Is bareshaft tuning a bunch of B.S?

[HitNRun]

It works for me. Broadhead, fletched field point, and bare shaft at 20.

 

[ScottinPA]

20+ yrs of starting with done calculator n then doing bareshaft tuning with dozens of bows n several shooters. Haven’t found one yet that wouldn’t work.


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[MallardSX2]

I used to think a lot of the shit I read about arrow tuning was snake oil.

BUT, I started watching Randy Ulmer's Videos on arrow tuning and I gave a few things a try.

I started bare shaft nock tuning all of my arrows this season., I can honestly say, it was a game changer.

Especially for getting my broadheads to fly true.

When I bought my Matthews Triax, I could NOT get these muzzy 4 blades to hit with y field tips consistently. Arrow tuning corrected 50% of it and replacing my top hat corrected the other 50% of that. I gained a TON of confidence after doing this.

 

[FLYBYU44]

I remember listening to a Podcast with John Demmer. He was asked if he bareshaft tunes. He said he just shoots an arrow and if it flies straight, he calls it a day. That being said I have tinkered with it a fair amount. It absolutely works.

 

[JjamesIII]

Finally got my timberhawk custom recurve in and enlisted the help of a seasoned trad archer to get it set up.
Set brace height, installed some silencers and got to shooting, started with 400 spine black eagle instincts with a 125 grain point and 100 grain outsert. 3 hours later, we still could not get it to tune, after going thru 4 different arrow types. One arrow that he liked based on the the tune session was my fatty aluminum 2216’s tipped with 150 grains I use in my bear Kodiak. Darkness fell on us so we couldn’t fully finish but it gave me a good start, albeit was showing a little bit stiff. One thing we fought the entire time was the arrow kicking up off the shelf.
Went out today and shot a 2216 out of the new bow, which is 50-51# at my draw. Probably one of the worst arrow flights I’ve seen. WAY too stiff. Went back today and shot with both the 400 spine instincts and some 500 spine instincts I had laying around, both with 125 grain tips and 100 grain outserts. Pretty identical arrow flight with both. Screw on a 125 grain broadhead and the 400’s with a broadhead are shooting a little to the right (I’m left handed) of the field points. The 500’s fly like darts and broadheads group right with the field points.

Dawned on me I never shot my 2216’s with a broadhead so I grab an arrow and shoot it into the 3D. Perfect shot. Grab a few field point arrows and shoot about 3-4 rounds intermixing the field point arrows with the broadhead tipped arrow and it’s flying right with them. Go and get the bareshaft arrow and shoot it at 10 yards and it hits the target almost sideways.

So I’m left with two bows that shoot arrows tipped with broadheads very well, that don’t do worth a bareshaft and are outside the poundage chart range on spine.

Go figure. I’m convinced traditional archery is a form of sorcery

Bareshaft tuning is 100% legit in both compound and trad. It doesn’t lie. If your form sucks, it’ll tell you honestly. If your equipment/tuning sucks, again- it’ll tell you. So as an archer, you need to figure out why it’s not working.
You really should be able to bare shaft tune at extended ranges, not just 20 yards. On a calm day, I’m talking almost out to your maximum effective range, if your s***t’s dialed and with good form both groups will hit together.
I use bare shaft throughout the season to keep my form in check. Keep a few arrows with electric tape wrapped on the back to equal the weight of your fletching. It makes practice more meaningful in lieu of fletched field points. The bareshaft shooting practice will also make you a believer in fixed broadhead flight abilities. The same people that bitch about inaccurate fixed broadhead flight, are the same people that can’t shoot a bare shaft. That’s no coincidence.

 

[Kentucky]

Also, small things matter, I’ve been shooting a recurve or longbow exclusively for last 6 years…I’m no pro but I know how to tune, I beat my brains out for 2 days over a slightly loose nock point…

A newer trad archer with a new bow, is not gonna tune a non adjustable bow in 4 hours…

Also, arrow length is just as important as arrow spine… so telling us spine and point weight without arrow length doesn’t allow anybody to help you…

 

[ozyclint]

Bareshaft tuning is 100% legit in both compound and trad. It doesn’t lie. If your form sucks, it’ll tell you honestly. If your equipment/tuning sucks, again- it’ll tell you.

The problem is distinguishing between the two, especially when they are mixed together.

"Was that the arrow or me? Or both?"

 

[JjamesIII]

The problem is distinguishing between the two, especially when they are mixed together.

"Was that the arrow or me? Or both?"

Yes indeed. Without consistent form, you’ll be very frustrated with any tuning method. Even a good archer should look at setting up the bow as a multi session event. I’ve had days where I wanted to tweak my tune because it felt like it went out of perfect arrow flight, but I’ve learned sometimes you should put the bow down and revisit it the next day before changing stuff because it could be a bad form day.
A new shooter should just get it close and accept that they need to work on form instead of chasing a perfectly tuned bow. Blank bale shoot, and then do close range shooting until good form develops.
Even experienced shooters have bad days. That’s where practicing bare shaft (not just as a tuning tool) can keep you honest with your shooting habits

 

[InFamousElGuapo]

I bareshaft tune but it can be difficult. most important thing is consistent form.

 

[Wrench]

Every cell phone today can take slooow motion video. Bang a few arrows off and watch the first wave of paradox back to the release....that's going to tell you 90% of the story.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I've never bare shaft shot anything. Whats the point? I've just found arrows that fly and hit straight and its never been an issue.

 

[bobinmi]

Not BS, but if your form is dog shit, it will seem like it.

 

[Pfranchise]

There probably isn’t enough people that bareshaft tune. As mentioned above, if your form sucks it can be frustrating but shoot enough and you’ll figure out a pattern.

 

[LoH]

hmm has OP seen Ed Ashby's explanation of bareshaft tuning? it's on the Friends of FOC forum at tradbow and while the focus is on EFOC arrows I think the bareshaft tuning process is sound with universal principles. Ashby's process is the third post from the top

https://tradbow.com/forums/topic/an-in-depth-look-at-bare-shaft-tuning/

 

[Beendare]

I’ve seen Ashby shoot…OMG, if there was ever a guy you DIDN’T want to take Tuning advice from…its him. The guy never got to anchor, total inconsistent snap shooter.

So many good sources; Jake Kaminsky, The Push, Rod Jenkins, etc

 

[Beendare]

Revisiting this;
I recently helped a guy at our club and his form was 1/2 of the problem with getting a bareshaft to tune.

Worth noting, its very hard to shoot 5 perfect bare shafts in a row. Its important to know when you make a form error and throw that result out. This guy I was helping would vary on his DL as much as 3/4” or more from shot to shot. No way he will get anything close to bareshaft consistency.

Its worth videoing your bare shaft testing if you don’t have someone there to tell you About form flaws.
——-

 

[Beendare]

Another note on bareshaft testing;

Its crazy how much a 4” or 5” fletch can correct an incorrectly spined arrow.
Example; the guy above was shooting a 12” circle at 20y but all over that 12” circle. When we stripped the feathers off a couple arrows he could barely hit the 4’x4’ target butt …thats how bad his arrow spine was.
And the arrows looked like they were going to break out of the bow.
( He drank the high FOC Koolaid) <face palm>

We got it close but his form and spine still needed to be fine tuned a little more- hard to do in one session.

Once he developed the same DL and anchor…plus we took 100g off the front of his 500spine arrow ( 100g insert, 200g tip) the bareshaft arrow flew much better. His last group of arrows was 5”, less than 1/2 of what he shot initially.

THATswhat bare shaft testing will do.

The problem for the guys that don’t do it;

they don’t know…what they don’t know.

 

[Steve O]

Good form and good form consistently is VERY important when it comes to bare shaft tuning. Once you get that squared away you will find you can shoot a big 160g Snuffer bare shaft. It definitely works.

 

[Wilderlife]

I had an interesting experience with bare shafting recently.

I've mainly been on the wheels the last 12 months but got a beautifully made longbow recently. It's only 45# @ 28in, so nice and easy to shoot. A fair amount of backset in the limbs so it's quick for an ASL. I wanted an arrow as long as possible to try and keep my point on pretty close, and a mate of mine had some 32in long 400s, so I gave them a crack. Standard insert of around 18gn and a 200gn point. I hoped they be weak enough, and my first few shots indicated tney were close to perfect. Rather than fletch them up, I wanted to confirm over another week or so, and as my form got better and more consistent, the more I started to see consistent indicators in the too stiff direction. This was all slow motion footage off my phone.

So I went back to the drawing board and sourced some 500s with fairly long inserts/outserts of around 70gn, and put a 150gn point on the front. I also got gifted a paper tuning jig/rig from a local hunting shop, so I shot through paper a handful of times with the arrows at full length. Very consistent weak tears. I ran the arrow over an arrow saw a few times and kept shooting through paper and it was cool to see the tears getting better and better. I ended up having them just SLIGHTLY weak and after I put feathers on they flew like darts.

I'm not sauing paper tuning is a new thing by any means, but I found it even easier than using slow motion video off my phone as it takes less time to set up. The main takeaway here is that consistent form and release are crucial to getting accurate readings with arrows in this space, and it's almost a complete waste of time trying to bareshaft tune if you can't shoot decently. This even more the case with ASL's.

 

[Stickmark]

"Its crazy how much a 4” or 5” fletch can correct an incorrectly spined arrow." Beendare

Seems quite true. I stripped off some beat up fletch on two douglas fir, and shot them.. Broke one as it hard right and low, and another shot consistently low as well. I had considered these as good shooters.
The first I had sanded down considerably, weaking spine, and the second, well? Spring time at the old drawing board.