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How often do you replace your nocks

4K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  Matt Zumbo 
#1 ·
I ask this after an incident tonight. I normally practice with Cartel Triples and then a week before an outdoor tournament change over to my match arrows which are 600 X10. With the Ohio 900 next week, last night I fixed the four arrows that had damaged Kurly vanes and carefully inspected the Easton pin nocks that had been on the arrows since the North Regional last Summer (meaning each nock had less than a couple hundred shots on them). I was shooting at 50M when I got a dry fire when a nock blew up. It had not been struck by another arrow in the previous shots and unlike the few other times this happened the arrow was destroyed-two/thirds of up the shaft it broke. All we can figure is the string hit the arrow and snapped it-the F4 top limb had a minor ding where a #8 shot sized mark in the first layer happened. We couldn't find the point nor the last 8 inches of the arrow.

I had a dry fire in this same tournament 9 years ago using a beiter insert nock-but that time the nock felt funny when i put it on the string-(which is why I immediately pull an arrow off the string if it feels different snapping on). This one there was no notice.

most of my kids don't change a nock till it breaks. I tend to change all the nocks in a set of practice arrows if a get one failing on release

I am wondering what others do
 
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#2 ·
Jim -

This isn't meant to be to be a smart @$$ answer, but: 1. I don't use pin nocks, only "G" nocks and 2. I shoot them off often enough (from indoor work) it's never a problem. Questionable nock hits and any nock that snaps on the string looser then the others, get replaced immediately. (I buy a 100 count bag of "G" nocks a year, more or less.)

Viper1 out.
 
#6 ·
Jim, if a nock is cracked, usually it'll turn rather freely on the pin. Generally a slight twist and a close inspection for a tell tale line (you can see the crack) usually should catch it. That being said, Miranda usually shoots them off before many have a chance to crack from use. The Easton nocks I've found to be quite durable. She splits a few clean off the pin, but mostly they just plow through a part of it exposing the pin. That tells me there's some elasticity to the plastic. If they were brittle, we'd never find the shattered pieces.

And Viper, G nocks don't fit X10's. Pins are the ONLY reason I've not gone totally broke buying new arrows, although I've spent a fair share on nocks and new pins. She's hit one so hard it nocked the nib out and bent the pin, but the arrow survived just fine (I was surprised it survived...not to mention that was at 70M :***: ).
 
#7 ·
I used to shoot pin nocks and when I discovered consistently forming fissures in the nock (they were still tight), you could see these little lines of opaque cracking inside the nock... so I went over to the beiter and had far less nock failures. That said the OX2 X10 nocks I use, have a little collar, and if the collar cracks, it messes your groups up pretty badly... but I've not had any nocks fail using the beiter ones. I change them when they get struck, or if the collar cracks (since it affects grouping), or if they no longer hold on the string.
 
#8 ·
I've shot a variety of nocks and just like some have mentioned, I inspect each nock very closely for cracks and fit. I can't say I swap them at any particular interval, but with the number of shots I shoot, I suspect they get changed twice a season, as the need arises.

Rick McKinney gave me a tip about opaque nocks being inherently more brittle, so I always opt for some sort of fluorescent nock now. I had a particularly unlucky run with a batch of opaque nocks and promptly bought clear nocks, which I've not had any problems with. All though I use those indoors only.

Oh Jim, I use the Beiter pin out nocks now and like them quite a bit.
 
#9 ·
Jim -

I'd guess that every thing has a certain life expectancy, but I haven't found it yet with nocks based on just "use". There's always going to be damage that's undetectable, so I give it my best shot and if anything looks amiss, the nocks get changed.

Sling it -

I don't use X-10s, and "G" nocks do fit ACEs, C1s and aluminum arrows, which I do use. Since I can't see the difference between X-10's and ACEs, I can't see spending the extra cash for them. Have a feeling that a lot of people buy X-10s, just because they are more expensive. Unfortunately, nocks and arrows are by definition expendable.

Viper1 out.
 
#10 ·
Well, shooting 90m, I've experienced the drift difference between X10's and ACE's with windy conditions which was a easy decision to get X10's. But I digress. Nocks are expendables and I've spent perhaps about $200 over the last 3 years replacing mine.... I have a whole jar of busted nocks from strikes and cracked collars.
 
#11 ·
Jim C - the one thing I know is that I don't always notice the damage caused to the pin when I break a nock. I'll replace the nock and keep shooting. Sometime later, I'll take a close look at all my nocks and find hairline cracks in a few. I'll pull off those nocks and then notice the "dings". The rough edge scratches the nock on the way on, and after the stress of shooting, a crack shows up. I typically then pull all of mine off, take a look at all the pins (& sand any damaged ones), and replace all the nocks. I probably do this about once a year.
 
#12 ·
Nocks are plastic and plastic fatigues. There is a huge amount of stress applied to the nock upon release and then it gets “slapped” in the target constantly. Yes, the nock gets hit too but that is very noticeable when it gets hit. It’s the slaps and the initial thrust on the nock that creates the hidden problem.

And, not all nocks are created equal. The Beiter nock is still the best built nock in all of archery history. Mostly because of the design work but also the plastics used by Beiter who is a plastics specialist. But even Mr. Beiter and I disagreed on plastic break down on nocks. He felt they did not break down as quickly as I felt they did. But too many top archers change their nocks before a major event to make sure there is no chance of plastic fatigue or inconsistency due to breaking down the nock.

The better the archer the more you will notice the difference in performance between a new nock and a used nock. When I used to practice a lot I noticed that after a time my groups would open up from all gold at 50 meters to 50% red. I would try everything to “fix” the problem. It was finally a time when I changed all the nocks that the groups went right back in the middle that I realized that nocks do fatigue. Yes, I put the old nocks back in to check to see if there was any difference and I went right back to 50% red. I tested this 2 or 3 times to make sure it was not my imagination. I suggest you change the nocks when you are getting ready to shoot an important tournament. Thus you eliminate that one variable of the possibility that the nock will fatigue during that special moment. You can save the old nocks and shoot them in practice if you want.

G nocks are built with a 16 cavity mold. This makes the nocks very inconsistent but Easton fixed the problem by numbering the cavities so that each package of 100 should come out of the same cavity. If you trust them to keep their word then it should be good. I believe that Bohning does the same thing of having a 16 cavity mold. What I mean is that each mold has 16 cutouts to make 16 nocks at one time. The problem arises with pressure injection (very difficult to have equal amount of pressure in each cavity) and temperature (some places are much hotter than other places) thus there will be inconsistency.

Beiter makes each nock with one cavity for one mold, thus the extreme accuracy. Carbon Tech makes a 4 cavity mold and we are fairly known to make a very accurate nock and is used by some good compound archers.

At one time Easton was about ready to require all sponsored archers to use their nocks over the Beiter nock but I argued that it would cause a lot of anger since the G nock was not that good. I flew out to California to prove to them of what happens with a G nock compared to a Beiter nock. When I put the G nocks in I shot about 54 points at 90 meters on the first end, then a 51 the second end, then a 48 the next end and it just kept lowering itself. We put new G nocks in and the same thing happened. We then put the Beiter nock in and the score did not deviate end after end. I argued that their quality of plastic was inferior to Beiter’s and it would create a mutiny from the top archers for such a silly little item. After all, I asked was Easton in the business to make money off of their nocks or their arrows? There is a reason the Beiter nock is expensive and the nock has proven itself since 1983.

Now another thing an archer should ALWAYS do is inspect your nocks after each end. Yes, EACH end. As you are walking back from the target it does not take much to look at each arrow. Check your vanes and visually look at each nock for any damage. I used to put my finger on top of the ears and apply pressure sideways This eliminates 99% of possible breakage during a shot. It will not fix the nock that blows up due to finger creep or not making sure the nock is securely all the way up against the string in the beginning. For those who are shooting the elimination rounds during the top events and they have runners who collect their arrows, the archer still has time to inspect the three arrows before they shoot them during the scoring process. It really does not take long and it is well worth the time taken to eliminate the possibility of breakage.
 
#14 ·
Yes ha, ha! That is just one thing eliminated out of about 1000. Now keep working on that form, make sure you have the right brace height, the right nocking point, the right vanes set at the right angle, the right tab and right finger placement, the right grip position and right hand position....and I am sure there is something else.... :)
 
#16 ·
Yes thanks all, especially Rick. i examined all of them under a magnifying glass and still ended up losing an arrow. Of course the next thing I did was take them all of and chuck them and put ones fresh out of the bag (which will be benched as soon as the beiters arrive)
 
#19 ·
Great post Rick.

I tried Beiter nocks years ago when I was just starting out in archer I was not good enough then to see changes in groupings but I could see that my easton g nocks were not all the same size some some would be a loose fit in that arrow and some would be tight this is brand new easton arrows and nocks I'm talking about! So I gave the Beiter's a go and they were a perfect snug fit every time I've used them every since.
I have a fellow archer that shoots the same poundage bow as me 50# on the fingers he uses easton pin nocks is forever having nock failures and arrows that fall of the string but even offering to give him some Beiter nocks to try he refuses to give them a go.

"you can lead a horse to water" :)
 
#23 ·
On the advice of Rick, Matt recently switched. Beiter are superior and Matt won't be going back to any of the other nocks he has shot in the past. They are expensive but worth it. Matt is using the Beiter pin nock with Carbon Express Nano Pros. We have been purchasing them from Lancaster. They are well stocked and they ship fast. We personally don't buy from K1.

Gary
 
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