Crossbow Arrow Tuning STEP-BY-STEP

Hey, what's up everybody welcome back guys today we're going to do an in-depth step-by-step discussion How to tune your arrows to your crossbow, so stay tuned All right, everybody. I wanted to do this video because Now is the time or now is the time that a lot of people Are getting their setups ready for deer season. It's right around the corner And i've been getting a lot of arrow tuning questions, which is fantastic. I'm, so glad you guys are are taking this up are Putting in the time to just make your setups more accurate and more lethal And I have definitely done. Um, you know several videos on this, but I wanted to I guess just maybe talk in Detail step by step about at least how I do this and and how it's you know worked for me And before we start I definitely have to give a shout out To troy fowler the ranch fairy because really this is his process This is his process that I learned from watching his youtube channel on compound bows, which I did For my compounds. I still do for my compounds as well but I Just kind of translated it to a crossbow and to be perfectly honest It's easier in my opinion to do with a crossbow Simply because you have way less human element shooting a crossbow and and tuning your arrows to your bow Then you do a compound bow. So thank you troy as always for you know All the information that you put out there and and what you've been able to to do and how you've been able to help the archery community both for vertical bows as well as crossbows, um so Let's just start you guys with uh with some of the things that you need. Um We are going to be shooting or I like to shoot through paper to do this And that paper it can be anything Um any piece of paper that is easy to shoot through I just shoot through computer paper If you've got some, you know type of big roll of paper, that's totally fine, too Uh a couple keys though with shooting through paper Is you want to make sure that that paper is held nice and tight you don't want it flapping around Some of our old videos we did have it flapping around but you can use literally anything to hold Whatever size piece of paper that you have tight. Um, we've got this little welded Uh, you know just carbon steel rod that we made that we can stick in the ground Uh, you can use two arrow shafts like two old arrow shafts You can stick them in the ground tape your piece of paper on there You can make a little wooden frame or even like a cardboard box You can take a cardboard box cut out a frame so you can tape a piece of paper on there Really? You just want to make sure that that piece of paper is held tight um And you want to also make sure that that piece of paper I like to make sure at least but that piece of paper is level So I like to make sure that however i'm resting my crossbow when i'm shooting um that my crossbow On my rest is level that could be with a like, you know, like a lead sled bog death grip. That's what I use I mean, it can literally be shot bags or whatever. You can put a level across your limbs to just figure out um You know making sure that your bow is level But I also like to look and make sure that my piece of paper is level just as a reference point for my crosshair So just some little details just to make sure you don't have any cant with your bow where you might be Uh chasing something when you're shooting through that piece of paper, so you got your paper you've got it held nice and tight You've got everything level to start shooting that piece of paper We're gonna put at five yards five ish yards And the reason for five yards, I I you know, this is how far troy shoots at him Um, but the reason for it is you want to catch that arrow flight going through that piece of paper Before your fletchings take over and start correcting that arrow flight So what we're trying to do is we're trying to see how well our bow is launching the arrow we don't want to do it downrange where Even if our arrow launch is crazy our fletchings have time to correct it and stabilize that flight We want to see how it is at launch or very close to launch. So that's the reason for that five ish yards Another key thing is you want to make sure if your paper's at five yards you want to make sure your target is let's just say like two yards behind it um or more if you want to really the key is you want to make sure that Your arrow passes completely through that piece of paper Before it hits your target because if it doesn't if your arrow is still in the piece of paper when it hits the target It's likely going to wiggle around Um, it's it's probably not going to hit that target, you know basically when it hits the target it's going to move around a little bit and it's going to Tear that paper in a way that is not representative Of how your bow is shooting that arrow so you'll you'll chase your tail a little bit if you start if you figure out that oh crap my target is too close to my piece of paper and What i'm actually seeing as far as paper tears go is the impact of the target So just make sure that it is far enough back where your arrow can completely pass through the piece of paper Before it hits the target and the the reason for the paper, I guess I should say Um is just so we can we have a way to kind of see How that arrow is flying at that five yard mark at that area where? Her fletchings haven't come in and started stabilizing arrow flight yet So you've got a level you've got paper Um, you've got your arrows you need some field points because what we're going to do is we're going to figure out How much weight up front our particular bow and our particular arrow shaft light? so I like to use the serious archery ranch fairy test kit And I have the 200 to 300 grain kit and then I kind of supplement that kit with 100 grain field points, which I feel like everybody has oftentimes they come with the arrows that come with your bow And then it's really easy to find 125 and 150 grain field points I don't have a 175 but I haven't really found that to be an issue. Um As far as you know, whatever a a gap in my field point weight So having a 100 a 125 and a 150 and then a 200 to 300 Um in 25 grain increments has worked really well for me Uh serious archery does have a 100 to 200 grain kit if you want to buy both you totally can um, if you wanted to just buy the whole you know as The the range of point weights as you can on amazon too and not buy from serious. That's totally fine, too I just find it's hard. Um, it's hard to find 200 to 300 grain points in those 25 grain increments But it's really easy to find 100s 125s and 150s So that's what i've got range fairy test kit 200 to 300 grains and then 100 125 and 150 And I like to start Uh, just with 100 grain field points. Uh, some people like to shoot 100 grain field points That's totally fine. If that's what you want to do a part of this process will uh will will apply to you um, I also like that because The less weight you have up front of your arrow uh, the less your arrow is going to flex or Kind of um the stiffer your arrow will be the more weight you put up front the more your arrow is going to flex and that simply because When you shoot your bow and your string starts loading your arrow It starts pushing the back before it starts pushing the front and the more weight you have up front the more Your arrow is going to bend the more that force is going to kind of have to load up before the front starts moving And I find that it's oftentimes easier with that stiffest Um, you know configuration to kind of find which fletching position shoots the best so I start with 100 grain field points And you're going to take however many arrows you've got whatever it is It could be three could be six could be a dozen However many you've got you're going to do this whole process for and guys I just will tell you know this process it takes a little bit of time It takes a you know a number of shots, but ultimately I have found it to be extremely valuable. Um inexpensive and You know just gives me more confidence in the woods when I know Exactly how my arrows are shooting making sure i'm shooting the best arrow first Um all that kind of stuff To me it's well worth the time and the effort make sure you guys are shooting a lot of shots. Make sure you are Waxing your string waxing your rail to your manufacturer's recommendations Just to make sure everything with the bow You know, you're not wearing something funny or you're not You know just excessive wear on your bow. Make sure you're keeping up with that as you do this process So you're going to start With whatever just arrow number one You're going to put that 100 grain field point on it You're going to shoot the odd feather down and i'm just assuming you guys have factory fletched arrows if you've fletched your own You know, you're just you're going to pick. Um, whichever fletching position is the first one You are going to shoot through that piece of paper and you're going to see how it tears And then I like to shoot all three of them. Um if By chance the first fletching position you shoot gives you a perfect bullet hole uh through paper and you want to Stop and just mark that as like. Yep. This is the fletching position i'm going to go with that's totally fine but I like to just confirm that Of the three fletching positions. I know which one is the best one So I shoot the odd feather down first and then I shoot one of the other Veins next and then I shoot the third one and I see of those three shots with arrow number one which fletching position produce the best Tear through paper and when I say a perfect bullet hole is what you're looking for or close to it what you're looking for is essentially one hole one hole where both your point and your knock are are Passing through the same point on that piece of paper and your fletching tears are a nice even 120 degrees What you will see on a bad tear is Something a little more oblong Um, kind of like a pill shape where it could be up Down left or right or on angles or stuff like that But you're basically going to see a bigger tear and that's where your your point and your knock are entering that piece of paper Differently so you'll get a bigger tear and then you'll usually in conjunction with that get fletching tears that are not Even not the same length of a fletching tear and they're not 120 degrees So what I see a lot of are like a t-shaped tear so i'll get kind of like a pill shape Uh for my point and my knock That'll be my hole and then a lot of times the fletchings will look like a t so the Two on the top or two on the bottom will be very straight and maybe a little shorter And then you'll have kind of a big long Other one where they're clearly not 120 degrees So i'll throw some images up too for you guys But basically you're going to take your number one shoot all three fletching positions and then you're going to pick which Fletching position was the best which of those three was the best and then you're going to sharpie on it I like to sharpie, you know, like a big black Arrow on it that says this is the fletching position. That is the best This is the one that's going to be down on my rail And that is what you guys are going to start paying attention to you're not going to pay attention to Odd colors or anything like that. You're going to pay attention to what you've sharpied And for arrow number one, you're going to set it aside And you're going to move to arrow number two Arrow number two, you're going to do the exact same thing hundred grain field point You're going to shoot each of the three fletching positions and you're going to pick which fletching position Was the best and you're going to sharpie on that one But now with arrow number two Your best tear or your best fletching position for arrow number two You're going to compare to the best one of arrow number one And you're going to say is arrow number two better or worse and you're going to start sorting them. So ultimately what you're going to have is each arrow The best fletching position for you to shoot down on your rail and then each arrow kind of ranked As far as which one tore the absolute best out of the three fletching positions, which was number two Which was number three, which is number four five six, whatever it is So you've got kind of a hierarchy if you will of your arrows So that's where I mean, there's a lot of shots that come into that. Um, But I think it's really valuable to have basically Know exactly which one is your very best arrow? Which one is number two? Which one is number three and Let's just say we're shooting six arrows here i'm going to take my top three And rank them one two and three and i'm going to set those aside Those are going to be my hunting arrows and then my arrows four five and six Uh, even though i've knock tuned them and i've paper tuned them. I know which fletching position is the best Those ones didn't tear quite as well. So those ones those are going to be my practice arrows All right. So now we've got our arrows ranked one through six We know for each of those arrows which fletching position is the best one being launched from our bow and This is important. Um, make sure you're you're doing this with the the same shaft because if you change arrow shafts um This whole process can change And i'll explain that here in a minute between like different shafts and different bows and things like that But they're all the same shaft. You've got them all ranked Now what you're going to do Is you're going to take I would probably take um You know arrow number one you could you could probably take any of them, but I would take arrow number one um, and I would Now start adding point weight So now what i'm going to do is I know that this arrow in this fletching position shoots really good out of my bow Now I want to see how much weight can I put up front? With that exact same fletching position and continue to shoot it before my flight starts Deteriorating before it starts getting bad Um, so i'll start next with a 125. I'll shoot that if it's still good move to a 150 shoot that move to a 200 or 225 all that you're just going to keep shooting the different point weights with that best arrow and you guys will find a point Where that number one arrow that fletching tear will start to get worse and then you kind of know Okay, i've got my window now of point weight that this particular shaft And this particular bow, whatever your arrow shaft and bow is that it likes as far as a point weight and then you guys Get to make you know kind of the decision as far as how you want to configure your arrow I Like to do that with just my number one arrow. So once I figure out Uh, what point weight let's say it shot good from 100 grains to 200 grains, that's that's my window and then when I went to 225 things started to change um that This particular arrow shaft like that should stay the same across the board So you don't necessarily if you don't want to I have found have to shoot All six of your arrows or all three of your hunting arrows with the different point weights Um, sometimes I do like to I know this is a little bit of tangent sometimes I do like to take maybe my worst arrow and um add that point weight to it and See if it cleans up a little bit because sometimes they might sometimes they might fly a little better with a little bit of point weight to them um So you totally can if you want to shoot all of them again Um with the different point weights go for it But what I have found normally is my best arrow i'm going to kind of use as the gauge for The particular shaft that i'm shooting and the particular bow that i'm shooting to figure out my point weight range And then I might go back. Let's say it, you know 200 was the max 200 still shot good when I went to 225 it started getting bad I might shoot arrow six arrow five And see if they clean up a little bit with a 200 grain point So now that you have not tuned all your arrows And you have figured out what the particular arrow shaft that you have in your bow that you are shooting that That arrow out of what it likes as far as weight up front Now this is kind of where you guys get to make some choices as far as how you want to configure your arrow So it's perfectly fine To leave the inserts in your arrow and just buy broadheads and field points to match Whatever it is that you want to shoot that you proved by shooting through paper still shoots really well, so We'll use this example of these killer instinct hyper arrows they Shot very well, um up to I think it was a 200 grain field point. So if I wanted to I go buy 200 grain broadheads 200 grain field points And I can shoot those and be confident if I wanted to you know Have as much foc and as much total arrow weight as I possibly can which is what I personally want to do but There's not a ton of options out there. Um Or not as many options with a 200 grain Arrowhead weight. So what you can do is you can Take the insert out And you can weigh it and you can see what your total up front arrow weight was that this particular shaft life Like because that is what really matters The insert weight plus the point weight so the inserts on these they're usually 65 grains so I know With this particular shaft that 265 grains up front works. Well And what I personally do is I Instead of buying 200 grain field points 200 grain broadheads. I really like 150 grain broadheads the reason I like those is because You get a little bit wider range of stuff. You're kind of right on the edge of You know replaceable blade fixed blades things like the magnus products, you know They've got a lot of 150 grain stuff and you guys know those are my you know, my favorite um, you're right on the edge of all those premium broadheads a lot of them or most of them, you know, the Serious archery or the the tough heads the vpas the iron wills those type of like high quality cut throats High quality machined broadheads 150 grains is usually where they start And you can also find if you if you are wanting to shoot a mechanical you can oftentimes find mechanicals in that 150 grain range More of them in the 125, but basically you get you get more options with 150 grains So what I do is I take the insert out and I Replace it with a 110 grain insert So I add insert weight and I take a little off the point and i'm at 260 grains I know it's not exactly the 265, but It works out just fine at least for me um I guess just note that it is a little bit different as far as foc or as far as how your arrow behaves of insert weight Um Like adding insert weight versus just adding point weight if you just add point weight, you know You're going to have more mass out towards the front of your arrow. So your foc is going to be a little bit different oftentimes if you add insert weight Those inserts are a little longer. So you've got you know, like a little bit more of a glued portion uh in your arrow shaft that you know really Changes, uh your spine or changes how much your arrow flexes um Those are those are real things and those are things that I think are true What I have not seen personally is a difference in Arrow flight or performance. I think those differences of having you know a lighter insert and more point weight versus insert Weight higher insert weight and less point weight. I haven't seen a difference um I i'm not saying that the difference isn't there I just think at least for the setups that i've been shooting that difference is negligible with my margin for error and I guess kind of You know realistic expectations when a broadhead is on there like those types of things. I haven't had any problems With uh with adding insert weight and going with the lighter point versus keeping the insert light and going a heavier point So that is totally up to you guys Um, so now that you have found Uh your your total arrow weight, I guess, you know what I should say this because this had a couple of questions. Um Getting an insert out What I like to do is a little bit of a combo of I like to Use either a drill bit or something to kind of like smack the insert out of the arrow Um that comboed with heat So what I have found is that if you just use heat Um, a lot of guys will put a field point on their arrow And they'll heat it up and they'll try to pull it out with pliers and I have done that and that has worked I've also done that and i've damaged, uh the carbon i've got it too hot Where when I pull that insert out I get like a curly cue of carbon Um, I have done just the straight drill bit. What I say is you take a drill bit I don't know if i've got one laying around here I'm, sorry you guys but basically the you know, the end that you would chuck in your drill just the flat Cylindrical end you're gonna take your knock off You're gonna put that down in your arrow shaft and you want something That is going to slide in your arrow shaft like one of the biggest ones that slides freely um And what you're going to do is you're just going to hold like the end of your arrow So that drill bit doesn't come out and you guys need to be careful or do this in an area where it's okay to do it But you're basically just going to go like that. You're just going to whip your arrow You're going to make that drill bit slide really fast and bang into your insert and it will knock your insert out A lot of times you can do just the drill bit method Um, sometimes if your insert is being a little bit of a pain in the butt I like to then put the field point on put just a Like a little bit of heat on it and when I put heat on it I use a candle don't use a blow torch or something that's going to heat it up really fast But just roll that field point, you know nice and slowly in a candle Feel on the carbon feel that it's getting warm then try the drill bit again And usually I don't have a problem knocking inserts out. Um, so that that is how you guys can can change your insert so Once you have figured out how you want to combo it up. Let's say you've built your arrows um you Figured out. Okay. I want to shoot this point weight this insert weight Now it's time um to go to broad heads And so I take those three best arrows and i've got them numbered arrow number one arrow number two Arrow number three i'm going to take my pack of broad heads my three broad heads and i'm going to shoot Each arrow with each broad head And what i'm going to do is i'm going to figure out between my three best arrows and my broad heads which pairs Shoot the best so what I want to do is i'm just trying to mate up the You know the combination of broad head and arrow shaft To give me basically my three best hunting arrows that I know Each configuration or each pair is is the best arrow flight I can get and the reason i'm doing that is because Broad heads just like arrows None of them are made perfect. They all have tolerances built into them And by simply by shooting, you know, three different broad heads with the same arrow You are likely to get and it might be small but you are likely to get some different arrow flight just by you know Um by the tolerances that are built into that particular arrow how straight it is um and how how straight how flat how Whatever how well aligned the blades are of each particular broad head while it may be minuscule Um, it's a good thing to do just to pair up your best pairs and once you know Okay with arrow number one my best arrow. This is the broad head that shot the best So i'm going to sharpie a number one on that broad head And now that broad head and that arrow that is a pair and those that pair is going to stay together Same thing next up broad head number two. This is my second bet or sorry arrow number two This is my second best arrow and this broad head is the one that flew best with it That is going to be my second shot. That's going to be the second arrow coming out of my quiver Same thing with arrow number three. So now you guys have the absolute best pair you can make On your best arrow the one that you know is coming out of your bow first when you're out there hunting And then your backup arrow your third arrow that kind of stuff It might seem tedious it might seem like a lot of work but like I said it it it is a lot of times it is just time and I think you guys and from what I have seen how much you can clean up your groups how much more consistent you can be How well you can get fixed blade broad heads to fly out of crossbows. Um, it's it's honestly It's pretty darn cool. Um Compared to if you just slapped a broad head on a random arrow and tried to shoot it and adjust your scope and stuff Um, I think you guys would be surprised how much this process Will just clean things up for you and make you more confident if you shoot fixed blade broad heads, you know Some broad heads they do they just fly better than others. Um, and what you guys might see is even with a Tuned arrow and broad head match to get that perfect pair Um Because fixed blade broad heads they have more surface area. They have more drag They might impact a little different than your field points And what I see a lot of times is I see that they hit a little low so Especially at extended ranges if you're going to try to stretch them out and really see how well they fly Um, you might see and i'm not talking a lot low, but i'm talking like, you know inch or two, uh Just just low you don't want to see erratic flight or left or right or it's sticking in the target You know in goofy angles if it is You know straight down the line left and right but just a little low That's okay. That might just be uh, depending on what broadhead you're shooting drag From it being a fixed blade broadhead and if you need to adjust your optics to match that that's that's totally okay You just don't want to see a bunch of crazy flyers left and right mechanical guys if you shoot a mechanical broadhead, um This will help you too because I know mechanicals they say on the box. They are field point accurate. I know they have a You know a profile that is closer to a field point, but they don't have a profile exactly like a field point they are not exactly like a field point and they They naturally will fly a little bit different and I think a lot of times they just fly within people's margin for error So we just think oh, yeah, it flies just like my field point. Um It doesn't it just flies within your you know capability um or you know close to your field point, but It's not exactly like your field point. So doing this is going to help you guys too a last point Is that this whole process? Um, once you get this figured out for your particular crossbow and the particular arrow shaft that you're shooting You can kind of expedite it because you know The shafts that you're going to shoot. Um They should be very very similar if you're buying the same brand like if you're buying You know these killer instinct hyper arrows or if you're buying the serious phoenix arrows Like once you figure out kind of the recipe that your bow likes If you buy more of them, you can probably just be like, okay I know that this shaft likes, you know, whatever 200 grain field points I'm going to keep the inserts exactly the same or however It is that you're going to do it and then just go ahead and not tune just go ahead and figure out what the best Fletching position is and go Because you've already figured out what the shaft um You know likes and doesn't like as far as point weights and stuff for your bow so you can expedite it a little bit but What I will say with a big but is if you change your bow you get a different bow Or you shoot a different arrow. It might not be the same so like different bows have a different, you know, basically like If you want to call it like an energy curve or basically a different way that they apply energy to the arrow Like they're all different a power curve. Maybe that's the right word. Um, same thing shafts um that they can be different, um A lot of them are similar, but a lot of them are not so if you change either getting a new bow or Getting different arrows. You might have to repeat Uh this process just to make sure you've got everything all dialed in You know to the level at which you had it originally so All right. I think that covers Everything as far as my process which I adopted and thanks again From troy fowler in his work with compound bows and translated it to a crossbow And I hope that helps you guys out. I hope that helps answer a bunch of questions I'm going to put product links you guys down below To a lot of the stuff that I described or a lot of the stuff that I use um and a few things that I didn't mention, you know in this video like fletchings if you want to fletch your own arrows or Fletching jigs or or things like that. I'm going to put a bunch of stuff down the description below So check that out if you're looking for particular pieces parts products things like that Um, and and definitely let me know if you guys have questions. You can post your questions down in the comments below I'll do my best to answer them. You guys can hit me up on I usually answer facebook a little faster Or you can shoot me emails if you have specific questions that I didn't cover in this video But I hope this helps you guys out and I hope you enjoyed it If you did, please as always do me a favor hit that like button down below Also, don't forget to subscribe and i'll see you guys soon on the next video. Take care God bless and remember be a sportsman make a sportsman