Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Lets talk bow tuning--Compounds

I see so many posts and replies. Whats your tuning methods? When do you walk away and say "its tuned"? Are you after perfection? Or is close enough good enough?

I use walk away tuning, always works for me.

It'd be a long conversation, but it depends on if it's a hunting/target rig.

I use the French tuning method,,,,usually 3 yards & 56ish yards.

time to make some more popcorn and get another soda ,should be kinda interesting ?

Anytime you wish to put your "skills" to the test....im game.

So you move your rest? Once you decide its done...do you check your centershot to see if its still at manufacturer recommended spec?

I usually paper tune.
Set my sights shooting field tips.
Then screw on a BH and see how my FP and BH hit at 50 yards.

I have had issues with two rigs over the years.
Had about 40 recurves and 35 compounds.

One I was still kind of a beginner, and pro shop sold me vaned arrows.
They were OK, but once in a while I'd have bad BH flight........using Wasp Series 2 three blade.
Switched to the series 2 four blade and it settled down.

That also was the last rig I ever shot straight fletch.
I did shoot Blazer vanes a few yrs ago, everything else has been helical and feather fletch and no problem.

The other bow was my Hoyt Protec. Shooting eliminator buttons and a GK Huntmaster 2000 rest. No problems w BH.
But everybody at the local pro shop laughed at me, for such a cheap rest (killed deer fine).........so I got a Ripcord drop away.
There FP shot fine, but BH hit a few inches low.
Going to a string loop got them hitting the same.

I friggin hate a string loop as it moved my anchor.
My old anchor, served me well............shot pretty damn good.

Eh, doesn't matter.............I said F it and went recurve a few yrs ago.

As with the last several recurves............will paper tune for FP and when that's good, screw on some BH.
No doubt it will be fine.
Three fletch, w 4" parabolic. Helical w offset.
I have Goldtips and quite a few inserts and weights to adjust them for various rigs.

I don't bare shaft.
Paper tune has never screwed me.
Just shoot em fletched and see.

For kicks, did go back and check w bare shaft on a couple rigs over last few yrs.
They were fine.

Since I'm shooting recurve, I check my FP and BH impact diff at 30 yards.
They hit the same.

Good enough.

I usually blow through me deer at 55#.

Have let some other trad folks shoot my rigs indoors.
Quite a few have said..........dang that's fast.
Dang that's quiet.
Dang I can't see the arrow fly.

That last part...............uh, you aint supposed to be peeking.
Plus, the arrow aint supposed to be whipping about for easy visibility.

Alas, only a handful have the light come on.


Yeah, trad stuff is slower. I've had a few compounds that were 270-290 FPS.
They were no big deal, Just shot em FP and everything looked good, screwed on a BH and they were still good.
No changes needed.

I shoot helical fletch and a 125 gr tip. On everything.

Our area a big time hotspot for IBO winners.
One of my bowfishing buds won Triple Crown a few yrs back.
Coworker won seniors.
Couple other folks I know/shot with won their classes.
We aint a bunch of sticktards around here

Ive played with trad equipment...but still prefer a compound. Im a tech with 20+ years. Multiple factory certs. Level 2 archery coach. And until Oct 31 of last year owned and operated my own shop. Ive set up and tuned literally a few thousand bows. Im strictly a bareshaft tuner. Dont even own any paper tuning stuff. Bow tuning is simple. Yes there is equipment required to do it RIGHT. Press, drawboard, vise, set of levels. A lot of how/what i do depends on make and model of the bow im setting up. Each one has a "preferred" centershot setting. Each one has its own preferred way it performs best in regards to rest height and nock height.....sorry but they dont all go center of arrow thru center of berger hole and nock dead level. I set rest/nock height. Then set centershot. Once its set, the rest is locked down and never touched again...unless the smallest amount i can move the cams either via yoke adjustments or shims is too much. Then and only then will i move the rest. Once rest/nock height and centershot are set and d loop is tied its off to drawboard to verify cam timing and also check rest timing if im installing a cable driven rest. Now time to send arrows down range. I work a fletched and bareshaft at 20yds. Tail left or right on bareshaft are corrected via shim adjustments or yoke adjustments and sometimes on hybrid cam systems its a combination of both. Nock high/low bareshaft are cleaned up on hybrid cam bows via control cable adjustments. Yokes can also be used to make very fine cam synch adjustments. Once i have fletched/bareshaft perfectly 90° to target face and same poi, im done tuning. Ill verify my sight axis, make windage adjustments to move fletched/bareshaft to center bull. Once that is done i make no more windage adjustments of any kind. The only thing i adjust is sight yardage. My field points fly to same poi as my slick tricks. No broadhead tuning. No walkback tuning. No french tuning. Once i leave my 20yd tuning range....the tuning is done. Complete.

Agree, bow tuning isn't difficult, but think most headaches are from folks trying to make less than ideal things work.

Goodness the amount of crap (esp old stuff) that comes into a shop.
Amazing how folks ever hit the target.

People should be better informed these days. But with the web, a lot of them are misinforned.
And just because old Uncle Joe killed a few deer w his bow, that doesn't mean he knows WTF he's talking about.

Ahhhhhhhhh retail, the politics of it.

Don't miss it.

Buddy of mine from Ohio has won a couple of those triple crowns. Back to back too. He owns a shop up there. Twisted Tine Archery. Down here tho, its all ASA. There are some spot shooters. And some field guys. But mostly 3d

Hookeye i saw a little bit of old mismatched stuff. But not much. Now when i was first starting out working a couple different shops back in late 90s....yeah it was almost daily. But the last 5 or so yrs...was actually rare. At least here

I find paper tuning is a good start, but walk back tuning is usually necessary. I’ve had mixed luck with bare shaft...helps sometimes, sometimes not. An important thing to keep in mind is form’s impact on broad head and bare shaft tuning. Inconsistent form will particularly mess with broad head impact at longer ranges (40+yds). Over dozens of bows I’ve tuned over the years, there were only a couple which wouldn’t shoot Slick Tricks with field tips out to 70yds. I have noticed that as strings and cables stretch, a tune up is required, and getting a bow on a board to check cam timing. One of the great things about tuning is the confidence it builds in your equipment and shooting.

Fascinating. I wish I had a glossary of acronyms.

I bare shaft tune also, out to 40 yards. But for the average shooter it will never be effective, 90% of the results are dependent on grip uniformity and consistency. Even paper tuning shows most shooters lack of basic fundamentals, and changes day/day.

Fine tuning bows starts with the shooter, most would do well to get solid coaching with their time. The variables involved in cam timing, cam sync, draw length, drop away rest timing, spine choice, yoke tuning, etc....bare shaft tuning will only muddy the water.

String stretch issues are pretty much a thing of the past if you make the switch from the mass produced factory junk to customs. Got target bows that ive set up and tuned with 15k+ shots on them. Cams were marked once initial tune was completed. And they havent budged since. There is alwats the "why" involved with the tuning process i use. And while you are correct most of my customers will never even shoot a bareshaft, my work allows them to be much more consistent and accurate because of the forgiveness of their setup to their form flaws vs a bow that some shop just slapped together and poked a couple holes through paper and told them it was good enough and sent them home.

I do provide coaching to those that need it. And most of it is grip related. Its amazing how much "grip style" differs from bow to bow. Bows are like women....they each have a certain way they like to be held. Some like a complete neutral grip. Some like more thumb pad pressure. Some require more heel pressure than others.

Any questions you have...ask away

Agree, too many don't have consistent grip or form.

Since the shooter is part of the system, I don't see how a shop can tune a bow and then hand it off to the person and call it "done".
It might be, might not.

The owner needs to shoot it and see.

I can set my bow up, take it out and it's fine.
No further adj needed.

But I have good grip and form and have had it, for over 30 years
I had perfect followthrough when my 82# PSE split the riser LOL.

I shoot an open stance, and don't have fat arms..........so don't wear an armguard. Don't need one unless it's to keep a sleeve out of the way.
Recurve or compound............armguard is saved for hunting or cold weather 3D.

That reminds me............"snow shoot". One club used to have one, long gone.............housing addition in that chunk o woods now.

Good times.