In what order do you tune your bow?

[awildswanger]

I picked up a new Silverback after TAC Texas. Went down to the local shop because my peep was too low. Moved it higher, and found out my DL is 32.5”, not 32”. Had the proper adjustments made to adjust draw length, and in the process my rest came loose. Had it tightened down, and I’m now dialed in at 20yd but starting from scratch with everything else.

I don’t really like to tinker a whole bunch, but I want to get the most out of this bow as I can. In what order do I need to tune everything else? Paper, bare shaft, broadhead, cam timing, nock? How much and what kind of tuning is actually necessary, and which are minimal gains for no negligible difference?

 

[wapitibob]

I twist the string to set my draw length, set weight where I want it, rest at 13/16, set loop so arrow is thru upper 1/3 of rest hole with nock at about 1/32 above center. Cam timing is even at brace.
Bare shaft into a bale, back to 15 yards adjusting cams laterally and rest height. Then bare shaft/fletched shaft at 20 to get them grouping. I mess with draw stops slightly when at 20 to get the holding weight where I want it and to adjust the cam timing at full draw for any vertical flyers. Then group tune at 60.

 

[Skerhunter]

Make sure cams are timed and ATA is correct.
Set my rest/loop set up at the proper heights, so arrow is level.
Set rest as close to center shot specs as I can.
Maybe shoot through paper quick.
Then I walk back tune to find center shot, by moving my rest.
Then I broadhead tune at 30-40, then move back to 60 (yoke tune if needed).
Then I double check timing/ATA and tie everything in place.
If everything goes right, I'm done and broadheads hit with field points.

 

[Hoodie]

I too hate tinkering.

1) Cam timing, peep height, nock height and D Loop, eyeball center-shot for rest all at the pro-shop.

2) Go home and set up target at 20 yards. Shoot bare-shafts and fletched shafts at 20 yards. Adjust whatever (Yokes, Rest position, etc) until bare-shafts are hitting with fletched at 20.

3) Screw on broadheads. Shoot a couple broadheads to confirm they are hitting with fletched shafts and bare-shafts at 20.

4) Back up to 40 (or whatever your max distance is). Confirm broadheads are hitting with field-points at whatever distance. (For me, they always are if I´ve done my job at 20 yards).


I´ve dicked around with paper-tuning, french tuning, walk-back tuning, etc. Nothing is as fast or easy as bare-shaft tuning at 20 yards. Takes maybe half an hour to get a great tune.

After Iḿ done, I keep a couple bare-shafts laying around to check the tune every now and then. When your string starts getting stretched out, your bare-shafts will let you know it´s time to replace.

 

[dkime]

Just picked up a new V3 to play with so I will run you through my whole process with it.

1. Set nock points, with this bow I adjusted the rest so that the bottom of the shaft was running through the lower 3rd of the berger hole. When you look at the bow from the side you can see the bottom of the berger hole but with my D6 HDs you cannot see the top of the berger hole. Tying nock sets for me is critical on this short ATA bow and I always error on the side of more is better in terms of nock clearance. I can slide my nock vertical roughly the thickness of 1-2 center serving strands.

2. Adjust rest windage. I hold a bare shaft against the inside of my riser and adjust until the arrows are parallel.

3. Tie D Loop, pretty simple here. Tie a D loop in the correct orientation based on whether you are RH or LH

4. Bow goes in the draw board to check DL. I have 28.5 Mods anticipating it to end up at 29". Draw length was perfect. I make a mental note of cam timing at brace with the timing dots and at full draw just to give myself a mental check point. I also make a mark for where I want my peep height to be; roughly based on previous experience. Peep then gets installed

5. Bareshaft through paper at 8 feet. I only shoot through paper at 8 feet because thats all the room I have to do it. Get shaft shooting a bullet hole through paper. 8 feet is not far enough to get a fine tune but its a good starting point. I will adjust tophat combos or shims or yokes or cams based on what is required to get this coarse tune.

(Adjust peep height here based on comfort for now, it'll get adjusted later even more.)

6. Bareshaft and Fletched shaft at 20yds. I did this several times with this bow because the engage grip is new to me and I want to see if I can pattern any form of consistency. With it being a new grip I pay more attention to arrow flight and look for trends. This bow needed no Top hat adjustment.

7. Pick your favorite BH and throw that in the mix making adjustments as necessary. I have yet to have a bow not BH tune if it bareshaft tunes at 20. Getting all three shafts to touch is known as riding the devil's tricycle.......

Most can stop here and go hunting, this is where I am with my current hunting rig. Steps yet to come are below.

8. Creep tune, Play with half twist increments in either direction of your top cams control cable. Adjust until your vertical dispersion is limited. This can be done at 20yds. 1 arrow shot with normal back tension, one with lighter back tension, one with you pulling into the back wall like it owes you child support. You're goal is 1 flat group.

9. Torque tune. I will adjust my sight only on a hunting bow because broadheads are super finicky. DO NOT TORQUE TUNE WITH BH'S, IF YOU DO THIS YOU DESERVE THE CONSEQUENCES

9. Horizontal and Vertical line tuning at a minimum distance of 50yds. Shoot at a vertical line and make extremely tiny rest adjustments to your rest windage until 3-5 shafts are all touching a vertical rope. You then do the same thing with a horizontal line and your rests vertical adjustment.

Around this step is where the strings and cables start to move and you have to start over, instead of starting over I realize that the more time the bow is in the press, the less time it is in my hand. If you want the most out of your bow, youre better off putting in around 150 arrows a day until it becomes your best friend and then you can dive into this. None of this is really that important for a hunting setup.

 

[Billy Goat]

On a new Mathew's I tie a loop so top and bottom is equal distance to axle. Meaning the loop is centered between axles. I normally do a tied nock set inside the loop, sometimes only a very small one on the bottom side of the nock. I do like to have the arrow nock high of center in the loop, but in tuning if it shows I need to adjust nock point i do it with the rest.

I'd do the same with any other bow that is setup to have centered nock point.


All the other advice is pretty good. I pretty much skip paper of any kind and bareshaft at 20 and out. Then put on broadheads. You can start with broadheads, it will just burn targets up.

 

[Zac]

I set my rest right between 3/4 and 3/16. This gives me a smidge either way to use once I get to broadheads. I set the arrow dead level through the Berger with a binary cam. I bare shaft at 20, then 30, then 40. I not only look for a very close impact point at 40, but also make sure the bare shaft is impacting straight. I then check it through paper at 21 feet. Next I'll go straight to broadheads at 20, and then 40.

 

[CB4]

Just picked up a new V3 to play with so I will run you through my whole process with it.

Just did this exact same process with my V3. Honestly didn't want to do a long write up like this so thank you @dkime . Follow these steps with a V3 and it will/should be perfect.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Paper, bareshaft, and broadhead tuning are all means to the same end of getting broadheads and field points to hit the same spot. Of those 3 methods, broadhead tuning is mandatory for a hunter IMO and the other 2 are optional precursors. I typically start with paper tuning at 6' and 12' because I can do it in my garage whenever I want regardless of time of day or weather (we have a lot of windy days here in Oklahoma that can frustrate attempts to tune a bow outdoors). I then shoot bareshafts at 20-30 yds to verify at distance the adjustments I made while paper tuning. My final check is to compare broadhead vs. field point POI at 10 yd increments out to the furthest distance I'd be willing to take a shot at an animal. You could jump straight to broadhead tuning at no detriment other than more wear and tear on your target.

Nock tuning is a means of compensating for radial variation in arrow spine to get a more consistent dynamic reaction from arrow to arrow. I nock tune each of my fletched arrows by shooting them through paper and twisting the nock in increments (120° at a time for 3-fletch, 90° for 4-fletch) to see which nock position gives the best tear. This could also be done by shooting bareshafts or broadheads to see which nock position hits closest to a fletched shaft/field point. Or you could forgo preemptively nock tuning each individual arrow and just selectively nock tune any particular ones that repeatedly hit outside the group.

Torque tuning seeks to find the forward/backward rest position least sensitive to inconsistent grip placement and/or torque applied by the bow hand. I think it's a worthwhile endeavor, but it can be a bit tricky to consistently apply the same amount of torque from shot to shot during the tuning process.

I understand the concept of creep tuning, but I haven't personally attempted it. As with torque tuning, I think it could be tricky to consistently alter your form shot-to-shot. I don't see myself going to the trouble of pressing my bow and twisting cables to tune for over/under pulling into the back wall. I'd also be concerned about unintentionally altering vertical nock travel and throwing off my broadhead tune by messing with the cables.