Shooting Broadheads

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I bought a new bow early in the summer, and have been shooting it like crazy since then, like 300-500 arrows a week. I've gotten really accurate out to 40 yards, which was my goal for an effective range before the season starts (September 4).

Well I finally bought broadheads, and went with the basic three blade Muzzy because I'm too poor to justify anything else. Everything I've read said they work fine too, just aren't anything fancy.

I went out and shot them in my yard today at twenty yards, and whereas I'm hitting 1"-2" groups with the field points, I'm shooting 6" groups with the broadheads.

Any advice on what I should do to try and figure out how to shoot these? Is there anything specific I should be checking on the alignment of the blades or anything I should look at?
Or is this just the drawback of going with the cheaper broadhead?

 

[Dinkshooter]

I Love Muzzy's not sure why they get a bad rap????

Shoot through paper and see how your arrows are tracking. Knock high, low, rest left, rest right. Move nock and rest as needed. It is really not that hard after you get the hang of it.

Easton.com use to have a printable sheet on paper tuning that was very good.

 

[Sytes]

Randy,
A friend sent me this link recently... Interesting you ran into an issue I recently bumped as well...
IMO, having purchased a new bow after using my old one for some 15 years, I believe some aspects stand out much more now than before. My groups were reasonably tight though there was a noticable difference between broads and fields.

Anyhow, here is the link:

http://www.bowhuntingmag.com/tactics/broadhead_flight/

Yes, broadheads are more difficult to shoot accurately than field points, but making broadheads shoot well doesn't require a Ph.D. or years of experience as a bowsmith. It only requires that you pay attention to certain details.

Edit added: just saw dinks post and recall a point right along the same lines in the article...

The first thing you have to do is make sure your setup is truly tuned. Don't be fooled into thinking that your bow is in tune because you can shoot tight groups with field points. Field points can be very forgiving, and it's possible for an out-of-tune bow to shoot one-inch groups at 20 yards with field points. (This is why mechanical broadheads tend to group better. They're much more like field points.)

 

[Buschy]

I am not a technical bow guy, I just shoot them after they are set up by the guys that know what they are doing. I did but quit shooting field points years ago because of the same problems your having. I shoot broadheads, for the most part, all year long to work out all of the issues and gain confidence everything is working as it's supposed to.

PM Upper Deck. He worked in a bow shop for years and understands the technical aspects of bows. He is my "goto" guy when my bow isn't cooperating.

I hope you get it corrected before season. Good luck!

 

[Devil Diver Down]

I'm a newby archer myself, so take this with a grain (the size of the Rock of Gibraltar) of salt, but it sounds like your bow is slightly out of tune. Shooting field points is forgiving enough to allow them to group together well, but broadheads are much less forgiving. I'm with Dink on shooting paper and if you're getting a good tear take a look at this thread from AT on tuning for broadheads.

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=539460

 

[fiveptbill]

I have found that especially with Muzzy's you have to spin them to make sure they spin true. This is to make sure that the broadhead is not wobbling. If you have even a little wobble this will cause erratic flight. I have shot Muzzy's for years and have found once you get them spinning good they fly as well as anything out there.

 

[mdunc8]

I forgot what I bought for expandables last year, but mine didn't spin true out of the box. Spin test your arrows with the broadheads on to make sure they're sitting perfecting aligned in your insert. You can try bending them, very lightly, to see if you can straighten them out. I use G5 Montecs for my fixed blade broadheads which seem to be as accurate as my field points. I've never had to do anything to get them to fly straight (even with my POS 15 year old bow).

 

[Baerman]

i'm shooting the 100 grain three blade muzzy's and they fly nearly identical to my field points. I have no issues with the Muzzy's. Like most others are saying it must be a tuning issue

Please update us when you get it figured out. I'm curious if it's the product or the tune on your set up.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Randy,

What everybody else said about spinning them to make sure there is no wobble is the MOST important part. Sometimes it helps to switch the wobbly broadheads to different arrows. Most of the time you can find a combination where nearly all of them will spin true. It may be the inserts aren't true and not necessarily the broadhead.

That should take care of your group sizes increasing. It's a very common phenomenon that your broadheads don't group exactly with your field points, but they should group with themselves.

There's some really good threads on Bowsite about this very thing. Do a search on Broadhead tuning and you'll get more info than you can process. Hope this helps.

I seriously doubt its the broadheads fault.

 

[thecrittergitter]

Randy,

mdunc8 is right on track i have found. I shoot 4 blade magnus stingers which for the money, i have found to be about the best flying and killing broadhead i've ever shot. The very few that have not hit exactly the same as my field points did NOT spin perfectly true. I think if you spin them and they are true, they will fly the same as field points.

 

[upper deck]

Randy

At the end of the day to get a broadhead to group you need to start with the bow. If it's a single came you need to start with making sure it is in tune (string stretch) if it's a dual cam the timing.

Then make sure the arrow paper tunes correctly and make sure the arrow spine is correct, should reflect in the paper tune test. If you are to error make sure it is in the side of a stiff arrow.

After you go through those two you should have no problem grouping broadheads. The broadhead itself will have little effect being that you are using muzzy or any modern designed Head.

I have found if you tune the bow properly you can get about any fixed blade to fly especially at moderate speeds. My personal set up shoots about 305 and it really doesn't matter what head I shoot and they all fly well. I have had great luck with the wasp boss bullet, you will not see much if any advertisement on this head but against everything else they are very tough and fly great.

 

[IdahoBugler]

It looks like a lot of good advice from everyone above. The very first thing I would do is shoot a field point arrow through paper. This will tell you right of the gates if your arrow is not coming out of your bow straight. Look at the easton tuning guide that dinkshooter posted (really easy stuff to do). I have always moved my rest. (I don't have the money to switch arrows (stiffness, etc), don't want to lower my poundage and don't want to re-buy broadheads to lighten my heads) With that said I have always been able to fix any paper issues by moving my rest. Another thing to watch here is fletching contact. You will have a tough time getting rid of paper tears if you have clearance problems. Add lipstick or powder to your rest and riser and monitor for clearance problems.

After paper tuning the next step for me is tuning my broadheads to my arrows. Like everyone is saying spin test your broadheads. Wobbles are unacceptable. I've had arrows spin terrible and then spin great on another arrow. So just swap heads around until you get a handful of good arrows.

Go out and shoot and see which arrows fly the best. I usually start with 2 dozen arrows and will end up with 10-12 hunting arrows and 12-14 practice arrows. Only the best shooting arrows make my hunting quivers.

I'm not saying this is the only or best way to do things but this is just how I have done it. Good luck with your setup.

P.S. Like crittergetter I shoot he Magnus Stingers/Buzzcuts and absolutely love 'em. You can't beat the lifetime warranty associated with them. As long as you don't loose them just send the mangled up head back and they will replace them.

 

[Dinkshooter]

I also number all my arrows in July. If I find one that doesn't shoot broadheads it gets marked with a X.....................no broadheads.

 

[mdhunter]

If all the above advice can't get you straight, something is seriously amiss. I suffered from the exact same problem until I had someone who really knew what they were doing paper tune my bow and help dial me in. You should expect great results when shooting broadheads and the results are achievable.

 

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Thanks guys,
That's reassuring that it's a pretty common problem.
I span the arrows I was shooting, and I can't see any obvious wobble.
I don't have time today, but I'll through up some paper in the morning and start from there.

 

[Drake4]

If you don't have time to mess with it yourself, I bet your local archery shop won't charge more than $10-15 to paper tune it for you. Although some won't mess w/ broadheads.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Randy, if its not convenient to get to a place and paper tune you can do what is called walk back tuning.

Start at whatever yardage you have a noticeable difference in impact between your field points and broadheads. Then move your rest ever so slightly to bring the groups together. The key to remember is chase your field points with your broadheads. I.E. if your field points are grouping high and left of your broadheads, move your rest up and left. (We are talking miniscule amounts of rest movement here)

I like to do it at about 40 yards because at that distance any tuning problems should show up in the groups you shoot.

One other thing that nobody has mentioned yet but may be a factor is your shooting form. Any discrepancy in grip, hand torque, or anchor point may be enough to through your groups off with b-heads.

The other thing is if you are getting fletching contact with your rest you must eliminate that before any of these other suggestions will work.

 

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So I need to move my knocking point down a smidge and move the rest right a little?
As far as fletching contact goes, I'm using a whisker biscuit, so that shouldn't be a concern right?

 

[Dinkshooter]

I would move the rest right first then shoot a broadhead again. Sometime broadheads shoot best a little knock high on a single cam I think.

 

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Like 1/16" maybe?