Here, I hope this helps.---Matt
Bow tuning made easy.
Ever get frustrated while tuning your bow? Have you ever felt like you just couldnt tune it to shoot perfect bullet holes? Or maybe you've seen others get so frustrated that you leave it up to the professionals. You're not alone, I used to feel the same way.
Keep reading though, because Im going to give you a better understanding of bow-tuning and how to simplify it.
First of all, lets discuss what bow tuning is. Bow tuning is not some magic cure-all that will make your bow shoot better. Bow tuning simply allows your bow to be more forgiving of mistakes, such as a torqued grip or a misaligned arrow nock. Bow tuning can also help you obtain better groups when it comes to field points and broadheads because of this "tuned forgivness". The accuracy still lies in your hands though.
Tuning your bow to shoot perfect bullet holes through paper is not always going to make you more accurate, and its not always necessary. There are many different ways to tune your bow. Including "paper tuning", "group tuning", "french tuning", "broadhead tuning" etc.
The majority of people become frustrated because they try to do too much at once. First of all, you shouldnt use every different method of tuning. If you do, you had better expect to pull your hair out. I cant count the amount of times that people have said to me, the group tuning went really well, but it gets a slight left tear through paper. A perfect paper tear does NOT always mean you will have the perfect group tune, nor will a perfect broadhead tune mean your bare shaft tune is spot on. Using multiple methods can leave you much like a dog chasing his tail. Its best to pick ONE method of tuning and stick with it. Or you can use the methods in a certain order, tuning as a progression from method to method. Ending with the tune that is most important to you.
Its important when using any kind of tuning method, to abide by the following "rules":
-You need matching equipment. It needs to be set up exactly as it will be when you hunt with it.
-You need to be consistant in your shooting form and abilities. If your form or grip is ever-changing, your results will vary also. Learn to shoot consistantly before trying to tune your bow.
-Make only one adjustment at a time. Minor adjustments are best.
-Write down your initial settings and any changes you make as you go along. This allows you to start over, or go to a certain setting should you need to, or if problems arise.
Now lets take a look at a few tuning methods;
First we have paper tuning, probably the most widely known and accepted tuning process. It consists of shooting fletched arrows through a taunt sheet of paper from a set distance such as 9 feet. It is a GREAT way to see if your arrows are leaving the bow as straight as possible. The less wobble, the less "correcting" the vanes or feathers have to do. This also increases the amount of forward momentum that the arrow receives, allowing it to penetrate better than an arrow that leaves the bow fishtailing and porpoising. However, I dont see a lot of need for this method. Its time consuming with minimal gains. Unless your bow is very low on kinetic energy, you dont need to worry much about paper tuning. Besides, if you shoot that same wobbling arrow at ten yards, in most cases, the fletchings will have already corrected it. The other methods of tuning will get you close to a perfect tear without the amount of work involved. If you do decide to paper tune, set up a taunt sheet of newspaper on a frame. This needs to be placed at least an arrows length away from your target. Standing approx. 9 feet away, fire an arrow through the paper. If the cuts in the paper show that the fletching end is off to the left of the point. Try adjusting your rest out to the left.(righthanded shooter). Should the fletch end be higher than the point, try raising your rest, or lowering your nocking point. In some cases, the tear will get worse, if thats the case, try starting at the original tune, and going the opposite way. Some bad tears are caused by improper spine, fletching contact, or even the shooter. If you suspect spine is an issue, try different point weights, or lowering/raising your peak draw weight. Fletching contact can be checked by sprinkling baby powder on the rest area, or by applying lipstick to the rest and checking the arrow for lipstick after a shot. Just dont let your friends catch you with red lipstick in your bow tackle box, or your wife for that matter. All sorts of problems could ensue.
Next lets look at bare shaft tuning. This is used mainly to check the spine of your arrows in relation to the bow. You shoot a group of fletched arrows and a group of unfletched arrows and make adjustments to your rest and or nocking point according to the two groups relation to each other. If the bare shafts strike to the right of the fletched arrows, you would move your rest to the left, until the two groups meet. This method is great for recurve and longbow shooters, because it allows them to experiment with different spined arrows, finding the best bow/arrow combo. Though I think its another method of tuning thats just not necessary with a modern compound shot with a release aid. Compounds shot with releases are quite indifferent about arrow spine, infact, the stiffer the spine the better. If you are within one or two sizes on todays arrow charts you are fine. Your spine will match the bow, and if you do have problems, play with tip weight and bow draw weight. The heavier the tip, the weaker the spine of the arrow, the more draw weight the stiffer spine you need. One last reason I see no need for many people to bareshaft tune is; How often will you shoot bare shafts at deer and turkeys? Yeah I didnt think so....
Group Tuning is a great method of tuning arrows for the utmost in accuracy. If you want a bow that is tuned to group arrows on top of each other, use this method. Using a target with a 1" thick straight "line" running top to bottom, and three well matched arrows, fire three shots at the vertical line. Moving your arrow rest in or out until all of your arrows strike the line with consistancy. After you have set the center shot, turn the target sideways so you have a horizontal line to shoot at. Fire the arrows at this line, adjusting rest or nocking point height until all arrows strike the line consistantly. This method is perfect for your 3D or spot shooting bow, but If you will be hunting with the bow, this is another method that isnt really all that productive. You would be better off scouting than group tuning. (French tuning is similar to group tuning in that you shoot for vertical and horizontal groups. Only in french tuning you back away from the target as you go, so that you get the best over-all tune. (tuned at all the yardages).
So what method is good for a hunting bow then? It depends upon what you want.
If you want a bow that spits broadheads and field points exactly the same. Use a method called broadhead tuning. Its similar to bare-shaft tuning, except instead of fletched and unfletched shafts, you use broadhead tipped and field tipped arrows. Adjusting your rest and/or nocking point until the two different types of arrows impact the same. This is a great method for the average bowhunter, and one I highly recommend. It allows you to practice with your field points without changing sight settings. It also prevents you from having to worry about broadheads chewing up that expensive target with tons of broadhead practice. When using this method, be sure to shoot the broadheaded arrow group first. Using several spots on the same target is a good idea. Anytime you use broadheads, you run the risk of really "chewing" up the other arrows.
If you want a bow that shoots broadheads with precision, use the method of group tuning above with broadheaded arrows.
If you're shooting mechanical heads and feel you are on the lower end of the KE spectrum, or if you just feel as though you may be lacking enough power for good penetration, paper tune your arrows. Mech heads will normally hit with field points anyhow, so use paper tuning to make sure you're putting the bows full potential into the arrow.
If you prefer to check your bow with a few different methods, go in a particular order such as;
Bare shaft tune with several size arrows until you find the size that groups closest to its fletched version.
Paper tune these arrows.
Make any minor adjustments you may need by group tuning.
Finally, if you plan on shooting broadheads, shoot them and either tune the bow to group them with field points, or sight the bow in to the broadheads. (If broadhead tuning is not your thing. Two separate sights can be very helpful. Have one sighted in for broadheads and one for field points. For practice, and going to shoots, screw on the FP sight. When hunting season rolls around, screw on the BH sight and you're good to go.)
Lastly, no matter which method of tuning you choose, ALWAYS make sure to test shoot some broadheaded arrows. These are what get loosed at living animals, and thats all that really COUNTS. We owe it to the game animals we hunt, to use only the sharpest, most accurate broadheads we can. The only way to KNOW that they will fly true, is to try them.
Hopefully after reading this, you will be able to spend less time tuning, and more time scouting. You never know, that extra day scouting could help put you on the best buck of your life. Good luck this upcoming bow season.[up]
