Bare Shaft Paper Tuning 101

By Brad Brooks

The first step in my process when tuning any of my bows is bare shaft paper tuning. Paper tuning is just like bore sighting a rifle. After I paper tune my bow, especially with a bare shaft, my bow is usually very close to being tuned and then I can move on to the bare shaft tuning process to make any final adjustments. It saves a lot of time as I can make all of the major adjustments in my garage by shooting through paper. 

Why a bare shaft? I like to bare shaft paper tune because a bare shaft arrow does not lie. Any imperfection in your form or your bow will show up by shooting a bare shaft. A fletched arrow, even at 10 or 12 feet, will start to recover and potentially mask any imperfection in your form or your bow’s tune. 

Make Sure Your Bow is Set Up Properly 

Before you start flinging arrows, make sure your bow is set up properly by:

1. Set Your Rest at the Default Position. Set your rest at the default distance vertically and horizontally. For horizontal positioning, position your rest so the center of your arrow is at the manufacturer's recommended position from your riser (typically 13/16th” for most bows), and either arrange it vertically so your arrow is going through your berger hole or level it horizontally. There is a lot of wiggle room with vertical positioning and you will make adjustments when paper tuning so don’t stress getting it perfect.
2. Set Your Nock Height. Making sure your knock height is at the right spot (check with your specific manufacturer for recommendations). I typically put my knock position mid-way between my axles to start with on the Hoyt and Mathews bows that I have shot. Every bow should have a recommended starting point. There is variability in where you set your nock point, but the point is to make sure it is within the acceptable range of where it should be.
3. Time Your Cams. If your cams aren’t timed, this this whole process will be very frustrating.
4. Arrow Spine and Straightness. Make sure your arrow is properly spined for your bow, and that your arrow spins true. If you have a wobbly arrow or your arrow isn’t properly spined for your setup, you will struggle to tune your bow.

 

Paper Tuning Your Bow

As you shoot through paper, make sure your technique is as flawless as you can get it. If you over torque your bow or your release isn’t smooth, your bare shaft will show erratic results. 

Stand 10-12 feet from the paper and shoot your bow 2-3 times to try and get a similar result through paper. If you aren’t getting similar results though paper (i.e. a consistent left or right tear, this means your form isn’t consistent or your arrow isn’t spined properly). Once you’ve done this, you can start to make adjustments to your bow. 

How to Adjust Your Bow

Depending on your bow manufacturer, there are several ways to get your bow to shoot a bullet hole. For most bows, you will want to shim your cams, and/or move your rest. I prefer to not move my rest to correct for horizontal issues while paper tuning (left and right tears), saving that for micro adjustments once I get to bareshaft broadhead tuning, which we cover in a separate video.For High and/or Low tears, you will want to move your rest (see below for further guidance). 

You can also use the Hoyt XTS tuning system (see video above for instructions) if you have a newer model Hoyt bow. If you have a Mathews Lift X or Arc, you can adjust your cams without top hats like older models. There are too many options to name for each specific bow, but no matter what you have, the principles are the same.

1. Nock Left Tear-Move your cams to the left and/or your rest to the right
2. Nock Right Tear- Move your cams to the right and/or your rest to the left
3. Nock High Tear- Move your rest up
4. Nock Low Tear- Move your rest down

A Note On Cam Shimming

Shimming your cams will require a bow press unless you have a newer model Mathews bow. If you are moving your cams, the best practice is to move your top cam left/right one “increment” over at a time, and if that doesn’t correct for your right or left tear, to then move your bottom cam the same distance in the same direction as your top cam. If you are still having the same tear issue (i.e. you still see a left tear but less of a left tear than before), go back to your top cam and move it one more increment, then back to your bottom cam. By doing this, you will avoid having one cam way out left and one way out right or vice versa. Watch our video above for more detail on this process.

It will likely take some tinkering to get your bow shooting a bullet hole, but the process for paper tuning isn’t complicated and with a little practice can easily be learned. 

Once you get to where you are shooting a bullet hole through paper, then you will want to move on to broadhead tuning to get your bow perfectly tuned. We made another video showing how to use the bareshaft method to tune any bow, and that is the next step in broad head tuning your bow.