Arrow fishtails/ wobbles

[silvergts1998]

Okay, I have a question. When I shoot my arrow out of my PSE X-force-GX, I notice my arrow fish tails maybe for the first 20 ft and then tries to straighten out. I noticed this when I put on the Easton tracer nocs. I could see this much more clearer.

What is causing this? I am using a 26 inch arrow with a 26" draw with 100 grain tip. I think or maybe it's 27", but anyways...I am thinking it's my vans hitting my rest? Overall arrow weight is about 345 grains. I have a QAD Ultra-Rest HD Pro Series rest which is a fall away rest. Is my bow shooting so fast that the vans on the arrow are hitting the rest? What are some other causes? This is annoying!

[KwackWacker]

A couple of different things need to be checked. I have the same rest and I love it but had to work out some kinks.
1) Flip your arrows over and see if it still fishtails. In other words, if you shoot with two vanes up and one down, flip it and shoot two down and one up. If it flies true, then start shooting that way. Believe it or not that made a big difference with mine.

2) Make sure that your vanes are clearing the cables as you release. My cable slide wasn't pulling the cables far enough to giv eproper clearance. If you see this happening, take it to the pro shop and they can help you out.

3) Make sure the rest is aligned properly with your string. If it isn't aligned it will fish tail.

4) Make sure your bow is tuned. An out of tune bow can make your arrow do all kinds of crazy stuff.

5) Last but not least, make sure you aren't gripping the bow too tightly. If you are gripping your bow too tight, you may be causing a little torque on the bow and this makes the arrow fishtail. Even with a drop away that happens. I still see it sometimes with me and I know right away what I was doing. Let your friend shoot the bow and see if it still fishtails.

Hope this helps.

[Bowhunters]

Great advice, all those mentioned can cause arrows to fishtail.

[silvergts1998]

Yes great advice and thanks for taking the time to write it. My bow was paper tuned and was pretty much showing the "Truth" on paper. I am going to try some of the items you listed. When I shoot, I typically don't grip the handle. I have my palm almost open like I am leaning up against a wall. I may try the lipstick and see if I am getting vanes hitting.

[Bowhunters]

Generally the best way to have the fletchings when the arrow is nocked (for a R/H shooter) to have a single vane pointing out to 9 oclock and the other two should be at 1 oclock and 5 oclock postions on the side of the riser.

If you are shooting them the other way with a single vane at 3'oclock pointing directly at the riser that can indeed cause a clearance problem.

[silvergts1998]

I am shooting the odd color vane 12 o'clock and the other two at 8 and 5.

[DouglasSpear]

I am shooting the odd color vane 12 o'clock and the other two at 8 and 5.

That might be the problem. The vanes might be hitting your arrow rest and causing the wobble. As bowhunters said, I agree and shoot as he mentioned: odd colored vane at 9 o'clock and the others at 1 and 5 o'clock.

Also, and although you may have to adjust sights, you may want to try a slightly heavier broadhead. The heavier the broadhead the more kinetic energy it will have. However, I'd first try fixing the way you nock the arrow.

[Bowhunters]

Well the way he's got the vanes may be ok for his particular rest, the way I described is the basic vane setup for most standard R/H rests but i'm sure there are some rests that need a different vane alignment setup, if he doesn't see anything from KwakWackers list that fixes his fishtail issue I would take the bow and arrows to your bow shop and let them look at them and maybe they can see where the fletchings are making contact.

Sometimes if a fletching is constantily rubbing the same spot over 100's or 1000's of shots you can actually see a polishing mark develop over time on the riser or rest so maybe that can give him a clue.

[KwackWacker]

Just a heads up this was taken directly from QAD's webiste.

Q: Which direction should my cock (or odd) vane be facing?




A: We do all of our testing with the cock vane pointing up and it is the direction we recommend. However, if your Ultra-Rest is set up properly, you can shoot with the cock vane facing any direction.

[Bowhunters]

Well maybe its my stubborness but I still stand behind my suggestion to take the bow and arrows to a bow shop if he can't find anything from what you gave in your list.

Arrows do not fish tail for no reason.

[KwackWacker]

Well maybe its my stubborness but I still stand behind my suggestion to take the bow and arrows to a bow shop if he can't find anything from what you gave in your list.

Arrows do not fish tail for no reason.

I wasn't arguing any fact, just showing him what the manufacturer sugeested. I agree with you. He should take it to the pro shop.

[DouglasSpear]

Just a heads up this was taken directly from QAD's webiste.

Q: Which direction should my cock (or odd) vane be facing?

A: We do all of our testing with the cock vane pointing up and it is the direction we recommend. However, if your Ultra-Rest is set up properly, you can shoot with the cock vane facing any direction.

However, that answer doesn't hold much water because it has to do with how the arrows were fletched and not with the arrow rest. Depending on the way the nock was installed on the arrow, you can only have it up/down or left/right not either or. Some arrow manufacturers must fletch/nock the arrows differently than others, although the standard as far as I knew used to be odd vane out. But that's another topic. Let's just say a bow shop visit wouldn't hurt.

[KwackWacker]

Most carbon arrows have nocks which can be twisted so that the vanes can be whatever direction you want them to be.

[DouglasSpear]

Most carbon arrows have nocks which can be twisted so that the vanes can be whatever direction you want them to be.

Really...? Wow. I really must be out of touch...I still use aluminum arrows and didn't know that about carbon arrows.

[silvergts1998]

Okay, just to conclude what I think was happening. I took red lipstick and coated the edges of the vanes and the bar that goes across the fall away I have was barely touching my vanes. It left a very slight trace of red. Didn't do it all the time, but I think it was enough to throw my arrow off. So what I did was bent the bar a tad bit and it looks like it took care of the problem.

[Bowhunters]

Now whats a guy doing with lipstick? I shudder at the thought.

I am glad that you figured it out, as I posted earlier in the thread I wouldn't be shocked if a vane was hitting something.

[KwackWacker]

Now whats a guy doing with lipstick? I shudder at the thought.

He probably borrowed it from DocHolladay.


Sounds like you got things working good. Glad to hear it.

[DocHolladay]

Now whats a guy doing with lipstick? I shudder at the thought.

He probably borrowed it from DocHolladay.


Sounds like you got things working good. Glad to hear it.

It was the one you let me borrow. I figured that since it was used by both of us, I could just pass it on to the next fella.

[NYBuckhunter]

Dont you guys know that sharing lipstick is a big no no? Errrr.....Uhhhhh....wait a minute.....nevermind, I didnt say that.

[Tony204ing]

U guys keep passing that lipstick around and you'll need to share some herpicin.I wouldnt know from experiance or anything though.

[RICHARDCatdaddy]

I refuse to comment,but a guy and lipstick,it just right I tells ya.

[Tony204ing]

maybe if your a rock star.