reach
10-03-2011, 11:15 AM
I've managed to acquire a PSE Bow Madness XL recently and have been playing around getting it set up. Starting from zero knowledge, of course I have a bunch of questions. Many are answered in archery forums but not everything. Any tips would be appreciated. Sorry in advance for the long rambling questions.
1. Archery groups in PG. I guess if the answer to this one is "yes" then we can disregard all the other questions for now :mrgreen: Are there any informal groups in the Prince George area that get together to fling sticks and BS about bows & setup? I checked the rod & gun club website and they don't seem to have any archery info.
2. Draw weight. I haven't adjusted it myself, but from looking at the limb bolts I think the bow has been backed off from its max of 60#. No idea what it currently is. At its present setting it seems comfortable for me to shoot and the arrows I'm using group well. I think I'm answering my own question here but should I crank it up to the max in order to get it tuned properly and perhaps give better accuracy? Or if I leave it where it is for now, does *everything* have to be retuned (rest, arrows etc.) if I crank it up later, or just the vertical sight position?
3. Arrows. I bought a dozen Easton XX75 2315 shafts based on Easton's selection chart using my assumption of 60# draw weight. I haven't built these yet. I also had 6 2117 arrows kicking around. As a complete newbie I'm very happy with how accurate the 2117s seem to be. Should I stick with the 2117 arrows for now until I crank up the draw weight? I'm thinking the 2315s may be too stiff for the bow as it is right now?
4. Arrow length. I'm tall (6'3") with a positive ape index so I have the bow set to the full 30" draw length. It seems comfortable - I don't feel myself bending backwards, my left arm is not straight etc. Obviously I'll need someone who knows what they're doing to critique me at some point, but I think I'm not that far off. Anyway, given that, is there any point to shortening the arrows the 1 or 2" I could get away with based on my current setup? More generally, how do you decide on the arrow length? Do you go as short as possible for maximum speed? Or do you decide on some desired weight and cut the shaft to match? Or do you tune the arrows based on more technical stuff (oscillation nodes, FOC weight distribution)? I'm guessing for any fancy tuning that would depend heavily on the draw length & draw weight so I should probably just leave everything full length for now until I have some clue what I'm doing?
5. Rest setup. I bought a QAD HDX drop-away rest. It seems to work great. However I'm not 100% sure I have it positioned correctly. There was a D-loop on the string already and I just used that as a reference - nocked an arrow and set the rest so the arrow was square to the string. However that seems slightly low - when the rest drops it is in contact with the shelf. I don't think I have any fletching contact problems - just worried about "correctness" and perhaps extra noise. Is there any harm in moving both the rest and nock point up a bit (less than 1/4") to make sure the rest drops to fully horizontal? The arrow would end up slightly above the marked centreline on the riser.
6. Peep. I can't quite see the outer ring of the sight through the peep. Should I care? I've read some debate about whether to centre the pin or centre the sight ring. The consensus seems to be that centring the sight ring might lead to more consistent form. However I'm plenty happy with my groups so far as a complete newbie. Is it a pain to switch to a larger peep?
I've got lots of other questions about paper tuning, targets, point/broadhead choices, building arrows etc. but that's enough typing for now :-D
1. Archery groups in PG. I guess if the answer to this one is "yes" then we can disregard all the other questions for now :mrgreen: Are there any informal groups in the Prince George area that get together to fling sticks and BS about bows & setup? I checked the rod & gun club website and they don't seem to have any archery info.
2. Draw weight. I haven't adjusted it myself, but from looking at the limb bolts I think the bow has been backed off from its max of 60#. No idea what it currently is. At its present setting it seems comfortable for me to shoot and the arrows I'm using group well. I think I'm answering my own question here but should I crank it up to the max in order to get it tuned properly and perhaps give better accuracy? Or if I leave it where it is for now, does *everything* have to be retuned (rest, arrows etc.) if I crank it up later, or just the vertical sight position?
3. Arrows. I bought a dozen Easton XX75 2315 shafts based on Easton's selection chart using my assumption of 60# draw weight. I haven't built these yet. I also had 6 2117 arrows kicking around. As a complete newbie I'm very happy with how accurate the 2117s seem to be. Should I stick with the 2117 arrows for now until I crank up the draw weight? I'm thinking the 2315s may be too stiff for the bow as it is right now?
4. Arrow length. I'm tall (6'3") with a positive ape index so I have the bow set to the full 30" draw length. It seems comfortable - I don't feel myself bending backwards, my left arm is not straight etc. Obviously I'll need someone who knows what they're doing to critique me at some point, but I think I'm not that far off. Anyway, given that, is there any point to shortening the arrows the 1 or 2" I could get away with based on my current setup? More generally, how do you decide on the arrow length? Do you go as short as possible for maximum speed? Or do you decide on some desired weight and cut the shaft to match? Or do you tune the arrows based on more technical stuff (oscillation nodes, FOC weight distribution)? I'm guessing for any fancy tuning that would depend heavily on the draw length & draw weight so I should probably just leave everything full length for now until I have some clue what I'm doing?
5. Rest setup. I bought a QAD HDX drop-away rest. It seems to work great. However I'm not 100% sure I have it positioned correctly. There was a D-loop on the string already and I just used that as a reference - nocked an arrow and set the rest so the arrow was square to the string. However that seems slightly low - when the rest drops it is in contact with the shelf. I don't think I have any fletching contact problems - just worried about "correctness" and perhaps extra noise. Is there any harm in moving both the rest and nock point up a bit (less than 1/4") to make sure the rest drops to fully horizontal? The arrow would end up slightly above the marked centreline on the riser.
6. Peep. I can't quite see the outer ring of the sight through the peep. Should I care? I've read some debate about whether to centre the pin or centre the sight ring. The consensus seems to be that centring the sight ring might lead to more consistent form. However I'm plenty happy with my groups so far as a complete newbie. Is it a pain to switch to a larger peep?
I've got lots of other questions about paper tuning, targets, point/broadhead choices, building arrows etc. but that's enough typing for now :-D