4" vs 5" feathers

[Cedarsavage]

What do you guys like as far as fletchings? I used to always use 3, 5". Last year I went to 4, 3" I didn't really care for the 4 fletch. I felt like they were more affected by wind, so I'm going back 3 fletch. I've been bareshafting, but I'm far from perfect, and I can't decide if I want 4" or 5", what do you guys like and why?

 

[Squints08]

I have Black Eagle Vintage arrows with both 4” and 5” feathers (same length, weight, bow, etc). The 5” contacts my face at full draw but in terms of accuracy I see no difference.

 

[oldgoat]

In theory, the 4" should have less problem with crosswinds than 5" regardless of number of fletches. With the exception of when I'm repairing an arrow to match existing arrows I haven't used anything longer than 3" in a few years and I mostly use 2.5" high back shields that I have a chopper for. I also base what I use on the FOC of the arrow, the higher the FOC, the less feather you need. If you follow Cody Greenwood from Tradlab, he uses 2" on arrows less than 500gr I think it is and goes to 3" on the heavier stuff. A lot of how much feather you use has to do with your form and how smooth your release is, it doesn't take that much to keep an arrow flying true if it starts out flying that way!

 

[Rick653]

I think it all depends on how well you can get your bare shafts tuned. I have some GT Velocity Valkyrie's that tuned amazing go my set up, so I run 4in feathers.

Then I have some Victory Carbon Trade that I could not get where I wanted, so I run 5in feathers.

I don't know if I would go smaller than 4in for a hunting arrow. I want to make sure my single bevels aren't steering my arrow elsewhere.

 

[Btaylor]

Mine are either 4.25 or 4.5". Dont remember which.

 

[Te Hopo]

All my arrows that aren't fluflu's use a 4" feather.
Why? Well they seem to be the easiest most common to find here in New Zealand and seemed to me to just be a happy medium in the middle of common feather sizes.

 

[Wrench]

I like as little feather as I need on my worst days. I do fine with a 2"×3 99% of the time and any more wing than that is just for looks. I feel that more drag shows up more on windy days.

 

[Blasey]

X2, my 2" feathers treat me good and cut the wind. 577 grain total arrow weight, +19% FOC
No issues whatsoever

 

[Kentucky]

I use 3”. I feel like smaller the feather the less sound… my FOC is 25%ish maybe more…I wouldn’t care to try 2”… but a quiver full of 5” and a gust of wind will make your bow dance around for sure

 

[Cedarsavage]

Thanks guys I decided on 4". I got bare shaft flying, so hopefully I don't crap my pants enough to mess up with 4"

 

[NoRush24]

Either 4x3” or 3x3” on an aae jig with a lot of helical. 530-600grn arrows seem to be my window every time I build something.

 

[Kdf22]

I shoot mostly cedar and spruce arrows, some aluminum and have always shot 5” feathers. Shields are my favorite. Last year I started using these PY cut

 

[Wrench]

Trad lab / the Push did a great episode on fletching with data collection.

I had stumbled on 2"x4 and noticed the same results as their testing.

The spoiler is that less is more and more can work against you exponentially......especially when wet.

They do look killer though when flying to the target.

 

[oldgoat]

Trad lab / the Push did a great episode on fletching with data collection.

I had stumbled on 2"x4 and noticed the same results as their testing.

The spoiler is that less is more and more can work against you exponentially......especially when wet.

They do look killer though when flying to the target.

Well put!

 

[Seeknelk]

I'm using 3" x 4 now, and 2 inch x 3 on my old arrows. Went back to larger diameter shaft so 4 Fletch was easier to install than on a micro which was more headaches than it's worth imo.

 

[Snow Panther]

At the moment, most of my arrows (for trad bow) are fletched with 3 x 4" feathers.
I don't use 5" anymore. The 4" are quieter in flight than the 5", and they stabilize as well as long as the arrow is properly tuned for the bow.
I also have a few arrows fletched with 4 x 3". I don't find much difference with the 3 x 4".