Contributors to this thread:
so I was out and time to practice with broadheads. Put on some lighted nocks and started to shoot. Holy crap, not good. Different arrows this year and have not used lighted nocks before. Arrows not grouping and all and I can see them fishtailing around. Shooting slick trick mags and have never had that problem before. Found 4 arrows out of 12 that shot good, Easton indjection 330's. Spin tested every arrow, great results. Finally put the original nock back on and back to normal. Anybody else have bad results with lighted nocks?? Trying a different brand, waiting for them to get shipped. Nocks I was using were nocturnals. It seemed like if the blades of the broached were lined perfectly straight up and down they shot better, were in line with how the nock is built.
Which Nocturnals? The new universal ones?
I use luminock signature series. Other than having to re sight my 50,60,70,80 pin. No issues
Tom,
I shoot the .330 Injexions as well (for the past 4-5 years) and love them. I also shoot Slick Tricks, although the standards.
I've been on the same search and have tried everything. The new style Nocturnal "G" is the best I've found. My accuracy with the Nockturnals is good (about the same as the standard Injexion nock) out to 40 and then there becomes a more pronounced difference out beyond that.
So....I may just use the Nocturnals for whitetail hunting (where its needed the most) and that's it....
Mark
Have you considered the possibility that the flight is no different except that you can now see what’s happening?
That seems a little bit unlikely if your groups have gone to hell in a handbag, but most arrows coming off of compounds are so damn fast that there’s no way that you can see what’s happening under normal conditions. Even at pokey-ass stickbow speeds, I need to use the slow-mo function on my phone camera to get a good look.
Just curious… Did you try them with the other nocks and field points instead?
I tried the nocturnals on Injexion 330 with heat vanes. Inside 20 it seems fine. I took a shot at 50 yards and it was flying weird and hit the top of the target housing and broke my arrow! didn't try another after that. Regular nocks flew great, so not sure.
In the past on my other set up with heavy Axis 300 and Blazers and nocturnals it would fly fine out to 70 so not sure if its the injexion, the heat vane, the bow tune, or what.
I've been shooting Nocturnals for the last 3 years and have had no problems. I also tried the Glory nocks this year. They both seem to have the same point of impact. I mainly bought the Glory's because I was told they were brighter and have a longer battery life. I don't know about the battery life, but they definitely are not any brighter than my year old Nocturnals.
I have a spot where I shoot and can see arrow flight very good, so I don't think its just because I can see the nock, I see the vanes more. Yes I have the G series nocturnals. just got done shooting again. shoot way better without the lighted nocks, way better, was looking forward to using this elk season...
And when I say way better I mean from a very small group to I'm going to shoot 4 arrows at that target and I know I don't have to worry about clipping vanes off --10-12 inch group at 30 yards. Regular nock, you better shoot 1 at a time or you will be replacing vanes
Are the lighted nocks wider than the non- lighted? Nock pinch?
I have had issues with that in the past. This year I wanted to only shoot lighted so I tuned my GT hunter pro's with nokturnal's on and am shooting tighter than ever out to 100, so I don't think it is the nokturnal.
Weight at the nock end will stiffen your spine.
GF X2.
Fletched shafts can fly bad and still group together. Just hard to see. Try a bare shaft up close and then start moving back with fletched shafts, you will find out quick if your bow is tuned or not.
I'll tune with nocturnals on and then see what happens, will re check everything
Can 28gr to the back of your arrow change the spine enough to open your groups up like that?
I have shot lumenocks and nocturnals for years,,,,, the only issues I have, was turning them off. well that has been solved but never had issues on performance
I use Glory Nocks, no issues.
As Hawkeye mentioned, make sure the nocks fit on the string the same.
Any chance the nick end is not square?
FWIW....I have been using Clean Shot Nock Outs for 3 years or so and haven't noticed any difference in arrow flt. I like the rotating cam feature allowing you to practice with them without lighting the nock every time you shoot.
I tried those nocks and it seemed like they would flex when they were shot affecting the tuning of the arrow. Too much plastic on the back of the arrow with the insert and the stem of the nock. A regular “G” nock doesn’t flex on the back of an arrow. I won’t use them anymore. I make my own lighted nock with a bobber light/battery and a regular “G” nock
btn....are you using Gold Tip arrows?
When I started using Nocturnal lighted nocks I found that they weighed much more than my regular nock. I buy 1/8" x 1/2' rods at the hardware store and glue them in my regular nocks. My regular nocks now weigh the same as the lighted nocks. So instead of shooting apples to oranges weighted nocks- I'm shooting apples to apples weighed nock. This helped in consistency of sighting in arrows.
I have had no problems shooting the lighted nocks. As stated above, I square (G5 Squaring tool) both ends of my shaft and I have this has helped flight consistency.
I have also improved my flight consistency by doing a 4-fletch, right helical with the Fletch Flex 360 vanes.
Just sharing some things I have learned that might help someone else.
I shoot Easton Axis and FMJ shafts (X nock size).
Nocturnals, Love ‘em especially the newer ones...Through a Moose a couple years ago! Only reason I found my arrow was because of the nock! Fly fine with my three (3) Blazers and offset out to 65...
btn, from your description I suspected you used Gold Tips...so do I. Gold Tips use a non-standard inside diameter in the shafts. If you are getting any excess movement with the older Clean Shot Nock Outs, you can correct that with glue or plastic wrap to stop the movement. The newer Nock Out Contenders seem to have addressed the Gold Tip issue.
I'm in IowaHawkeye and JTV camp with the nock pinch idea. Easy test to figure out if that is the issue is to nock an arrow that doesn't have a tip in it, come to full draw and see if the arrow lifts up off the rest, just make sure you don't hit the trigger.
The best engineered lighted nocks on the market are made by Firenock. The tolerances and reliability are unmatched. Batteries can be replaced, and have a lifetime warranty on the circuits themselves. The actual nock is interchangable, comes with a practice insert and is actually one of the best fitting nocks on the string out there. They are pricey tho. Long as you dont lose them, they last forever it seems.
