Broadhead tuning

[wisco-hunter]

So I know for tuning a 3 bladed broadhead you align the blades of the head with the fletching's, my question is if you are using a two or four bladed broadhead what is the correct broadhead alignment in relation to the fletching's, assuming you are using 3 fletching's on the arrow? Any pointers?

[Outlaw_6]

I align one of the main blades (non-bleeder blade on a four-blade) with the cock vane. The reason why is so that all the arrows are as alike as possible because I am OCD like that. I doubt you will notice much of a difference no matter how you align the blades.

[ar3731guy]

when your bow is properly tuned and your arrows spin true with bh i dont think blade-vane orientation matters. i havent aligned blades to vanes in a long time and my bh fly true out to 60 yds. i shoot 2, 3, and 4 blade fixed bh to the same point of impact as my field points. just my opinion and im no expert.

[Chew]

Your arrow weight, nock height, and arrow rest "windage" are going to be the keys to good broadhead tuning.

[wisco-hunter]

Thanks, I think I may need to refletch my arrows with the weak part of the spine in the same direction. I have tight field point groups but my broadhead flight seems to be pretty erratic at around 20+ yards, I only shoot to 20 yards but it still bothers me so I'm going to try everything I can find to correct this problem. And my bow is currently paper tuned.

[Chrisj81]

When broadhead tuning your arrow which I think he is talking about, not the bow..... One you want all of your arrows spines the same, and same orientation. I locate the spine by floating the arrows in soapy water and place the cock vane as close to being on the spine as possible, you can put in on the bottom as well. You want in in line with the string. Next I shoot four blade and line up one with cock vane as a starting point, Next step which really works great if you use hot melt is shooting the arrows, find one that shoots dead center then to the ones that aren't shoot then rotate the broadhead little by little and find where it groups the closest and then move to the next one!!! But the bow needs to be in tune first!!!!

[ultrastealth]

Easton did a study years ago that found no correlation between vane alignment and broadhead accuracy. I don't mess with it. What Chris81 says above makes sense though.

[old killer]

when your bow is properly tuned and your arrows spin true with bh i dont think blade-vane orientation matters. i havent aligned blades to vanes in a long time and my bh fly true out to 60 yds. i shoot 2, 3, and 4 blade fixed bh to the same point of impact as my field points. just my opinion and im no expert.

Agree. I may try to start aligned, If I have to turn an insert to get an arrow to spin true I ignore alignment.
As long as they group out to 70 yards, nothing else matters.

[ar3731guy]

i find it takes a combination of methods to truly tune a bow. paper tuning is great but it only tells you what is happening at "X " feet. i put new strings on my bow 2 weeks ago and had it paper tuned. after some work it shot a perfect bullet hole. when i got to shoot outside i used the walk back method for tuning. i put a mark on a target and drew a straight line down from there. my first arrow i shot at 20 yds hit the mark i made and on the line. i walked back to 30 yds, aiming at the mark with my 20 yd pin and shot another arrow. it hit about 2" left of the line. i walked back to 40 and again aiming at the mark i shot further left of the line. i did this several times to verify my arrows were shooting left. i then slightly adjusted my rest to the right and repeated the process. after a few rounds of this my arrows were hittng the line. i verified with bh to double check my adjustments.

[jerp]

After a lot of experimenting I could not tell any difference in the way an arrow flies based on broadhead orientation. (if there is a difference, it is too small to be noticable.) I orient all my 2 blades so that when I draw it is perfectly verticle. There is no reason other than it looks and feels right to me. When they are horizontal, it is distracting to me for some season.

[wisco-hunter]

When broadhead tuning your arrow which I think he is talking about, not the bow..... One you want all of your arrows spines the same, and same orientation. I locate the spine by floating the arrows in soapy water and place the cock vane as close to being on the spine as possible, you can put in on the bottom as well. You want in in line with the string. Next I shoot four blade and line up one with cock vane as a starting point, Next step which really works great if you use hot melt is shooting the arrows, find one that shoots dead center then to the ones that aren't shoot then rotate the broadhead little by little and find where it groups the closest and then move to the next one!!! But the bow needs to be in tune first!!!!

Sounds interesting, I'm going to give this a try

[ItsLeo]

If you have a good offset or helical on you fletchings and the broadheads spin true on the shaft with no wobble; aligning the blades to the fletching will have no discernible effect.

First and foremost the bow must be in recommended factory spec condition before you start any tuning exercise. Ie. Brace height, ATA, tiller, cam timing or start position are a crucial few. I guarantee you can still shoot a bullet hole through paper at a least one distance even if the bow is out of spec. However you will not be able to go the distance with your tuning efforts if it is out of spec. So do not let a bullet hole through paper mislead you into believing the bow is "in spec". Check it and measure everything first before you start tuning.

[wisco-hunter]

If you have a good offset or helical on you fletchings and the broadheads spin true on the shaft with no wobble; aligning the blades to the fletching will have no discernible effect.

First and foremost the bow must be in recommended factory spec condition before you start any tuning exercise. Ie. Brace height, ATA, tiller, cam timing or start position are a crucial few. I guarantee you can still shoot a bullet hole through paper at a least one distance even if the bow is out of spec. However you will not be able to go the distance with your tuning efforts if it is out of spec. So do not let a bullet hole through paper mislead you into believing the bow is "in spec". Check it and measure everything first before you start tuning.

Any suggestions on length and type of fletching that may give me a more stable flight path?

[ItsLeo]

Any suggestions on length and type of fletching that may give me a more stable flight path?

The most forgiving are full size feathers (not the minis) mounted with a helical offset or FOBs.

You can absolutely get the job done with others and you might want to. Increasing your FOC (heavier points) and reducing draw weight to account for spine loss is a valid route to more stable flight. If you look at the setups the pros are shooting they have specific oddball draw weights (like 67 1/4 lbs) not because they can't draw heavier but because they've taken the time to match the draw weight to the spine of their arrows.

It's crucially important the arrows spin and the broadheads do not wobble when they spin in flight. Often the insert is to blame not the broadhead. G5s ASD fixes those arrows nicely.

[Outlaw_6]

Any suggestions on length and type of fletching that may give me a more stable flight path?

I like Fletch Flex FFP-360's - quiet and super tough.