Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

One happy archer!!!

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
A few weeks ago, I posted about finding a bow shop near where I am working that seemed like the answer to all of my complaints about the shops near home. Sadly enough that enthusiasm turned in to full blown rage shortly after leaving the shop. Like a fool, I only shot one arrow at the shop after having my strings and cables replaced; a mistake I will never make again! The first shot I fired at home felt and sounded horrible. The second shot was more of the same and it left two fletchings fluttering to the ground at my feet. I knew something was amiss with the bow and not my fletching job after seeing the white smears all over the prongs on my QAD. It was at this point, I realized the cord connecting the rest with the cable on my bow was not served in. This was preventing the proper amount of tension from being placed on the QAD, which resulted in the rest not falling away, but rather being forced out of the way by my arrow. At this point, I was ready to beat some ass and it only got worse when I mounted the bow on my vise and started checking alignment. I have never in my life seen such a piss poor “tuning” job in my life! I was beyond frustrated and it got to the point where I laid in bed for nearly 3 hours a few nights ago stressing over my bow, my shooting (lack thereof) and how it would eventually screw me this season!!!

Fast forward to this afternoon and I’m sitting at the bow shop down the road from my office. I’ve shot here before, but never had any work done here. They are a PSE dealer and the original bow tech that worked there was the biggest PSE fan boy I have ever seen. It got to the point that I quit shooting there because I was so tired of hearing his shit every time I went there. The local Mathews dealer where I bought my boy is the more worthless bow shop I have ever been in, so I really only had this one option for correcting my issues in a timely manner. I walked in the door and the bow tech on duty asked how he could help me. I informed him that I had a bow that needed tuned and I was looking for perfection. He just laughed and said: “You’re in luck, I’m a perfectionist.” I was thinking “yeah right”, but got my bow out of the case and let him get to work.

After nearly 90 minutes of fooling with my bow in between phone calls and other customers, we headed to the indoor range to test things out. The first thing he did was place pool chalk on my capture bar and riser to make sure we had fletching clearance. The first three arrows out of the bow were simply to check clearance and flight; no real group to speak of, but no clearance or flight issues either. Good start! The next three arrows, I shot my 20, 30, and 40 yard pins at the same aiming point. Despite being a good 12” right and 12” high (20 yard pin), all three shots were in a straight line. Very nice! I made a left to right adjustment and shot the first real group that left two shafts touching and a third 2” left of that group. Ok, we are close. I made one more adjustment, swapped out apertures in my Tru-Peep, and went back to the range to buckle down for one final good group. It was dark at that end of the range, so I couldn’t see the grouping until we walked down there and man was I happy! All three arrows were in a group no bigger than a $.50 piece! The tech just smiled and looked at me: “Well dude, will that work?!?” I just laughed and thanked him!!!

Now for the shocking part of the trip… I made the switch from ST Axis arrows to the Flatlines this year to gain some speed and reduce pin gap. I was mindful of my KE when I built the new arrows and did so with last year’s numbers in mind. With a 30” draw and 28” Axis arrows weighing 430 grains, I was shooting 270 fps which equates to 70 foot pounds of KE. My new arrows are Flatline 340’s at 28.5” weighing 390 grains. Based on some math I had done, I was hoping to jump to 280, maybe 285. The first shot through the chrono with the Flatlines was 297. “No fucking way…” was what I said when that popped up and he just laughed. The next shot was 295. The next was 289. I shot a few more after that and decided the new arrows are flying 290 fps out of the XT, meaning I actually gained 3 foot pounds of KE despite dropping 40 grains!!! I would have never thought I would get those numbers out of my bow/arrow set up. And this is the same chrono that gave me my 265-270 fps numbers with the old arrows.

Needless to say, I am friggin’ stoked right now and can’t wait to get home to start conditioning myself to drive tacks this fall!!!
 

rgecko23

*Supporting Member*
7,466
0
Massillon, Ohio
Glad you got it set up right, and it wasn't your wraps or fletching. I rememebr at the shoot it was tearing your wraps and fletching off.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Awesome Jesse. I bought some arrows from ruttin that are Axis 340's cut to 27.75 inches... Overdrawn like a motha and shooting 5.4 grains per lb on the bow with a foc of 9.4.... LOL... Even with the tiller 1/8 inch out of line she's throwing them like bullets with those Fusion vanes. I need to pay a visit visit to Milos Archery and he get the tiller back in line. No better feeling in the world than a well tuned bow.. I kid you not. Only half of the prong on my QAD hits the riser shelf; and the back of a ST is like 1/4 inch from the front of the rest. lol...
 
Last edited:

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
A well tuned bow is better than a woman with no voice!!! LOL!!! I left there feeling like a new man today! I was fortunate to have some world class instruction when I first started shooting and being a coachable person, it stuck with me and I'm able to put it in motion. So I never doubt my ability as an archer. However, I always question my equipment and the mental part of shooting. To know that my bow is most likely as well tuned now than it has been in the four years I have owned it, really helps the mental side of my shooting. At this point, it is all about realistic practice and mental prep. Shooting $.50 sized 3 arrow groups at the 20-yard indoor range is fine and dandy; but what matters is your ability to perform in the woods under pressure. That is why I love shooting 3D the way our group of misfits was shooting at the BEC shoot. I gain all kinds of confidence shooting shots like that and as I have always said, confidence in yourself and your equipment is far more important than what you shoot. Anyone who has played a lot of golf can attest to that fact. Your mind is a powerful tool and today, my mind got the boost it has been needing. I am super pumped for the 24th!!!
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Glad to hear you finally found a good pro shop that was able to get things all squared away for ya. Not an easy thing to find these days.

Need to get my fletching figured out myself. I will have to play around a bit and find where my fletching needs to be so it stops hitting my QAD prong. Keeps hitting the right prong and and giving the arrow a little wiggle down range lol. Might do the limb driver if I can't figure it out.
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
I never realized how mentally involved shooting was until I started shooting a lot. Id say shooting a bow is more about mind control than actual ability to shoot a bow. There are guys out there that would and could blow the bow world apart, but dont have a mentally strong enough mind.


I have never been a fan of the QAD or the RIPCord. I like the concept but dont like the results I have witnessed from them. I like my regular drop away rest. I have never had an issue with it and it is gonig to drop every time, without a doubt. I need that piece of mind, otherwise I am a mental midget when it comes to shooting if I have things to worry about. Over the last week I have spent most of my free time tuning my hunting bow using a micrometer to move my rest .001 at a time until it flies the same at 20 as it does at 60 yards using a fixed blade. I Wont hunt with one, I will still shoot my rages, but I wanna know that if I would get a hair up my ass and decide I Wanted to shoot a fixed blade, I could without doubt. I am a little anal about my equipment. ha especially when I know what it is gonig to get pointed in the direction of!!!:smiley_blink:
 

swamp_donkey819

Junior Member
glad everything worked out for the best, those piss poor bow shops should be shut down, a good bow tech will do what needs to be done and make sure your bow shoots how you want it to shoot, not set ii up quick just to make that money. glad it worked out and you didnt get screwed for the season
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
That's good to hear, Jesse! Glad you got everything worked out. I know exactly how you feel about equipment. I've been tinkering with my Z on the drawboard on and off for the past week or so.... Just fine tuning, trying out different things.... etc. When you get everything just right, man that is a good feeling. I'm still not quite there with my bow yet, though. lol
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Dialed in the 20 and 30 pins pretty quick, then got the 40 close before I started getting tired. I stepped back to 50 for one group before I put it up for the night so I could see how far it's off. Last I shot my 430 grain arrows, it was solid. I'll take the group for the first try at that distance and I love the pin gap difference!!!
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1315436335.574190.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1315436335.574190.jpg
    83.8 KB · Views: 154
Last edited:

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
Glad you got it all dialed in Jesse. That's pretty sweet that you are getting 290 out of your bow. Makes a huge difference in your pin gaps!
 

huntn2

Senior Member
6,090
157
Hudson, OH
Looks good Jesse. Nothing more frustrating than having a struggle with your setup. After making upgrades a few weeks ago I struggled to get it dialed in (huck and alphamax were there to witness). Finally got it dialed in and next time out was much more reassuring/rewarding. Season can't get here soon enough.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
Jesse- I am glad to hear it. Last thing you need is to have any doubts in your equipment on opening day. With the sightings you have so frequently with Moe, you need to be on your "A" game mentally. It is a bit different for me. I have glassed several from the road and gotten some random pictures on trail camera of some nice bucks. Having a patterned big boy though is nowhere near my scenario. Were I in your shoes, I would be ecstatic right now too!

This is a department I am desperately lacking in. I have not had time to shoot like I need to be doing right now. The next 4 weeks are going to be crazy too. Finishing some stands tomorrow and Saturday. Work load is nuts. The next weekend is a show in Ft Wayne. Last week of the month is my hunt in southern Ohio. I am thinking about getting the skid loader out and moving some crap around in the pole barn so I can shoot after dark. I honestly don't know when else I am going to fit it in.
 
Last edited:

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Installed a new red eye peep and kisser last night from ephunting.com. Took the STS off my bow and installed a sight Jd let me borrow to check out. A trophy ridge crazy 8. Took some getting used to the oval housing and the 8 pins but I've got the sight window now. Hitting baseballs at 30 even with the bow 1/8th out of tiller. Need to go see milos archery shop and get that fixed. But for now I can concentrate on form and follow through with a louder than normal bow. Lol... Can't wait to get this dude dialed in out to 70.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Installed a new red eye peep and kisser last night from ephunting.com. Took the STS off my bow and installed a sight Jd let me borrow to check out. A trophy ridge crazy 8. Took some getting used to the oval housing and the 8 pins but I've got the sight window now. Hitting baseballs at 30 even with the bow 1/8th out of tiller. Need to go see milos archery shop and get that fixed. But for now I can concentrate on form and follow through with a louder than normal bow. Lol... Can't wait to get this dude dialed in out to 70.

The redeye peep is a good one. I had one on my bow for the past year, but I just swapped it out for a RAD peep last week. I had to bump from a 3/16" to a 1/4" peep because I couldn't get all of the sight housing in the peep at full draw. Have you found the 8 pins to be a distraction when you're shooting? Seems to me like they would be kind of overbearing.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
They were at first but I've started to ignore the ones not needed for the shot. I have found it makes me concentrate on one pin more vs the group of pins.