My arrow setup for deer, goats, and pigs, here in Australia

[Wilderlife]

Hi all,

Very new to traditional archery and I've just gone through the very frustrated but satisfying process of arrow tuning. I have been shooting trad since about March this year, but have just been fluffing about with it. I was always scared to tune my arrows as I didn't think I was a good enough shot to make the most of it but a few people watched me shoot and suggested I take the next step.

Shooting a Black Widow PCH - 54# @ 28 inches. Some of the issues I had with my bareshafts was that my draw length is only short (27 inches MAX but probably closer to 26.5 inches) so I wasn't sure exactly how much I could cut an arrow down before it became too short and I needed to step up. I'm sure I could have a longer 340 spine arrow and do OK with it, but as it stands, I've settled on the following.

Gold Tip Hunter arrow
400 spine
Cut to 27.5 inches
100gn GT brass insert
130gn Outback Broadheads Stealth head.
I'll also use 3 AAE trad vanes.

Part of my frustration with the tuning process was being new to cutting arrows and gluing things, so I made some mistakes and wrecked some arrows, but I think I'm mostly dialed in now. Even if the arrows aren't 100% perfect, the learning process was valuable and they fly much better than my original fletched shafts did, and they are also a lot heavier. They've got a higher FOC but I wasn't really chasing that and I haven't measured it, but they'll be very close to 500gns total, which is where I need to be.

I'll shot plenty of pigs, goats, and fallow deer with them in the coming years. This arrow setup should perform well, but I will keep working on my form relentlessly.

Thanks for reading.

 

[MadDawg]

That sounds like a killer setup to me!

Yea the hardest thing to grasp when coming from a compound to a recurve is not cutting your arrows. More times than not, I just leave mine full length since that is where they tune out.

And be careful shooting 54 lbs. You're draw may actually be 28 inches, you just aren't able to pull the heavier weight. That is usually the biggest mistake newbies make when switching, they get a weight near their compound. With a stick bow its waaaay different. Id rather be hunting with a 30 lb recurve that I could shoot great, than a 60lb that I can barely keep on the target. Just my opinion.

Just make sure you keep a good form and STOP when you start getting exhausted. Shooting while exhausted WILL mess you up!

Good luck!!!

 

[Wilderlife]

Cheers, mate. Yeh, I'm all over that advice.

The bow was given to me earlier in the year by a friend and it had 65# @ 28 limbs on it. I could barely pull it back, despite being confident at first as I've hunted with 70# compounds before (I've only hunted with compounds for a year - rifle hunter before that). I struggled with the 65# limbs something chronic, and one of the reasons he gave it to me was that he suspected the limbs were a bit warped anyway.

I sourced these 54# @ 28 limbs and it's much easier. I do get fatigued after a while but I can handle it OK.

My first compound was set to 26.5 inch draw length. My second compound has been set to 27 inch draw length., I can shoot both fine. I've measured my draw length a few different ways without a bow, as well as drawing an arrow and marking where the shaft gets to on the riser, and the most it's ever come out as is 27 inches.

I thought I'd need to go to a 340 spine as my arrow cut to 28.5 inches was far too weak and a 340 @ 27.5 inches was too stiff, but when someone told me I could get away with cutting a bit more off the front, I was on the money.

Had to switch from Outback Broadheads Supreme to Outback Broadheads Stealth, as the Supreme comes back behind the front of the shaft slightly and they hit my riser.

All part of the journey!

 

[MadDawg]

Right on! When you put in the hard work, and then harvest an animal... WOW! Its amazing!!

Keep us updated on your hunts

 

[Wilderlife]

I'll definitely be tracking my progress, mate.

For now, here are two videos I've made so far about my journey.

 

[Dvidos]

Cheers, mate. Yeh, I'm all over that advice.

The bow was given to me earlier in the year by a friend and it had 65# @ 28 limbs on it. I could barely pull it back, despite being confident at first as I've hunted with 70# compounds before (I've only hunted with compounds for a year - rifle hunter before that). I struggled with the 65# limbs something chronic, and one of the reasons he gave it to me was that he suspected the limbs were a bit warped anyway.

I sourced these 54# @ 28 limbs and it's much easier. I do get fatigued after a while but I can handle it OK.

My first compound was set to 26.5 inch draw length. My second compound has been set to 27 inch draw length., I can shoot both fine. I've measured my draw length a few different ways without a bow, as well as drawing an arrow and marking where the shaft gets to on the riser, and the most it's ever come out as is 27 inches.

I thought I'd need to go to a 340 spine as my arrow cut to 28.5 inches was far too weak and a 340 @ 27.5 inches was too stiff, but when someone told me I could get away with cutting a bit more off the front, I was on the money.

Had to switch from Outback Broadheads Supreme to Outback Broadheads Stealth, as the Supreme comes back behind the front of the shaft slightly and they hit my riser.

All part of the journey!

+1

 

[ozyclint]

500grs sounds about where you want to be since your probably pulling around 50# with those limbs.

so a 400 spine cut to 28.5" was too weak??

i shoot 400 at 30" long out of a 58# border recurve with 300gr up front.
340 spine at 30" with 350gr up front out of the same bow with 70# limbs.

 

[Wilderlife]

Definitely too weak.

Well, when I say definitely, I mean as far as I could conclude over 3 bareshafting sessions. I could never get my arrows to do the same thing EVERY TIME as my form isn't perfect, but over the three sessions, the trend was definitely too weak.

Before that I was shooting 30 inch 400s with about 145 up front and they were too weak as well. Adding extra weight to the front weakened them significantly.

I've shot some fletched shafts with bareshafts this afternoon as well and they grouped together and all flew nicely. I have the Gold Tip arrows coming soon so I'll be able to practice better when I have more arrows.

 

[ozyclint]

i always confirm with point weight before i cut a shaft. i have a variety of field point weights that i use when tuning. if they aren't flying well try heavier or lighter points according to what you suspect, if it gets better or worse then you know what to do and you haven't trimmed a shaft without knowing whether you had to or not. sometimes it can take quite a bit of weight difference to see a difference in flight.
i gave away bareshaft tuning shortly after trying it. i came to the conclusion that they were too greatly effected by release and form errors and it was too difficult to tell whether the results were because of tuning flaws or form flaws. i don't care how bare shafts fly, only fletched broadheads.
now i just shoot fletched shafts and tune by changing point weight. start full length with the point weight intended then hopefully they are weak. confirm by using lighter points. then trim a little and repeat. i can see straight away when an arrow is fishtailing and i know the spine is off. i then try a lighter point till it flys good then i know it needs more trimming. i watch a fletched arrow in flight. it tells me alot. if it spirals to the target then i know the nock point and spine are off. fishtailing tells me the spine is off and porpoising the nocking point is off.

 

[Wilderlife]

Yeh. If I do this again, that's something I may look into.

One of the problems I created for myself was I only wanted to use Outback Broadheads, and they only come in 130gn or 200gn weights. Using the 200gn head with the standard 20gn inserts would come to a similar weight to using 100gn inserts and a 130gn broadhead anyway, and finding 125gn points for practice is much easier than 200gn points, so that's why I went the way I did.

If anything, this process has taught me that it's annoying to be in Australia and want to do it. I don't exactly live in a small town but there is nowhere close that I can buy archery supplies, so everything has to be ordered and delivered. It makes the process clunky and very frustrating at times, so for now, I'm happy with where it's at. There is no denying that my fletched arrows that are cut to length and heavier up front, fly much better than my regular arrows, and weighing about 80gns more should see them work much better for hunting.

Onwards and upwards anyway. I was never going to get it right the first time, but I definitely know where you're coming from when you say a bareshaft is heavily influenced by a release. I never thought my form was perfect but I figured it wasn't too bad for someone who's only been doing it a few months, but some of that bareshaft stuff I did was incredibly frustrating and actually kept me awake at night!

 

[ozyclint]

3Rivers is your friend. they have everything you need that you simply won't find in stores in australia. just sucks with our current exchange rate.

 

[Wilderlife]

Yep. It's very painful. I bought a book and a couple of small things from them recently and the exchange rate combined with postage made it an expensive little venture.

 

[ozyclint]

yeah, i wait till i have a few things to order to make it worthwhile. sometimes i'll combine an order with a friend and split the shipping.

 

[ozyclint]

now that your arrows are tuned try playing with point weight to observe the changes in spine. drop point weight down by shooting just an alloy adapter as a point. then try a heavier point than what you have tuned for. allows you to confirm your tune without altering the shaft. you should see erratic flight more so than a change of impact.

 

[Wilderlife]

Shot a few groups at the range last night and took my gopro and big camera to get some footage and see if I can slow any of it down and observe what's happening. This group wasn't too bad and was one of the only times I focused on shooting a 'group' as opposed to just thinking about form, etc. These arrows are Easton Powerflights but everything else about their setup is the same as what I mentioned above.



Doesn't tell you much at all but it's good to go shoot and gain confidence in the setup.