Bow hunting Tech question
- Thread starter Meanea
- Start date
Not all arrows are fletched helically. You can have them straight or helical, the later being the more popular. The helical fletching makes the arrow rotate. In either case the arrow is top heavy and once it is fired the center of gravity is in the front of the arrow with the drag being at the rear, amplified by the fletchings, causing it to fly straight. The front actually pulls the back behind it.
I don't know if I did that good a job explaining it, sorry if it only makes sense to me
.
I don't know if I did that good a job explaining it, sorry if it only makes sense to me
.
)
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Shoot an unfletched traditional broadhead ( Zwickey, Magnus, etc) and it will go crazy without the steering fletch!ivo said:Not all arrows are fletched helically. You can have them straight or helical, the later being the more popular. The helical fletching makes the arrow rotate. In either case the arrow is top heavy and once it is fired the center of gravity is in the front of the arrow with the drag being at the rear, amplified by the fletchings, causing it to fly straight. The front actually pulls the back behind it.
I don't know if I did that good a job explaining it, sorry if it only makes sense to me
Cat
Meanea said:
Feathers or vanes are essential to steering and stabilizing an arrow. Depending on what type of bow you are using, you must use either feather fletching or plastic vanes. In my experience, feather fletching is far and away superior for arrow stabilization and accuracy, but their drawbacks are they tend to be noisy in flight and are not good to use in wet weather.
A bow using an arrow rest (ie: compound bow) is usually best served with plastic fletching. A recurve or longbow, on the other hand, is usually shot "off the shelf" with no arrow rest, and feathers must be used because of the fact that they will flatten out upon passing the shelf, whereas plastic vanes will cause the arrow to bounce off the riser and go all over the place.
Feathers or vanes can be either helical fletched, straight or straight offset. Generally speaking, the larger your broadhead the more spin will be required for your arrow. If you are only shooting field points, straight or straight offset is fine; if you are using hunting broadheads, then you will want some spin to the arrow and helical fletching is neccessary.
Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't matter what direction your helical fletching goes (ie: right hand or left hand helical) as the arrow does not begin to spin until well after clearing the bow.
A long winded response, but hope that this helps!
- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
The Ice man had some helical in his fletching . Which is funny why the big gap to rifled barrels.
Anyway fletching , plastic or feathers will have a great deal to do with how accurate the bow and arrow combo will be. I like 3 feather 5 inch shield cut with high oil line. Got some wild turkey fletched to some nice 11/32 cedar shafts.
Broadheads are zwickie 2 blade. The Delta is a good blade.
A note on fletching, feathers work well on wood, and can be deadly. BITZENBURGER jig is a very nice rig.
Anyway fletching , plastic or feathers will have a great deal to do with how accurate the bow and arrow combo will be. I like 3 feather 5 inch shield cut with high oil line. Got some wild turkey fletched to some nice 11/32 cedar shafts.
Broadheads are zwickie 2 blade. The Delta is a good blade.
A note on fletching, feathers work well on wood, and can be deadly. BITZENBURGER jig is a very nice rig.
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
I use a multi fletcher mostly, but have several single fletchers as well.
After 40 years of messing with different fletch/broadhead designs, I have spent the last ten with what I originally started with,
3-5" fletch in helical and a Zwickey Delta! ( never got away from wood , though!!)
Cat
After 40 years of messing with different fletch/broadhead designs, I have spent the last ten with what I originally started with,
3-5" fletch in helical and a Zwickey Delta! ( never got away from wood , though!!)
Cat
Meanea said:
If you read my previous post, the answer is yes, the arrow does spin, if it has helical fletching (fletching that is slightly curved around the shaft.) The wind passing through the feathers or vanes while the arrow is in flight causes the arrow to spin, much like a rifle bullet.
Here you go...very informative reading....this is chapter 4. The other chapters are great too
http://www.huntersfriend.com/arrowhelp/arrow-selection-4.htm
http://www.huntersfriend.com/arrowhelp/arrow-selection-4.htm
