Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Getting final preparations made.....broadhead/field point POI

This is a subject that gets thrown around a lot. "My bow shoots spot on with field points. But when I switch to broadheads, I have to adjust my sights." Or there's the ol' "my field points shoot spot on, but my broadheads hit way over here". Let me start by saying this, some broadhead designs are bad about wind planing. But mech heads dont fall into that category as a rule. And I have never had experience with any mech heads that have offered to plane, and I have worked with a lot of them. These days its hard to find a fixed blade head that wants to wind plane. IF YOUR BOW WILL NOT SHOOT BROADHEADS AND FIELD POINTS OF THE SAME WEIGHT TO SAME POI WITHOUT YOU HAVING TO ADJUST YOUR SIGHTS, YOU HAVE TUNING ISSUES. Putting a laser on the riser to verify the center of your arrow and the center of your string are aligned while your bow is at rest, does NOT make your bow "tuned". Field points dont magnify tuning issues like a broadhead will. Because the broadheads provide blades at the front of the arrow that try to steer the arrow much like the fletching on the rear does. Now it really matters how the arrow oscillates at the shot. Meaning stiff spot of spine needs to be up for compounds. It means the bow needs to be tuned so arrow is leaving the bow as straight as possible.

First lets discuss the "laser". It will give you a good starting point with centershot. Most all manufacturers CS measurements (taken from inside the riser to arrow center) is either 3/4" or 13/16". Again, a good starting point. Problem with the laser and a bow at rest is cam lean. It wont be the same at rest and at full draw. Then theres riser flex to figure in. Placing the bow on a draw board and checking for cam lean at full draw, and then adjusting it out is a great place to start. Next make sure your arrows are spined correctly and that stiff side is up. Then ensure arrow is adjusted vertically correctly. Dead level or maybe 1/16" to 1/8" nock high depending on cam type your bow has. Check for proper "rough measurement" centershot. Now this is where the french tuning or modified walkback tuning with fletched arrows and bareshafts comes into play. Place a block style target with a bullseye at shoulder hight. This allows for tuning with bow arm extended and thumb of bow hand to be even with top of shoulder and arrow dead level. Hang weighted string in front of target. Start at 5'. Shoot fletched arrow at string. Adjust sight windage if arrow misses left or right. Once you can split the string with the fletched arrow, leave it in target and fire bareshaft. Use same point of aim. Bareshaft should strike target touching the fletched arrow.

If arrow(s) dont strike 90* to target face, a yoke adjustment should be made to correct a sideways tear. Cam synch adjustment for high or low tear. If a righthanded shooter gets a left tear that they can not adjust out with yokes and you are certain your arrows are spined correctly, you have a draw length issue(DL too long). Vise versa for lefties. Start up close and work back. Adjust sight windage up close, tweak rest left/right at distance. You should be able to group bareshafts and your fletched arrows together. At this point, your bow is tuned. Making the switch to broadheads should change nothing as long as they are of same weight. Sights should NOT have to be touched. After you tune your bow, if they still group way off your field point, id look for another broadhead

Changing broadheads is one option but lets also consider fletching. I have yet to see a broadhead that wont fly straight with a helically fletched 2" blazer vane. I have worked with Slick Tricks, 3 and 4 blade Muzzy, Thunderheads, Montecs, Strykers, Simmons Land Sharks, Steel Force, Stinger in fixed blade. Rage, Spitfire, various Rocket, and Schwacker in mech. Again the Blazers are my favorite but nothing wrong with other offerings out there. 3",4",5", feathers, Dura-vanes, Fusions. All will stabilize a broadhead tipped arrow.
Spin testing arrows is a must. It should be done with field points and its a must when switching to broadheads. A broadhead tipped arrow that will not spin without wobble will not fly straight. When you buy arrows from a shop that assembles them from raw shafts, pay attn to how they prepare your arrows. I like to cut from both ends. The CX dual spine arrows are tricky and require some experimenting to get the exact amount to remove from each end. Yeah its splitting hairs, but I prefer my equipment perfectly tuned. Regardless, after cutting, the arrows should then be squared on both ends before inserts, nocks, bushings etc are installed.
I have provided general information with this thread. Be happy to answer any specific questions anyone has. This stuff isnt some black magic, or just info limited to a select group of people. Anyone can do it with the right equipment. The more you know about your equipment the better prepared you are as a hunter.

280 knows what he is talking about. Nice short summary on bow tuning.

There was mention in another thread about erratic broadhead flight. OP mentioned having his bow "laser tuned". The only laser tuning tool out there that I know of other than the one that is riser mounted and used to check centershot, is the "bow plane". The bow plane is attached to the bow at rest. It can not provide accurate tuning info because adjusting a bow to zero cam lean at rest means absolutely NOTHING. Because it wont stay the same once the bow is at full draw. My bow has cam lean at rest. But at full draw I have NONE. And thats where cam lean matters. Riser flex due to cable guard pressure affects cam lean at full draw. Something the "bow plane" is not designed to detect. Tuning a bow isnt achieved thru some computer program or some gimicky tool. Bow tuning is a results based process. It can not be achieved by clamping a bow in a vise and adjusting this or that. Proper and complete tune can ONLY be achieved by sending arrows down range. Fletched and bareshaft thru paper as a starting point. Then fletched/bareshafts into a block style target with a weighted string hanging down the center to tune horizontal and then a strip of duct tape placed at shoulder height to tune vertical. Start close. Work back. Tune till fletched/bareshafts group together at 20 or 30 or 40 yds. Sight adjustments up close. Rest adjustments at distance. After fletched/bareshafts are grouping together. Use slight rest adjustments to move group to center of the bullseye.

Very good stuff. I followed the Easton Tuning Guide, which is quite similar. Basically paper tune then make small adjustments to tune broadheads using the BH with biggest surface area. I can now shoot just about any broadhead and field point combination and retain the same point of impact. In fact, I have not had to touch the tuning in three years despite choosing many different broadheads. I have even had multiple types of broadheads in my quiver when hunting in case I felt in the mood for something different (last year it was Ulmer Edge and G5 Striker Magnums). All combinations are shot at 50yds minimum to comfirm POI. At normal bowhunting ranges, even switching between 100s an 125s is insignificant. However, as you mentioned, once in awhile there is one BH that just does not want to play like the others. Not worth my effort to fight with those. I suspect that for each bow/arrow/tuning combination, that stand-out BH is different.

Never could get my Zwickeys to hit the same spot, but paper tune a Zwickey and you could get it to have almost no tear, so it was flying well according to paper, and to me.

Sometimes its just what it is.

As far as I'm concerned, and I may be wrong, all I ever worry about is broadheads. If field points hit same fine, if not, its not a big deal as I don't hunt with them.

And the big Deltas have performed so good, as have the big snuffers, that I dont really care to worry about other heads.

Though if I have to swap out its going to be razor tricks.

I also thing its a folly to think that you can get em to all do the same, would be like looking for a rifle taht shot all same weight bullets to same impact point too.

Call me old fashioned (I guess it's the traditional background), but I won't shoot a broadhead at game I haven't shot at a target. I just do not like surprises.

No folly my friend. Same weight BH and PF will shoot to same POI if your equipment is properly tuned. Bows arent like rifles. Too many variables as far as bullets concerned.

Call you smart is more like it.

Get me a link on how to do that so I can print it. One of these days I'll try it with my 200 grain snuffers and see if things have changed.

I recently started shooting my bow again after a year or more of shoulder pain. I had dropped the draw weight down somewhere between 50-55 with a 26" draw, maybe closer to 25.5".

I bought new arrows spined correctly for my draw length but 57-64 where I expect to be shooting this season.

Walk back tuning is completely new to me but I adjusted the nock location and moved to the rest, QAD but I don't recall the model. I have practiced from 10-40 and I am pretty consistent until I get tired or simply don't follow through with my form.

All I had in my box were some well used Muzzy 100 three blades so I screwed one on and took a shot at 20 and damn near missed my 18x18 block, It flew like a knuckleball and about 12" low.

A coworker returned a Slick Trick four blade to another coworker yesterday and he gave it to me to try. I shot it along with a field tip at 10, 20 and 40 x2 last night and the two hit within 2" at each distance. The two broadheads are significantly different in profile even at 100 grains...

....tuning or broadhead?

All you need is the info at the beginning of this Thread. And from my other thread on bow tuning. That is if you are running a compound. Tune your bow. Tune you. Tune your arrows. As stated before, there are some broadheads that just dont play nice. But if everything is tuned properly a broadhead and field point of same weight will shoot to same point of impact with no sight adjustment.

That was my point, all I did, and granted it was years ago but its not irrelavant, showed that Deltas just don't play well with field tips.

So in the end you are saying with certain setups it just won't work?

Thats what I was trying to say, never say it works for EVERY setup.

Tuning has been around for years and years now. Its nothing new.

Since the Slick Tricks are close to the same POI as the FT's, I feel my bow is close to being tuned and the Muzzy's are simply not playing nice.

280, where is your bow tuning thread?

My personal way of doing things is this. Get my bow perfectly tuned with FP and bareshafts grouping together at 40yds. Then I group tune at 60yds. That means making very slight rest adjustments to move my group to the center of the bullseye. Then its broadhead time. I do not completely give up on a particular broadhead until I have played with draw weight, and experimented with placing stiff side of spine in different places to change arrow oscillation. If arrow spins perfectly and these adjustments dont get POI to where my field points hit, i wont use that broadhead. True in some cases a 4" or 5" fletch may correct the problem. But I run 2" blazers and not going to change. I have personally never run the snuffers nor do i know anyone that does. So no experience there. But i have only found a couple heads that just had a mind of their own. The old Satellite BH was one of them

old satellites also came apart really easily. I've had em shed blades in armadillos in the 70s, never would trust em after that.

Thats why I"m so stubborn about Zwickey Deltas and Rothaar Snuffers, they flat work and flat cut a nice hole. Hard to change when you have soemthing that works.

Thats me with slick tricks and Rage. Have had great success with both. They both go to same spot and theres usually both in my quiver. Ill probably run the ST a bit more this season. Also may try the grim reapers as another option. But Im about to do the unthinkable when I get home from the Gulf next week. My bow is absolutely perfectly tuned. But I just received a custom set of string/cables from Tom "ex wolverine" Parkinson. Taking the Korbins threads off and installing Tom's. Then retune. Betting Ill still be ready for my first hunt:)