Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: bow101 on January 07, 2015, 10:50:57 pm

Title: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: bow101 on January 07, 2015, 10:50:57 pm
Some of the arrows I made are doing the squiggly.  Would that be a bad fletching job or something else.?  They are Fir shafts 11/32" with 4" feathers and 125gr. field point.    ???
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: JoJoDapyro on January 08, 2015, 12:33:46 am
What distance are you shooting? Straight or helical fletching? Are they all rights or lefts?
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: Pappy on January 08, 2015, 05:20:26 am
Probably not bad fletching, could be I guess but more than likely other factors, need more info/ true draw length/arrow length/ draw weight at your draw length/spline weight of the arrow you are shooting. Might be able to help with this info. Bows are fairly easy to make, a GOOD shooting arrow can be a real pain. :) I stress Good because I see folks shooting all the time that the arrows aren't flying good, they don't seem to even notice, If I see anything but nock headed to the target I ant happy.  :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: bow101 on January 08, 2015, 10:01:21 am
I know what you mean Pappy about   "GOOD shooting arrow can be a real pain."   A good bow is useless unless the arrows are good.
Arrow length 29" 40-50#  27" draw.  All feathers are right and glued on straight, but like I said fletching is definitely not my strong suit.  Shooting at 12 yards just to shoot bow in.   I think some of them are glued on crooked.  I will have to try again and mark which arrows are squiggly.............. ::)

Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: JoJoDapyro on January 08, 2015, 10:09:35 am
Try shooting them from farther away. I have accidentally put a right and a left on one arrow. Didn't fly well at all.
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: wizardgoat on January 08, 2015, 02:10:18 pm
Do you use a fletching jig?
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: Pat B on January 08, 2015, 02:24:41 pm
The ones that shoot poorly, try placing the cock feather in towards the bow and see how they fly.
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: bow101 on January 08, 2015, 11:15:48 pm
Do you use a fletching jig?
No.........I have a huge clip that I use, not very accurate.  I do have a circle jig with 3 120 lines drawn on it for reference.


The ones that shoot poorly, try placing the cock feather in towards the bow and see how they fly.

Really, so contrary to what they say let the cock feather smack the riser. ?  I'll try that.
I 'am thinking Pat that I may taper some future shafts and see how that works out.
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: Pat B on January 08, 2015, 11:35:19 pm
It all has to do with the stiff side of the arrow being against the bow. If the arrow is tuned properly for your bow and your style of shooting the fletching shouldn't bump against the bow with the cock feather in or out.
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: bow101 on January 09, 2015, 08:02:27 pm
It all has to do with the stiff side of the arrow being against the bow. If the arrow is tuned properly for your bow and your style of shooting the fletching shouldn't bump against the bow with the cock feather in or out.

I don't get the part of "shouldn't bump against the bow"   I thought that if the fletch hit the riser it would deflect.  ???   On another note I was reading a good article and the bowyer takes say 20 freshly made arrows and shoots them.  The arrows that don't make the cut get thrown away.  On average maybe only 4-7 arrows make the cut out of 10.   This makes sense becasue not all wood arrows are created equal, the grain is never consistent.
Having said that if I cannot tweak the arrow I'll scrap it... >:D
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: PrimitiveTim on January 09, 2015, 08:20:23 pm
You don't shoot em before you fletch 'em?  Maybe try it.
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: JW_Halverson on January 09, 2015, 08:27:47 pm
It all has to do with the stiff side of the arrow being against the bow. If the arrow is tuned properly for your bow and your style of shooting the fletching shouldn't bump against the bow with the cock feather in or out.

I don't get the part of "shouldn't bump against the bow"   I thought that if the fletch hit the riser it would deflect.  ???   On another note I was reading a good article and the bowyer takes say 20 freshly made arrows and shoots them.  The arrows that don't make the cut get thrown away.  On average maybe only 4-7 arrows make the cut out of 10.   This makes sense becasue not all wood arrows are created equal, the grain is never consistent.
Having said that if I cannot tweak the arrow I'll scrap it... >:D

If you just use whatever dowels you can find, that might be the case.  If you are purchasing matched shafting, you may end up with one that just seems wonky....if you are prone to bad luck.

Matched shafts will vary slightly in mass and stiffness, minimizing variation in flight.  On top of that, if you bare shaft test the arrows before fletching, you can trim all the arrows to optimum length and further reduce variation in flight.  But trying to do that with unmatched arrow shafts is like trying to race a horse with four different sized legs!
Title: Re: Lousy arrow flite
Post by: Danzn Bar on January 09, 2015, 09:36:52 pm
Just be warned....bare shaft tuning / shooting with shafts way over or under spinned will break the shafts when shot into the target ...... It will hit the target so crooked it will break the shaft on impact.  Therefore, a spine tester of some sort is helpful to get in the ball park.
JIMHO
DBar