Sight adjustment needed!?

[canhunter]

I started shooting at distance today, and I had to move my sights horizontally. What would cause this? Nothing has changed, but I was hitting a good 10" to the side at 40. I checked everything. The string is four years old but not frayed. Anyone have this happen? This was the first time I have ever had to make an adjustment from the first year.

 

[archerman]

String stretch?
Until I changed to a good string (winners choice), I had to constantly resight my bow. Now I haven't had to resight in about 1200 shots!
Archerman - Archery hunting addict!

 

[COLO3D]

It sounds like it was hitting right on at close range, as you said you finally shot at distances today. If you shoot at 40 or 50 and sight in your windage there you will have a more accurate setting. If the 20 and 40 are not hitting at the same point right and left then you have a tuning problem or an unlevel sight.

 

[Saskman]

LAST EDITED ON May-08-07 AT 07:19AM (MST) by BOHNTR (moderator)[p]It sounds like you may need to do some walk back tuning. Check out this thread on archery talk. You should be able to get some good info on how to walk back tune your bow.


Saskman

 

[BigPig]

Are your arrows fishtailing? It is either a bow tune issue (center shot is off) or a change in shooting form like torquing the grip or an inconsistent anchor point.

 

[canhunter]

Sorry more info was needed. My first pin is 40 and my last is 80. Majority of my practice is 60 and don't usually practice under 50. It is a LX that is three years old, and I have not had to make a sight adjustment after initial until now. Peep has not turned and nothing about set up,storage, maintenance, or anything has or was changed including the original string. After adjusting the sights it still drills them as well as always. No vertical adjustment was needed only horizontal. Checked everything and nothing is loose, and it is just as quiet as always on the shot. Just weird but I am new to archery (4 years) and was just wondering. I only shoot at 10yds most of the winter just to get the itch scratched. I checked after I had to make the adjustment and it still shoots bullet holes with a bare shaft through paper like it always has. I have shot it since the post and it hits dead on.

 

[BigPig]

Interesting pin set up?

Sounds like it is probably tuned but does it shoot broadheads with field points? Have you not shot in a while and just recently picked it back up? If so, you may have made an unintended change to your grip and/or anchor point.

Sounds like a change in form to me.

 

[canhunter]

Less then a three inch difference between field and broadheads past 50. Only shoot it a few times in the winter (Dec-April) and that is inside the shop around 40 feet. Thought about the grip thing also, but now it shoots to the new sight adjustment just fine. Who knows could be just a fluke or an unknown. Just hoping for the "oh yeah this is what caused it....." answer.

 

[quickdrawkinker]

"My first pin is 40 and my last is 80. Majority of my practice is 60 and don't usually practice under 50."

For starters how about a few more pins! If your bread and butter shot is 60 yards wouldn't it make sense to have a 60 yard pin??? You said you don't shoot much under 50, but say you got a wild hair to shoot a group at 20-30 yards (normal killing range) what would your groups look like? Besides adding more pins I'd try walk back tuning first (take a shot at 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards and so on shooting at the SAME spot on the target at each distance and if your arrows drift farther and farther off to one side then you know you've got to move your rest either way. Once you're able to get your arrows lined up straight (vertically) then you can move your site (windage) to the appropriate spot(always follow the arrow). After that take a bare shaft and shoot it(set the target at shoulder height) at 10 & 20 yards to see if the arrow is hitting level or if it's hitting tail up or down, move your rest or nock point accordingly to get the bare shaft level. After you've found your centershot and centernock alignment (by completing the walk back and bare shaft method) try shooting through paper to see how it looks; papertuning only works when your form is good--so if your form is not up to par I'd rely a little more heavily on the walk back and the bare shaft methods. Hope this helps! good luck!

 

[canhunter]

Quickdraw. I would not shoot past 70 in the field so I don't need any more pins for now. I have a 40-80 pin every ten yards. I shoot inside my shop every now and then just to shoot during the winter months. That only allows for about a 15yd shot. Is your normal killing range 20-30yds? I realize I am new to bow hunting (4yrs), but I averaged my three kill shots on three P&Y Mule bucks and it is +54yds. So is that my normal killing range? My groups are great -3" at 40yds. The only thing that moved was the POI, and that only moved horizontally. I originally paper tuned the bow, and checked it after I made the sight adjustment. Again if it had moved a couple times after the original sight in (summer 04)I could somewhat understand things settling in. Oh well I'm shooting it and it's working. Thanks for the input and suggestions.

 

[quickdrawkinker]

I guess a simple solution would be to shoot it through paper again, if it looks good move your sight, tighten everything down and call it good. At 40 yards the slightest movement with your rest, sight or anything else will drastically show up--so if anything has been bumped or if your string has settled a little this is probably what caused the POI to change. I re-tune and re-sight my bow several times during the year, so it doesn't surprise me that yours is off a little after nothing being done to it since the summer of 04'.