Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Tuning for broadheads

I am wondering what your guys practice is for getting your bows tuned to shoot fixed broadheads.
To begin with I learned the expensive way to err on the heavy side of spine.
I also learned speed complicates things <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
I also number my arrows.
I generally end up with the nock point anywhere in the + or - 1/8" of level range depending on the bow and centered.
Then I shoot through newspaper stretched over a 2 x 4 frame with a backstop at 2 yards and 4 yards to see how my arrow is coming off the bow.
I'm looking for a nock high tear anywhere from almost a bullethole to less than one inch in the 11:00 to 12:00 range (RH shooter) . Sometimes I have to play with the weight adjustment to attain this assuming nock/center shot adjustments are right.
When I reach this point I find that pretty much any well made fixed head that passes the spin test will shoot like darts and require minimal site adjustment.
While I get my fixed blade heads to shoot very close to my field points I have never got them to the point that I did'nt need 2 or 3 inches of adjustment at 25 yards compared to my field points.
I've never found aligning vanes/feathers with the broadhead to make any difference.
I've heard of group tuning by shooting bare shafts and fletched shafts and supposedly when you get them shooting together you've achieved bow tuning perfection. I've never tried it though.
Any tips out there?

Wow, that's a hellauva procedure! I just shoot muzzy or Slick tricks and go hunting. They shoot flawlessly and 100% identical to my field tips.

A broadhead I used which required any more tuning then those two would be shelved.

Even feild points need tuning to be the most accurate that they can be. I should say the bow needs pricise tuning to be the most accurate it can be with any head, field tips, fixed blades, or expandables.

I only shoot single cams so here is my tuning routine.....short and simple. First thing I do is check the distance from the back of the limb pockets to the string. I turn the tillers untill that measurement is exactly the same for the top and bottom limbs. Next I put a square on the rest and adjust my nock point intill it is 1/16th high for a single cam. Two cam bows should be dead square!

I then adjust center shot just to get it visually close to center. I then take the bow out in the yard and shoot a three shot group at 20 yards and without pulling the arrows I shoot a three shot group at 50 or 60 yds (the further the better). If the exact centers of the two groups are not perfectly in line with eachother then the centershot needs adjusted. Example......if the center of the 50 yrd three shot group is to the left of the center of the 20yard group, the rest needs to be moved right in very slight increments untill the two groups are centered.

This is a very simple way to tune and I've found no need to paper tune whatsoever. Never had any trouble making either Thunderheads or Muzzy's shoot just like field points. Assuming your spine, weight of forward balance, and shooting form are correct you wont either.


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JJ,
Thats all fine and well as long as everything is right and if it is'nt you have somebody good to troubleshoot the problem. However if broadheads don't shoot well and it is'nt the broadhead you have some trouble shooting ahead of you. That is one reason mechanicals are so popular as they hide "issues".

FVA, I for one really appreciate your attention to detail, you seem very educated on what matters, I have myself tried to get my broadheds to shoot with fieldpoints and have had great success until my last bow purchase. I bought a Bowtech Mighty Mite 60# and cannot get my PSE 300 carbons to quit hitting about 2" left of the field points, I have a BoDoodle rest that is very adjustable but nothing will correct this that I have tried, you might just be the guy to give me some new ideas to try, thanks for your help, Tim

My new bow shoots both to the same spot, however my old bow shot FP's about 7" high and right.

This really presented no problem because I new where they were supposed to go and just shot for tight groups when practicing. I guess if you were using Judo points for small game or practice from your stand or something it would be more critical..

Mike

Personally, I tried and tried to make them shoot the same from my bow (Hoyt Ultrasport) -- no luck. Eventually went back to the bow shop, which put everything back to the original settings, except that they lowered the nock a bit. They also trued up some of my broadheads for concentricity (basically reground the front of the shaft inserts).

Now it shoots both broadheads and field points accurately (field points REALLY accurately) but broadheads are always a few inches lower even when I move the nock up and down.

Finally threw up my hands and bought another sight -- now one is sighted for field point practice, the other for hunting. Twice a year I'll switch.

Most likely the reason your broadheads shoot a little lower than your field points is because even though they are the same weight they are longer and thus move the balance point forward a little. Theres nothing wrong with that. Heres a link about broadhead tuning that might be useful.
http://www.broadheadtests.com/TUNING.html

Thanks for the link -- actually have thought occasionally about trying slightly heavier field points, as a cheap experiment.

I tuned my bow last year, and the field points and my slick trick broadheads shoot the same. I did do a little fine tuning mainly dealing with my knock posistion on a few arrows that seemed to have a little wobble to them. Once I moved the knock a wee bit, the wobble was gone and every thing was fine.

Hudge

I'm shooting the 100 gr Montecs this year and they seem to fly with my field points..Guess I got lucky...