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Trad equipment question

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
If there was a thread for just asking trad bow questions I'd have put this there but since there isn't one here's my question. First, a co-worker told me this this morning and I'm asking you veteran bowyer and trad guys or gals for your opinion. He just had a long bow custom made for him recently and said the guy who made it for him built him some arrahs too. Said he went with 5" feathers but only is gluing 2 on them. Opposite of each other with a slight right helical.

Question: Have you ever hunted or shot your long bow with your arrows set up this way. He will be basically shooting off his left hand as you know most long bow shelves are nonexistent?
Also what broadhead do you recommend for him? He didn't tell me his poundage or draw length but I'm figuring it will be 45-50# at 26-27" according to his size.
He said the bow looks great and will bring it to work sometime. If so, I'll snap a pic or two then post it here.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
I shoot 3 5 1/2" feathers burned to a modified shield cut of my own design. fletching is there for stabilization, period. less is seldom more in that regard aside from noise considerations, and I've shot enough deer at less than 30 feet to know that my arrows are not too noisy. I want my arrows flying straight when they reach a close target under the worst conditions. IMO, your buddy is making a mistake. I'm sure that his two feather arrows can be tuned up, but I wouldn't want two feathers steering my broadhead arrow in the field.

given his short limb stroke and relatively light draw weight, he'd be wise to shoot an arrow weighing around 10 grains per pound of draw weight tipped with a two blade cut-on-contact broadhead like a Zwickey Eskimo or the smaller Magnus two blade. penetration is the name of the game and two blade heads do it the best under the widest variety of conditions.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Another question

What steps do you take to tune a trad bow? Is there such a thing other that setting your nock set to where your arrah comes off the shelf nice and your arrahs have the proper spine? Do you paper tune? Any other info is very much appreciated too!
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
I have never paper tuned any bow and arrow combination. is a waste of time for the kind of bows, arrows and broadheads I shoot, particularly at the ranges I shoot game.

getting the correct arrow spine is paramount, imo, and the less center shot your bow is the more important/critical arrow spine becomes to get best arrow flight you have to have proper spine, nock point setting and brace height. all this under the assumption that you have consistent shooting form and a decent release. tuning a traditional bow is not complicated, but not necessarily easy.
 

COB-TY

Retired to the happy hunting grounds above.
2,555
0
Ohio
What Jamie said finely. While my ugly twin is a lot uglier than me he just a tad smarter than me when it comes to stick and string. Seriously Jamie is one smart cookie about trad bow. He will be a great help to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
if you feel the need to bare shaft tune, there are several video tutorials that show how to do it, and I hear they are very good. Three Rivers Archery has one, ACS has one, Ken Beck has one. bare shaft tuning is not the be all, end all path to a well tuned traditional bow and supreme accuracy, but I guess it could help some people.