I had a longbow with the same problem. No matter what I did, I could not consistently put the arrows on the center line. I kept getting weaker arrows and had finally concluded, reluctantly, that I had to cant a bit to move some of the paradox to the vertical axis. I solved the problem when I got a new, and better, longbow. The bows were the same weight, but I could put a couple of the woodies I was shooting on the center line with a vertical bow. It could be coincidence, or, maybe I just shot the other bow better. They were both D shaped bows pulling 40 to 41 pound at my draw.

Have you tried different arrows?
Have you verified that you are not getting a false reading from contact with the bow?
Have you adjusted your brace height and/or strike plate thickness?

 

I had the same issue with a longbow. My conclusion was to just shoot my recurve, lol.

 

Hank,

Thank you for the feedback! I have tried different arrows and experimented with the brace height. I think I'll play with strike plate next. Thanks!

 

Maybe a thinner strike plate, resulting in less center shot, and a heavier spined arrow? With the longbow there is only so much room for center shot adjustments.

 

Try a dusting of powder on the bow window and see where it is rubbed off by fletching and arrow when you shoot. That will give you an idea as to you clearance.

 

what DL?
What arrow length?

My guess is that you're getting a false reading...600 is kind of light unless you have a short DL-- I'd expect a 500 spine to be closer to what most would use.

 

Thanks, Bill! I'll give it a try.

 

DL is 29 inches, but I've tried 500 spine weight, they also drift.

 

I've never heard the term drift, does that mean they are hitting right of your bullseye. Maybe you are moving your head slightly to your left at anchor, that will move your POI to the right, it doesn't take much!

 

Idon't think it's my aiming-I'm pretty consistent with my others bows. I'm not sure what the problem is, but even during bare shaft testing I couldn't find a shaft soft enough. With a 50lb draw I couldn't get a 600 shaft with a 300 grn field-point to register soft/weak. What does that mean?

 

Yes, I'm hitting right of the bullseye, but it's not evident until after 22 yards. I can adjust my aim left, but I can't find an arrow set up soft enough to correct.

 

It could be you've gone way too far and are getting a false stiff reading. Normally the top weight for a 600 is about 40 lbs and that's with light-ish tips. 300 grain is waaay beyond what should be on a 600. For the hell of it. Take a 400 and put a 100~125 grain tip on it or a 500 with a 75~100 grain tip and see what happens.

 

Do you have string blur?
If left handed and you don't sight down the string with left eye dissecting the string and arrow or riser the shot will drift to the right as you get further away from the target. Canting will bring them back, but elevation is affected. The .600" spine shaft is very weak for 50# modern bow. However, it's working out ok at short yardage for you because the the longbow is way outside center. That addition supports weaker shafts.
Dan

 

My question would be how did you 'bare shaft tune'?

I shoot longbow 50 at 29 and shoot a .620 shaft with a 160 Snuffer that weighs in at 285 grains. Admittedly I had to use more silencers and a thicker strike plate.

I'm not familiar with the term drift either. BUT with bare shaft tuning (planing) the impacts with bare and fletched will be more apparent after 20 yards. I would suggest you're not tuned.

Bowmania

 

Paper tune and you will know for sure if your arrows are weak or stiff. Poor form is less of a factor with paper tuning, in my experience. I get too many false readings when bare shaft tuning. Besides, I want my arrows tuned exactly as I will hunt with them. From my 50# recurve, I shoot Beman ICS Bowhunter 500s with 100 grain brass inserts and 175 grain tips. They are cut to 28.75", and I draw about 27.5" so my actual draw weight is probably 48.5# or so. They fly like darts and hit with authority. Total arrow weight is 512 grains for 10.56 grains per pound of draw and 22.61 percent FOC. I try to stay close to 10 grains per pound, but a bit more doesn't hurt. I'm using 175 grain Simmons Tigersharks by the way. The blood trails those things create are just plain scary! Oh, and I did build out the sideplate on my Orion by about 1/8". I keep my shots inside 25 yards, so the heavier arrows are no problem at all. I did shoot a coyote at 30 yards, but I wouldn't try that on a deer. A coyote wonders what that noise was as the arrow hits it, while a deer may have dropped 12" by the time the arrow gets there.

Good luck with tuning your bow/arrow setup.

 

I don't know about the drifting part. If that were true your arrows would be following a curved path, not very likely if not impossible. I'd guess you are just shooting to the right and it only becomes visible as the range increases.

I would recheck your bare shaft tuning, shoot two or three bare shafts and two or three fletched and compare the locations of the groups. Do it from at least 20 yards.

I know you are confident in your aim but in my opinion you might have some subtle alignment issue that is causing your arrows to hit to the right and you really don't notice it until the range gets past 20 yards. You might also have a tuning issue but any arrow tipped with a field point that is even relatively close in spine should shoot where you point it, at least until the range gets pretty long.

 

I've come to the conclusion that this longbow, which is a Requim Custom Wolf, is really a stick of firewood with a string on it. I'm waiting for the arrival of a new Martin Savanah Stealth and I'm starting over...