How far away from target is recommend to start bareshaft testing? Also same for paper tuning? I'm getting a good arrow at 12-15 yards bareshaft, but a weak arrow past 15 yards.

I understand this question has probably been answered somewhere on this forum.

Start at 10 yards and work back.

Paper tuning in my mind is a waste of time. The results change every time you take a step forward or bacward.

What are you using to determine the arrow is weak?

As far back as you can het without pulling your hair out..ha ha.i start at 5 yards and work back to 30. At 20 yards you really begin to see the overall effect of your tune. Typically iv found if you get perfect BS at 20, it will still be good at 30 or close to it anyway with only minimal adjustments needed. Anything over 20 yards you really notice the human error factor, so for me 20 yard BS is plenty good, i simply go to 30 to help resolbe any form issues i have. Most impotantly is to take your time an dont shoot tired, i also use 3 diffent arrows, not just 1, this makes it easier while your tuning your nocs and all your tuning isnt based on a single arrow.

Just using the impact in a bag target to judge weak or stiff, left weak, right stiff. I've also done a few slow motion video, setting camera on bag, to see flight Also using three arrows, and probably correct on broadhead vs paper tuning. The whole idea is to get a broadhead to fly anyway.

Bag target probably isn’t the best for bareshaft tuning. Arrow will move too much in the target to get an accurate reading.

I start at about 10 to 12 yards, then move back about 5 yards at a time. By the time I get to 20 to 25 yards everything is good (enough)--for me.

Ha!

I once started at about 7-8 yards and snapped off a brand-new tapered cedar that was just way too stiff to begin with. So I start at about 5, just in case. “Wasting” three whole shots isn’t going to ruin me.

Run a strip of masking tape straight down the middle of the target; if you’re doing everything else right, your fletched arrows will hit the tape and the bare will group according to the spine. If they all end up in one group, back up ‘til they don’t. Once you start getting close to Tuned, you’ll probably want to put a sheet of paper on the target so you can mark where the fletched (or bare) hafts are hitting within the larger group.

I had one bow set up to where it was dead nuts at 20, but then I took it to the club and things fell apart between 20 and 30. So I don’t know for sure that I’m Done yet, but I’m sure not going to blame my tune when I miss.

Here's my spin on..."Bare Shaft Tuning"

To me "Shooting Bare Shafts" isn't just limited to "Tuning" because "Bare Shaft Flight" is what critiques these three things regarding my form & execution...

1. Grip Position

(In Conjustion w/ Nock Point Height as dictated by comfort)

2. How Much I Cant My Bow (or not)

(MORE Cant: for stiff/LESS Cant: for weak)

and...

3. The Position Of My String Blur

(In Conjustion w/ Strike-Plate Thickness as dictated by the arrows POI)

as much as the bare shaft dictates three things about my bow as follows...

1. Brace Height

(Stiff?: Increase BH/ Weak?: Decrease BH)

2. The thickness of my bows strike-plate

(Stiff?: Go Thinner/ Weak?: Go Thicker)

and...

3. The position of my strings nocking point

(Nock High?: Lower It/ Nock Low?: Raise it)

and all of these codependent aspects must join together in perfect harmony as orchestrated by the archer exercising the three basic controlls of properly formulating the bare shaft itself of...

1. Spine Value

2. Shaft Length

and...

3. Point Weight

and I shoot bare shafts regularly...sometimes "Exclusively" and not just to tune my bow but to fine tune my form and ingrain my execution.

Properly mastered?...confidence in your bare shaft flight should easily extend to 20yds...30yds for the highly skilled and 12-15yds if Heavy or EFOC point weights are being used.

JMHO..hope it helps. ;)

If you're looking at nock position in a bag target to determine stiff/wek, that's a waste of time.

You will be way ahead to put a vertical line down the center of the target and shoot at that.

It you're right handed and the arrows impact left of the line they are too stiff. If they impact right of the target they are too weak.

The only thing i would add--- and it may be a factor of my form, release, etc. I always strive for a slightly weak bareshaft. Once i get to the point where im an inch or so left of the line and an inch or so tail right ( im a lefty), i throw on a broadhead and fieldpoint--- they' ll group right where im aiming. On a really good day i can bs out to 30, but generally im 15-20.

What type of target Is best for bareshaft ? That's good to know, with the tape on the target I'll try that method also.

Set the nockpoint height first, it can cause a false spine reading. btdt

I was really happy with this today at 20....

28” 1916 + 125 is borderline weak out of this bow, but really shows what my release is up to.

Therifleman...I too prefer my bare shafts to have a hint of weak to them...I feel it makes for a more forgiving set-up especially when fatigue or any one of many conditions that may hinder your ability to reach full form exist and if you're ever in a situation where you're a little short on form?..."A Touch Weak" is the smart play and gives great clearance on the pass in the meantime. ;)

Glynn:

"Set the nockpoint height first, it can cause a false spine reading. btdt"

^^TRUTH SPOKEN HERE^^ btdt X's 2

Bowtac82:

"What type of target Is best for bareshaft ?"

Great question...even my bales will correct an angled bare shaft to a degree then again?...so will heavy arrow points so what I do is look for those bright blaze orange nocks of mine which aloows me to observe the bare shafts inflight behavior and the rick is to do so without dropping your bow arm and/or "Peeking" (aka: "at the shot head movement")

But to answer your question?...I think the best target media for bare shafting would be a heavy duty cardboard box lined with a plastic bag and filled with sand or dirt.

Don't worry about nock orientation in the target. Don't worry about target medium at thi point. Worry about how the arrows impact in relation to a vertical line on the target. Lwft of the line is sriff, right of the line is weak.

After you get that worked out, THEN, if you want to you can fine tune "nock kick".

As for the nock location. Start with the bottom of the arrow nock 1/8" above 90 degrees. Tune from there.

Don't put tape vertical on target unless you shoot with no cant. If you cant put tape at same angle as cant. Back 12 or so years I used to bare shaft out to 40 yards just because it was so fun to see how well I could tune my Widow pma. I shouldn't put this picture up but this was at 40 yards back then.

Awesome shot, thanks for all the information and tips. I'll start again tomorrow with the tape I dont have much of a cant to my shot. Right handed shooter, left of tape is stiff, right of tape is weak? And no set yardage on tune

Bowtac, you are correct.

As usual I got a headache around the third post. You simply needs to sort out what works for you.

DDave

What I thought was good for me, didn't maximize the potential of the bow, or the arrow flight. I dont have an archery shop close by to stop in and get some guidance, figured this website would be of assistance to me and the animals I intend on hunting. Apologies for the redundancy of my questions and the headache.

You’re fine. No harm done.

You’ll get there, and there are plenty of folks here willing to help.

Main thing is that you have to shoot well enough to get a recognizable group.

I do it like fdp. I find I can just shoot bareshafts and get them correct and then add feathers.,

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