Organizing my tackle need help identifying nock sizes

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Apr 2, 2024
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I have gold tip hunter XT arrows that I’m shooting with the factory .246 nocks that came with them. I’m getting a throat measurement of .115 with my micrometer. My string center serving measures .115 and they fit ideal. I have two different sets of gold tip .246 nocks that a friend gave me in the packages last summer. He used to own an archery shop out east and had surplus. I removed them from the packaging and put them in small zip loc bags to keep separate. They fit my hunter XT shafts but fit the string rather snug and when I snap them on the string I can turn the string side to side with the nock. I get a throat measurement with these GT nocks of around .108”. I can’t find any info on GoldTips website other than what diameter shaft their nocks fit. Can anyone tell me what these other nocks would be used for? Kids or women’s bows with less strands? I’ve attached a picture of an arrow with the factory nock that came with it and the two other nocks in question. Thanks
 

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Joined
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Many companies make a nock about .010 smaller in size. It's generally for recurve/barebow strings with a lower strand count.


I wasn't aware of GT making any tho.


Looking at the nocks in the picture with the tab and the #3, I recognize but can't place currently.
 
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fulldraw71
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Apr 2, 2024
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Those might be an old style Carbon Express nock.
That seems to ring a bell. I think that maybe what they are and my friend had his archery shop years ago so they probably are old stock. Tell me more about the old carbon express nocks?

I edited my original post a couple times, but I originally had in there about my yellow Easton nocks that came with my XX75 aluminum. They also measure .108 at the throat just like these. I shot them with my aluminum all last year before switching back to carbons and never noticed a difference, but they definitely pressed into the aluminum arrows a lot tighter than these nocks press into the carbon, so there was no fear of it yanking out of the arrow.
 
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That seems to ring a bell. I think that maybe what they are and my friend had his archery shop years ago so they probably are old stock. Tell me more about the old carbon express nocks?

I edited my original post a couple times, but I originally had in there about my yellow Easton nocks that came with my XX75 aluminum. They also measure .108 at the throat just like these. I shot them with my aluminum all last year before switching back to carbons and never noticed a difference, but they definitely pressed into the aluminum arrows a lot tighter than these nocks press into the carbon, so there was no fear of it yanking out of the arrow.

I can't remember much about the CX nocks. I suspect someone was making them for them, I just remember some nocks that had a number similar to that on them.

Few years ago I switched to Beiter and haven't looked back. #2 is the large throat, hunter to have a symmetrical nock (they make a asymmetrical nock). No matter what nock I get, pin, 19/2, 12/2, 204, etc the ears and throat are all the same. So exactly same nock fit for anything I want to shoot. I think the form/shape and compound of the nock is a little more forgiving as well personally. Not cheap, but I like the convenience.
 
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they definitely pressed into the aluminum arrows a lot tighter than these nocks press into the carbon, so there was no fear of it yanking out of the arrow.
GT's standard diameter carbon shafts (such as the Hunter XT) have a slightly larger ID than other manufacturers. GT lists an ID .246" and most others are .244-.245". I haven't tried to measure shaft ID's with a micrometer to confirm, but I have noticed significant differences in how tight/loose some internal components feel when mixing and matching across manufacturers. I wouldn't be surprised if a Carbon Express or Easton nock felt quite loose in a GT shaft.

You could try the plastic bag trick to get the nocks to fit more tightly in the shaft. Loosely stretch a thin layer of plastic (e.g., grocery sack or trash bag) over the end of the shaft then push the nock in. Hopefully the sack/bag material gets pushed in along with the nock and fills the gap between the nock and shaft.
 
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fulldraw71
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Apr 2, 2024
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GT's standard diameter carbon shafts (such as the Hunter XT) have a slightly larger ID than other manufacturers. GT lists an ID .246" and most others are .244-.245". I haven't tried to measure shaft ID's with a micrometer to confirm, but I have noticed significant differences in how tight/loose some internal components feel when mixing and matching across manufacturers. I wouldn't be surprised if a Carbon Express or Easton nock felt quite loose in a GT shaft.

You could try the plastic bag trick to get the nocks to fit more tightly in the shaft. Loosely stretch a thin layer of plastic (e.g., grocery sack or trash bag) over the end of the shaft then push the nock in. Hopefully the sack/bag material gets pushed in along with the nock and fills the gap between the nock and shaft.
I’ve heard of this trick. I’ve never tried it cause I’ve never had to but I always wondered if you ran the risk of splitting the shaft out with too tight a fit?
 
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I’ve heard of this trick. I’ve never tried it cause I’ve never had to but I always wondered if you ran the risk of splitting the shaft out with too tight a fit?
Never seen it.

GT recommends using Teflon tape I believe. I have used a lot of bags on bushings if I don't glue them.
 
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I’ve heard of this trick. I’ve never tried it cause I’ve never had to but I always wondered if you ran the risk of splitting the shaft out with too tight a fit?
If you just use finger pressure, I don't think there's any way you could push hard enough to split the shaft.
 

mod-it

Lil-Rokslider
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Jun 7, 2023
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I had to do the plastic bag trick with my 10 y.o.'s arrows. His youth bow has a pretty low strand count string and it makes for a pretty small finished diameter size on his center serving. I even tried reserving the center serving with some .021" Powergrip I had, still wasn't big enough. I think I'd need around .025" or so to get it to fit a GT nock.

I found some Easton nocks that fit his string well but like Mighty Mouse talked about, they didn't fit very tightly into the .246" GT arrows. They were loose enough that his nocks would spin with little effort. A plastic bag made them a bit too tight, I couldn't push them in by hand, so I ended up using some thinner Saran Wrap. That made them go in by hand without too much effort but now they won't spin very easily. I would've tried some teflon tape but couldn't find where the heck I'd left it last...
The Saran Wrap is working fine so far.
 
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