I find it hard to believe that there are archery pro shops out there that don’t believe in paper tuning. You will hear them say, “your arrows are grouping down range aren’t they?” When the client replies “yes”. The shop technician says, “There you have it.” The problem is, just because a bow and arrow setup is grouping down range does not mean that the bow is shooting to its full potential.
In order for a bow to shoot at its full potential, it must be paper tuned. Think about it. If the arrows are grouping down range but they are fish tailing half way to the target, the bow and arrow combination can’t possibly be shooting as efficient, with as much speed, or with as much energy that it is capable of when the arrows are coming out of the bow perfect.
I had a bow come in that the customer had just bought at a competing dealer. He told me that the dealer he bought the bow from didn’t believe in paper tuning and asked me if I would do it for him. After 20 minutes of trying to paper tune his bow, although I made it significantly better, I couldn’t get it perfect. I decided I better try some different arrows. I had presumed this pro shop had set him up with the proper arrows. With the second arrow I selected from my stash of arrows we made the perfect tear. This dealer not only didn’t tune the bow properly, they sold him an arrow that was impossible to tune with that bow set up. This is a perfect example of how beneficial paper tuning can be to reaching the full potential of your set up.
Typical tears that need adjustment
Don’t get me wrong. Paper tuning is not the end all be all of tuning. There is much more to properly tuning a bow. Just because the bow is shooting bullet holes through paper doesn’t mean that the bow is set up properly. There may be compensation involved for other problems that should have been addressed prior to paper tuning. The bottom line, when properly set up a bow that is paper tuned will outperform a bow that isn’t.
If you go into a shop that doesn’t believe in paper tuning, GET OUT OF THERE and find a pro shop that takes the time with every bow to do it right!