What is "Paper Tuned" ?

[HunterHarry]

I'm pretty new to archery, and even though I am very impressed with the accuracy that I am getting out of my Bowtech, a freind told me I should paper tune it.
I was short on time and didn't get the details.
Can someone please explain?

 

[Idahoelk]

Its when you shoot through a piece of paper that is held in a frame about the height of your bowhand at full draw. Most bowshops have such a set up. The point of all this is to see if your arrow is flying straight. If it is you will see what looks like a bullethole with 3 clean fletching marks. If your bow is out of tune you may get a side tear to the left or right, or a tear up or down. If you go to your nearest bowshop it will be much clearer than my poor explaination. But the point is to see how your bow is casting the arrow down range and make any nessisary adjustments until you have perfect arrow flight.

 

[c3]

There's one cavet regarding paper tuning. It is not so simple aa to say if you get bullet hole your set up is tuned properly.

Some bows will never papertune with a bullet hole. Grip center of pressure and nock travel are notoriously bad on some bows making it nearly impossible to paper tune them, yet they shoot perfect scores on the range.

Some of the lastest highest end bows available this year occationally have very poor nock travel due to a combination of factors and can not be made to shoot a bullet hole.

Also if you shoot fingers, paper tuning is completely worthless

Here's the Easton Tuning guide, that will tell you how to read a tear in the paper and what to do with it.

http://www.eastonarchery.com/downloads/pdfs/tuning_guide.zip (500k)

Cheers,
Pete

 

[cabinfever]

I am relatively knew to archery as well, and I have heard from some, that paper tuning is unnecessary and others say it's essential. It just seems to me if your arrow is resting level in the saddle and your brace height is even at both ends you should be set.

Mike

 

[archerybart]

Paper tuning is an excercise where you shoot your arrows through paper at 4-6 feet away. Based on the hole it puts in the paper it suggests what the arrow is doing when it comes out of the bow. From that you can make adjustments to your set-up to change the arrows performance as it exits the bow.

There's lots of opinions on whether there's value to doing it or not. Personally I paper tuned my set-up and then went to the range and did the final tuning with broadheads. I found value in it, however there is truth to the fact that a bow may never paper tune well but yet shoot broadheads well.

The Easton web site has some good information on paper tuning, your local pro shop should be able to help you as well.

Good luck and welcome fellow archer!

 

[MBM]

I use the same method as archerybart. I paper tune and get close, maybe a slight high/right tear, then head to the range and group tune with broadheads to get my field points and broadheads hitting to the same place. I have had a lot better luck with this method. When ever I would get a perfect bullet hole in paper it would not nessesarily mean that my broadheads are going to fly well. Group tuning is a much better method in my opinion.

Mark

 

[Fireball]

Pete,
Why do you say that if you shoot fingers paper tuning is "completly worthless"? I shot a compound for years with fingers and could get a perfect tear. Misinformation like this is one of the reasons that there is such a division between equipment types, and indrustry thinks that the only way it can continue to make money is to create more and more make it easy devices. It is a great thing to get on these sites and offer suggestions to help others out, but it ain't much help to the opportunity of bowhunting and the sport of archery when misinformation is put in these places.
Tim Roberts

 

[c3]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-05 AT 02:28PM (MST)[p]Tim, I'd love to see bullet holes in paper with fingers on any bow. I would be willing to trade you a lunch or a 12 pack of your choice to see that.

A properly spined arrow and fletching that does not contact either the riser or the rest is impossible, IMHO

If you have a copy of Easton's high speed video from quite a few years back you'd see what I was getting at.

The arrow must flex in toward the riser and then away to get fletching clearance. This "archers paradox" is displayed quite nicely in the Easton video.

I'll attach a picture from last years Olympics of the world record finger shooter and you'll see quite clearly that there is no way his set up could ever create a bullet hole, yet his group size is about 6" at 90m (98 yards)

If you live around the Salt Lake area, I'd love to see how you get such fine arrow flight with fingers. I am honestly interested to see how it might be done.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[sixgunn]

Having worked at a pro-shop for quite a few years, I have to say Pete is right on this one. Very difficult to get a perfect bullethole with fingers. Hell, most guys can't get one shooting a release.

 

[BOHNTR]

I'd have to agree with Pete. I've been setting up and tuning bows for folks for close to 20 years now. I have yet to see a perfect hole shot with fingers. Having said that, I have seen some pretty darn good tears (notice I didn't say holes ) from top finger shooters around the country. Some of them better than most release shooters I see tinkering around with their respective gear.

The best I've personnaly witnessed was probably a consistent 1/4" off center tear from a finger shooter. For those who have shot fingers for years and conducted these "tests", they know that's a darn nice consistent tear. By the way Pete, it was shot using an NAP Centerest WITHOUT the built in cushion plunger. Go figure??? Right arrow, right poundage, right shooter!

No matter what you "paper shoot", just remember that shooting very good groups downrange is what really matters to today's bowhunter! Good luck and have fun.

BOHNTR )))---------->

 

[c3]

Roy:

I've seen nice setups with those NAP Centerrests. They work really well with weak arrows for a given setup. The weaker the arrow spine for a given set up the stiffer the button must be. This can give good results if the shooter has a great release.

1/4" tears are great for a fingershooter, but I bet with a dynamically stiffer arrow and weaker button their groups would be a bit better

Cheers,
Pete

 

[BOHNTR]

These results were with fairly stiff arrows. However, when I say 1/4' tears (max), I'm talking talking overall consistency. Many of the shots were near perfect, however if the archer couldn't repeat it 9 out of 10 times, I didn't count the better holes. Tough to do for those occassional "pluck" shots.

BOHNTR )))---------->

 

[vitalzone]

Paper works alright,can be pretty frustrating.Try this,set up your string nock in the correct position and set your arrow rest to hold your arrow at a 90 degrees to your draw string,if you have a laser tuner use it to set the centerline of the tip of your arrow to the center line of your draw string. now line your sight pins with the centerline of the arrow,this is only a starting point,shoot at your target from about 10 yards and get 1 sight pin relatively close to the bullseye.After doing this take a string,such as a kite string or other thin string,put a washer or some kind of weight on one end,tack or nail the other end above your target so the rope runs through the center of the target being perpendicular to the ground. now start shooting at the target starting at 10 or 20 yrds. using that pin you got close,step back at 10 yard increments until you get to 40 or 50 yrds. or what ever you feel you like.Notice how your arrow land acording to the rope and adjust your rest for windage until all arrows are on the sme parallel line to the rope,remember to use the same pin for this adjustment.After this you can adjust pins for different distances accoridly.Its a easy way to adjust centershot for hunting.Try different arrows to find the best for your setup.