Tuning processes

[DRT]

I know there are several out there. I also know that some are more **** than others in the process. For some good enough is good enough. For guys like me good enough is not.

Each of us tunes to a different level because we are at different levels in our abilities, have different needs based on what we do. Such as backyard fun or world class shooters like Caleb or Delano. Some of us shoot animals at less than 20 yards but an avid elk or mule deer hunter may be looking at on the fly shots at 40 yards.

But I know the way I do it isn't for everyone and sometimes it's an insane process for me. Especially with wood shafts. So if you could tell me/us what you do to be ready for what you do . . .

1. What your process is.
2. Detailed steps of your process.
3. How this works best for you and your needs.
4. Why you opted for this vs. other processes.
5. Have you tried other processes and if so why you abandoned them.

Hopefully this will help some newer people as well as rounding out some of my knowledge base. I'd prefer it not to become a contentious conversation.

[DRT]

I'll start. I bare shaft tune. I start on the premise of what head weight I like to use. I'm a 150s guy for carbon but I've found for wood I need to be more flexible.
I use the 3Rivers spine calculator to get close. And most times, if I input the correct information, it's really close. Usually within a quarter inch of shaft length. But I start full length anyway and trim from there. I start close to the target. Usually about 10 feet. I work out any up/down nock height issues first. Then as I trim and the flight gets closer I'll move back. A few yards at a time. Once I get to 10 yards with good flight I'm tracking fletched and bare shafts to see any differences. When I get to 20 yards, and my flight is spot on, I screw on a broadhead or two and check the flight on them. First at 10 yards and then moving out. Once broadhead flight is confirmed and I'm grouping bare and fletched shafts with broadheads together at 20 I'm satisfied with my tune.

Woods are trickier for me and usually take me twice as long to work out. Seems very easy to over trim with just a bit taken off.
Sometimes my shooting is off and I'll take the day off and try again tomorrow if I don't get consistent results.
Prior to my Africa trips I bare shafted out to 25 yards and that will tell me quick any form flaws I'm showing.

[Wudstix]

I find carbons slightly more challenging to tune than woodies, I guess it is all what you're more accustomed to. But I'm shooting tapered and footed arrows.

[Trumpkin]

My tuning process starts with form work and shot process focus. I want to be shooting very consistently with some kind of fletched arrow setup.

1. get a fletched shaft flying well!
-- So to start (assuming a new bow) I set the brace height middle-middle, grab a few shafts in different spines, a handful of heads from 125-200 grains, and I get one flying well from 10-20 yards and make sure I'm executing consistent shots.

2. Paper Tune!
-- I'll go shoot paper with it in the garage. Paper tuning is like bareshaft tuning, just at short range.

For me I correct whichever tear is larger first, whether that is nock height or stiffness. I'll use point weight first, then brace height adjustments after (like Rick Barbee, I LOWER brace height to stiffen a shaft, raise it to weaken. It works for me, if it doesn't for you, just do the opposite).

3. Double check nock height with a bareshaft!

-- Once I'm shooting well through paper, I shave a fletched shaft and go shoot it at ten yard to make sure I'm not crazy off, then I jump straight to twenty and shoot. At this point, usually I am pretty close, minus some nocking point issues. I have found that my long draw really magnifies any tuning issues, especially nock height. Almost always the answer is to raise the nock point, but I do it in small increments. A nock low will usually result in an arrow a foot and a half low at twenty yards for me. I seem to get fake readings a lot with nock height. And almost never get a traditional "nock low" reading. If the nock reads a little high (hits only a couple inches low at twenty) I will drop the nock height a bit. This is usually the most frustrating part of tuning for me. It can take tiny changes.

SIDE NOTE... when my form is on point, and the bow is cut to center or further, I will sometimes get a stiff arrow to shoot straight in terms of left/right nock... but it will hit way higher at twenty yards. The stiff reading being off the shelf, rather the side plate. With my current bow, I can go down a spine, cut the shaft an inch shorter than my hunting arrow, use the same point weight, and the bareshaft hits in line with the bullseye but way high at fifteen yards. Crazy, but I've duplicated it three different shooting sessions spread out over several months. (if I move the nocking point way up I can then get the arrow to read a traditional stiff reading)

4. Shoot a few days
-- at this point I often just fletch half a dozen arrows and shoot field points for a few days. If anything behaves funny I go back to the paper to double check I'm not dealing with a form issue.

5. Chek yer Broadheads!
-- Finally I check my broadheads, and call it good.

[Bisch]

1. Paper tune - get bullet hole at 6’ then step back to 15’ to make sure everything is the same.

2. Shoot broadheads with field points to verify same POI.

If broadheads and field points have the same POI, I know I am really close.

3. Shoot a bare shaft and fine tune depending on what the bare shaft tells me.

This system has never let me down as far as getting my equipment as good as it can be. The little nugget between my ears has let me down big time, to the point I’m hunting mostly with a wheel bow at this time.

Bisch

[60 Deluxe]

I walk out and shoot some arrows that I think are in the ball park. I observe what happens and make a change and shoot some more arrows and observe again. It usually doesn't take very long and I'll have an arrow that shoots like a dart. I then make a mental note of which set of arrows works for that particular bow. I've only had one bow that I couldn't find a set of arrows that would work well, so rather than knocking myself out trying to find something that worked in that finicky bow, I sold it. I shoot way too many bows to build a special set of arrows for each bow. Some are very well tuned and some are good enough. A little nock left or nock right in the target doesn't bother me. I shoot way too much in a crosswind to get irritated. One day the arrows will fly like darts and the next day they will be kicking right or left ten feet out of the bow because the darn wind is blowing twenty miles an hour.

I tried bareshafting and paper tuning a few times. It was a fun experiment but I just couldn't get excited about the results.

[Draco]

I've never shot carbons but both wood and aluminum, i first cut them to the length I want them to be. I usually start with shafts that are 10# too stiff. I start with around 200 gr. up front and bare shaft them up close adding weight until they are on left and right. They are usually flying perfect when the windage is correct but still need to adjust my nock set for any up and down. I've never had any problems with field points not hitting with my broad heads.

[CaTx]

Never shot wood arrows. This is what I’ve done for carbons.

1. Decide about how much total arrow weight I want. Then decide about how much of that I want in point weight.

2. Find an arrow that is stiff enough for my draw length and poundage, and for the amount of point weight that will give me my desired overall arrow weight and arrow length (for my point on). I use 3 rivers dynamic spine calculator to get me close here.

3. Set my bow to my recommended brace height and a good starting nock height.

4. Install point components and arrow wrap on, for me, a full length arrow that I settled on. It WILL shoot weak.

5. Shoot bare shafts from 10-20 yards. Move nock height until porpoising is gone.

6. Continue to shoot groups and cut 1/4” off at a time until it is no longer shooting weak and is straight in the target.

7. Cut the rest of the arrows to this length and fletch.