[wis-redneck]

There seems to be more conversations regarding the need for spine indexing to improve arrow consistency and accuracies. How important do you think it is?
Interestingly, I just talked with two bigger local well known archery shops, and both do not do spine indexing and in fact say it is a waste of time and not needed.
My thoughts are, that if you buy quality manufactured arrows that are at .001 straightness, they should still group tight enough for accurate kill shots out to 40 yards.
Hypothetically, if a deer's heart is about six inch's in diameter and you are shooting a six inch group at forty yards, you would still be achieving a fatal hit.

So the question would be for you that spine index, why do you require it and for what reasons?

 

[frederick d. be]

When I shot competition vertically it was extremely important because at the longest distances in FITA and NFAA you need consistency. Even when I shot competitively in the ASA with the crossbow it was important as I wanted consistency from shaft to shaft. I still think it is important in hunting because I want consistency from shot to shot....I want to know that my arrows/bolts are as evenly matched as I can make them....and I do make my own. To each their own but try a broadhead on an arrow that has not been spine indexed and compare it to another that has not been spine indexed out of the same batch of arrows and I bet you will get inconsistent results....bad groups. And then again....maybe not if you are lucky.

 

[lonny996]

I myself want the most accurate thing I can get to make up for human error. I would want something shooting closer to 1/2 in groups at 40 not 6 in groups at 40. But I am sure any arrow will shoot better than 6 in groups at 40 yards. If I miss I want to know it was me. Confidence in your equipment will make you a better shooter. One less thing I have to worry about when I pull the trigger.

 

[Driftless Hunter]

My experience is mostly compound bows, and I became a believer in spine aligned arrows when I switched to Victory arrows.

In my opinion, arrow straightness doesn't indicate how an arrow may flex at the shot. Spine aligning one's arrows tries to address this important feature of arrow flight.

If given the choice, I think I would pick a dozen arrows with .003 straightness that are spine aligned over .001 straightness arrows that aren't spine aligned.

Once I switched to .001 Victory arrows that come spine aligned from the factory, I wouldn't shoot anything else that isn't also spine aligned. Arrows that flex somewhat the same at release are going to be more consistent with each other, especially with fixed blade broadheads attached to them (in my opinion).

I haven't shot a crossbow enough to expand on the importance of spine alignment. I'm just a firm believer in spine aligned arrows for my compound. Each of my Victory arrows come with the spine line marked & in line with the cock vane from the factory. I shoot cock vane up on a drop away rest. The bottom of the Victory arrow shafts have no markings opposite of the cock vane, which makes their ICE coating shafts even more slick. No ICE coating is applied where the vanes are attached, & vanes are quite secure. I am so impressed by their attention to detail in a hunting arrow.

Some of this is not important for a crossbow shooter, because you're not pulling back on a deer prior to the shot.

If an archery shop owner is really honest, they will tell you that they sell what is marketed & sells best. That is not always the best made product, however. My closest archery shop owner told me he sells Carbon Express & Easton arrows because they are the best known. Even though he knows Victory arrows are superior in several ways, it can still be a hard sell for him. The same goes for bows. If you want to be legit archery shop in Wisconsin, you most likely need to sell Mathews. That doesn't mean Mathews makes the best bows. Mathews, however, does all the marketing/advertising for you. If you walk in thinking Mathews is great, that's what they will sell you. If you walk in with an open mind, you may leave with something else. I don't know if things are all that different for crossbows?

I don't see archery shops being loyal to Ravin for example. Then again, I go to a local Fleet Farm & buy a R18, R10, R29X, or R500. You're not going to find a Mission crossbow at a Fleet Farm.

Sorry, I got off topic. I just think archery shops push & stock what they think will sell. Well known brands sell, but they aren't always the best.

 

[Huntersthompson]

Spine indexing or just nock tuning is like balancing your tires. It is noticable in the performance. Big shops are into mass sales not individuals want/ need of fine tuning. I fletch in one color and nock tune my arrows. The drawback from spine indexing is that once in a while,you will get an arrow that has to be stripped and refletched between the first vanes in order to shoot dead on with the others. Not often ,say 1 in 15. When spine indexed correctly it eliminates that.

 

[Generator]

If you're into accurate equipment, like 3MOA or better, spine indexing is the single most important arrow tuning task. If your happy hitting a paper plate at 30 yards, buy what you want, any off the shelf arrow will accomplish that. I expect my POA to match my POI. It's all about personal expectations.

 

[Huntersthompson]

I want to hit dots this size, not a 7 inch plate

 

[rt2bowhunter]

Here's how i look at it.
1. spin indexing makes or allows your arrows to more closely match other arrows in a 12 doz or how ever many. It does not make a single arrow shoot better.
2. My goal is to shoot as good as i can in the field. Let's say my max is 50 yards and the best i can shoot hunting. Is a 5" group maybe i have a rest of some kind maybe i don't' but its not shooting off my porch. For one the deers not there and i don't have to hold the bow ready to shoot waiting on a shot. If the best my arrows will shoot off a good rest is 5" at 50 yards. I won't have that in the field. I don't know what i will have i could be 10" off. If my arrows shoot a ragged hole at 50 yards i'll have my 5" hunting group in the field.

I just picked those numbers out of the air . But that's how i look at it and why i index and then shoot tune every arrow with a broadhead. Shot placement rules.

 

[fly]

what i understood from op is that those shops dosnt care about accuracy

ive never heard of shooter that dosnt care accuracy

 

[JOE PA]

Put a fixed blade broadhead on the end of that arrow, then tell me indexing is a waste of time. That local shop just doesn’t want to be bothered.

 

[Driftless Hunter]

If you hunt with one arrow, spine alignment is a waste of time/money. If you hunt with two arrows, I think having them spine aligned the same is important! I don't want two arrows with different vanes or broadheads either.

 

[No1Rackmaster]

with field points 40 yards and under with a mid speed bow theres really no difference...i.m.o.
It becomes very obvious as speed goes up and broadheads are added.
The more energy put to the arrow the more it matters.

 

[rt2bowhunter]

with field points 40 yards and under with a mid speed bow theres really no difference...i.m.o.
It becomes very obvious as speed goes up and broadheads are added.
The more energy put to the arrow the more it matters.

My experience.
The Strikeforce would have benefited. But i knew nothing about it at the time.
The Excal Ibex didn't need it.
The scorpyd rdt 125 is the first bow i started using indexed arrows.
The Excalubur Y25 didn't need it. But i used it.
And i have been using it every since.
Now i also shot tune with broadheads also.

So yeah i'll agree with that .

 

[JerryR]

There seems to be more conversations regarding the need for spine indexing to improve arrow consistency and accuracies. How important do you think it is?
Interestingly, I just talked with two bigger local well known archery shops, and both do not do spine indexing and in fact say it is a waste of time and not needed.
My thoughts are, that if you buy quality manufactured arrows that are at .001 straightness, they should still group tight enough for accurate kill shots out to 40 yards.
Hypothetically, if a deer's heart is about six inch's in diameter and you are shooting a six inch group at forty yards, you would still be achieving a fatal hit.

So the question would be for you that spine index, why do you require it and for what reasons?

Is indexed required in a hunting arrow?

Only if you have issues tuning broadheads

But it's easy to do so why not take advantage of the process

Indexing does 2 things? It makes good arrows exceptional and it makes mediocre great

There are two ways to index, a spine tester and nock tuning arrows prior to fletching

Because some bows are difficult because nocks are glued or very tight its best to index.

You do not need to have an expensive tool, a few pieces of wood and a few nails you can mock up a simple tool. Even the weight can be made out of some lead, brass or steel scrap

So if your arrows group for hunting and you don't compete you may be fine with arrows that aren't indexed

We need to remember some are happy with a 3 in group at 40 yards, some want to see a single hole after shooting a set of arrows

 

[Dirt fahmah]

I have and shoot both. Their are advantages to having an indexed set of shafts, and their can be advantages to broadhead tuning. I like broadhead tuning because I can make different heads fly to the same POI. In my quiver I can have a couple fixed heads for deer, a big mechanical head for turkey and a Rip Trick for a pesky squirrel or tasty grouse and know that they'll shoot to the same POI or reasonably close.
With my faster recurves I have a set of indexed shafts and I wouldn't think of using one on anything smaller than a yote or turkey.

✌DF

 

[JerryR]

I have and shoot both. Their are advantages to having an indexed set of shafts, and their can be advantages to broadhead tuning. I like broadhead tuning because I can make different heads fly to the same POI. In my quiver I can have a couple fixed heads for deer, a big mechanical head for turkey and a Rip Trick for a pesky squirrel or tasty grouse and know that they'll shoot to the same POI or reasonably close.
With my faster recurves I have a set of indexed shafts and I wouldn't think of using one on anything smaller than a yote or turkey.

✌DF

This is a very good point

If the broadhead is very concentric the indexing will benefit the hunting arrow. But if the broadhead isn't concentric it can over and guide the shaft overpowering the indexing

So if you have a set of indexed arrows grouping really tight at 60 plus yards. Then are all over the place after you put the broadheads on they are not concentric

Now this does not mean the heads aren't spinning true, concentricity and where the very point of a head Spins can be two different things.

It is entirely possible to have heads that spin true yet overpower the arrow, there could be a number of things cause this. Weight out of balance, a blade that looks fine could be slightly bent etc

 

[ramrod]

Jerry, your last two post were good stuff!

 

[The man.]

I have and shoot both. Their are advantages to having an indexed set of shafts, and their can be advantages to broadhead tuning. I like broadhead tuning because I can make different heads fly to the same POI. In my quiver I can have a couple fixed heads for deer, a big mechanical head for turkey and a Rip Trick for a pesky squirrel or tasty grouse and know that they'll shoot to the same POI or reasonably close.
With my faster recurves I have a set of indexed shafts and I wouldn't think of using one on anything smaller than a yote or turkey.

✌DF

Sounds like my quiver and when people see it they get concerned 😂 I know what they are going to do 😃

 

[No1Rackmaster]

I believe all the spine indexing and matching can go right out the window if the insert is not ground perpendicular the the shaft center line.
Again probably never notice with a field points but you sure will notice this not being done when shoot any broad head off a fast bow. If your arrows are a spine indexed and matched built and your still not grouping broad heads..... you have more squaring to do.

Take .001" out of alinement and trig out that amount to 60 yrds.............................

 

[Stalker]

There seems to be more conversations regarding the need for spine indexing to improve arrow consistency and accuracies. How important do you think it is?
Interestingly, I just talked with two bigger local well known archery shops, and both do not do spine indexing and in fact say it is a waste of time and not needed.
My thoughts are, that if you buy quality manufactured arrows that are at .001 straightness, they should still group tight enough for accurate kill shots out to 40 yards.
Hypothetically, if a deer's heart is about six inch's in diameter and you are shooting a six inch group at forty yards, you would still be achieving a fatal hit.

So the question would be for you that spine index, why do you require it and for what reasons?

I guess it all depends on what group size your after.

I personally spine index all of my shafts and fletch accordingly. With that said its still not perfect and I have to switch to a different cock vane now and then. Thats probably due to the shafts spine not being perfectly matched in most cases.

I dont shoot over 400fps. I have bows that shoot from the 290's up to 400 fps. It seems to be just as important to the slower bows as the faster ones. A 6" group at 40 yards is unacceptable to me. Here's a video I made shooting at 40 yards. 1" group if not less with field points. The group will widen with broad heads. Usually under 2" if not better depending on the heads and bow tuning etc.