I have been helping a fellow archer from another forum get his new bow set up via texts; he is well read on the subject but not that experienced.
He brought up something I have always done but seemed to be a big deal to him; so I am going to post it just in case it may help some one else out the same it did with him.
Everything has three Axes and they can be defined as:
1st Axis: Pitch (up or down front to back)
2nd Axis: Roll (up or down side to side)
3rd Axis: Yaw (left to right on the horizontal)
A bow sight is no different.
Conventionally they are set this way:
1) The first Axis is set by the mounting holes in the base and the riser; there is no adjustment.
2)2nd Axis is set by leveling the riser and then setting the bubble in the sight housing to be level.
3) 3rd Axis is set by one of two methods:
A) On a 3rd axis jig. (good)
B) At full draw in relation to a plumb bob or some other plumb line. (Best)
Most people who set the 2nd axis on the bench using the level riser method will need to rotate their arm/wrist ever so slightly to get the bubble to align perfectly while at full draw (or add weights to a sidebar). To me, this adds unwanted tension into the shot and one more thing to worry about at the moment of truth.
That's the conventional way, here is my way (and the way that so impressed our new shooter).
I shoot with a slight natural cant in my bow, not much, maybe 3°-5° or so. When I set my 2nd axis I do it at full draw so that when I am at full draw my bubble is level when I am holding the bow in my natural grip. IOW, I don't force the level to align, I set the level to align when I am comfortably in the seat at full draw.
Over the years I have found that many times this will also set the 3rd axis if not perfect, very close. Modern sights with 3rd axis adjustment make this easy, just make the adjustments. But if you have a sight without a 3rd axis adjustment there is still hope.
One of the ways to get around not having a third axis adjustment is to shim the sight bracket with something like coke can shims (literally, shims made from coke cans). It is possible to shim both the 2nd and 3rd axis this way but it is a little tedious. If you follow my recommendations and shim the sight so that the 2nd axis is correct for your grip at full draw the 3rd axis will be very close. Close enough that in most hunting scenarios it will work great.
And this brings me to the point. Our new archer was so impressed after he set the 2nd axis at full draw and then checked the 3rd axis, and it was dead on, he asked me why no one else does it this way. I told him maybe because they don't know; so, this is my effort to let more people know.
He brought up something I have always done but seemed to be a big deal to him; so I am going to post it just in case it may help some one else out the same it did with him.
Everything has three Axes and they can be defined as:
1st Axis: Pitch (up or down front to back)
2nd Axis: Roll (up or down side to side)
3rd Axis: Yaw (left to right on the horizontal)
A bow sight is no different.
Conventionally they are set this way:
1) The first Axis is set by the mounting holes in the base and the riser; there is no adjustment.
2)2nd Axis is set by leveling the riser and then setting the bubble in the sight housing to be level.
3) 3rd Axis is set by one of two methods:
A) On a 3rd axis jig. (good)
B) At full draw in relation to a plumb bob or some other plumb line. (Best)
Most people who set the 2nd axis on the bench using the level riser method will need to rotate their arm/wrist ever so slightly to get the bubble to align perfectly while at full draw (or add weights to a sidebar). To me, this adds unwanted tension into the shot and one more thing to worry about at the moment of truth.
That's the conventional way, here is my way (and the way that so impressed our new shooter).
I shoot with a slight natural cant in my bow, not much, maybe 3°-5° or so. When I set my 2nd axis I do it at full draw so that when I am at full draw my bubble is level when I am holding the bow in my natural grip. IOW, I don't force the level to align, I set the level to align when I am comfortably in the seat at full draw.
Over the years I have found that many times this will also set the 3rd axis if not perfect, very close. Modern sights with 3rd axis adjustment make this easy, just make the adjustments. But if you have a sight without a 3rd axis adjustment there is still hope.
One of the ways to get around not having a third axis adjustment is to shim the sight bracket with something like coke can shims (literally, shims made from coke cans). It is possible to shim both the 2nd and 3rd axis this way but it is a little tedious. If you follow my recommendations and shim the sight so that the 2nd axis is correct for your grip at full draw the 3rd axis will be very close. Close enough that in most hunting scenarios it will work great.
And this brings me to the point. Our new archer was so impressed after he set the 2nd axis at full draw and then checked the 3rd axis, and it was dead on, he asked me why no one else does it this way. I told him maybe because they don't know; so, this is my effort to let more people know.