Just me, I have never bare shaft an arrow myself for any reason in 50 years. I shoot fletched arrows thus I tune with fletched arrows. I personally have better things to do and worry about.

 

Just me, I have never bare shaft an arrow myself for any reason in 50 years.

Dale's response is a perspective on the possible range of tuning options. Myself, I find paper tuning to be a waste of time, others consider it essential.

Another minimal option is letting a "super tuner" handle the task. Who knows what method is used in that scenario. ??

Is bareshaft tuning just a starting point of reference?

Assuming you've taken the time to bring the bow to spec, it could be. I've set up a bow on several occasions and had acceptable bare shaft performance on the first pass. And at other times, I needed to throw more than one type of tuning step at the problem to get decent flight with a fletched shaft. If you have the bare shaft hitting the same POI as a fletched shaft at 15yds to 20yds, or more, it's a good bet that it will shoot to plan with a fletched shaft or a low profile mechanical, with or without going through all of the possible variations of spine testing, nock tuning, and such. A fixed blade BH up front may crash that plan, and require additional tweaks more often than not.

Tuning has about as many options as there are archers doing it. All sorts of fluff and sweat, or none. It depends on what the user feels is adequate, and if it meets their accuracy standards. Most have a "recipe" or process they are familiar with. So, it depends.

 

I bare shaft. Paper is useless to me.. I add electrical tape to the back to mimic the weight of the vanes. After I get perfect arrow flight and impacting with fletched I'll shoot a fixed blade broadhead at 50 yards. I rarely need to make any adjustments..
I'm not just paying attention to where the bs hits the target I'm also watching it in flight.. it works best late evening with lighted nocks ..

 

This is money!

 

I play both sides of the tuning game. I do a quick paper tune. Walk back to 30 yards with bare shaft. That's where i stop. If i see nice arrow flight and i can shoot out to 60 and it goes where i want it, i throw on a few broadheads and see if they stick where i want them. If they do, i'm tuned. I'm not shooting an olympic bow, but if i can keep it in a soda can sized circle i'm happy.

 

I think everyone has their own preference when it comes to tuning a bow, and for most people, close enough is better than they can shoot.

I have come to the conclusion that I can't read paper holes well enough to get a perfect tune. I start with the paper, but then go to a bare shaft. I don't go crazy trying to make them slap shafts at 50 yards, but I use it as a check. Sometimes I get it right with the paper, sometimes it takes some minor tweaking. Once I get the bare shaft hitting how I want, I go back to the paper just to make sure something isn't lying to me.

The fletching will correct a LOT. But I've always been of the opinion that I would rather it not have to do any more work than absolutely necessary.

As for your other questions, point weight changes will affect the tune, but more than likely not enough for the average shooter to notice, unless you are really changing it a lot.

And the weight of the fletch does make a difference, but again, depending on the fletch you use (total weight), you probably won't notice.

I nock tune each arrow, and don't worry about what you are calling spine orientation. The problem with nock tuning to me is that it is a waste of time if you aren't able to shoot very tight groups. I buy good arrows and have had very few that didn't shoot consistent. Some may need turned so they hit with the rest of the arrows, but I have had very few that just wouldn't group.

 

This is a great article on tuning

What does it really mean to “tune” your bow?

Here's how to go about the tuning process yourself

www.gohunt.com

This video explains how to compression test (finding weak and heavy side of spine of each shaft). You just want all your arrows to be consistent. There is no need to shoot each bare shaft if you test them mark and fletch all the same.

 

This is the same arrow through paper. The next photo is the same bow same arrow with vanes removed at 20 yards. Paper is merely a starting point. Some do not have the skills and knowledge required to shoot bareshafts with consistancy so they don’t fool with it much. There’s clearly a massive gap here needing to be filled. At 40 yards that bareshaft won’t even hit the target. What I’ve found is broadheads will follow the bareshaft in about 20-30 percent increments.

I Nock tune every arrow. I shoot all 12 into the target face I mark the good ones and then I rotate nocks on the bad ones until they achieve the flight I want. The ones that are not capable of shooting straight go in the trash. There’s usually a couple in the dozen even from a 450$ target arrow from Easton.

 

Same and once completed with the process I have never had to broadhead tune. And yes, I shoot fixed heads

 

My bias: I believe bare shaft tuning is superior to any other tuning method. Why? Because it not only tunes the bow, but it tunes you.

I don’t waste time with paper anymore. An immobile foam target and 20 yards is all that’s needed.

 

I like to tinker so I don't mind taking the time to bare shaft test with different weight points and then nock tuning before I fletch them. A little electricians tape on the shaft does add some weight to simulate weight of fletching...

I usually shoot them through paper and rotate the nock 90 degrees to see which nock orientation gives me the best flight

You will generally see the best tear with the nock oriented in one particular direction

No question about it - zero degrees is the best nock orientation on this arrow.

I use the nock bushings on my Gold Tip arrows to get the closest weight as I can to the weight of the lighted nocks I will be using for hunting

I do have to adjust my fletching jig some in order to get the cock feather in the proper orientation

The GT Nocturnals I use weigh 25 grains - slightly more than the GT bushing nocks

If I've done well, I can see perfect flight when I shoot my arrows in dim lighting conditions - ready to hunt

Yes, it takes some tinkering around but it gives me confidence that I have done everything I can to get good arrow flight so it is worth the effort to me.

 

0 degrees nock to what?

 

Hey guys... I can only speak for the Olympic recurve shooters... When I bareshaft tune it is to tune the arrows to the bow strength... Using the tiller to correct the flight... for a right hand shooter if it hits left you need to tighten up and increase the stength of the limbs and vice versa for loosening if it hits right... That being said "If" the spine selected isn't close(within 50) you can't get enough improvement either way to make a difference... I shoot groups of 3 fletched and one bare and regulate one axis at a time... First adjustment should be the vertical... That being nock height... Then horizontal...horizontal being tightening or loosening "BOTH" tiller bolts the same amount (so as not to throw off your tillering) to bring your bare shaft into the main group... My bareshafts are almost in the center of my fletched group... Which is perfect... Just remember to follow the arrow... Adjust in the same direction or you will have a LOOOOOONG day...

 

Bareshaft tuning is a great way to see exactly how your arrow is exiting the bow. Adjust accordingly to get a pure arrow flight.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

Ok this is going to make people upset. BARE SHAFT TUNING DOES NOT WORK. I have tested this hundreds if not thousands of times in over a decade at my shop. I have a $300 RAM arrow tuner. Access to every brand of arrow out there with every brand of bow and cam system on the market. IT DOES NOT WORK. Even Tim Gillingham has said this and gets the same exact results I do.

YES you can get all of your bare shafts to shoot bullet holes through paper. NO they will not shoot the same or be at the same nocking rotation point through paper once those shafts are fletched.

20 yards group tuning also does NOT work. You can use tape on your shafts all your want. If this system actually worked you would also be able to do it at 30, 40, and 50 yards. There are a few reasons why this system doesn't work. I will leave it at this simple one... Why doesn't this method work out to 40 or 50 yards? If you have an answer to this question that answer is why this method is just bail practice.

Marking the stiff sidewall of your shaft or matching the batch to the stiff wall does NOT work. This is the easiest and quickest to debunk. Get an arrow tuner. Mark all your bare shafts at the stiffest point with a sharpie. Go to bare shaft tune through paper or fletch those arrows and shoot through paper. Those sharpie marks that all started out at 12 o'clock will be every which direction. Every time. Batch after batch. What matters on consistent arrow flight is the stiff axis of the arrow. Not the stiff sidewall that can be measured on a arrow tester.

For those who are angry after reading this. I have done these tests hundreds and hundreds of times at neasiem with the same results EVERY single time. The only method that truly works the most consistently every single time is having a quality arrow to start with. Then shooting your fletched shaft through paper at 5 yards and rotating the nocks until a bullet hole is found. Do this for arrow 1 through 12 until all the arrows are printing a perfect bullet hole.

 

Ok this is going to make people upset. BARE SHAFT TUNING DOES NOT WORK. I have tested this hundreds if not thousands of times in over a decade at my shop. I have a $300 RAM arrow tuner. Access to every brand of arrow out there with every brand of bow and cam system on the market. IT DOES NOT WORK. Even Tim Gillingham has said this and gets the same exact results I do.

YES you can get all of your bare shafts to shoot bullet holes through paper. NO they will not shoot the same or be at the same nocking rotation point through paper once those shafts are fletched.

20 yards group tuning also does NOT work. You can use tape on your shafts all your want. If this system actually worked you would also be able to do it at 30, 40, and 50 yards. There are a few reasons why this system doesn't work. I will leave it at this simple one... Why doesn't this method work out to 40 or 50 yards? If you have an answer to this question that answer is why this method is just bail practice.

Marking the stiff sidewall of your shaft or matching the batch to the stiff wall does NOT work. This is the easiest and quickest to debunk. Get an arrow tuner. Mark all your bare shafts at the stiffest point with a sharpie. Go to bare shaft tune through paper or fletch those arrows and shoot through paper. Those sharpie marks that all started out at 12 o'clock will be every which direction. Every time. Batch after batch. What matters on consistent arrow flight is the stiff axis of the arrow. Not the stiff sidewall that can be measured on a arrow tester.

For those who are angry after reading this. I have done these tests hundreds and hundreds of times at neasiem with the same results EVERY single time. The only method that truly works the most consistently every single time is having a quality arrow to start with. Then shooting your fletched shaft through paper at 5 yards and rotating the nocks until a bullet hole is found. Do this for arrow 1 through 12 until all the arrows are printing a perfect bullet hole.

I am not angry reading this. Just the opposite. I kind of chuckled.

 

I get some really good results after bare shaft tuning at 30 yards, no bad arrows, good groups at distance once fletched.

I also have good luck torque tuning my rest.

 

Have you shot those arrows through paper to confirm?

 

I don't paper tune but I do shoot bare shafts. I start close, like 5 yards and make adjustments until I can get out to 20...once I get bare shafts and fletched arrows hitting together and on the same plane at 20 yards, I've found that I can pretty much screw on any broadhead and hit with field points out to normal hunting distances. Good luck with it!

 

I can’t argue if bare shaft tuning works or not for other people but here is a fletched and bare shaft at 40 yards

 

And here is the result of a Simmons Great White head on that arrow at 40 yards. It works for me.

 

A Simmons Great White head is 2 1/4” wide and right at 250 grains. Website says 225 but they weigh 247 on my scale. Dave told me he will be updating the weight on the website.

There is no way you’re going to get a monster head to fly straight if your bow and form are not correct. If I can get my arrows to bare shaft tune at 40 then large fixed blades are never a problem.

 

What velocity are your arrows with the Great Whites getting?

 

No paper for me.

 

My process, spin the shaft and tune the insert then glue it in. Then shoot a bareshaft and see how the arrow is flying, adjust and nock tune as needed. Start at 10 yards and finish at 30 yards. I do this for every arrow. It is time consuming for sure, but I love the process and building arrows.

 

Bout exactly what I do

 

I BS at 6' to get a bullet hole with paper to get me started. I then check BS and fletched at 20 yards. I adjust as needed to get both parellel together. I will mark my BS with a Sharpie for nock tune. I will then do a walk back out to 50 yards to possibly work out any left or rights. If there are any lefts or rights I only have to move my rest ever so slightly. I then almost always have BS and broadheads dead on at 50.

 

Recurve

Modern longbow wood arrows 18 yrds

Modern compound 30 yrds

Once you can get this kind of result from the bare shaft test, I have had no issues with broadheads flying great. I compression test the shafts and fletch. I just find this the best method to tune any bow and arrow.

 

After I got back into archery in the late 2000's and discovered this site, I went headlong into the tuning world. Did the walkback,paper tune,bareshaft,etc. After years of doing this,I came to the conclusion that as long as my fixed BH's were hitting where my FP's were,I was good to go. My newest bow,I took out of the box and eyeballed everything. Got FP's hitting solid on the 20yds. Fixed blades were off,quick cable rod adjustment and I was money. At any rate,whatever tuning process works for you ,use it. I'm not going to sit here and argue anyone's results. My method saves me ALOT of time.

 

Shooting paper is stupid. ALL arrows wiggle in flight and a "bullet " hole in paper at what ever your favorite distance is, just means you have gotten your wiggle straight at that point but nothing more.
To get a bare shaft and fletched to impact the same is a good feat and beneficial. The bow must be in harmony with the arrows. Chase your tail if you wish, but like dragonheart II, I old school tune and it produces harmony and great results with less stress.

 

This is thru paper after bare shaft test...

 

I am shooting a Whisker Bisket and a torqueless d-loop

 

I run into the same issues shooting fixed blade broadheads.