Victory Spine Alignment Up or Down. Does it matter??

[Dylan Sluis]

Ok before I get started I don't want your opinions on if shooting spine alignment matters. or anyone saying that victory's marks aren't always right. Because a while back podium archer shot 12 victory arrows bareshaft, 6 on the spine alignment marks, and 6 on the spine he marked and tested. And victories marks were by far more consistent. I just genuinely what a conversation about my question. Rant over.

Does shooting with the mark up or down matter. I know victory recommends you shoot with it up. But the spine alignment is typically the stiffest spot in the arrow. I obviously want it straight up or straight down so when my arrow bends its up or down and not side to side. Have any of you tested shooting the marks down vs up. Just genuinely curious. Thanks.

 

[5MilesBack]

I always nock tune after assembling my arrows, and the spine lines on my Victory's end up all over the place when I'm done. Pretty sure they cover every part of a clock on a dozen arrows.

 

[Billy Goat]

How they may shoot without fletching, doesn't mean they will shoot the same with fletching.


Since you don't want to hear it, I just won't say it.

 

[sndmn11]

What if the bow shoots better with the spine aligned left? Or right? Or kinda left down? Or one way with a right helical and a different way with a left helical?

Go test them all out and write up your findings here.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I always align. Less concerned I with the direction as long as they are all consistent. Then they can be tuned to the bow.

 

[wapitibob]

static spine means nothing, shoot 'em and rotate to get the same tear

 

[Dylan Sluis]

static spine means nothing, shoot 'em and rotate to get the same tear

See that's what I thought to. But podium proved shooting off their marks is the most consistent way to do it.

 

[sndmn11]

See that's what I thought to. But podium proved shooting off their marks is the most consistent way to do it.

Did your tests find the same results?

 

[Billy Goat]

Here's what I do, I'll go ahead and put it out for others who might read it.

I shoot vtac 23's for 3d arrows, I shoot them 3 fletch. The vtacs have 2 spine alignment marks, 180 apart. I'll fletch the marks in alignment with my bowstring, vane straight up because I use a blade rest.

I'll then label shafts, and shoot out of a shooting machine, usually 40 yards, but sometimes only 25 or 30. I'll shoot the dozen, usually 4-5, maybe 6 hit the same hole. They all hit close, but not same hole. I'll then rotate the nock on the shafts that don't hit in the hole, until they do. I only get 3 choices for where I can rotate the nock, because of my rest choice, but I can usually get 10 out of 12 in same hole. The alignment marks haven't seemed to matter, maybe they are 20% better than just fletching at random.



I don't think it hurts to fletch on the marks, but in my experience I wouldn't do it and think you dont need to nock tune.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

i have not found nock tuning rip tko's necesary with the few dozen i've had, they've all grouped as well as i can shoot with the factory spine mark up. at the same arrow weight, out to 80 yards, fletching configuration has also not mattered. 4 fletch left offset tac drivers hit the same POI as 3 fletch left helical aae max stealth.

when i shot pierce platinums I could change POI at 20 yards by 3-5" via nock tuning, so it definitely can make a difference.

 

[CowboyD]

Just buy American made Easton arrows and you don't have to worry about spine alignment due to their carbon weave process.

 

[roosiebull]

Here's what I do, I'll go ahead and put it out for others who might read it.

I shoot vtac 23's for 3d arrows, I shoot them 3 fletch. The vtacs have 2 spine alignment marks, 180 apart. I'll fletch the marks in alignment with my bowstring, vane straight up because I use a blade rest.

I'll then label shafts, and shoot out of a shooting machine, usually 40 yards, but sometimes only 25 or 30. I'll shoot the dozen, usually 4-5, maybe 6 hit the same hole. They all hit close, but not same hole. I'll then rotate the nock on the shafts that don't hit in the hole, until they do. I only get 3 choices for where I can rotate the nock, because of my rest choice, but I can usually get 10 out of 12 in same hole. The alignment marks haven't seemed to matter, maybe they are 20% better than just fletching at random.



I don't think it hurts to fletch on the marks, but in my experience I wouldn't do it and think you dont need to nock tune.

The couple dozen victories I’ve used had to be nock tuned, the spine marks didn’t mean anything that I could tell

 

[tdoublev]

My experience has been similar to Billy Goat’s. I will 3 fletch on the spine marking to start, then shoot them for consistency. Just shooting by hand I won’t notice a big difference until I throw a fixed blade broadhead on and then you’d start to think my arrows weren’t straight given how far off some of them fly. At 50 yards I can get them grouping well again by starting to nock tune, and I’d say only 25% will stay lined up with the spine marking from Victory. Only had 1 or 2 that I couldn’t group well with the 3 fletch and fixed blade, but those are fine for target arrows. They also could have had bent half-outs since I shoot the 4mm VAPs.

To your question, I don’t think it matters a great deal. There will be flexing in the arrow at the release point, but not a significant amount if you are spined correctly (in terms of stiffness) and the arrow will oscillate once off the bow. Because it oscillates back and forth, I don’t believe starting up or down would matter to any measurable degree.

Edit: and no one can KNOW for certain. Your tune and timing of the cams is going to be more important spine up or down.

 

[Billy Goat]

Just buy American made Easton arrows and you don't have to worry about spine alignment due to their carbon weave process.

Even Easton Aluminum arrows benefit from nock tuning.

 

[Swampcruiser]

I nock tune everything, I set up 2 doz victory rip TKO this summer and I would definitely say 60-70 % were with the alignment arrow up.

 

[Tilzbow]

Many results being discussed on this thread have more to do with nock alignment than arrow spine.

 

[5MilesBack]

Many results being discussed on this thread have more to do with nock alignment than arrow spine.

We're aligning the shaft for best consistency.......not the nock. But it is also possible to have a bad nock as well.......those just get replaced.

 

[Tilzbow]

We're aligning the shaft for best consistency.......not the nock. But it is also possible to have a bad nock as well.......those just get replaced.

I probably didn’t do a good job of explaining my thoughts…. I understand what’s being discussed and done in relation to the shaft and its “spline” or stiff side. That said, having a good nock that’s not perfectly aligned in the back end of the shaft due to an imperfection in the back end of the shaft, imperfect installation, a tiny bit of debris or any other of reason will have a much more dramatic impact on arrow flight than a misalignment on the front end or spline orientation IMO. By turning the nock this misalignment is often corrected and is no different than twisting a broadhead with the insert installed to get a perfect spin on the front end. I’ve often corrected poor broadhead flight on a single arrow by twisting the nock a full 360 degrees and/or removing and reinstalling the nock with the cock vane orientation remaining unchanged. This corrected flight obviously has nothing to do with spline orientation since that didn’t change.

Edit: Everything I wrote above assumes premium shafts with excellent spine consistency and minimal “spline”. I shot Carbon Express arrows years ago and they weren’t either of these things, can’t speak for VAP but I’ve had very good success with Black Eagle shafts.

 

[The Fat Coyote]

I've shot target archery for about 7 years, so I have been a nut when it comes to building arrows. When I had alot of time on my hands, I would shoot bareshafts at 50 yards and turn nocks until all arrows grouped together. Was this spine aligning? could be. I have heard from guys like George Ryals that what this is doing is aligning the pin nocks that have slight tolerance/concentricity runout. I'm not exactly sure which thing was actually happening. Consider you can have an absolutely straight pin bushing, in a perfectly straight arrow, but then plug a plastic nock that might not be concentric, or maybe it is at first but wears with repeated shooting, its hard to tell which variable youre actually tuning for. With VAPS, it was 50/50 that i would wind up aligned on the label. They still shot great. I also built vaps without nock aligning them and they also shot great. There are some pro archers that just build 2 or 3 dozen arrows, go shoot them at 100, and only take the arrows that are in the middle.
For my hunting setup, I have found what works best is just building an arrow, picking a good vane, pick a good broadhead, papertuning the bow, and then getting out and getting your sight marks dialed in. Broadhead tuning yields some damn good results also, but my current setup, I have only shot broadheads through it (field points just to papertune), and it pounds out to 100 yards with broadheads. Anyone can achieve this, you just have to make sure you have good clearance, vanes arent hitting anything, drop away is working reliably, and that youre putting the time in behind the bow.

Current bow setup :
Mathews Lift 70lb
Arrows: GT Airstrikes 3 fletch AAE stealth
Broadhead: Rage and Kudu

Regardless of bow, if tuned decently, big vanes, small broadhead, this will have ya hitting middle. Dont overthink it.

Holy Smokes I realize i got way off topic here and i apologize. I just love shooting bows.

TLDR

Tune your bow and spend time getting sight marks- you will get more bang for your buck than spending time aligning spine and nock tuning.