Paper Tuning Help
Equipment
I am just learning how to string and paper tune my own bows.
I set up my compound with a new arrow and vane configuration (went from black eagle zombie slayers with 3 blazers to victory VF TKOs with 4 TAC 2.25s) and shot the victory’s through paper and got a perfect bullet hole (at least to me) without doing anything at all (I tied my d loop a little higher than my old shop had it but that was it). Shot my BH through and also got a bullet hole.
Is it possible that I’m just seriously that lucky? Or is it more likely I was too close to the paper (I was about 3 feet off the paper) and I’m getting a false result? 3 feet is about all the space I have so if I need to be further I have to go to a family house away from all my equipment, which is inconvenient.
The bottom hole is what I think is a bullet hole - maybe I’m not seeing any issues clearly too.
Thanks in advance!
When I paper tune I do it at 6'. I would back up a little to see if you have any issues, but you may be good to go already.
If you meant to post a picture I am not seeing it.
Since you're inexperienced, there is another way... Back in the day I tried the paper tuning but it became too finesse, too complicated... Since shooting stickbows at slower speeds, I take bare shafts with field points same weight as am going to shoot broadheads and shoot them from a distance and watch how they tail in flight (up, down, left, right) to the target and enter the target... I suppose you can do it with compounds but ya might not be able to see them in flight tail/fly but you can still see how they stick in the target... Its much simpler than paper tuning...
I’d shoot it a bit to get the strings settled. Then bare shaft tune. Last step is checking broadheads. My paper tuning only helps me get started. If for instance you had a bad tear, a bare shaft could miss the target at 20 or even break hitting the target at a severe angle. If you can group bare shafts with fletched at 20-30 you know your tune and form is good. This has worked for me at least. Good luck!
If you are that close only tools you should need is Allen wrenches to make small adjustments to rest. If I were in your shoes I'd shoot broadheads and see if they shoot with your field points. If not tune to that if they do I'd go hunting.
I quit paper tuning years ago too. I string my bow, make sure all specs are on. Square nick point and rest. Start shooting. Then broadhead tune
Many ways to tune.
If you use paper, just know that you are only 1/2 way there....shooting BH/FP's at longer range and getting them to group is the deciding factor.
What many don't realize; Just because you have a bullet hole in paper...or your Mechs shoot the same as your FP's- it doesn't mean the bow is tuned. The arrow could still be coming out of the bow a little wonky.
"It shoots mechs like my FP's" is like moving your steering wheel to account for bad tire alignment. Just align the darn thing. There are 2 ways to know if that arrow is coming out of your bow perfectly straight; 1. Put a fixed BH on there and shoot against FP's or,
2. shoot Bareshafts against FP's
All you will ever need to know about the subject.
Bar shaft work your way back to 20 yards with it.
I like two distances. Then on to BH tuning.
Oops! Picture didn’t post, let’s try again.
I shoot a bare shaft through paper at 6’. To keep the arrow weight and dynamic spine the same between bare shaft and a fletched arrow is I will add wraps or electrical tape to bare shaft until the weight between the 2 shafts are the same.
Now when I shoot the bare shaft I will clock the arrow as well. Mark the top of the bare shaft and see which direction it rotates. My bow clocks left. I then fletch my arrows 2 degrees left helical. Typically if your string is twisted clock wise it will clock left. If it’s twisted counter clock wise it will clock right.
After all that I will shoot a broad head arrow and field tip arrow. I start at 20 yards and eventually work out to 60 yards adjusting tune till they impact the same.
Even a porpoising, or fish tailing, arrow can shoot a bullet hole at a specific distance, if the paper happens to be where the arrow is correcting itself. That's why I find paper tuning mostly worthless.
Bare shaft tuning is where it's at, for me. If you can get the bare shafts grouping with your field tips out to 30 yards, it's almost a guarantee that any broad head of equal weight will also group too.
Matt
I can’t get my head around the self rotating arrow thing. I’ve never come across any kind of scientific explanation. And even if there was a self induced spin, I’d still fletch right to prevent the broadhead from screwing loose on impact. That would be a bigger problem than anything caused by any barely perceptible counter spin.
But yes, tuning fixed heads to field points is probably best for most of us. Bare shafts are great for finding out that the shooter is out of tune.
I think a Hooter Shooter would be great for tuning arrows.
"Even a porpoising, or fish tailing, arrow can shoot a bullet hole at a specific distance, if the paper happens to be where the arrow is correcting itself. That's why I find paper tuning mostly worthless.".....yep...if you aren't getting a bullet hole take a step or 2 forward or backward.
Ok second question- if I shoot bare shafts in a group with fletched, shouldn’t I expect there to be a ballistic difference since my bare shaft won’t have vanes or a wrap? Or will that not cause a huge deal at 20 yards?
Weigh your vanes and apply electric tape to the rear of the shaft to compensate for the weight difference.
In my experience wrapping the back of the arrow with duct tape until you achieve same overall weight as fletched shafts they react nearly the same, and with that being said if you can get bateshafts to hit with field points at 20 yds your really close but for optimal tune go back to 30 and it will show any and all differences just make sure your form is good and you feel like your making good shots cuz everything will be magnified and you don’t wanna chase your tail, also if you are outdoors at that distance pick a day that the wind is near to nothing, if bareshafts hit with fletched at 30 you will have an extremely well tuned forgiving setup with or without broadheads
If you don't have an extremely consistent form base bare shafting will leave you very frustrated and confused.
Your tune is only going to be as good as you can shoot, and that is magnified with bare shafts.
I paper tune then BH tune just before season, I find if you BH tune too early things can change
I'm probably the most experienced and very near the top if not at the top of Bowsite members with regard to expertise in this subject. With that said, there is a lot of answers to your question here that aren't really answers. Even I am confused.
To answer your original question, you may have gotten lucky, yes. The closer you are to the paper, the harder it is to get a nice hole. So the fact that you have a nice hole at 3' is a major accomplishment. Guys who buy "perfectly" spined shafts according to typical spine charts usually get some shaft flex at the release of the arrow. It can take 5-6 feet for that flex to straighten out.(the weaker the shaft, the longer it takes) Which is why you hear a lot of guys telling you to start at 6'.
I have always advocated for stiffer than "perfect" shafts. I get perfectly round bullet holes with bare shafts from 3' to 20 yards indoors. (I'm shooting 28" 300 spine shafts out of a 27" DL medium speed compound at 54#.) The stiffer shafts don't shed as much energy during flight as the weaker shafts, which means they hit harder at the target.
Back on topic... if 3' is all you have in your home for paper tuning, then you have done all you can do until you get to the range. Pick a calm day and compare field points to fixed broadheads(that spin true). Make small adjustments until the two groups merge together. Go hunting.
Oh, and do not use the easton tuning guide. 90% of that info was written in the 1970's.... Especially the paper tuning section.... it's embarrassingly bad and outdated.
"90% of that info was written in the 1970's".....and it gives you 95% of the same information that you will get today on nearly any archery forum in the world.
Great post xman... (always agree with your archery posts. )
X-man is The Man…always good advice. I too have been shooting over spined arrows for decades.
Op…FWIW, most of the experienced compound guys I know check the cam rollover on a draw board then setup their bow to factory spec and centershot. Then they go straight to BH tuning…which is getting your BHs hitting with your FP’s at long distance.
Until this year, I have always paper tuned with field points and made adjustments for broadheads on the shooting range. This year, I successfully attempted bare shaft tuning, first on paper... with slight tweaks afterwards at 20 yards on the shooting range. No adjustments were necessary for broadheads. Happy bowhunter!
pav,
That is my preferred method now as well. The best part is that it can be done indoors, no matter the weather.
x-man,
Yeah, pretty sure you were the reason I went with the bare shaft tuning...based on a response from a previous paper tuning thread! Thanks!!!
