Archery: The Art of Flinging Pointy Sticks

Last week I wrote a post about my purchase of a Mission Craze Bow. In addition to the short writeup, I included some footage of me shooting. On that video, I recieved some feedback from long time Stogie Review supporter AHAUGHT.

One of the suggestions made was to open up my support hand to prevent torquing the bow during release. I used to use this technique as a kid but was instructed otherwise while test shooting my Mission Craze. I was able to get used to it after a few shots and grew comfortable with it. Just as AHAUGHT said it would, my group size began to get smaller.

My objective this trip, in addition to getting a little more practice in, was to dial in my 30 Yard Sight Pin. It took some doing but I was able to get the pin pretty close. So close, in fact, that I didn’t want to mess with it anymore. When my hold and release felt good, my arrows were within an inch of where I placed the pin.

After I was confident with my 30 Yard Pin, I walked over to the 20 Yard Target to double check my previous trips work. I sunk three arrows into the target and each of them were low. I adjusted the pin and tried again, getting the same results. I made one more adjustment, bottoming out the pin against my 30 Yard Pin. I shot all of my arrows into the target and cursed at the results. Every arrow was low.

Since I was getting tired and knew that fatigue could be amplifying my problems, I packed it up for the day. As I drove home I thought about how I could solve my problem. Because the adjustment screws on my 20 and 30 yard pins were touching, I couldn’t get any more adjustment out of the 20 Yard Pin. In order to get the adjustment I needed, I would have to move the whole sight housing. While this was an option it would mean setting up my 30 Yard Pin was wasted effort.

Even after adjusting the housing to correct my 20 yard Pin, I would then have an issue with my 30 Yard Pin. The pin would need to be moved up and since it would still be in contact with the 20 Yard Pin, I would have to apply Kentucky Windage to hit my mark.

I’ve decided that leaving things as they are is probably in my best interest. If I’m going to have to hold my pin off-target to hit my mark, I’d rather it be the closer pin. The shot is a bit easier has a larger margin for error.