Arrow tuning - am I in the ballpark?

[TxSportsman]

My setup: 60" Holm-Made River Runner Recurve 42# at 28" and I am currently drawing 28" if not a hair over.

The arrows that have seemed to have bare shafted the best for me have been;

Gold Tip Traditional 600 spine 29" back of point to valey of nock w/50 grain inserts and 175gr field point for a total arrow weight of around 485gr. (11.5gpi)

Gold Tip Traditional 600 spine 29.5" back of point to valley of nock w/50gr inserts and 125gr field point for a total arrow weight of around 415gr. (9.88gpi)

In an effort to shoot a heavier arrow I have tried 500's but everything, no matter the length or tip weight, seems to be too stiff for the bow. If I really crank up the tip weight on the 500's (to say 250 - 300 gr) I get some erratic flight. I'd like to shoot a heavier arrow then 485gr but I can be happy there also. I read about people that shoot 550gr - 600gr at the same ish draw weight but I just have problems getting there (maybe wood arrows?). Should I be content at that arrow weight for that draw weight? Thanks!

[Mojo]

I shoot GT 500's cut to 30" on a Sarrels Superstition 42#@28 but draw 27...175gr tips...fly great for me...I would like to shoot a heavier arrow too but have found what works for me on a 3D range...no hunting with this bow...yet...

[Junkers88]

How long have you been shooting traditional gear? I ask because I was advised, and ignored that advice, not to bare shaft tune until my form was correct as I'd get erratic flight. I'm also curious as to why you are wanting to shoot such a heavy arrow.

As to what you are shooting, I haven't shot any 500's yet as I'm awaiting delivery of the new shafts but I am shooting 400s right now out of a 35lb and 45lb bow and they fly well. They are cut to 28" shaft length (a bit shorter than I wanted but I wasted days bare shaft tuning them and cut too much) with a 150g target tip on them. They weigh in at 450g total and fly well out of both bows.

My advice is fletch some of them up and put them down range. Mine were still going hard nock left until I put feathers on them. Now they hit like darts out of the 45lb bow, had I fletched them first I'd not have had to cut as much off trying to get them tuned.

Richard.

[TxSportsman]

How long have you been shooting traditional gear? I ask because I was advised, and ignored that advice, not to bare shaft tune until my form was correct as I'd get erratic flight. I'm also curious as to why you are wanting to shoot such a heavy arrow.

As to what you are shooting, I haven't shot any 500's yet as I'm awaiting delivery of the new shafts but I am shooting 400s right now out of a 35lb and 45lb bow and they fly well. They are cut to 28" shaft length (a bit shorter than I wanted but I wasted days bare shaft tuning them and cut too much) with a 150g target tip on them. They weigh in at 450g total and fly well out of both bows.

My advice is fletch some of them up and put them down range. Mine were still going hard nock left until I put feathers on them. Now they hit like darts out of the 45lb bow, had I fletched them first I'd not have had to cut as much off trying to get them tuned.

Richard.

400's out of a 35lb bow! I guess that shows each bow/person is very different. I would think that to be waaay too stiff. Awesome. Thanks for the info.

[Junkers88]

400's out of a 35lb bow! I guess that shows each bow/person is very different. I would think that to be waaay too stiff. Awesome. Thanks for the info.

Hehe they are quite a bit stiff but I'd rather shoot them while I wait for my 500's to arrive than sit in the house.

[LAW]

3 Rivers has a good chart to use, look it up on there websight

[SwampRabbit]

My setup: 60" Holm-Made River Runner Recurve 42# at 28" and I am currently drawing 28" if not a hair over.

The arrows that have seemed to have bare shafted the best for me have been;

Gold Tip Traditional 600 spine 29" back of point to valey of nock w/50 grain inserts and 175gr field point for a total arrow weight of around 485gr. (11.5gpi)

Gold Tip Traditional 600 spine 29.5" back of point to valley of nock w/50gr inserts and 125gr field point for a total arrow weight of around 415gr. (9.88gpi)

In an effort to shoot a heavier arrow I have tried 500's but everything, no matter the length or tip weight, seems to be too stiff for the bow. If I really crank up the tip weight on the 500's (to say 250 - 300 gr) I get all kinds of erratic flight. I'd like to shoot a heavier arrow then 485gr. I read about people that shoot 550gr - 600gr at the same ish draw weight but I just have problems getting there. Should I be content at that arrow weight for that draw weight? Thanks!

Yes, that looks like you are in the ballpark to me. Your 9.8 gpp setup was about what I was shooting when I was shooting a 40# setup. And when I tried 500 spine arrows, I had a hard time getting them to fly well at all, even if on paper they should have been okay.

[TxSportsman]

3 Rivers has a good chart to use, look it up on there websight

Looked at all of the charts, have calculators etc... Those get you close or to a starting point but I don't think are a substitute for experience. Especially since they don't take into account heavy FOC. Thanks regardless.


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[TxSportsman]

Hehe they are quite a bit stiff but I'd rather shoot them while I wait for my 500's to arrive than sit in the house.

Roger that... Not quite where I am coming from right now though. I'm just trying to fine tune some and am looking for a couple head nods or shakes from the experienced crew around here.


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[TxSportsman]

After speaking with a couple pretty knowledgeable people I am underspined for the weight I would like to shoot. I am going to do some testing later this afternoon and I'll report back the findings if anyone is interested.

[SwampRabbit]

After speaking with a couple pretty knowledgeable people I am underspined for the weight I would like to shoot. I am going to do some testing later this afternoon and I'll report back the findings if anyone is interested.

But you shouldn't be much underspined. I was going to say that I thought you were a bit underspined... but you asked for ballpark. After shooting some more, and if you are hitting right... then all you need to do is take out those insert weights. You could also afford to come down to 28.5" to zero you in.

But you asked ballpark... and you are in the ballpark.

[SwampRabbit]

I just double checked. My 40# draw arrows were 600 spine @ 30.5" and a 100 gr field point. Looking at your setup on a calculator, as I thought, you were a bit underspined from that reference, but easily correctable with your setup. If you were to drop the 50g insert on the 29.5 setup, you'd fall into place on the calculator. You would drop from about 19% FOC to 15% FOC (still a good arrow.)

If you wanted the higher FOC, you could go to 150 gr, cut to 28.5, drop the insert weight and you would be at 17% with a 10gpp arrow.

The things we don't really know, to really fine tune you in using a "lets do paper math" standpoint is how center shot are you (do you have strike plate, how thick etc.) We also don't know what type of string you have on the bow; as this makes a difference in tune and the dynamic spine you are looking for.

Also, bear in mind that sometimes arrow that fly really well, straight, and where you are looking, doesn't always match the math. All the calculators for my setup, say may arrow is very weak, but it hits exactly where I am looking and flies straight... so I don't question it much.

BTW, here is the link to the calculator that you can play around with. http://www.3riversarchery.com/dynami...s-archery.html

I use it to get "inside the ballpark" and then bareshaft tune from there. For one bow I own, this calculator nailed it. For my current bow... not so much; but I was close enough that a few weights here and not getting all excited with the cutting... I have a good, critter killing setup.

Edit: and one thing that always gets me is that there isn't a place for brace height in those calculators... brace height has a definite impact on the spine you need.

[Selfbowman]

Go wood and you can get your arrow heavy fast. No tubes and such. I prefer good wood arrows over carbon. Arvin

[Davidrubio]

I had an Holms-made osprey and had the same issues, if you notice in his website he cuts his bows at 1/16 inches before center, so you will need a weaker spine mine was a 40# and i was using 600 gold tip cut at 30" with 175 gr up front and they were still weak.

my Osprey seemed to prefer wood arrows

[El Paisano]

As mentioned above, the depth of shelf will make a huge difference. At that draw weight and length, I have bows that require a 1916 to a stiff 2016 depending on the amount of centershot, string material, and some other variables that you didn't mention.