tuning arrows from a recurve

So i got my new bow in today and got it strung and couldnt wait to shoot it. I already had some arrows i thought would work for this bow. Well i noticed upon release the fletching end of the arrow always swerved left, and shot placement is erratic at 10 yds. SO i have a spine issue. I tried a bare shaft mixed in with fletched arrows and these are the results im getting. Fletched arrows always end up sticking in the target with the nock to the left and bare shaft ends up stuck in target with nock wayyyy right. All arrows are impacting at an angle. One of the bare shaft shots missed the target to the left and ended up sideways in the yard, it just took a left hand turn mid flight. So by all the reading i have done the arrows are spined too stiff. These arrows are gold tip expedition hunter 3555 which i think is a 500 spine and cut to 28" with 125gr field points. These arrows are pretty erratic so i dont know if going to a 150gr tip would fix them completely. Now i tried my wifes batch of arrows, she has some gold tip traditional 3555 with 100gr tips, which fly fine from her bow. These fly alot better from my bow and i cant see any major waggling in arrow flight. I didnt bare shaft test these. I still think these are spined a little stiff for my bow but they are flying straight enough i think with a 125 or 150gr tip i can clean them up.

My original GT exp hunter 3555 were originally used with my 55lb recurve, now i have a 45lb recurve. The wifes arrows were setup for her 35lb recurve. Im thinking of ditching my exp hunter arrows since the flight was soo bad with the bare shaft i think they may just not be able to work since i already have cut them long ago.

SO my questions are this. Is there a spine difference in the GT expedition hunter 3555 and GT traditional 3555 shafts? Cause the trad shafts sure fly alot better and they are all cut identical. Am i on the right path thinking these arrows are too stiff?

Watching this thread.

Gotta ask, vains or feathers?

Does the arrow rest on the handle or is it suspended?

You can find a lot of info on this from traditional bowhunter magazine, as well as primitive archer magazine.

Hold your bow so the string is lined up dead center down the middle of the limbs.


Then with an arrow knocked, and looking down the arrow with the string centered, the point should just peek out the left side of the string.



Adjust your rest accordingly.

PM sent.

Right and left and stiff and weak is also relative to right hand or left handed shooting. Start off using the Three Rivers spine calculator, it will get you close. https://www.3riversarchery.com/dynamic-spine-arrow-calculator-from-3rivers-archery.html Adding weight up front will decrease spine and weight to the back will increase.

This bow has a shelf, no arrow rest to adjust. right handed shooter. Feathers on the arrows.

It's been some time since I shot bows much but I believe we use a cushion plunger to correct that problem. That is if your arrows are spined correctly. It sounds like the rest is left or right of the correct centerline.

You could try a spacer taped to the side of your shelf to see if that will help. Start thin and get thicker if need be. If you find a thickness that works for you, get your self a piece of durable plastic(teflon) that thickness and attach it to the side permanently.

Do you use split finger or 3 under? I shot split for years and seemed I was always having some issues with flight. Went to 3 under and made life a lot smoother for me. Porpising flight is easy to find tune with Nick placement but side to side can be any number of issues. Good luck

A member here sent me a link to a dynamic spine calculator. Once i put in all my info it told the tale. Way too stiff. Which is what i thought i was reading on the target. SO i can find some 220 grain field points or add 3" back to my arrow to get it close to right lol. Looks like I probably need to look into a new dozen arrows and start over.

Those 3555 are a 300 spine You will probably have to go to a lighter the 4555 and maybe even a 5555

There is a lot of variables go into traditional

There is a combination of different things you can do to get them to fly better but the way it sounds they are flying pretty bad

1 as you know you can add Point weight to weak the spine
2 you can lower your brace height to weaken the spine
3 of you have a spacer on your rest window you can take it off for your bow to accept a heavier spine ( gets the arrow closer to centerline)
4 of you are canting your bow when you shoot you can play with the nick height

The last being important when you get everything else close


Most importantly is it will help tremendously if you are consistent with your form


Add all this may get you close but if it is flying bad you will most likely have to go to a weaker spine by the way it sounds



Let me also add that. Anything you put on the front of the arrow will weaken the spine but anything you add the back end of the shaft will stiffen it Lighted nocks extra fletching etc

Get some cedar arrows made up for the draw weight of the bow. They will probably cost more than the bow.

Three rivers used to sell a test kit for spine selection. Three or four spine weights in the kit. If you call three rivers with your draw weight and length one of the bow techs will be able to get you set up for sure. Very good customer service.

Everything I can find on gold tip the 3555 is a 500 spine arrow. 7595 are a 300 spine arrow.

I have measured the center cut of this bow and played with the dynamic spine calculator. I can go with a 250gr field point and get it close to being right with the arrows that i have but then my stock pile of broadheads and small game points are useless except with my compound. I can buy new carbon shafts and start over but looks like i will still need a 150gr broadhead and leave the shaft long to get it close. The last option is what nessmuck advises and get some cedar arrows made for the bow and start over my broadhead collection.

I was thinking last night where I wanted to eventually go with this whole thing is wooden arrows and going more primitive. I was even researching stone points and self nocks. I enjoy fletching arrows and tinkering with them so I guess i will do more searching and maybe start with half a dozen new wooden arrows.

But this bow shoots great, needs a little sound dampening but some silencers should fix it up nicely. I think if i can get some proper arrows i might be able to hit something with some consistency.

Zwickey

Ok sorry I was wrong about the spine numbers and weights

The good tip I shoot are traditional but they are spine 340 400 and 500 not the 3555 4555 and 5555 stuff

I checked when I got home

If you looked on Big Jim’s website you can buy the blems for about half of what they normally cost and the only thing wrong with them is the wood pattern design and I can’t find anything wrong about that with most of them

As far as point weight being different that the stuff you already have. I have a lot of glue on heads from my wood shaft days and you can buy different adder weights for glue on or screw in heads if you already have glue on heads

I think what im gonna try first is a new dozen gold tip shafts. Playing with the spine calculator i can go to a 600 spine leave the shaft about 30" long and keep using all the 125gr points and broadheads I already have. I found a dozen for about 70 bucks shipped, I have feathers and all that already to fix em up. I do think im going to switch from 5" feathers to 4". This bow seems to have a low brace height or at least its measured differently, my 5" feathers almost contact the shelf when nocked, so that is a problem.

Possum, you can get carbon or aluminum arrows in very low spines. Big Jim's has a very good carbon shaft called dark timber that go down as low as 800 spine. I don't think you would have to go that low. One thing is always start with arrows long and keep cutting them back until you get perfect arrow flight. I like about an inch to the back of the head at full draw but that doesn't always happen with the mongrel assortment of arrows I have. When hunting small game and stumping I have wood, carbon, glass, and aluminum shafts in the quiver from 27 1/2 to 30 inches and points from 100 to 160 grains. All of them shoot well. Form consistancy is the most important thing you can have! Without it you willl not be able to get tuned adequately. Wish you were closer as i have enough different spines we could get you going right. A little bit of advice, Never Never shoot wood shafts! You will fall in love with them and it is like trap collecting or any other life threatening illness as you will have to get a crestor, dip tubes, fletcher, and all kinds of feathers as well as shafts and other tidbits. You will end up with countless arrows all over the place. Sorry so long winded. If you have any questions feel free to pm. Check out The Leather Wall and tradgang.com. Those guys give a lot of good advice.
Bob

That bare shafting can cause some serious pains

And now that I’m thinking about it the set up you have shouldn’t be stiff. Are you left handed or right handed

Im right handed draw length a touch short of 28". I have been reading through a few old posts on some archery sites and it seems with this 45lb bow i should probably been in the 600 spine area anyway especially since i want to keep my broadheads in the easier to find weight range (around 125). The 3 rivers dynamic spine calculator is pretty handy at selling more arrows at least. We will see if its right. Im gonna start with these new shafts and work a few up or cut a few down a little at a time until i get them shooting straight then i will finish about half of them and practice for a while and see if they stay flying straight before i work up the rest. Im confident that the arrows i have have some serious issues with too stiff of a spine. So without going to a 250gr point there is no way to get them right.

Sounds like a good plan. I would only cut one at a time though and when you are bare shafting you want it a little weak when you stop trimming the shaft so when you fletch it it will stiffen it some and be just right

upon some further searching through old posts on archery sites, seems lots of people shooting similar bows were having the same trouble i am. They all went the same direction with the 600 spine carbon arrows and left them a little long. This is all backwards from the way i would match an arrow to my compound. Seems even string material effects the spine needed in an arrow for a recurve. im shooting with a standard dacron string. Lots of people all agree the recurve arrow charts all usually end up being too stiff. I measured the center cut of my shelf and apparently that tiny measurement makes a huge difference in arrow selection. So I hope im heading down the right path. Back when i was shooting my old bow i was having alot of the same problems but i dont think i recognized them and just figured i was a poor shot. It brings me back to the one time i got to take a few shots with a nice bear bow with proper arrows and suddenly i could hit what i was aiming at. I just figured it was because that was a high dollar bow and mine was cheap.

Well if these arrows make it by friday i should have a better idea of what im working with.