideration for feathers. If you shoot helical vanes and feathers from your compound and shoot tight groups you will have to replace vanes more often then feathers.As the vanes have arrow holes in them and the feathers separate and return to undamaged condition.
What confuses me is why anyone would question whether feathers/helical would “work” from a compound???
I think Chuck Adams has never used anything BUT feathers, and probably just a flipper rest.
I shoot feathers with trad gear and vanes with compound. This thread has me wanting to feather up some shafts for my compound and give it a try. I dislike the short tall vanes that have become the norm anyhow.
I shot both and there is not a nickels difference.
Chuck Adams has shot 5" red vanes for years. He is not a fan of feathers.
Really? I remember reading an article he wrote in which he sang the praises of feathers as being much more forgiving, and said that he thought extra forgiveness was essential on longer shots....
Unless I am remembering the wrong author, I suppose..... Just ‘cuz you remember it that way doesn’t mean it’s so.....
Been shooting LW 4 fletch helical feathers since 1959 & have never had any problems, when rain or snow keep fingers off of them or use fletch dry from Gate Way Feather.
I shoot 2 inch Razor Feathers using Magnus Buzz Cuts. Here is a picture of 3 shots at 20 yards with my setup. The bow is an Elite Synergy shooting a speed of 302 fps. FOC is 12%. I get excellent flight
I shoot 2 inch Razor Feathers using Magnus Buzz Cuts. Here is a picture of 6 shots at 20 yards with my setup. The bow is an Elite Synergy shooting a speed of 302 fps. FOC is 12%. Arrows are Gold Tip XT 340's. I get excellent flight
Chuck was a vane shooter. Don't know what he uses today but the 5" red vane comment for yrs ago is accurate.
Maybe it was Doug Easton I’m thinking of?
I remember an awful lot of what I read, but sometimes I don’t pay so much attention to who wrote it.....
LOL
Been shooting 4" helical feathers from my compound bows for many, many years.
Feathers are the best fletching out there in my opinion. I have one bow set up to shoot feather fletched arrows and one set up with Blazers. I'll be going back to all feathers for next year.
