Published August 05, 2015 in Equipment SetupBy P.J. Reilly

Paper tuning 101

Paper tuning 101

Straight every bit an arrow.It'south a saying that's used beyond archery, but archery is its root.Achieving perfect arrow flight, or, getting your arrows to fly as "straight every bit an arrow," should exist the goal of every archer. If your arrow flight is true, so the sky's the limit for accuracy.Newspaper tuning is one of the near common ways compound archers using mechanical releases determine whether their arrows are leaving their bows in a straight line.(Shooting a chemical compound bow with fingers is more like shooting a recurve bow, and Lancaster Archery Supply recommends blank-shaft tuning in such cases. That'south a topic for another day.)Through paper tuning you tin can make up one's mind that your arrow rest, bowstring and nocking signal are all perfectly aligned, and that you are shooting the proper arrows for your setup. It also lets you know if your mitt position on the bow and your shooting grade are both right.So what you'll need to paper tune is your bow and some arrows, a frame that tin can hold paper for you lot to shoot through, a target backstop and a shooting range.Your frame needs to concur the newspaper by all iv corners, so it is rigid when you shoot through it. And the frame needs to be positioned high plenty that you lot tin can shoot direct through it. You don't want to shoot at a steep angle up or down.There's a exercise-information technology-yourself paper tuning kit made by .thirty-06 Outdoors that provides a frame and paper to shoot through. All yous have to practice is set it on a stand holding the paper at roughly chest meridian.Place your target backstop 4-6 feet beyond the newspaper, and so the pointer can laissez passer all the manner through the newspaper earlier information technology hits the target. You lot should stand up almost 6 anxiety away from the paper.papertune5 scaleBefore you shoot, you must make certain your mitt position on the bow grip is correct. Bank check out this article for information on that subject.If y'all are torqueing the bow at the shot, due to improper hand position, none of the bow settings will matter. You lot will have erratic arrow flying.Also, you lot must go a shine, make clean release. Don't slap the trigger or pull your release hand out to the side. Simply pull straight back through the shot with your release.And then you take a good shot through the paper. What you lot want to run across is a circular hole with 3 or four slices extending out from it – depending on the number of fletchings on your arrow.If you lot see that, yell, "Bullet-hole!" and don't change anything. Your setup is perfect.papertune3 scaleBrusque of the bullet pigsty, what you'll run into is a tear that features a rounded stop where the arrow point went through the newspaper, and a iii- or iv-slotted hole made by the fletched end of the arrow.Think about the layout of your tear to figure out how your arrow is flying. If the rounded end is down and the fletched hole is above it, for example, then you know your arrow is flying nose down, with the point below the nock.papertune2 scaleHere'southward a list of tears, and the most common remedies for each.

  1. NOCK HIGH – Movement your nocking point down, or your rest up.
  2. NOCK Low – Move your nocking betoken upwards, or your rest downwardly.
  3. NOCK RIGHT – Motion residuum away from the riser on a right-handed bow, toward the riser for a lefty. This tear also tin can mean your arrow'due south spine is as well potent. Switch to an pointer with a weaker spine, or you can increase the indicate weight on your pointer, which volition weaken its spine.
  4. NOCK LEFT – Motility rest toward riser for right-handed shooter, away for a lefty. This tear as well tin can hateful the arrow's spine is as well weak. Switch to an arrow with a stiffer spine, or reduce your point weight.

To start, the arrow shaft should be level from the nocking point to the shaft.If you lot're scratching your head over the fixes to the rest for signal-right and indicate-left tears, know that many archers struggle with solving horizontal tears, because the corrective action is counterintuitive.Logic would seem to dictate that if the paper tear shows the nock is left of the point – commonly called a nock-left tear - then y'all should move the rest left, to push the bespeak left. But that'south not the example.What happens is, the arrow wants to fly in the direction of the string's travel. And then if your rest is besides far to the left, the point will kick to the right as it leaves the residue to follow the string path, and your paper pigsty will show a nock-left tear. Motion the rest right to solve the problem.Now what we've listed are common fixes for imperfect tears. If you attempt the suggested fix and yous withal get a tear, at that place could be issues non involving the residual or the nocking point.Unless yous're shooting a single-cam bow, check the timing of your cams. These cams will take timing marks that permit you to see how they're rotating. If one is rotating faster than the other, you'll get newspaper-tuning tears. To synchronize them, you'll need a bow press, considering you'll have to twist the cables. Or you tin take your bow to your local pro shop and let them set the trouble.If your arrow is making contact with the residual, that can cause paper-tuning tears. Spray your fletchings with white, droplets foot pulverization and then shoot that arrow. If it's making contact, you'll encounter lines in the pulverisation. Rotating the nock often will eliminate the contact problem.Take three shots through the paper each time you brand a setting adjustment. If all 3 shots testify the same paper tears, then y'all know they're likely the result of issues with your bow, rather than your form.papertune1 scale