Refinement of the 3D arrow - Part II

For this instalment in refining an arrow for WA3D (or thee-d, or tree-d, depending on what part of the island you are from) I am delving into a little side quest I have also been working on.

In my attempts to refine my arrow setups for specific competitions, I have come to notice an overlap in specifications. Whilst in WA3D my maximum shooting distance is 30m, for FITA18, FITA25 and Portsmouth rounds, my distances are 18m and 25m.

As I just enjoy shooting arrows, I will take up most opportunities to do so, and a target round is another competition under my belt, not to mention, at the very least, more practice to develop better form. I am planning a compare and contrast style article on the endurance required for field and target at a later date.

Now, in making an efficient arrow for 3D, I was able to evaluate my indoor setup and apply much of that information gained from two recent target rounds, a FITA18 and a Portsmouth. Looking into the FITA18, with a 40cm target at 18.2m or 20yrds, this provides a very good canvas for determining line, stability and shooting arc. One archer I've shot with in the past pointed out that if you want to stay inside the target rings on a 3D, 'you need to be able to shoot a forty face up to thirty meters'. Given this - what I believe to be very apt - advice for shooting 3D targets, the intermediate range and target size presented by a FITA18 can help me in my quest. The Portsmouth on the other hand, whilst a larger target face at 60cm, still has its advantages here in arrow shot evaluation (and who knows, maybe I'll get an 18m bear at my next 3D competition).

The arrows, pine for weight with bullet points - these I find are much more forgiving on the shoulders and arms when removing them from round hay bosses - and helically applied flights were designed for short range shooting. Essentially, for 25m.

For these I went all out, even adding tracers purely to compensate for the lower profile flights and to increase the drag and lower the shooting arc. Worried about tightening the spine of the arrow with the helically applied flights and tracers, I added half and inch to the length and upped the point weight from 100gr to 125gr.

These have been shot many a time in the club, at a FITA18 and a Portsmouth round, so at least 120 arrows in competition settings and a great many more during club evenings. Using this 'data' I can say that the line on each shot is arguably the smoothest I have seen on any arrows I have used. The arc as I wanted is much lower and the stability seems unshakeable. Better yet, the paradox corrects and straightens itself very, very quickly in the flight, which given the casting on English longbows, is very good news for going up against shorter range 3Ds.

Of course, this is only 18m, but I'd have no qualms about shooting them at targets beyond this up to 30m. Nonetheless, this set up has leant a number of ideas I can confidently use for advancing my 3D arrow set up.