BobCo19-65

I have my bow in perfect tune right now shooting 33" arrows, 70 pound Darton, 2317 XX78, Innerloc 135 five blade, three 5" feathers. I'm grouping about 1.5 inches at 25 yards and 4" at 50 yards. Arrow flight looks perfect out to 50 yards.

This is the first year that I'm moving back to feathers after about 5 years using only vanes. But, I still want some vaned arrows in my quiver just in case of a heavy rain. Yea, I know I can water proof the feathers, and I did. But, I have also have bad experiences with feathers getting damp/wet, and not shooting to my liking.

So, I fletched a few arrows with 3 - 5 inch vanes. And started to experiment (over the course of a few weeks with different broadheads to see what would fly with feathered arrows.

My first thought was to go lighter since I have made the arrow heavier by about 20 grains. So I tried a 125 grain muzzys, which shot too low. Next I tried a 120 grain GKF head, which also fly too low. I tried a 135 and a 145 grain Innerloc and muzzy, which fly too low. Then just for th heck of it I put on a 145 grain two bladed Stos head with the adapter, and guess what, it flew right with my original setup. Now that head is about 25-30 grains heavier then the innerloc, and I added about 50 grains to the arrow, but they fly beautifully and group right with my my original arrows right out to 50 yards.

So what's up with that?

All I can figure is that after measuring FOC they are pretty much the same. The Stos is a very long head, with most of the weight set toward the arrow.

I can tell you this, that whatever is making them fly the same, I will two of them in my quiver along with four of the originals for my upcoming elk hunt.

BobCo19-65

90 hits and no-one will take a stab??? Come on....

gromage1

Bobco,
If nothing else in your setup has changed I would guess, as you stated, FOC, I've had similar results shooting feathers with 100 gr heads vs vanes and 125's, not as drastic as your results but enough to notice.

BobCo19-65

OK, so maybe I'm not completely nutts[&:]

So where did your vanes and 100's hit as compared to the feathers and 100's? What kind of arrows were you using? Also, was your bow tuned for the feathers?

98Redline

Feathers have more drag than vanes...that is why they stabilize broadhead flight better. Out to about 30 yards, there is very little difference between the flight characteristics of just about any setup. Beyond 30 the feathers, with their higher drag will cause the arrow to loose speed faster, and thus have more drop.

The vane arrow, while heavier and having a slightly lower launch velocity than the lighter feather fletched arrow will have less drag and carry more speed and energy down range. Your need for a heavier BH to make your feathers and vanes hit togeher is not all that suprising.

gromage1

I don't remeber exactly where I started but I always used to shoot only vanes so I think I was shooting 100's and vanes (5") and just foolin around I tried some 4" much tighter groups, then I tried some feathers and they got better yet ,I then bought some 125 Muzzy's and threw them on with the 5" vaned arrows and they shot right along and grouped right along with the arrows with the 100's and 4" feathers. I'm still playin around with some diff. combinations but it seems that total arrow weight has had little or less to do with good arrow flight than FOC. I never paid as much attention in the past to alot of this stuff but since I've been hang'in around this site it just amazes me how much little things can effect your setup, and as you indicated in your original post , logical thinking isn't always what produces the best results.

BobCo19-65

I understand whatyou are saying 98 Redline and it makes sense.

But,

Any thoughts? Why were the lighter tipped broadheads (120-145 grains) with the vanes flying low compared to the feathers?

Leverdude

I'v been shooting both vanes & feathers to see what groups better & have found that in my set up they hit about the same out to 30 yards, beyond that I cant say as I run out of yard. Thats with the same 100 grain points. The vanes start to get bigger groups sooner than the feathers as I tire & they seem to drift left while the feathers drift right. Dont understand why, but if I put the bow down for 15 minutes & shoot again theyre all right in there.

Your lighter tipped arrows might be hitting lower because of the amount of deflection in the shaft as it leaves the bow.