Is there an effect when shooting veins fletching or feathers from the same bow?

Maybe. Depending on your state of tune and the desired outcome.

Different fletching equals different weight, something to keep in mind

Vanes are heavier but don't have a friction side..the weight can increase arrow spine fractionally. Vanes need to be turned so they don't contact the shelf. That's easy to do and is just a product of tuning. If you want to shoot vanes, tune your bow to them to get clearance, and they your feathers should work also. At longer range you may see more speed with the feathers, but that is also dependent on size, style, etc.

And just FYI for everyone, a vane is what we're talking about, a vein is in your arm or like a vein of gold or ore. Vain, is an ego issue. ;) And yes, it matters because the different spellings completely change the context of the discussion.

Thank you George.

Interesting, I'm just playing with some Barbee vanes right now. I'm impressed so far, but not done.

Not really sure about Georges comment that feather will give you more speed at a long distances. Vanes are smooth, feather are not and might have more friction down range.

I think vanes are quieter so that may mean less friction???????????

I just weighted a 2 inch feather at 1.5 and a 2.5 inch vane at 4.5. That's 9 grains.

I will know by September. Actually, at 9 grains I probably won't know by September, because I can't tell the difference in 9 grains.

Bowmania

"LOL"

Glad we got that vane thing cleared up. :)

I’ve got 3 1/2 in. vanes in my quiver and as they get torn off they’re replaced with feathers of the same size.Shot side by side I see no real difference out to 30 yards. After that my groups open up enough I couldn’t say.

Never used them but like the idea of not worrying about how bad it's raining.

Some excellent information here on Paul Fender's website

www.fenderarchery.com

Sorry George, you are wrong about speed at distances. As we proved here 20 years ago with a chronograph, feathers at 3ft out of the bow out perform vanes. At 25 yrds, vanes had recovered the difference and were traveling faster than the feathers at that distance.

And please feel free to point out any grammatical or spelling errors.

Grizz, you’re making me feel old.

I vainly shoot vanes till my veins hurt... just saying

I always have a couple plastic fletched arrows for when I get caught in the rain. Cock vane fletch thingy in, gives me clearance.

Hope this thread wasn’t started in vain.

The real effect is - you have to have a better tune to shoot vanes, than feathers.

Once you achieve the tune to vanes you can shoot both off the same bow, and they will shoot & group together out to around 30 yards.

Once you get beyond around 30 yards & further you will notice the vanes holding their distance better than feathers.

Vanes are quieter in flight than feathers.

I love vanes.

Rick

Rick the romantic.

I can appreciate the bennies of the vanes, but jeeeeeeze.... They just don’t DO IT for me!

LOL....

@Rick - do those benefits hold up shooting off the shelf, or do they do much better off of a rest of some sort?

Matt, even feathers are easier to get to shoot off a rest, but I shoot the vanes off the shelf, and yes the benefits hold up even off the shelf.

Rick

Cool.

That Thunderbird shoots so well off of the Weatherest that I think it may be my rainy-day go-to bow. Just gotta find a quiet brace height for it....

A well-tuned arrow will shoot okay with wet matted feathers. Not 'perfectly' but well enough. Greg '3-D Archery' Richards demonstrated this a few years back -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEqEypdzRdQ

I used to keep one bow set up with an elevated rest just for rainy days. Same arrows and (wet) feathers shot fine.

Yep.

The new Trad VANES (I sure hope I spelled that correctly) fly off the shelf just like feathers. I've shot them out of my bow and a bunch of my friends have shot them as well with no issues.

hmm so if my vanes don't fly well out of my bow, it is not properly tuned ? make sense. going to use that to check tune..thanks Rick

Probably but I don't care.

Ronald, it does not necessarily mean you are not tuned.

You may be getting fletching contact at pass (even with feathers), and could mean you need to make some shelf adjustments/modifications.

Feathers will forgive a little contact. Vanes won't.

To know that for sure, I'd need to see the shelf with an arrow on it.

Rick

welp, back to the old drawing board :)

off the shelf i use feathers , if I put on a modern rest I can use vanes .for me the plastic kicks to much while shooting off the shelf .

Since there is a bit of discussion here about spelling and vocabulary, I can't help but note that, in an archery context, "vanes" used to just mean "feathers". I am not sure when vanes started to mean plastic fletching, but I always have to think a little when I hear "vanes"; to me, vanes are still just another word for feathers/fletching. I know, the ship has sailed on that one...

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here