The Broadhead is nothing but a big Rudder up front. If they're not properly aligned they'll plane and Veer off.

Also, your Fletching has to have more steering then your Broadhead. If you have a big Broadhead up front and little veins in the back your Broadhead could be over steering the vanes.

Could be something simple is a little more tweaking with your tuning

 

Are you saying that 4 AAE Max Vanes might not have enough steering power for a 3-blade fixed BH, like the Exodus?

Also, what is a "properly aligned" BH? Is there a preferred orientation? Or is it something to be experimented with?

 

It sounds like your bow is tuned well if bare shafts consistently hit with fletched at 40 yards. So I would tend to think it’s something either with the arrows or the heads, although Exodus heads are usually quite easy to tune. Have you tried spinning the arrows with the broadheads to see if there’s any wobble? Same nocks as the bare shafts? Also could be that you’re a little underspined, that actually may be the most likely culprit. You can get a bow to tune perfectly with bare shafts that may be a little on the weak side, but once you shoot fixed blade heads the spine issues will show up. What are your specs on the bow, the length the arrows are cut, and how much total insert/head weight up front? Weak arrows, nock fit on the serving, nock pinch, fletching contact, shafts or inserts that aren’t squared...could be any of these.

 

I haven't done any nock tuning (because I haven't needed to) and haven't adjusted the broadhead orientation at all. Should I? I haven't looked too closely at the broad heads, but I'm guessing they can be adjusted? Or is it more an exercise of aligning the BH with the nock, and then re-fletching them?

To the issue on spine, my arrows are Easton HEXX 260 spine cut at 30.5". 9.8GPI, 125gn BH with 75gn brass inserts. I'm shooting a 65lb Hoyt RX-3 Ultra w/ 30.5" DL.

 

I haven't done any nock tuning (because I haven't needed to) and haven't adjusted the broadhead orientation at all. Should I? I haven't looked too closely at the broad heads, but I'm guessing they can be adjusted? Or is it more an exercise of aligning the BH with the nock, and then re-fletching them?

To the issue on spine, my arrows are Easton HEXX 260 spine cut at 30.5". 9.8GPI, 125gn BH with 75gn brass inserts. I'm shooting a 65lb Hoyt RX-3 Ultra w/ 30.5" DL.

You’re definitely good on spine. I ran your numbers through OT2 and it shows a little on the stiff side of optimal, which is perfect for fixed blades in my opinion. It doesn’t seem to be the actual tune of the bow either for you to have such good bare shaft results. I would first eliminate any possibility of fletching contact. If there’s just a tiny bit of contact it might not show much effect with your field point arrows, but it could cause the inconsistencies with the broadheads. Beyond that it has to be either something with the arrows or your shot execution. I would spin the arrows on a good quality spinner and see if there’s any wobble. If the shafts aren’t squared on both ends, the insert squared, or the fletching uneven, any of those could result in inconsistent broadhead flight as well.

 

Spine seems ok with your specs. I would double check that they are spinning perfect. Maybe try another broadhead, but if you're tuned and they spin straight, they should all fly good.

One thing that it could be, is you could be anticipating the shot more with the broadheads. Or looking around the bow to see where it went instead of your normal follow through. This happened to me a years ago and I struggled until I realized what I was doing, but I was unintentionally changing my shot process with the broadhead.

 

Spine seems ok with your specs. I would double check that they are spinning perfect. Maybe try another broadhead, but if you're tuned and they spin straight, they should all fly good.

One thing that it could be, is you could be anticipating the shot more with the broadheads. Or looking around the bow to see where it went instead of your normal follow through. This happened to me a years ago and I struggled until I realized what I was doing, but I was unintentionally changing my shot process with the broadhead.

Thanks! I'll see if I can verify they are spinning smoothly. Any tricks for testing this without an arrow spinner (is that what they're called?)

I haven't ruled out the mental part either. I'm giving it a rest for a few hours then going to test again later

 

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I finally invested in a target that accepts broadheads, and for the first time, have dedicated some time shooting BH's and fine tuning my hunting setup. Here's my problem...

My bow is tuned. Bareshafts are hitting the same spot fletched arrows at 20 yds. I'm even able to fairly consistently put bareshafts in a 2" dot at 40 yds.

My field points are flying great. I fletched up a set of Easton HEXX 260's with AAE Max Stealth vanes in a 4-fletch right helical using a Bitz jig. I've shot some of my best groups ever with these arrows. Even a handful 2" groups out to 60yds.

...but when I slap on a broadhead, my "groups" (not actually shooting groups with BH's) go to hell. I'm shooting QAD Exodus fixed blades. At the same 40yds where I'm busting nocks with field points, I'm struggling to hit within 4-5" of the target dot. And the results don't seem to be very consistent. Sometimes a few inches high, left, right, or low.

What gives?

I think I can see my arrows wobble a little. It also seems like you can hear them wssshhh-ing through the air, much louder than a field point...but maybe that's normal?

Anyone have an idea for what might be causing this?
Can my broadheads be fighting the right helical fletching? i.e. wanting to spin the opposite direction?
Or is it just me overthinking it and choking?
Something else?

sound like your arrows are under spine I would bet if you go up a spine problem solved

 

s

sound like your arrows are under spine I would bet if you go up a spine problem solved

Really? I thought I was on the stiff side, if anything.

 

Pick a position & align your heads so all are same. On a 3 blade I would put 1 blade up like align to bow string. I use 4 blade & all mine ha the 2 blades aligned with the string.

 

Number your arrows and shoot them. That May narrow down your issue to specific arrows not grouping.

 

first off....when you actually start shooting broadheads,really shooting a lot of fixed blade broadheads . Your on the right path. Now you have a learning curve for them. It helps to have several different ones to experiment with. My personal experience is if it bareshafts the broadhead will fly right. And I have done it a lot. When I come on here and see guys having problems with broadheads after a clean bareshaft I am thinking what the ...
Its pretty unusual to have a quality arrow,insert,clean cut shaft and quality broadhead not be in good alignment. But you can check. I have not found a lot of value in aligning blades with vanes (that will start an argument)
If I were to guess....your vanes are not high profile enough. Even though you have the nice vanes with the four fletch and the helical and the, and the....you might find it takes a taller vane,a bigger rudder to control the broadhead. IE the horrible ,terrible,old school,outdated....gasp...Blazer vane. And only three are needed.

But no matter what....you keep shooting broadheads and you will learn what you need to know. It does help to have some different broadheads and some different configurations in arrow to compare. Your on the right path....actually field testing broadheads. I have chopped a number of block targets into junk doing it. I am not a huge high FOC guy....but in fixed blade broadheads it is your friend. If I shoot an arrow with a lighted nock in twilight with a broadhead it better look like a guided missile going to the target, like a lazer beam. Or as close as I can get it.

 

first off....when you actually start shooting broadheads,really shooting a lot of fixed blade broadheads . Your on the right path. Now you have a learning curve for them. It helps to have several different ones to experiment with. My personal experience is if it bareshafts the broadhead will fly right. And I have done it a lot. When I come on here and see guys having problems with broadheads after a clean bareshaft I am thinking what the ...
Its pretty unusual to have a quality arrow,insert,clean cut shaft and quality broadhead not be in good alignment. But you can check. I have not found a lot of value in aligning blades with vanes (that will start an argument)
If I were to guess....your vanes are not high profile enough. Even though you have the nice vanes with the four fletch and the helical and the, and the....you might find it takes a taller vane,a bigger rudder to control the broadhead. IE the horrible ,terrible,old school,outdated....gasp...Blazer vane. And only three are needed.

But no matter what....you keep shooting broadheads and you will learn what you need to know. It does help to have some different broadheads and some different configurations in arrow to compare. Your on the right path....actually field testing broadheads. I have chopped a number of block targets into junk doing it. I am not a huge high FOC guy....but in fixed blade broadheads it is your friend. If I shoot an arrow with a lighted nock in twilight with a broadhead it better look like a guided missile going to the target, like a lazer beam. Or as close as I can get it.

Good advice here, thanks. When I tuned my last bow, I had to use my buddy's target to test BH's and didn't want to destroy it. I shot a couple with good results and called it good. With a new bow, new arrows, and my own BH target, I see there is some work to be done.

 

Some people swear by aligning the fletching with the blades. I’ve personally never worried about it and don’t really believe it has any effect whatsoever other than maybe inspiring more psychological confidence. I’ve shot 2, 3, and 4 blade heads all with both 3 and 4 fletch arrows and never worried about how the vanes lined up with the blades.

 

Spine is not weak according to this.

 

I agree with North Park and others. Spine and bow tune are not the issue here.

 

So, have you fixed the issue? what was the problem?

 

I shoot aae max stealth, in a 3 fletch configuration, with QAD exodus broadheads, specifically the swept version. As long I have a tuned bow, I have never had flight issues.
As others have already stated, make sure your arrows are squared. I would then check to see how they spin. This can be done very accurately, arguably more accurate, with your finger than an actual arrow spinner. Just balance the arrow point on your finger tip and give it a spin. If you're not good at this, start with a FP so you don't cut your finger. I have a spinner, and get better results with my finger. A blind man can feel, better than a sighted man see!

 

Try a Ramcat BH.

 

LOL....yeah don't fix the REAL problem try to cover it up by broad head shopping your way out of it. It's way more expensive and in the end you still have an untuned rig that only shoots one head well and penetrates less than it should.

 

I wouldn’t think a 260 spine would be weak at all, I’d say if any it might be starting to lean towards the stiff end, I love the exodus and mine fly like darts on Easton axis 5mm 300 spine 545 grain total weight......
Hard to tell what is going on with your arrow flight issue without actually seeing the bow and watching it shoot.........let us know if you get it fixed.

 

BS hitting the "same point" really doesn't mean anything and many times it's bad info. Are they hitting the same point AND stuck into the target straight too? Many people seem to miss that part and it's critical......without that BS is pointless.

Personally I skip BS anyway if you hunt.......because for you and many others it was just wasted time. You found out it didn't work AFTER you finished it and could have just started right there where you found that out it didn't work and simply spent that extra time broad head tuning.

If you don't shoot broad heads then BS is a great tool.......but if you do shoot fixed broad heads many times it's just an extra step and you end up broad head tuning anyway. Or bouncing back & forth.........and pulling your hair out..........lol

Or coming here and having people say it's your spine...... That's always the goto.

 

I hear what you're saying. But yes, bareshafts have the same point of impact as fletched AND fly straight. Both are stuck into the target perfectly parallel to one another.

I realize that bareshaft tuning is just one extra step if I plan to hunt with fixed blade BH's, but bareshafts don't chew up a target like BH's do...and they should get you to the same spot.

 

Get a spinner, that's required equipment.

Number your arrows and start nock tuning those that aren't holding POI. You will be very surprised. Get some new fresh nocks and try them, nocks can get out of tolerance and cause a lot of problems.

For under 50$ you can get all that done and eliminate a bunch of possibilities. Good luck!

 

Did your exodus come with the rubber band to hold the blades In during shipping? Is so and you haven't removed them and put them on your arrow with that rubber band it will likely wobble when you spin the arrow. That rubber band is supposed to be removed before installing on arrow. That's just another thing to check but a spinner tool is a must I believe,

 

Make sure you remove the O-rings that come on them. Those are there to hold the blades in place in the packaging but need to be removed before shooting.

 

In lieu of an arrow spinner - you could just roll your arrow across the corner of a table -- if there is any wobble you will spot it straight away - broadhead - and also nock end !!

 

Just got home from a few days out of town. Going to do some more experimenting this weekend and will update with any progress.

 

I have always just put the broadhead point down on a table and gave it a spin. If you get one that is not spinning straight take it off an put it on another arrow. Once you get them all spinning without wobble try your test again. Spinning them on the point has worked fine for me the last 35 years.

 

OK, I did a little more testing and have started to make some progress:

First, I used @Spaceball 's coffee mug spinner trick. It worked great! More importantly, my arrows were true. No wobbles.
Next, I orientated all of the BH's in the same direction (one blade at 12 o'clock). This seemed to help a good amount.
I also inspected my wraps and fletchings and found some issues! A few arrows had vanes that were not fully adhered and wraps that were starting to peel off! Doh! I pulled those arrows out of the mix.
Lastly, (and possibly most importantly) I took a break and came back at it fresh. In my initial BH tests, I had been shooting all morning and was definitely feeling a little fatigued. I'm sure this contributed to my inconsistencies as well.

After a bunch of shooting earlier today, I'm feeling pretty good about the BH flight. Here's my last group at 40 yds, after a few hours of shooting. 3 bareshafts, 2 fletched field points (both left), and one broadhead (low center). Definitely not my best 40yd group, but close to enough to give me some confidence in my BH flight. Time to re-fletch a set of arrows and do some final testing with my hunting BH's!

Thanks for all of the help on here!
-Beau

PS. The slight differences in angles of the arrows is due to the target moving after a shot.

 

There's a lot to be said for setting things down and coming back another day. Sometimes that's all it takes to fix things haha. I try really hard to keep that in mind when something just isn't working out so I don't go down the rabbit hole and screw something up that was otherwise not a problem to begin with. Many tuning issues are actually shooter issues and don't always occur every day of shooting.

 

Watch this video of Tim Gillingham. It really helped me and my thought process.

 

I finally invested in a target that accepts broadheads, and for the first time, have dedicated some time shooting BH's and fine tuning my hunting setup. Here's my problem...

My bow is tuned. Bareshafts are hitting the same spot fletched arrows at 20 yds. I'm even able to fairly consistently put bareshafts in a 2" dot at 40 yds.

My field points are flying great. I fletched up a set of Easton HEXX 260's with AAE Max Stealth vanes in a 4-fletch right helical using a Bitz jig. I've shot some of my best groups ever with these arrows. Even a handful 2" groups out to 60yds.

...but when I slap on a broadhead, my "groups" (not actually shooting groups with BH's) go to hell. I'm shooting QAD Exodus fixed blades. At the same 40yds where I'm busting nocks with field points, I'm struggling to hit within 4-5" of the target dot. And the results don't seem to be very consistent. Sometimes a few inches high, left, right, or low.

What gives?

I think I can see my arrows wobble a little. It also seems like you can hear them wssshhh-ing through the air, much louder than a field point...but maybe that's normal?

Anyfatigueer,e an idea for what might be causing this?
Can my broadheads be fighting the right helical fletching? i.e. wanting to spin the opposite direction?
Or is it just me overthinking it and choking?
Something else?

Your original post probably holds the whole key: "I think they wobble." Broadheads that don't spin true do exactly what you're describing--no consistent groups, random hits around the target center. Without a spin test you can get an idea if that's the problem by screwing your BH onto a bare shaft and rolling the arrow on a counter top, watching your BH spin freely 4-5 inches off the edge. If the point is making small circles, you'll know that's the problem. If so, it's an insert installation issue. Either the shafts weren't squared, the inserts were glued in crooked, or possibly both.

 

I may be the odd duck, but I think your first 2-4 arrows should be disregarded, and any after 15 or so shots when tuning. Most people simply don't shoot enough to carry tuning level accuracy through half an hour plus of shooting to be able to count on those results. It doesn't take much fatigue at all to create lots of small issues that overthinking then turns into large issues.

Years back I had a customer that could shoot circles around me. Had a slew of 3d targets out his back door and shot many arrows daily. He called me in a panic before a hunt and said he was all over the place. Shot a tournament and did poorly the weekend before and couldn't find his way back. He drove a long ways to my shop and dropped off his bow. I spent a while going over it, but was quite confident from the start it wasn't the bow. Long story short, I told him I retuned and adjusted his bow and we stepped outside and ran it through a few rounds while I watched him shoot. Ended up giving himself a pretty bad case of the yips. I didn't adjust anything, but a little bit of confidence and a tip or two as he was shooting at the shop and he was back to smacking arrows together.

Even world class shooters can convince themselves that there is "a" problem when really there isn't.

I would strongly wager 99% of your problem was the loose wraps and fletchings

 

I may be the odd duck, but I think your first 2-4 arrows should be disregarded, and any after 15 or so shots when tuning. Most people simply don't shoot enough to carry tuning level accuracy through half an hour plus of shooting to be able to count on those results. It doesn't take much fatigue at all to create lots of small issues that overthinking then turns into large issues.

Years back I had a customer that could shoot circles around me. Had a slew of 3d targets out his back door and shot many arrows daily. He called me in a panic before a hunt and said he was all over the place. Shot a tournament and did poorly the weekend before and couldn't find his way back. He drove a long ways to my shop and dropped off his bow. I spent a while going over it, but was quite confident from the start it wasn't the bow. Long story short, I told him I retuned and adjusted his bow and we stepped outside and ran it through a few rounds while I watched him shoot. Ended up giving himself a pretty bad case of the yips. I didn't adjust anything, but a little bit of confidence and a tip or two as he was shooting at the shop and he was back to smacking arrows together.

Even world class shooters can convince themselves that there is "a" problem when really there isn't.

I would strongly wager 99% of your problem was the loose wraps and fletchings

Sound advice! There are so many variables, and messing with several at a time can have you chasing your tail. And of course, the mental game is a BIG part!

I've removed the arrows with damaged fletchings/wraps from my quiver and things have been going well. I plan to pick up a proper arrow spinner/squarer in the near future as well.

My first few groups of the day are tight, and I try to mix a BH or two in there to verify. Things are looking good.

One thing I didn't realize until recently was that I was shooting what I thought was 40 yds. Turns out I was getting a bad read from my range finder on my black foam target face. Actual distance was 43yds! I remember having a bunch of low misses that had me scratching my head. I may have been trying to subconsciously correct those low misses too. Who knows!