Persistent left tear
Equipment
Paper tuning my bow and I keep getting a left tear. It started with a small 3/8" left tear, so I started moving the rest to the right. Helped a little (maybe 1/8" less tear) but I kept moving the rest to the right and tear never got better. Rest probably ended up nearly 1/8" right of starting point and obviously off-center. Any ideas?
60#, 27" draw, 27.5" FMJ 5mm 340 shaft with 3 fletch Blazers, 150g field tip, 515g total arrow weight, mechanical hinge release
Yoke tune and check for cam lean at fully drawn. I had a similar issuer and had to adjust my cables a bit.
It's a Gearhead T20, so obviously super short axle-to-axle, and maybe that's the problem. I've been shooting it for the past month and getting great groups out to 50 yds, but broadheads weren't as consistent as I wanted which is why I checked the paper. My main bow is my Halon 32, so I bought this one more as a novelty to see if I could get it to shoot good enough for an upcoming horseback moose hunt next fall.
Could you be getting rest contact? I have fought tuning issues in the past that were really just minor contact issues.
QAD drop-away, so although I guess rest contact is possible, probably not likely?
Twist the left yolk or if no yolks,as not familiar with that bow, then shim or 'move' the cam further to the LEFT by placing a thinner spacer on the left of the cam and a thicker one on the right of the cam.
I'd ignore the paper tears and go straight to bringing FP and BH impacts together at 40 yards.
Some bows and some setups will never completely shoot clean holes in paper, and some may if you sacrifice other considerations to achieve those clean holes at the cost of a stiffer preferred spine or a preferred particular rest that you'd rather hunt with.
The most imporant tuning result by far is the clean flight downrange to a point of impact that is in agreement with your field point results. You WON'T achieve that agreement without the tuning being spot on, so the tears through paper at closer ranges may be a satisfying challenge to chase after, but are pretty much immaterial in the overall effort to achieve the final result of putting the BH where you aim when hunting.
I paper-tuned for years, and bare-shaft tuned for even more years after deciding that was a better use of the time and effort, but finally came to the decision that all such measures only resulted in hopefully bringing me closer to the settings that I finally achieved after BH/FP tuning at distance. So in the pursuit of time saving as seasons approached and equipment changes occurred, I eliminated the unnecessary preliminary dances and went straight to the one that mattered.
These past twenty years or so, I've done my BH tuning using a wadded plastic shopping bag sitting on a grassy hillside for a target, and 40 yards as my preferred distance because it's far enough for any close-range wiggles to be long gone, and to allow me to use one target for multiple shots without frequent damage to shafts and fletching if I shoot the BH equipped arrow first, and also far enough to reveal any planing that will affect the BH flight downrange. If it's not there by 40 yards out, it's not going to happen.
I agree with RK. It’s served me well for 30 years
Yep, no yokes on those bad boys, they look like they would be tough to tune. I would check for cam lean at full draw to see if that is the culprit. I would also think a small bow like that would be very prone to magnifying any small form issue that might exist.
I wouldn't assume the QAD works on that bow. I just took one off my RX1 Ultra as I had contact issues with it. I did get clearance but I had to set the rest to rise literally at the end if the draw cycle that I had fear it wouldn't work with a little buss cable creep.
Thanks for the input. I will check the rest and may just have to stick to BH tuning. This bow is definitely a different beast. I really do like it, but it is a little more fickle with form issues. Most days very accurate, but I'll still have the occasional unexplainable flyer which can erode confidence. Verdict is still out.
I've never had a paper tear I couldn't fix.....but the point russ koon makes is a good one. In the end all you really care about it getting FP's and BH's to fly the same and to be honest that isn't even that important. I shoot BH's most of the time after the season starts anyway so to be honest I don't spend much time thinking about FP's anymore. I do make sure I'm getting a perfect paper hole with FP's before I do anything else when I make changes to my bow though.
arrow is to stiff, make em 29" and I bet it works
Too stiff? I thought about that, but I figured with the 150g head it would work. I have some FMJ 400's I could try and see how they fly.
I am with Straight Arrow on his suggestion. If I have paper turned the arrows, and they are flying correctly to the target and If my BHs are then hitting within reason ( a few inches off) to my FPs. I adjust my bow sight slightly, to bring my BH in line and hitting the 12 ring. Now I am ready to hunt.
I am sure there have been a lot of hair pulled out trying to have perfect BH/FP strikes with all of the different compound bow designs, arrow shafts and BHs. And then throw in the the human mechanical factor. Good luck!
my best, Paul
""Too stiff? I thought about that, but I figured with the 150g head it would work. I have some FMJ 400's I could try and see how they fly. ""
if the 400's are the same length, i would try both 100 and 125gr heads
