Re: Need Bow Advice
TP,
I'm with you on that. While it's still definitely easier to get efficient with a bow now than it used to be. Without proper form or fundamentals things can go to hell really fast.
Pie plate accuracy doesn't cut it for me. Even at 20 yards a 10" pie plate may or may not make a clean kill. Throw in adrenaline and the environmentals and you just might have a wounded animal.
All the great gear in the world won't make up for proper form and consistency.
Take the time to learn your release and spend a lot of time shooting the blank bale. (shoot a target with your eyes closed about 2 yards away) Same principle as dry firing. You're building muscle memory so you don't have to worry about what your body is doing and you can focus on the target and the target only.
For your reading pleasure, here's an older post on tuning your arrows/bow. Some of it may not apply to binary cams, but the principles still apply:
Broadhead tuning is pretty involved. Most of it involves not just tuning the bow, but tuning the arrows to the bow.
I've been competing and hunting with a bow for several years and I can group any just about any broadhead with my field tips out to 60 yards.
This is my method for tuning: Warning, it gets involved...First things first, make sure you're anchoring the same, and holding your bow hand, shoulder grip everything must be the same way exactly the same every time you shoot. Otherwise you'll just end up pulling your hair out. Small things like different pressure on the bow hand will alter your impact greatly. If your form isn't solid wait until it's better until you move forward with this. You should be able to know whether or not you made a good shot or not. IF you can't tell the difference than the following will probably be pointless
1. Make sure the arrow selected is properly spined with the proper tip. Generally 100gr to 125 gr will work just fine. I prefer 125 because it gives a better Front of Center percentage. This is important for broadhead steering. Cut the arrow to length where it will spine correctly for your draw weight and poundage. you can find this using an arrow program like Archers advantage or ontarget2. both are very good, ontarget is cheaper.
also squaring the ends of your arrows and inserts is important. If you spin your broadheads on a table it should not wobble. if it does you need to either square the ends of the shaft or try a different broadhead.
2. MAke sure you're not getting any fletch contact when your shooting. Shoot into a bale 5 yards away, spray yoru fletching with foot powder and see if you're getting any contact anywhere.
3. Find your dynamic centershot: the best way to do this is called walkback tuning. (Get all your pins lined up in a straight line on your sight and make all your adjustments moving the whole cage) start at 10yards and get your zero dead on. move back to 20 shoot another group. walk back to 30, 40, 60..as far as you can shoot accurately. DO NOT MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR SIGHT AS YOU WALK BACK. If your shots are drifting to the right as you get further from your target move your rest to the left 1/32". Go back to 10 yards rezero your entire sight and repeat the process. If they drift to the left with distance move your rest to the right. ALWAYS MOVE IN SMALL INCREMENTS. 1/32" MAY NOT SEEM LIKE A LOT BUT IT CAN MAKE BIG IMPACT CHANGES. once you have all your shots dead on out to as far as you can shoot your centershot is set. Don't move it.
4. If you're shooting a two cam bow you can creep tune. You can do it with binaries but I'm not as experienced with binaries and I'd hate for your to lock up your bow
. One cam bows you can't really creep tune. If you're interested in the procedure send me a pm. The long and short of it is basically to make sure your cams are in time.
5. Now you can start shooting your broadheads: Before you start number each arrow on the fletching. start at 20 yards.
Take arrow number one fire with field tip. note the impact. Walk down retrieve arrow number one and put the broadhead on. Fire with broadhead. note the impact, retreive arrow and repeat 3 times. (If it impacts in different places then you most likely have a form issue, something is not being repeated the same way. probably in the bow hand where your hand contacts the bow. Broadheads amplify form irregularities) If it impacts in the same place, that is good. take the the arrow with the broadhead and turn the nock to a different cock vane. Fire again. note the impact. Keep rotating cock vane until your poi with broadhead is the same as your field tip at 20 yards. for an arrow with 3 vanes you have a total of 6 nock positions. Don't forget to flip it 180 degrees and use those rotations as well. One of these position should get you close if not dead on left/right with your field tips. If the best you can get is dead center but just high or just low this is ok as well, we'll get to that later.
repeat this with all your arrows until they all or most impact to the same as field tips or just high or just low. (side note once you find an arrow broadhead combo, number the arrow and broadhead and use them together. IF you can't get a broadhead to group with the rest, try switching broadheads...I haven't found that this really works too often but it can)
If you find that when Shoot all your arrows with broadheads and If they consitently impact in the same place. That is good. If they're all low, then raise your rest up 1/32" at a time until they impact to the same place your field tips do.. you will have to rezero your field tips each time you move your rest. If they're impacting high lower your rest 1/32" at a time.
If they're just off to the left or right you can move your rest in the direction you want your broadheads to go again in 1/32" till they impact with your field tips, however if you do that check your walk back tuning again with field tips. If it threw it off put the centershot back to where it was. You might have to just discard that arrrow or try a different combo head/nock.
once your good at 20 yards. Repeat your groups at 40 yards and beyond if you can.
This is just the method I use and it is involved and time consuming but I know that once completed my bow and arrow tune is as best it can be.
You can accomplish most of the above by bareshaft tuning as well. Be forewarned Bareshaft tuning is not easy and your form must be rock solid.
Hope that helps.
