Broadhead Tuning Tips
Broadhead tips
It is imperative that your broadheads are tuned before you go hunting.
Materials Needed
- Broadheads
- Arrow shafts
- Small rubber O-ring gaskets
- Sharpie pen
- Flat surface / table
- Sharpening stone/tool
1- Make sure broadheads are razor sharp
Before you start to tune your broadheads, make sure they are sharp enough to shave the hair on your arm (be careful).
If using a fixed blade broadhead, use a sharpie pen to mark all the edges and begin to sharpen on the flat stone with side to side motions. Turn the broadhead and sharpen the other edges using equal amounts of pressure and the same amount of strokes per side to ensure proper balance. When the black marker is completely rubbed off, there should be no more imperfections on the edges. Turn the stone over to use the finer grit and lightly hone all sides equally. If you use replaceable blades put new ones in the broadhead if the old ones are nicked or dull. Note: you can sharpen these blades with a V shaped sharpening tool.
2- Spin Test The Broadheads
Screw the broadhead onto your arrow shaft. I like to build them so the vanes line up with the broadhead blades. Holding the arrow vertical, spin the shaft with both hands and look to see if the broadhead wobbles at all. If it spins true with out wobbling, go to the next arrow. If the broadhead wobbles add a rubber O-ring and spin it again. If it still wobbles, keep trying your other broadheads (of the same type) until you find an arrow/broadhead combination that spins true. I find G-5 Montecs spin and fly the truest.
3- Test flight
In order to keep your broadhead edges sharp I do not test fire my hunting broadheads into targets. I use pre-season broadheads that are exactly the same in every way, except they are dull. Make sure they are spinning true on your arrow shaft before shooting them at the target range. If the arrow makes it downrange without doing big circles, your in business. Just make sure you can group the broadheads well to 40 yards. If the broadheads are hitting all over the map and it is not your shooting, make sure your arrow is spined correctly for your poundage and draw length. If you cannot group tight with your broadheads; and you are using the right arrows, and the broadheads pass the spin test, you might want to consider a tighter tolerance of arrow like .003 or .001 straightness and a smaller grain variance per dozen arrows.
4- Sight in your broadheads
Sometimes your broadheads will not hit the target in the same place as your field points do. This could mean your bow is not paper tuned, timed right, different weight heads and so on. If everything is tuned correctly and you are using the same grain heads and still your broadheads are landing down and left of where your field points hit, you will need to move your rest. Some people just sight there bow in for broadheads and then once again for field points. My bow is sighted in so that field points and broadheads are hitting the same spot at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 yards.
5- Adjust Rest To Sight in Broadheads with Field Tips (only if needed or wanted)
Shoot 3 arrows with field points at 20 yards and then take a brief rest. Shoot 3 of your arrows with broadheads at 20 yards and then you will see 2 different groups. If your broadheads are hitting 2 inches low and 2 inches to the left, move your rest a smidgen to the right and a smidgen higher. You are trying to get 1 point of impact. Shoot 3 field tips and then 3 broadheads and if you need to adjust more , make tiny adjustments. Once your broadheads and field tip arrows are hitting the same spot, you will have to re adjust your pins. Now confirm these steps at all your different yardages just to make sure you are dialed in. Make sure you are resting between your 3 shot groups to take out any chance of shooting error. If fatigued finish the next day or take a long break.
