Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Do You Bare Shaft or Nock Tune?

Different things I know... But does anyone bare shaft tune? Do you also nock tune?

I've not done either. But being out of bowhunting for 10'ish years, I'm watching some videos and reading some articles. The YouTube videos from The Ranch Fairy are pretty damn interesting on the subjects. And they make sense.

I bare shaft tune. At least on my current setup I did. Pick you point weight and start with full length shafts. Ranch Fairy has several good videos on the subject.

Bareshaft as well. Have done both, bareshaft tuning is more consistent imo.

Bare shaft

I bare shaft tune. I think it is more important in trad bows and the farther from center the riser is cut the pickier they are about being perfectly tuned for perfect flight.

I guess I didn't word it correctly....I'm not asking about "either/or." Watching the Ranch Fairy videos, he's suggesting both actually.

I've never heard of it until doing the new bow research. I'll be doing it for sure. It also looks like I'm under spined on my current set up.

I'm shooting 28" arrows, 62# draw with 400 shafts. It looks like I should be using 340 or 300's even.

If you have great form and have bare shaft tuned perfectly, you can group bare shafts right with fletched shafts at 40 yards. I can't imagine why it would also be necessary to nock tune or how it would add to your tuned arrows.

Once you bare shaft and get it perfect, then You worry about nock tuning if fletch clearance becomes an issue. That’s my understanding. Every once in a while you get 1 or 2 arrows that won’t group with the rest. That’s when I would start screwing with the nock alignment.

Watch the Ranch Fairy.

That's carbon arrows for you.

Also the reason I fletch with the same 3 colors. If an arrow will not group with the rest I can twist the nock to a different fletch as my coxk.frather and see if that brings it into the group.

Get a spine tester and the nock tuning can be done at a bench. It will also reveal what arrow manufacturers to avoid.

My experience also with traditional bows. But I will video, which is similar to paper nock tuning.

Bareshaft tune. You'll have to do some searching here but I've posted quite a bit of content from when I had my shop. As for Ranch Fairy....what a joke.

Little tip about nock tuning. Nock tuning should be done when you first get a new dozen shafts. You're looking for reaction of those shafts off the string. Not necessarily looking for perfect holes through paper. You just want every shaft making an identical hole through the paper. Mark the top side of each arrow once this is achieved and fletch. That's the proper way to nock tune.

I don’t do either. I paper tune with fletched arrows.

I adjust nock placement on the string and have even added wraps or wire to the nock end to bare shaft tune flight, but I don't paper tune and neither did world champion trad archers I knew when I was shooting competition.

Walk back tuning is something I think more folks should do. I never hear or see that emphasized. I do that and do not bare shaft or paper tune. I depend upon my groupings. If something doesn't seem to let me group well, I go to a professional.

this is the more correct way to understand the flight of your arrows always at different distances with a back tension release only.

Bare shaft but with wraps of tape to compensate for the weight of the fletching. I also Ike electrical connection shrink tube.