I am a stickler for accuracy whether it be a bow, gun or sling shot lololol. I don't accept just being close, I want to hit where I aim. At 30 yards, all my shots better be in a 1" circle or I ain't even close to happy. I also like doing things myself. I am what I would call DIY friendly. I like fletching my own arrows, tying my own trout flies and such. So, I bought indexed shafts and fletched them myself. I was pretty disappointed with my results. I have been fletching for about 40 years so been there. Mine don't look like custom quality but they work. I was careful to fletch each one with the index dot in the same place.
Now for the accuracy part. Out of 3 dozen shafts, I had a more than dozen groups. 5 arrows out of 36 would hit my spot every time I did my part. The rest were consistent but at different spots. 2 were left, 2 were high, 3 were low right and so on. These arrows would hit the same spot time after time but not my spot. Then I saw a post on here with guys who were chasing accuracy like me. I don't remember who they were but maybe one of them will read this and take credit or let me give them credit for the idea. They used a clamp to bend the shafts to mark them. I had the clamp already and decided to try it. I drilled a dent in each clamp jaw just enough for a target point not to slip. I started with bare shafts and an insert glued in the business end. I put another insert with a sharp pointed target point screwed in it in the nock end of the arrow, not glued in. I put the arrow in the clamp with the two target points in their respective dent. Holding the clamp vertical, I screwed the handle to get a good 1" bend in the middle of the shaft. I rotated the shaft to align the bend of the arrow and the clamp bar making it easier to get it precise for the mark. At the fletching end, I made a mark on the shaft on the outside of the bend trying to be as precise as I could with my marks. I then fletched these with my mark between the hen vanes. I saw no correlation what so ever to my mark and the index dot the shafts came with. That dot and my mark were all over the place in the 360*.
The result was nearly unbelievable to me. I have done 16 shafts. 15 of those shafts now hit in my spot. One shaft hits 3" high at 30 yards no matter where I turn the nock. So I had one cull out of the first 16 shafts. I'LL TAKE IT!!!
The dent
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The clamp
![Image]()
To the guy that came up with this idea, THANK YOU FOR SHARING! You have saved me a ton of grief. I now have a pile of arrows I can take to the woods with complete confidence that if I do my part, the arrow will do it's.
Now for the accuracy part. Out of 3 dozen shafts, I had a more than dozen groups. 5 arrows out of 36 would hit my spot every time I did my part. The rest were consistent but at different spots. 2 were left, 2 were high, 3 were low right and so on. These arrows would hit the same spot time after time but not my spot. Then I saw a post on here with guys who were chasing accuracy like me. I don't remember who they were but maybe one of them will read this and take credit or let me give them credit for the idea. They used a clamp to bend the shafts to mark them. I had the clamp already and decided to try it. I drilled a dent in each clamp jaw just enough for a target point not to slip. I started with bare shafts and an insert glued in the business end. I put another insert with a sharp pointed target point screwed in it in the nock end of the arrow, not glued in. I put the arrow in the clamp with the two target points in their respective dent. Holding the clamp vertical, I screwed the handle to get a good 1" bend in the middle of the shaft. I rotated the shaft to align the bend of the arrow and the clamp bar making it easier to get it precise for the mark. At the fletching end, I made a mark on the shaft on the outside of the bend trying to be as precise as I could with my marks. I then fletched these with my mark between the hen vanes. I saw no correlation what so ever to my mark and the index dot the shafts came with. That dot and my mark were all over the place in the 360*.
The result was nearly unbelievable to me. I have done 16 shafts. 15 of those shafts now hit in my spot. One shaft hits 3" high at 30 yards no matter where I turn the nock. So I had one cull out of the first 16 shafts. I'LL TAKE IT!!!
The dent
The clamp
To the guy that came up with this idea, THANK YOU FOR SHARING! You have saved me a ton of grief. I now have a pile of arrows I can take to the woods with complete confidence that if I do my part, the arrow will do it's.
