Right or left helical

Joined
Apr 6, 2019
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370
How do you know what helical to put on your arrows? And has anyone found it makes a big difference?
 

RosinBag

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You can clock them to determine how they naturally spin as a bare shaft, then fletch them that direction. Put a silver mark on a bare shaft at 12 o’clock position, shoot it at 5 yards and see where the mark is, shoot it at 10 yards and see where the mark is. That’s the direction it is naturally spinning.

Does it make a difference? Depends on how good you are if you would ever see a difference, but it doesn’t hurt.

Another quick way is the arrow generally spins the opposite direction of your string twist. I don’t have a ton of personal experience with saying that is the most accurate way of determining natural arrow spin.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Messages
401
It mainly only makes a difference if you shoot single-bevel broadheads... otherwise, pick a wing and shoot!
I have honestly never heard of shafts having a natural spin direction. But, there is no way my form is good enough to tell either 🙂
I have jigs for both because I have friends that are turkey slayers and give me more wings than I can use...
 
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dkime

WKR
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Feb 25, 2015
Messages
815
Fletch 3 RH and fletch 3 LH all the same color. Put them in a quiver and shoot them at 75yds to see if there is going to be any difference out of your setup. Should be a very clear answer at the end of a few groups. I shoot both, LH and RH. I shoot 3 and 4 fletch of both iterations. If we are strictly talking group size and nothing else I see absolutely no difference at all
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2020
Messages
42
Every bare shaft I shoot out of my bow (Hoyt Carbon Spyder Turbo, 60/70 set at 65, 30") seems to want to rotate left. I don't know if it's my string twist or serving direction that determines this. But shaft brand, model, spine, or length doesn't seem to make any difference. All my fletchings are right helical, and I have right helical single bevel heads. If what they say is true, my arrows want to naturally rotate counter clockwise, but then stop mid-flight to reverse spin direction when the right helical vanes take over. That's wasted energy, and slows the rotation speed. But it's too much work and too expensive to switch everything over at this point, so I'll probably just live with it.
 

Srp

FNG
Joined
Mar 16, 2014
Messages
21
You can clock them to determine how they naturally spin as a bare shaft, then fletch them that direction. Put a silver mark on a bare shaft at 12 o’clock position, shoot it at 5 yards and see where the mark is, shoot it at 10 yards and see where the mark is. That’s the direction it is naturally spinning.

Does it make a difference? Depends on how good you are if you would ever see a difference, but it doesn’t hurt.

Another quick way is the arrow generally spins the opposite direction of your string twist. I don’t have a ton of personal experience with saying that is the most accurate way of determining natural arrow spin.

This is a good explanation. I would add that if you have the ability and time to fletch your own arrows you absolutely want to match your offset or helical to the natural spin of your bow. If your bow spins the arrow to the left and your vanes want to spin your arrow to the right, the arrow will start spinning left and then “knuckleball” for a period of time in mid flight before it starts spinning right.


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