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Setting up your new bow By Paul Thedinga After you purchase a bow, you need to spend some time setting up your bow. Bow setup is very important with a new bow. This article will discuss how to setup your new bow.

If you have not set up a bow before it is a good idea to have someone help who knows what they are doing. Most of the time the bow shop where you purchased the bow will do these steps for you. The first thing you should do is see if your tiller measurement is even on both limbs. The tiller is the measurement from the limb pocket to the bowstring. To get this measurement either back out or tighten one of the limb bolts. These limb bolts also adjust the bow’s draw weight. Usually one full turn will change the weight about 5-3 pounds. Some people prefer to have the tiller uneven. You will have to experiment to see what seems to shoot the best for you. First try shooting with even tillers.

When placing the nock on your bowstring, you will want to use a bow square. A bow square is inexpensive and will help you with your first nock placement. You should first place the knock set 1/8 inch above center. You should also put another nock above the first one to be sure that the nock does not slip. The nock placement will be fine tuned in the paper test, which I will talk about later.

When finding the correct arrow for your bow use the Easton Arrow chart or the chart for the maker of the arrow you are buying. The chart may show more than one arrow size for your bow. A lighter arrow is better for competition shooting and a heavier arrow would be better for hunting. Arrows are marked to show the size of them. With an arrow marked 2216, the 22 is the diameter of the shaft, and the 16 represents the wall thickness.

Once you have placed the rest on your bow you will have to adjust the center shot. Do this by placing your bow in a bow clamp and standing back away from it. First place an arrow on the rest. If you are shooting a release you will want to adjust the center shot until the arrow appears centered in the string. If you are going to shoot with your fingers, you should adjust it approximately one arrow width to the left of the bowstring. Note that this is for a right-handed shooter. For a left-handed shooter the arrow would be to the right. The center shot will also be fine tuned in the paper test.

The paper test enables you to see what your arrow is doing in flight. You can never eliminate arrow movement, but you can minimize it. When doing the paper test, you suspend a piece of paper in front of a target. Place the paper 6-10 feet from a target and 6-10 feet from you. Place close attention to your form and shoot an arrow through the paper. Shoot a few arrows through the paper and make sure the tear is always similar. If the fletching enters high, then you should move the nock down. If the fletching enters low, you should move the nock up. Each time you move the nock, move it 1/8 inch up or down.

When adjusting your sights you simply adjust the sight in the direction the arrow is flying. For example, if the arrow is shooting right of the bulls eye then you adjust the sight to the right. If the arrow is shooting high then you move the sight high. When you adjust your sight, take it one step at a time. For example, first center the vertical adjustment and then center the horizontal adjustment.

The steps in setting up your bow may sound like a lot of work. However, the time you take in properly setting up your bow will be repaid with better shooting. Paul Thedinga

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