zak123

I was out paper tuning my bow today and after several shots finally got a bullet hole at 3 yards. I moved back and shot bullet holes at all distances. I did not have it sighted in so I had to aim high and left. After I had my bow paper tuned I decided to sight it in. I sighted it in and looked at the center shot. I lined up my bowstring with the center of the rest and the tip of my arrow. I then looked at the site and it was to the left of the string. I moved my site so it was directly above the path of the arrow. I shot at 6 yards and it shot about 8" to the left. I can site it in but I wouldn't have center shot. I know my arrows are a little bit stiff, but I don't think it should make an 8" difference at 6 yards, should it?

gibblet

where your sight and where center shot is are 2 different creatures. go ahead and put your sight where you need to hit the dot. paper doesn't lie, but you'll need to walk back tune also.

and this should be in technical

zak123

Thanks for the help gibblet. Mods if you need to move this one forum down.

Arthur P

Actually, I disagree most heartily with gibblet. Paper can lie like a dog and have you pulling your hair out in frustration. It can easily give you false negatives and false positives.

My answer is NO. Paper tuning does not 'find centershot,' at least not true centershot. It can only tell you where to adjust centershot in order to put the arrow on the string's plane of travel, taking into account potential cam tilt, limb twist, under/overspine issues, torque from your grip or a combination of all those things. If everything's perfect - no twist, tilt, good spine match and, most especially, no torque - then paper tuning can find true centershot for you. But, if you torque that grip..... even if you consistently torque it the exact same way on every shot.... you won't be on true centershot.

It is also possible on some single cam bows to find a sweet spot, where the bow will shoot bulletholes all day long, but have centershot way inboard of where it should be.

IMO, your pins are telling you the bulletholes you're getting in paper are false positives. When your pins are noticeably offset from being directly over the arrow, something is wrong with the setup. I would not leave it that way.

zak123

Arthur P, say I find the center shot on my bow, but it has a hard low, left tear, what should I do? Should I bring it in and have it looked at it?

thesource

I hate paper tuning...it is frustrating. I have had great success tuning with bare shaft testing. And when you're grouping bare shafts and fletched shafts together at 30 yds, you know you're bow is in pretty good tune.

I think I'll stick with the fletched ones for hunting though!

Arthur P

Look at it yourself, zak. Look for any signs of cracks along the edges of your limbs, around the adjusting bolt holes and at the 'V' in the cutouts for the cams. Draw it back and listen for any cracks, creaks or pops. With it drawn back, look at the wheels. Do they look straight or are they leaning? How about the limbs? Do the ends look horizontal or are they tilted? Sometimes it helps to have someone else draw the bow while you look.

Measure your brace height and axle to axle length and compare it to the specifications for your bow. Is either one off more than a half inch? Maybe your string and cables have creeped and need to be twisted up a bit.

Check your cam timing (AND sychnronization if it's a dually). How about your tiller? When was the last time you checked that?

Have you had the axles checked, cleaned and lubed in the past year? Bent or dry and dirty axles can cause tuning grief.

Those things all come under the heading of routine maintenance. Most you can do yourself.

You say you already know the arrows are a 'little bit stiff.' Maybe they're stiffer than you think.

If you can't find the trouble on your own, then take it to the shop and let them give it a going over. Most times it's something cheap and easy, just something you overlooked. Sometimes though.... Hopefully you won't be one of the unlucky ones with a bent or twisted riser.

BOWFANATIC

I agree with Arthur!

To answer your question? No , I wouldn't bring it in and have "it" looked at. I would reset everything to center shot (close as you can by eyeballing , measuring , or even center shot tool) , then sight it in again.
Maybe try some bare shaft tuning , as I think it's one of the best indicators of correct spine selection. Then go back and paper tune concentrating ONLY on perfect form. Thats the problem with paper tuning. You could be getting horrible tears and someone with great form could pick up your bow and shoot bullet holes.


edited to add: you can see I was typing at the same time as the source and Arthur. Guess you guys type alot faster than me.[&:]

zak123

It looks like my top cam is leaning. The bottom one looks like it has a slight tilt to it, but the top's tilt is pretty noticable.

BOWFANATIC

Take it in and have it checked out!