Broadhead tuning...

[BCHoyt]

Well I bought some Ultimate Steel 3 blade broadheads by Rocket Broadheads/Trophy Ridge on the advice of the bowtech at Wholesale sports in Langley.. I got out today to try them out before bear season starts and the first shot cork screwed and dropped harsh.. Decided to take one more shot with another and it was a lot better but still a bit off from where I was hitting with field points.. Now they are 100g same as my field points but my big question is do the blades on the broadheads have to be matched to the fletchings? The 2nd shot the blades were almost perfect with the fletchings and the 1st shot they were way off... Now my inserts are glued so how do I tune them to line up if indeed that is what I need to do.. Great help would be appreciated..

[jrjonesy]

I don't worry about lining up my blades with my fletching. My broadheads (Montecs) hit where my field points hit. I basically just make sure my bow is paper tuned and make sure my arrows are straight. With todays low profile fixed blade heads, a properly spined straight arrow coming out of a tuned bow should hit where your field points do.

[BCHoyt]

Well Im dead on when shooting my field tips... 5 arrows in 2" grouping at 30 yards.. switched to the broadheads and was no where near..

[Onesock]

BC Just because you are shooting a 2 inch group at 30 yards with field points doesn't mean your bow is tuned as good as it could be. Try walk back tuning with your broadheads. You may have to move your rest one way or the other.

[BCHoyt]

By walk back tuning you mean starting up close to the target and progressivly moving further away correct?

[Bow Walker]

There's two tools that are indespensible for tuning broadheads - an arrow spinner/checker from Pinetree, and Arrow Squaring device from G5.

ASD from G5

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/ASD.jpg


Arrow Spinner from Pinetree.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Pine_Ridge_Arrow_Spinner1.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:;)


Spin test your assembled arrows without the tips or broadheads on them - do they wobble at either the nock end or the tip end?

If they do, then chances are good that the arrow shaft itself is not straight and therefore is no good for shooting broadheads.

Put the broadheads on the arrows, nice and tight, and spin test each arrow. Is thre a wobble at eother end?

If there is a wobble at the tip end, you have two choices - either use the ASD on the insert to shave a bit off to square it up..........or...........play "trial and error" by taking the b'head off and re-installing it a few times, spin testing after each time to see if you can get it spinning without any wobble.

I use the ASD whils building my arrows - making sure the shaft itself is square and the gluing thw insert into the shaft, and then making sure the insert is also square.

This really helps with getting the b'heads to fly like your field points. You could also try small rubber washer between the b'head and the insert - hopefully this will even out any wobble.

[Bow Walker]

Place a piece of tape down the middle of a large target butt - or hang a string down the middle of the target.

Start with your 20 yard pin - shooting at 20 yards. Shoot a group of three arrows, trying to hit the string or tape (shoot for the upper part of the target). Walk back to 30 yards and shoot another group of three arrows - using the 20 yard pin - and try to hit the string. Walk back to 40 yards and do the same thing - using the 20 yard pin.

What your looking for is your arrows being in a line up and down that has little or no left or right misses. If your groups are consistently hitting left of the tape or string, this indicates that your rest needs a slight adjustment to the right. Vice/versa for the left hits.

Walk back tuning is for finely tuning your center-shot on the bow.

[BCHoyt]

Well gonna order up the ASD from G5 along with some G5 T3 broadheads to try out... I got 3 weeks before my big weekend bear hunt!

[J_T]

If you're purchasing from G5, just go with the Montecs. Completely proven. I took a look at those "ultimate steel" heads, and well, I concluded they weren't 'ultimate' at all. Montec. Stick with em.

[firstlight]

If you want to re align your broad heads to your fletch / knock without getting out the torch, try this: Get some bow string wax / beez wax and unscrew your broad head. Get the string wax into the threads of broad head. Apply enough so the broadhead stops where you want it to. Some people I have heard do this with very small rubberbands instead of wax but I have only done this with bow string wax and it has worked great with no affect on arrow flight. And it keeps the broad head aligned where I want it. It's not the best way but in a pinch it will work for a day of hunting.

[Bow Walker]

I'd think that the string wax wouldn't hold the head tight enough, once you got it aligned to the fletching, as it would most likely still not be tightened all the way 'home".....

If you're adamant about having the blades line up with your fletching then I'd strongly recommend going to a hardware store or a plumbing outlet and getting some small rubber washers - just big enough to fit over the threads of the broadhead. Screw the head home - against the rubber washer - and it'll stay where you leave it.

Personally, I've never worried about having the vanes and the blades line up. It's just never been a problem. 90% of today's broadheads are either of the compact design or they have skeletonized blades that don't wind-plane. I still believe that your problem stems from when the arrows were first built....