strange bare shaft tuning situation

[oldfella1962]

Okay I have used bare shaft tuning before, but I don't remember this happening: I was trying to get my 58" Ben Pearson recurve to stop grouping to the left, so I was adjusting my brace height while shooting a bare arrow. After a few minutes of back & forth adjustments I was getting tight groups, so mission accomplished.
But when I tried out the bow using a fletched arrow I was all over the target! I didn't change anything - distance from the target, brace height, anchor point, arrow length/weight, cant of my bow, or anything else. If I can get a good grouping with bare shafts, logic would dictate fletching would decrease the group size, right? BTW the fletched arrow wasn't bent or anything - it groups perfectly from my longbow.

So to sum it up without changing any conditions, the bow shoots tighter with no fletching than with fletching. What am I missing here?

 

[Todd Cook]

Fatigue and focus. I don't know about you but I've only got so many good shots in me in a given session. Try it again today.

 

[oldfella1962]

Fatigue and focus. I don't know about you but I've only got so many good shots in me in a given session. Try it again today.

yeah good point - I'll alternate shots between bare shaft and fletched when I get off work just for another comparison while I'm fresh.

 

[Al33]

I would check both the shelf material and the leading edges of your fletchings, oftentimes fletchings will grab or bump the shelf material on a bow and cause erratic flight. Another often overlooked problem is arrow nocks may be too tight. Good luck!!

 

[Fatboy]

Bare shafting is usually done shooting both bare and fletched shafts. Shoot for groups with both.The shafts are probably borderline stiff. Add the fletching and you are getting hard contact with the shelf and side plate. Or your nock point is too low.