For the past three months I have been trying just about everything I can think of to tighten up my groups and help me to shoot better. I've tried half a dozen or more different releases and ended up buying two different back tension releases to hopefully get better. I ended up buying seven easton full bore arrows off ebay this week to help me pull the line on the twelve rings that I have been barely missing. They came with four fletchings and I was just going to strip them off and refletch them to match the other five full bores that I already had. I decided to try them out before I refletched them and turns out they shot better than the five I have with three fletching. So I modified my fletching tool to do four fletchings and refletched a few of my fatboys to see how they would do. I've seen a lot of the pros using them but I didn't think it made that much difference. Well maybe it does. What do y'all think?

The yellow arrows have four vanes and the orange have three vanes. This group was shot at 50 yards with the carter attraction release. Wind was left to right.




The yellow arrows have four vanes and the orange have three vanes. This group was shot at 50 yards with the tru ball sweet spot four finger release. Wind was left to right.

You have a tuning issue. Possibly a spine issue. The 4 fletch stabilizes flight faster thus resulting in better groups.Either that or your form is really bad.


I'm not as informed about compound tuning but with a stickbow,if you are tuned perfectly and have great form,you can shoot bare shafts without any fletching to the exact same spot as fletched arrows. The fletching just helps correct errors in form or tuning.

Can you bareshaft test a compound like you do a stickbow? If so that's where I would start to see what's wrong. Lots of online info about bareshaft tuning.

4 fletch arrows will fly better than 3 fletch, no doubt about it. Been thinking about trying it myself.

interesting. ive never shot a 4 fletch

4 fletch flies better because it will stabilize more. What I'm saying is that there is some reason you need that extra stabilization.

I understand what RH is saying but I agree the 4 seem more accurate
Than the 3 ,,,,my biggest problem is proper form shot after shot
Still not bad with wind blowing

Any of those shots kills a deer. I wouldn't worry about it.

if I could shoot groups like those at 50 yards, I would not care if I had 1-vane or 5- vanes, I would be happy !!

Gold Tip is 4 fletching some of their arrows

Makes sense that it would. Today's arrows carry such small fletching your not to far from shooting a bare shaft as it is. Try it with a fixed blade BH. Good shooting by the way.

Saw them at the ATA show. I think it's the Valkrye series. Interested in trying them.

I hear the Goldtips are solid shooters
Sluggun looks to be a solid shooter as well

Just wanting to sell more arras. Yes, they stabilize faster, but if you aren't missing deer why worry? Unless you are shooting competition. Deer don't care about the vanes, it's the broadhead that annoys them.

I rechecked the bow today to make sure it was paper tuned and it shot bullet holes in paper. It does bare shaft tune about an inch left was the best I could get. I don't think that four fletchings is stabilizing the arrow quicker as much as it is giving it more spin. Kinda like throwing a football.I think that's why the four fletch hit the mark while the three fletch drifted to the right. This group I shot after rechecking the tune on the bow. It was raining and wind was blowing harder than when I shot the other groups. The one low left lost a fletching on the way to the target.

Yes I was Right ! Sluggun is a solid shooter!

Since you have checked your tune,I would just shoot the 4 fletch if they shoot better for you.They are stabilizing the arrow better even if that is because they give more spin. They should do better with broadheads too but I would try some before making the final decision.

jmxinc I am by far not the best shooter on here. I just do what I can to get better and give me an edge on the other shooters.
R H Clark this is strictly a tournament rig. This is for what I do when it's not hunting season.

I'm interested in seeing how they fly with broadheads. This is 50 yards with field points with my hunting rig.

Man! Shaw that's dead on! your a Killer!

See there. My group doesn't even compare to Shaw's group. Why is it that on nearly every group whether four or five shot groups it seems like you'll have one that will tail out of the group? And no it's not the same arrow every time.