Find local archery shop that has archers advantage or buy yourself and have them help you with measurements.


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The best sight tapes are created by The Archery Program. It is a $35 download from their website. You will need access to a chronograph. I found that the two chronograph speed option gave perfect results. The option has you shoot through the chronograph at point blank distants and take an average speed of five arrows. Then move the chronograph at least 20 yards away (30 yards is better) and average the speed of five arrows. This will give you a sight tape based on your bow and arrow combination without shooting sight marks. You will have to have access to a draw board to take the measurements that are need and a grain scale to weight your arrow. This may sound complex and expensive but, what is the price of a perfect sight tape the first time?

 

Best I have found is the program. You print a scale off the program, shoot and make a mark at your close and far distance, and then input them into the program to get a tape. No Chrono needed and has worked flawless for me every time so far.

 

I use achersadvantgeonline.com

I place a blank white tape on the sight and sight in at 20 and 50 yards. I take the tape off the bow and measure the distance between the lines. Then I follow the directions on the website until a tape prints that has the same spacing. I know is just geometry but it surprises me how 2 marks makes every other distance correct.

 

You can get sight tape sheets from lancasters, they are pretty tough and get the job done. With them you basically need to shoot and find two distances such as 20 60 yards and then you match that to one of the sight tapes on the sheet from lancasters.

Now the best option is to get yourself a program, the one the guys mentioned above forces you to do a bunch of measuring and the use of a chronograph and all that stuff has to be dead on perfect, then you have to enter that stuff into the program and it spits out a sight tape. I don't prefer this method because of the measuring and chrono issues that leave you wondering and having doubt. I use the TaPeS program which is only 15 bucks and it allows you to make your own tapes and it is based on the two distances such as 20 yds and 50 yds. I will put my write up on how I do it below.

 

BUILDING SIGHT TAPES

I have been building sight tapes for my 3d bow for years and in the beginning I made it way to complicated and tried to do them perfect in one attempt. That method leads to nothing but frustration and is simply the wrong way to approach the job.

So here is my current method:

You need to get TaPeS the archery program, it is a 15 dollar download for your computer and it allows you to make custom sight tapes with different colors and lines etc, it only uses two known distances such as 20 yards and 50 yards and you enter them into the program and it prints a tape.
Now go out and shoot with your bow and get to marks, such as 20 yards and then 60 yards on your sight, you can use a pencil or put down a piece of masking tape and then use a pen or pencil on it to get those two marks on the sight.
Now on the program print off the unit scale and cut it out with scissors and measure the distance between the two marks on your sight for 20 and 60 yards. You don't have to be perfect, just measure and get a number such as 43.4 and enter it into the program. Why, because now you are going to print off a sight tape and cut it out with scissors and lay it on your sight and see if it matches up with the two marks that you just measured, I guarantee you that it will not and now if it is a little short then just enter in 43.6 or 43.5 and print off another one and keep doing this for a few minutes until your sight tape matches up with the two marks. This step is vital that you simply change the decimal quickly and without over thinking it because if you try and measure perfectly and generate one that is perfect you are going to get frustrated quickly.
At this point you need to play with the program and learn how to deal with the columns and margins and stuff. I would turn off everything and only print one sight tape without trying to place it perfectly on the regular computer paper. Just print it anywhere and only one of them and then use scissors to cut it out. Now what is important is telling it to only make a mark every two yards, I am telling you that as a 3d guy you are better off with 2 yd increments rather than every yard. Then you can also pick your color for the tick marks and major marks. I use red on the 20 30 40 50 60 and black on the tick marks between. Don't worry about the length of the marks and leave them nice and long because you trim with scissors anyway and they get perfect with the cut. I don't like doing 100 because it is a longer number and leaves to much white paper, I use only 20 to 80 yds normally and I can then cut right next to the numbers and make it look and fit on the sight perfect.
Now, trim the sight tape nicely and pull out some scotch tape that is about a quarter inch longer than the sight tape on each end and put it on the sight and get your needle set on 20 yards. Keep in mind right now that you want to put the sight on either 20 or 60 yards one of the two known distances. Then you want to lay the sight tape so that the needle is more centrally located. I personally take the needle off the sight when laying the sight tape because getting it under the needle is a pain and causes problems. Just take it off, the sight is in the 20 yard position and stays there so once the tape is on the sight then you simply line up the needle with the 20 yd mark and you are good to go.
Now, Go out and start shooting at all of your distances especially 20 and 60 and over the next week or so you are going to see if the sight tape is actually the correct one. This one we just made is just the rough draft and now it is time to see how good it really is. I personally shoot asa scoring rings most of the time but I do also have a piece of cardboard on my target with a horizontal piece of black tape on it and I will shoot a couple arrows at the asa rings and try to pound a couple 12's but then I shoot one or two arrows at the black tape to see if my sight is dead on or not. After a week or so you will have made a couple more tapes that are shorter or longer and you will end up with a really freaking solid tape that you trust.

 

I'm glad I read that article, I have actually changed the last portion of it and just realized that I need to update it. The other half of the article was about making water proof sight tapes.

The part that I need to change on my website is about how I shoot and verify the quality of the sight tape the week after making the first one. I am a asa shooter so I have courses from 20 to 50 yards, most of my shots are right around a 38 yard average so that is where I set my sight needle to be absolutely perfect. I simply go to 38 yards and I shoot at a horizontal piece of black tape and make sure I am hitting dead on perfect on the black tape at that distance and that is where my sight needle is perfect.

Then, Simply go up to 20 and shoot and verify that you are dead on. Then go back to 50 yds and verify if you are dead on. This is the trick, and it makes things so much easier to make the decision weather or not the sight tape is a good one or not. If you just randomly go to different distances and shoot and try and convince yourself you will never actually know and get yourself in trouble with a sight tape that is wrong.

Also there is another reason why setting your sight needle at moderate distance on your sight tape is a good idea especially if you are a asa shooter, if you are interested I can type out why.

 

I'm glad I read that article, I have actually changed the last portion of it and just realized that I need to update it. The other half of the article was about making water proof sight tapes.

The part that I need to change on my website is about how I shoot and verify the quality of the sight tape the week after making the first one. I am a asa shooter so I have courses from 20 to 50 yards, most of my shots are right around a 38 yard average so that is where I set my sight needle to be absolutely perfect. I simply go to 38 yards and I shoot at a horizontal piece of black tape and make sure I am hitting dead on perfect on the black tape at that distance and that is where my sight needle is perfect.

Then, Simply go up to 20 and shoot and verify that you are dead on. Then go back to 50 yds and verify if you are dead on. This is the trick, and it makes things so much easier to make the decision weather or not the sight tape is a good one or not. If you just randomly go to different distances and shoot and try and convince yourself you will never actually know and get yourself in trouble with a sight tape that is wrong.
to do the
Also there is another reason why setting your sight needle at moderate distance on your sight tape is a good idea especially if you are a asa shooter, if you are interested I can type out why.

We meet at the Paris Tx shoot last year. I would encourage you to try The Archery Program using the two chronograph speed option. Why waste a week or two shooting site marks and making tapes. I've used Ontarget2 in the past and used sight marks and my tapes were only as good as the marks. I started a thread a couple of months ago concerning sight tapes and someone suggested to me The Archery Program using the two chronograph speeds. I downloaded the program and shot at point blank range and at 40 yards. The tape it produced is spot on the first time. The chronographs are more accurate than my sight marks. Another ASA shooter at our club who only believed in sight marks tried the program and said the tape created was better than any tape he had ever made.

 

Here is a free program that seems to work well:

http://www.huntsvillearcheryclub.com/

Go to "Free Software", it's called XSight.

 

I am going to just type out a new article here before I put it on my website so that I can brainstorm here and get it nice. This is something that I have stumbled onto over the years that I think helps me with course management on asa courses.

Here are the issues:

You go to 20 yards with a new sight tape and set the needle perfect:

1. If the sight tape is to long, then every distance all the way to 50 yards gets progressively hotter. The shots hit higher and higher the farther you get from 20
2. If the sight tape is to short, then every distance all the way to 50 gets weaker. shots hit out the bottom worse and worse the farther you get from 20

You go to 50 and set your needle perfect:

1. If the sight tape is to long, then the closer you get to 20 yards you hit farther and farther out the bottom.
2. If the sight tape is to short, then the closer you get to 20 yards the higher you hit out the top.

Now,

If you set your sight needle to be perfect at a middle distance which for me is 38 yards because I am on a 50 yd max course these are the effects:

1. If the sight tape is short, then from 39 to 50 yards I will be hitting a little low on the way to 50
1. If the sight tape is short, then from 37 to 20 I will progressively be hitting just a little high the closer I get to 20.

2. If the sight tape is long, then from 39 to 50 yards I will be hitting a little high on the way to 50.
2. If the sight tape is long, then from 37 to 20 yards I will be hitting a little low on the way to 20.

Now, in all the years I have shot and been a asa guy I have never never never seen my bow get faster as a season goes on. As my strings stretch and over a few months pass it will simply get a little slower. Then I might tune the bow and get it back to perfect but again it has never gotten faster for no freaking reason.

With that said the first option for setting the needle to 38 yards is the one that is always true for me, the week I confirm that my sight tape is perfect allows me a few weeks or months where my sight tape is dead on but once my bow starts loosing speed which means that I would need a longer sight tape this is where my sight tape takes care of me. Why? Because the sight tape is now to short and and the distance from 38 to 20 is not long enough so I hit a little higher. But, all of us on shorter shots use less safety yardage in our guessing because we are more confident in our guess so things balance out and you can shoot nice and strong safe shots. But on the other side of 38 from 39 to 50 yards your sight tape is also short but at those longer distances you aim not as strong at the 12 and you also use more liberal safety yardage and again things balance out. So basically by setting the needle at 38 yards my sight tape actually keeps me more safe as my bow looses speed than when it is perfect the few weeks right after I make it and it is spot on perfect. This allows me to have tons of confidence in my sight tape to actually compliment my shooting as the season progresses.

 

Pre printed tapes also work great. I've used them on MBG, SH, and apex gear sights. The only problem is human error when shooting to 60 or the 2nd distance.

My archery shop here set me and my buddy up with archers advantage for free. They even set all his pins on his multi pin slider. This takes all the human error out of the equation IMO. But can't go wrong either way


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tag for later reading

 

This is data from SFAX..the MacOS version of SoftwareForArchers(SFA). TapesAndCarts(TAC) will give the same results.

Three sight in marks for 20&50 yards. Center is dead on and the others are off by just 4 clicks.

20 - 22 + 16
50 - 38 + 0
269.1

20 - 23 + 0
50 - 38 + 0
270.61

20 - 23 + 4
50 - 38 + 0
272.16

This series is for sight marks at 30&50. Center is dead on and the others are off by 2 clicks. It’s easier to be “just close enough” at 20. At 30 you can see the impact results of a click or 2.

30 - 27 + 5
50 - 38 + 0
269.65

30 - 27 + 7
50 - 38 + 0
270.80

30 - 23 + 9
50 - 38 + 0
271.98

The reason for it generally being easier to get better results with a longer first sight in mark is because the further from the target you go, the more 1 click affects the impact point of the shot. At 20 yards it might take 15 clicks to move your impact point 1/2". See the above 20&50 marks. An 8 click variance on the 20 mark equates to 3fps calculation difference. A 4 click variance on the 30 mark is only 2.4fps.

The finer the click value on a sight the more clicks it will take to move impact distance at 20 yards. An Axcel sight with a 0.00156 click value (Same as the older CopperJohn sights) will take more clicks to move 1/2" at 20 yards than an ancient SureLoc 10 Click with a click value of 0.004. 3 clicks on an Axcel/CJC sight equates to 1 click on the old SureLoc.

The closer you are to the target the more clicks it takes to move impact. The further from the target you are the fewer clicks it takes to move the same distance.

The user manuals for most rifle scopes give an example of how this works. 1 click = 1/4" at 100 yards. 4 clicks = 1/4" at 25 yards.

The only archery sight manufacturer that I know of to publish this type of info was Copper John..it’s no longer on their website, but when it was the PDF manual stated:

“One click at 20 yards moves impact 1/32 of an inch. One click at 100 yards moves impact 5/32 of an inch. At twenty yards, it will take 25 clicks to move your sight from dead center of the top X ring line to the exact center of the X ring.”

That is for the NFAA 5 Spot target. The distance moved is 0.78”. For the Vegas Face, it takes about 13 clicks from dead center of the top X ring line to the exact center of the X ring. The distance moved is 0.4”.

 

tag for the info

 

Tag for the info.

 

Wow...I didn't realize all this was necessary. I just bought a generic tape, shot at each distance out to 100yds and marked it with a pen. The only problem I have is the ink smearing a little...

 

I've never had any problems with the tapes Lancaster sells. Work great and even a dummy knuckle dragger like me can line up 30 yards and 60 yards for a matching tape.

 

I'm with you on this LJ. I have used Lancaster and Axcel tapes for years with no problems. Shoot 30 and 60 (or as far as you are comfortable with). I use a caliper to measure the marks and choose the corresponding tape.

 

Another vote for The Archery Program. The two chrono speed option is exact for me as well out to 150 yards. I have printed tapes to 180 yards. I switch arrows a lot and experiment with different fletchings, which affects the arrow trajectory. Buy a program, you won't regret it. How difficult is it to measure from the sight pin to the peep sight at full draw or from the peep sight to the arrow when at full draw? I guess for some people, chewing gum and walking at the same time can be a challenge. You just need to remember the tape is only as good as the information you input... garbage in, garbage out.

 

O.k got to ask why do you need a tape on a React one? I just sight in My 20 and 60 and the rest of the marks are dead on. Sight tapes should be available from Trophy Ridge, I got them with all My React one pins never used them though.

 

Great info

 

tagged

 

I personally use OT2 BUT. You do not need a sight tape with that sight. If you do not have the directions for that sight then you need to get them. I used to have that exact sight. Very easy. I say again, you do not use a tape for that sight. You sight in at 20 yrds for top pin then use master knob to sight in at 40 or 50. All other yardage marks will fall in place.