Bow Accuracy - When do you call it good?

NDwalleyes · Aug 25, 2015

So yesterday morning I took advantage of the calm winds to tune-up the bow. Now I'm no expert archer, I consider myself average at best.. My goal is to have my grouping size correlate with my yardage, so 20 yards=2 inch group, 40 yards=4 inch group...and so on. I'm not one to take shots beyond 40 yards simply because my confidence falls off significantly at that range and then when you add a little wind to the equation.....

What are everyone else's expectations and accuracy goals inside of 40 yards?

deleted_account · Aug 25, 2015

I totally agree with you. One that has helped me is shooting at 60 yards. I would never shoot that far hunting cuz I'm just not comfortable with that shot but when you shoot at 50-60 it makes shooting at 30 seem like a chip shot.

Rowdie · Aug 25, 2015

Ya, until that monster is out at 60 yds, and you just can't get'em closer. Then you'll want to take the shot.

Account Deleted · Aug 25, 2015

Don't really have a set idea I guess. Just finally have my fixies grouping with my field points. Only took two years of pull my hair out frustration (it was my draw length).

LOV2HNT · Aug 25, 2015

I practice at twice the yardage I am willing to shoot something at. Not for everyone, but if you can do this those 20,30,40 yard shots you have a lot more confidence.

NDwalleyes · Aug 25, 2015

Rowdie said:
Ya, until that monster is out at 60 yds, and you just can't get'em closer. Then you'll want to take the shot.

"Want to" being the key word. My worst fear is seeing a big buck running around with an arrow sticking out of it's back or wounding one and it dying and not being found.

dust in the wind · Aug 25, 2015

I call it good when my fixed blades and field points group well at 60 - 70 yards. Then I know things are tuned up right. I've gotten to a 2" group at 60 yards with fixed and field points combined.

This comes with a great deal of practicing though. I haven't shot as much this year as I would have liked but I was still dropping a fixed blade within 2 to 3 inches of a field at 70 yards.

ETA: This doesn't mean I want to shoot at an animal at those distances. I still want them within 40 yards.

SupressYourself · Aug 25, 2015

I'm with Wags. I shoot 60-70 yards. There's a lot of focus and control required to shoot well at that range. When you get comfortable shooting at 70, it makes anything inside of 50 a gimme.

I've been out a few times with a 50 yard limit in my head, but ended up taking shots (and making clean kills) at 60-65. If not for practicing at 70, that could end differently.

DirtyMike · Aug 25, 2015

I think I've got to the range twice this year. Haven't shot a broad head yet. I'm a little behind. I do shoot in the garage quite often but it's only 11 yards. More of a muscle memory training for me. This week will be a bit different as far as training goes. Wife got me back in the gym and I can't exactly lift my arms yet.

guywhofishes · Aug 25, 2015

One solution is to shoot gonzo competitively for 4-5 years then relax about it. Cuz it will never leave you. Until your shoulders simply get weak, injured, or elsewise pussified. Luckily mine remain pretty functional.

I generally don't shoot close (<40 yds) cuz it's too hard on arrows. Shoot vast majority of the time at 40. Throw in some rounds at 50, 60, 70 more for fun than anything else. Gives a guy a skip in his step when he groups well (pie plate) at 60 or 70. After a close group at 60 I puff up my chest, walk into the house and brag about it to galwhofishes who says "that's nice sweety". ;:;banghead

DirtyMike · Aug 25, 2015

I've broke too many arrows shooting groups. Not for me.

Buckmaster81 · Aug 25, 2015

I am thinking about switching to a longer stabilizer on my XForce currently running a short limbsaver stabilizer anybody have some good suggestions??

guywhofishes · Aug 25, 2015

DirtyMike said:
I've broke too many arrows shooting groups. Not for me.

So you shoot just one at a time and walk back forth constantly? :;:

I shoot at a "deer" and vitals target so i stay used to judging size and location. 5 spots don't allow me to do that.

Account Deleted · Aug 25, 2015

Buckmaster81 said:
I am thinking about switching to a longer stabilizer on my XForce currently running a short limbsaver stabilizer anybody have some good suggestions??

I've read some literature that said until you are using a stabilizer 12" or longer, it makes no difference as far as accuracy is concerned. I think it was a Field and Stream writers test.

deleted_account · Aug 25, 2015

Buddy has a beestinger on his bow. I'll say it definitely makes a difference in how steady you can hold.

dust in the wind · Aug 25, 2015

Buckmaster81 said:
I am thinking about switching to a longer stabilizer on my XForce currently running a short limbsaver stabilizer anybody have some good suggestions??

I made some diy stabilizers so I could play around with the length and weight to find what worked best for me and the bow.

My finished product for one bow.

The one above is around 9 to 10 inches long with about 3.5 ounces of weight I believe.

the one I made for my other bow was a little shorter. They've been holding up really well.

DirtyMike · Aug 25, 2015

Buckmaster81 said:
I am thinking about switching to a longer stabilizer on my XForce currently running a short limbsaver stabilizer anybody have some good suggestions??

bee stinger.

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guywhofishes said:
So you shoot just one at a time and walk back forth constantly? :;:

I shoot at a "deer" and vitals target so i stay used to judging size and location. 5 spots don't allow me to do that.

I agree. For practice purposes I use spots. When hunting draws near, the deer target comes out. But even then, I don't like to get arrows too close to each other.

guywhofishes · Aug 25, 2015

DirtyMike said:
But even then, I don't like to get arrows too close to each other.

Agree. But to be honest I occasionally do pack them in at close range. There is something in a former competition shooter that gets a gooey feeling from a tight group.

Buckmaster81 · Aug 25, 2015

bckhntr said:
I made some diy stabilizers so I could play around with the length and weight to find what worked best for me and the bow.

My finished product for one bow.

The one above is around 9 to 10 inches long with about 3.5 ounces of weight I believe.

the one I made for my other bow was a little shorter. They've been holding up really well.

looks good what did you use?

dust in the wind · Aug 25, 2015

Buckmaster81 said:
looks good what did you use?

Here's the parts list

Here's where I got the carbon rod and ferrules

Carbon Rod
https://goodwinds.com/20985.html - carbon rod - 5/8 outside diameter, a little over half inch internal diameter. Went with a 4' piece I have a couple different sizes of stabilizers I want to build.

Ferrules
https://goodwinds.com/625-aluminum-ferrule.html

These fit nice over the outside of the carbon rod. Cut them down to about 1 7/8 long (roughly 3 per ferrule).

Brass Flanges (2) 5/8 flange diameter, 1/2 outside diameter, 3/8 internal diameter, 1 inch long
Found these at lowes, runnings and macs (typical hardware stores)

brass bearing sleeve (1) - 3/8 outside diameter, 1/4 internal diameter, 1 inch long
Found these at lowes, runnings and macs (typical hardware stores)

This fits inside one of the brass flanges. I used jb weld inbetween to keep them together. I also had to open the 1/4 internal diameter by 1/64 so I could get the tap to go down to create my 5/16 - 24 threads.

1 5/16 - 24 thread bolt 2 inches long. Also used jb weld to lock the bolt inside the one flange without the sleeve. Once that set up, I used my bench grinder to round the head of the bolt to match the diameter of the flange. You could may be go to 1 3/4 or 1 1/2 bolt but one inch of external threads fits fine inside my risers.

1 5/16 - 24 thread socket head bolt to attach the weights

For the weights, I used fender washers
I picked up 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch fender washers. Ended up using the 1 1/2 washers. These have a 5/16 hole in them but the socket head bolt holds them in place really well.

I used epoxy to adhere the ferrules to the carbon rod and to adhere the brass flanges to the carbon rod.

The dampner is a limb saver deresonator - same thing used on the b-stinger extreme hunter stabilizers. I found these run around 15 to 20 each but I found them at Mills Fleet farm for 8.99 on sale for 6.50 each. I did run across some at Scheels the other day for 11.99.

Also used plasti-dip on the weights to coat them incase they were causing a little noise and vibration.

I did rough everything up before putting it all together.

Note: the brass flange standing up, has the bearing sleeve inside with the threads tapped already.

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On the deresonator, I went with the one that fits 1/2 to 7/8 - it's a tight fit but does slide on.

- - - Updated - - -

Before I made the one above, I had bought a 6" bstinger but wasn't satisfied with the results and made some different length extensions out of copper so I could figure out the length I wanted/needed.

Bow Accuracy - When do you call it good?

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