Where to start tuning?

[Hunter4life]

I have had a compound bow for a few years but have never tried to tune anything myself. I have had Wayne from big game archery balance the limbs and setup my bow but as far as I know its never been properly tuned. Its been shooting fine as far as I can tell but I think its possible to get it even better. Where would you start to make sure everything is tuned? I read articles on paper tuning but never really get around to doing it, is that a good place to start?

h4l

[Eagle1]

I have had a compound bow for a few years but have never tried to tune anything myself. I have had Wayne from big game archery balance the limbs and setup my bow but as far as I know its never been properly tuned. Its been shooting fine as far as I can tell but I think its possible to get it even better. Where would you start to make sure everything is tuned? I read articles on paper tuning but never really get around to doing it, is that a good place to start?

h4l

Thats a great place to start, a pro shop can only tune YOUR BOW only so much as every ones grip,stance,anchor,release, so on is different. You have to make time to tune the bow to your shooting style, if you bow hunt you owe it to the game you hunt, as a perfictly tuned arrow will fly true and have better penitration than one that flys wonkey{ good tech term}
If your able to get some coaching as well or even some one thats been doing archery for awhile to help you out.Balancing the limbs may work for Wayne but you might be a 1/4 turn top or 1/2 turn bottom, Robert Ragsdale has some good articles on tiller tuning.

[Bow Walker]

Eagle 1 (Bill) is a pro shop owner, so he knows what he is talking about. If you understand "paper tuning" and you say that the bow has been set up by a shop, then go ahead and make yourself a paper tuning target. This will let you see just exactly how your arrows are flying and whether you need to adjust anything.

An easy paper tuning target can be made by removing both ends from a large cardboard box and taping a sheet of paper over one opening. Put the cardboard box about 5 yds in front of your regular target butt - you don't want to lose any arrows.

Stand about 7 - 10 yards in front of the paper tuning target and shoot an arrow through it, into your regular target. The resulting tear in the paper will tell you a lot about how your arrow is flying.

[Hunter4life]

BowWalker, about the picture you put in your post. Don't you just move your sight when you hit high/low or left/right? Its lot simpler then moving nock points and the rest. I thought paper tuning is more about seeing if the arrow flies straight instead of whirling around.

[4ptbuck]

The pic represents how to tune broad heads, as compared to field point. Field points tune easier. Look at the legend. The 3 arrow field point is represented by the center group.
The tuning with nock and rest is to group the broadheads to the fieldpoints. If both fly true and to the same poi then you're pretty much in tune.

[4ptbuck]

Also the pic represents one aspect of tuning. It is not paper tuning. Paper tuning does involve looking for tears, and trying to achieve bullet holes.

[Bow Walker]

BowWalker, about the picture you put in your post. Don't you just move your sight when you hit high/low or left/right? Its lot simpler then moving nock points and the rest. I thought paper tuning is more about seeing if the arrow flies straight instead of whirling around.

4pt is right in that the picture is geared towards tuning broadheads. Although the principle(s) are similar.

I paper tune with field points and look for that "bullet" hole - outlined by the fletching marks. I have yet to bare shaft paper tune.

Yes I do adjust center shot and, nock point when paper tuning. When you get to the paper you should not be too concerned with grouping yet. Save that for after you get your arrows flying right.

[Hunter4life]

The pic represents how to tune broad heads, as compared to field point. Field points tune easier. Look at the legend. The 3 arrow field point is represented by the center group.
The tuning with nock and rest is to group the broadheads to the fieldpoints. If both fly true and to the same poi then you're pretty much in tune.

Thanks for the clarification. When you move your nock point or rest won't that also affect where the field points hit? If so how would you get your broad heads to hit the same place as your field points?

[4ptbuck]

back and forth,... back and forth....

[Bow Walker]

Thanks for the clarification. When you move your nock point or rest won't that also affect where the field points hit? If so how would you get your broad heads to hit the same place as your field points?

The idea is to first get your arrows (tipped w/ field points) flying true - out of your bow - that takes the bow out of the equation (hopefully) when trying to tune broadheads to fly true.

Some people cannot get b/h's to fly with their field tips at all. So they just adjust their sights for b/h's and then readjust for 3D, so long as the grouping(s) are tight in both cases and those groups are not far apart.

That's just some people. I don't know anyone (personally) who does this though. Everyone I know takes the time to sort the problem out.