Quote:
Originally Posted by Coiloil37
I’m seriously biased about my fletching choice from having done this so long and having tried nearly everything. I understand this game so well I’ll trust my own observations over almost everything thats presented to me but let’s discuss.
I should also say, I haven’t put a great deal of thought into this yet but off the top of my head.
First, why are you drawing a correlation between retained velocity and accuracy? I’ll be the first to admit I’m steering broadheads so my priorities are different but arrow control leads to accuracy. Velocity is down the list of priorities. To discount feathers on the data you provided doesn’t strike me as linear thinking.
It’s been a long time since I’ve shot vanes but if memory serves, most of the 2” vanes weigh about 3-4 grains. So they might add ~8 to 10 grains of weight over three feathers. To see 3-4 FPS velocity you should be looking at ~20ish grains difference in arrow weights between arrow groups. There’s no way 8-10 grains difference in arrow weight would show a 3-4 FPS velocity variation. So being as I didn’t do the testing I would guess you either pulled harder into the wall, a discrepancy in the chrono, bias or not a large enough data set.
If that part of the velocity testing isn’t dead accurate I’m not sure if the data in the middle or final velocities are accurate either but you could add more details if you wanted. Personally I would have to do the test myself to believe the results.
I have shot 3” fusion vanes and blazers against my 3” feathers at 70 meters and my feathered shafts impact 3-4” higher every time. I could be wrong but I believe drop is an expression of velocity VS time. As my feathered shafts impact higher I suspect they’re covering the distance quicker and being subjected to gravity for a shorter period of time. Again one more reason why I would be suspect of your data.
I would fully expect feathers to shed velocity quicker as a byproduct of their increased drag which leads to their increased control but I can’t wrap my head around why the change would be parabolic. That doesn’t make any sense and one of the reasons why I mentioned I haven’t had time to think about this but IMO it doesn’t make sense and again leads me to mistrust the data but also raises my curiosity. Perhaps you have a hypothesis? My gut says it’s inconsistency in the testing where the mid range velocity testing was wrong or wasn’t enough data and made the velocity drop appear parabolic. I could buy it without suspicion if they started 1-2 FPS faster and ended 2-4 FPS slower but were linear in velocity drop.
I would have to think about it a bit but the effects of tune, FOC and yaw play a factor in what your dancing around as well. Again, I shoot more broadheads then anything else. I’ve seen far to clearly over the decades how feathers lead to increased accuracy over vanes to really care about the difference in physics. To me the most simple acid test would be what are the Olympic guys shooting. From memory they still shoot feathers indoors and mostly vanes outdoors. I suspect that’s because they’re scared of the weather outdoors and we all know how processed feathers respond to wet weather so that makes sense why they shoot plastic outside. Not because it’s better, simply because it’s safer.
Last but certainly not least. No processed feather is worth the glue to stick it on an arrow. If you haven’t shot an unprocessed feather off a wild bird you don’t know what I’m talking about. Those carbons I posted a picture of were refletched back in 2011 or 2012 and have all been through multiple animals and shot 1000’s of times. The fmj’s on the bottom were fletched at the same time but I don’t shoot them nearly as much so I can’t guarantee they’ve been through any animals.
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That's fine and you're entitled to your opinions based off of your experiences. I'm presenting information that I found doing testing out of curiosity. It's not meant to draw a correlation between velocity and accuracy; without a mechanical shooter in a closed environment, I wouldn't draw any conclusions either so any references to accuracy are purely anecdotal.
The OP inquired about 4-fletch vanes for 3D shoots and I thought to present information I found via testing with empirical measurements. I don't believe in a one-size fits all solution for everything, and 3D shoots certainly have different situations and variables to consider compared to a hunting situation.
I'm pretty sure I stated that while it shouldn't be taken as scientific, I did do my best to try to minimize variables to make things as relevant as possible.
The data presented is the aggregate average of multiple shots (probably between 10-12 shots) with clean tracking. The LabRadar saves each shot as a spreadsheet so I went through each individual shot and discarded shots that had incomplete or poor tracking (poor signal-to-noise ratio - which is provided in the spreadsheet). It actually tracks out to 80 yards, but since the data set was relatively small at that range, I opted to only plot out to 60 yards for sake of more data points.
Blazers are advertised to be 6.0 grains per vane. I weighed out a couple hundred on an AnD Fx120i scale and they were closer to 6.2 grains (some of them up to 6.5). The difference in weight would be about 15 grains extra for vanes over feathers.
With regards to biases, I purchased all of the feathers and vanes out of my own pocket and testing was done for my curiosity. At the time of testing, I was actually using feathers and thought to test vanes out of curiosity (so arguably, my bow was tuned for feathers and not vanes). As you stated, your acid test is what Olympic shooters use; my curiosity was sparked due to every professional compound 3D shooter using vanes.
I use the LabRadar data along with The Archery Program to generate my sight tapes. The Archery Program has its own drag model and will generate a spreadsheet with velocity at various distances. I like to verify the velocity of The Archery Program's model to the velocity recorded on the LabRadar; theoretical velocity (The Archery Program drag model) at all ranges are within 1 fps at all ranges recorded. I've made sight tapes for six other shooters this way on over 10 different bow setups and all have said the tapes were spot on at all ranges. To me, this implies the drag model on The Archery Program is accurate provided accurate information is supplied. Using their model, switching the fletching from vanes to feathers will also show a more parabolic (less linear) drop in velocity, all things equal.
The data presented is just that: data. Connect your own dots as you please, and if you don't find value in it, that's fine as well.