# Fletchings: 10 types tested for speed, drop and more



## Widgeon

I recently completed a review of the 10 types of fletchings pictured above. It was a ton of worked but a lot of fun. There were a few surprises and loads of good information gathered. To see the whole review head over to Archery Report and let me know what you think. 

Speed is always a big concern with today's archers and I chronographed all the fletching types at point blank, 20 and 30 yards with the following results:


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## jmack

I would like to see what kind of accuracy you got from the different vanes shooting out of a hooter shooter or something to that effect


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## Widgeon

jmack said:


> I would like to see what kind of accuracy you got from the different vanes shooting out of a hooter shooter or something to that effect


Unfortunately accuracy is a very difficult thing to test! If the arrows were to be shot through a Hooter Shooter (or similar) I'd bet my bow that each fletching could repeatedly hit the same hole every time. The problem is that a mechanical shooter would not introduce the variances in the shot that cause inaccuracies. Now it would be possible to do long term testing with a human subject and over enough data be able to pull together some accuracy numbers. I've also toyed with the idea of introducing random but controlled variance with a Hooter Shooter. But alas, for now I am Hooter-less!

From what shooting I did with each fletching type, I don't think any of them are inherently inaccurate; in fact they all performed quite well overall. The biggest differences that will be seen from type to type are speed loss, how much they drop over distance and how they are affected by wind (another difficult one to test because of the need to have a consistent, constant wind). 

Anyhow, if anyone has any bright ideas on how to test accuracy, or rather how well a fletching can make up for bad shooting form, I'd love to add them to my pile of ideas for future testing.


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## rasyad

Great Data. Thank you very much. Rasyad


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## nycredneck

Interesting data collection. Thank you for your efforts, it does look like you spent a good amount of time for an acurate test.


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## FLINT77

even with the human error factor, you can still carry out the experiment (or rather survey). 

what you would do is shoot as many 3 or 5 shot groups as you can - and the more the better - so say you could do 10 five shot groups with each fletching type (so each fletching type is a treatment in your study)

Then what you have is a Mean group size per treatment (fletching type) and some measure of variation within each treatment. 

I think the most appropriate statistic would be an ANOVA (analysis of variance)

what that would do is tell you whether there was a significant difference in accuracy between the treatments. 

now, because there is no way to control this study which is why it would be a survey and not an experiment, you could not say for certain that one type was more accurate than the other, but you could say that there is a correlation between some fletching types and their accuracy level out of your bow when shot by you, which is probably as good as you are going to get with something like this. 

Does this make sense. its really a simple experimental design - its just the stats that requires a stat program like SAS or SPSS which I have access to as an ecologist so if you ever want to do this and can send me your data I can analyse it for you. [email protected]


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## 3dextremist

Great thread, keep on doing what your doing and Thanks again for some good useful information!


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## dzerus

Useful info, thank you.


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## panther2307

thanks for the great post and thanks go out to lancaster archery.i've been there and it is a great store/shop.


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## road_kill

if someone lives near a automobile testing plant they may be able to talk with the guys there about testing in the wind tunnels they use for drift with fletchings.......they can controll wind speeds in the wind tunnels....just a thought ,i dunno if it could be done or not


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## Widgeon

FLINT77 said:


> even with the human error factor, you can still carry out the experiment (or rather survey).
> 
> what you would do is shoot as many 3 or 5 shot groups as you can - and the more the better - so say you could do 10 five shot groups with each fletching type (so each fletching type is a treatment in your study)
> 
> Then what you have is a Mean group size per treatment (fletching type) and some measure of variation within each treatment.
> 
> I think the most appropriate statistic would be an ANOVA (analysis of variance)
> 
> what that would do is tell you whether there was a significant difference in accuracy between the treatments.
> 
> now, because there is no way to control this study which is why it would be a survey and not an experiment, you could not say for certain that one type was more accurate than the other, but you could say that there is a correlation between some fletching types and their accuracy level out of your bow when shot by you, which is probably as good as you are going to get with something like this.
> 
> Does this make sense. its really a simple experimental design - its just the stats that requires a stat program like SAS or SPSS which I have access to as an ecologist so if you ever want to do this and can send me your data I can analyse it for you. [email protected]


Thanks for the input Flint; that's similar to what I was saying about accuracy in that you can't have a definitive, scientific answer with a human shooting, but you could probably come up with some good correlations. Unfortunately for me, I won't be doing any more extensive testing as such until the days get longer! For now I go to work before the sun is fully up and get home as it is setting. When I do have daylight available I tend to be out hunting


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## Widgeon

road_kill said:


> if someone lives near a automobile testing plant they may be able to talk with the guys there about testing in the wind tunnels they use for drift with fletchings.......they can controll wind speeds in the wind tunnels....just a thought ,i dunno if it could be done or not


I'm actually working on setting up some CFD (computation fluid dynamics) simulations that can come very close to wind tunnel data. It's very time intensive to get the models right and to run the simulations, but I'll eventually get some useful data to share. Otherwise I'd love to use a real wind tunnel but the only ones available near me are at the universities. I may investigate what it would take to get some time in them at a future date.


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## OBAN

Thanks Widgeon! You're tests saved me a ton of time and allowed me to win arguments! Hell, I even have a bar graph to show the naysayers the proof! lol :thumbs_up Thanks again!


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## d_money

the thing i didnt see coming is that a 4" feather is faster than a blazer up untill 30 yards.


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## 96chev

Awesome info! Thanks


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## STUDENT-ARCHER

Accuracy testing should be done with fixed blade broadheads, would be very difficult to have a level playing field, and eat up a lot of broadheads. Thanks for the time and effort, very well presented info! I dont think that 8fps will influence my decision on which fletching to shoot.


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## brokenbone264

*Great Thanks*

I like the graph. I don't know about the wind tunnel. I shoot out doors and the wind is across my shooting lane. I have never heard of a wind tunnel that is 100 feet across. But I am probably wrong. Great info thanks


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## martinmania

you should try to stagger some of the fletchings and see what happens see if its a bunch of hoopla or not


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## viperarcher

I wish you tested the Duravanes 3D


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## Widgeon

brokenbone264 said:


> I like the graph. I don't know about the wind tunnel. I shoot out doors and the wind is across my shooting lane. I have never heard of a wind tunnel that is 100 feet across. But I am probably wrong. Great info thanks


The wind tunnel testing would not be to see how much drift you get across 100 feet. What you would actually do is mount the arrow in the tunnel (the arrow itself would never actually move) and measure the forces created on the shaft by a certain speed of wind. The arrow could be turned into the wind, perpendicular to the wind and anywhere in between to see how much "push" the wind would create on the fletchings/shaft.


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## Widgeon

martinmania said:


> you should try to stagger some of the fletchings and see what happens see if its a bunch of hoopla or not


I would like to do that, but right now time (and daylight) does not permit it. There have been some interesting claims with respect to staggering and I'd love to do some testing on it. I'm working on my own version of a Hooter Shooter that should be very useful in such testing.


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## Widgeon

viperarcher said:


> I wish you tested the Duravanes 3D


Me too  Along with about 20 other vanes! I tried to pick and choose a good combination that represented most of the different styles of fletchings. Once I get a mechanical shooter built, it should be easier to test other variations in a much more timely manner.


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## cc46

I really like this comparison, thx, please consider more...limbs?


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## camoman73

Thanks that was very interesting. I use fusions so it made me happy.


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## dustyvarmint

*Show me the facts!*

This is AWESOME. Real information instead of wordy conjecture from paying advertisers.

thanks, dv


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## dustyvarmint

*Can the results be valid one step further with BHs?*

As I prepare to go to Africa next year using the Magnus Stinger 100 gr 4 blade I am trying to find the perfect steering device for my arrow.

I like the results of the Fusion and the Plastifletch Max, but would want to use them in the longer versions, I think. 

Would the results be valid one step further for length and use with COC broadheads?

thanks, dv


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## tmoran

Why not shoot a group with field points, then a group with some fixed large broadheads and show us the difference in inches between the 2 groups?


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## Widgeon

cc46 said:


> I really like this comparison, thx, please consider more...limbs?


There is more in the works!


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## Widgeon

camoman73 said:


> Thanks that was very interesting. I use fusions so it made me happy.


I was very impressed with the Fusions, both in the ease of fletching them and their flight characteristics; not to mention they look very nice. I'm working on the 40 yard drop data right now and they are still looking good.


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## Widgeon

dustyvarmint said:


> As I prepare to go to Africa next year using the Magnus Stinger 100 gr 4 blade I am trying to find the perfect steering device for my arrow.
> 
> I like the results of the Fusion and the Plastifletch Max, but would want to use them in the longer versions, I think.
> 
> Would the results be valid one step further for length and use with COC broadheads?
> 
> thanks, dv


With longer vanes you will lose more initial velocity due to the weight and probably drop a bit more as well. I doubt you'd have trouble with a good COC broadhead with the 2" Fusions if your bow is tuned well. The 3" Fusions are not as tall as the 2" and don't have a whole lot more area to them. I have shot the 2" Fusions with 125 grain Montecs and had no issues with them. My current hunting arrows use FOBs and they are great at controlling just about any broadhead, but do tend to drop quicker.


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## Widgeon

tmoran said:


> Why not shoot a group with field points, then a group with some fixed large broadheads and show us the difference in inches between the 2 groups?


Time  I'd like to do something similar eventually, but the winter weather and shorter days are relegating me to more inside and garage type testing for some other reviews right now. I'm trying to line up a horse barn/shed where I can do more controlled testing out to 40+ yards indoors.


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## tmoran

Widgeon said:


> Time  I'd like to do something similar eventually, but the winter weather and shorter days are relegating me to more inside and garage type testing for some other reviews right now. I'm trying to line up a horse barn/shed where I can do more controlled testing out to 40+ yards indoors.


I really appreciate the reports either way. I'd subscribe if you decide on a publication. I'd like to see more of this in everday magazines but I would suppose that the sponsors might not like some of this


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## dustyvarmint

Widgeon said:


> With longer vanes you will lose more initial velocity due to the weight and probably drop a bit more as well. I doubt you'd have trouble with a good COC broadhead with the 2" Fusions if your bow is tuned well. The 3" Fusions are not as tall as the 2" and don't have a whole lot more area to them. I have shot the 2" Fusions with 125 grain Montecs and had no issues with them. My current hunting arrows use FOBs and they are great at controlling just about any broadhead, but do tend to drop quicker.



Thanks! That's good stuff!

happy hunting, dv


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## Patsplace

Great stuff!! As a new to "mainstream archery" as I just bought a PSE Madness with release and carbon arrows (back yard finger shooter for years) it's great to have some of the myth taken out of the fletching mystery.

Thanks again,
Pat


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## alaz

This is great information. Really interesting. Thanks!


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## bowhunterprime

I was very impressed with the information on Archery Report! Keep up the good work sir! Quick question though: when you start doing the fletching testing again, could you do a compairison of feathers straight fletched as opposed to the helical? I'm planning on using some 3" straight fletched feathers for 3D but if they cause that much drop then I might try something else. I'd also like to see some numbers on the Rayzr feathers. I know I'm asking a lot when you've already given so much, but like so many others I crave knowledge! lol. Again, thank you for all the hard work and keep it up! -Chris


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## larryru

If your going to test a feather, then it shoud have been the razer, I think you would have really like the results of it. It comes out faster and have less drop in speed than the rest.---Good job:smile:


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## larryru

bowhunterprime said:


> I was very impressed with the information on Archery Report! Keep up the good work sir! Quick question though: when you start doing the fletching testing again, could you do a compairison of feathers straight fletched as opposed to the helical? I'm planning on using some 3" straight fletched feathers for 3D but if they cause that much drop then I might try something else. I'd also like to see some numbers on the Rayzr feathers. I know I'm asking a lot when you've already given so much, but like so many others I crave knowledge! lol. Again, thank you for all the hard work and keep it up! -Chris


you should definitley try the Rayzer, Gateway sent me some to test since I have shot feathers most of my life,when they first came out. Best thing I have ever put on an arrow. Stabilizes then arrow even with a broadhead better than anything I have ever tried. I have tested all of these fletching also. He is right except the Rayzr is the fastest. And my test was with straight fletch.:smile:


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## Tonto2

Any chance you could list the FOC weight percentages for each set-up?


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## Widgeon

Tonto2 said:


> Any chance you could list the FOC weight percentages for each set-up?


The FOC numbers should be showing up on the full article page, can you not see them for some reason?


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## rogbo

Not to take away from the fletching article but that whole web site is DYN-O-MITE (dating myself, props to JJ walker). Your article and findings on KE and Momentum is great!!


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## Barry O'Regan

*Great info*

Nice to see someone took the time to sort this out.
Thanks

Now if only we can get the Hoyt limb deflection/Cam and riser mystery solved, it would be a good year for all of us Hoyt shooters.


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## mike 66

*let s see it*

taker it out to the max lets see it out to 100 yards


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## Widgeon

mike 66 said:


> taker it out to the max lets see it out to 100 yards


Give me the time to do it and I would! This testing has taken well over 1k shots to complete, plus walking back and forth to the target. I'd certainly get my exercise by stretching it out to 100 yards! As soon as the daylight gets a bit longer and the weather a little more cooperative, I'll finish the drop testing out to 40 yards. I also have a shooting machine in the works which will really help take out the human error factor in the shooting and reduce the number of shots necessary to get good data.


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## Spartan Hunter

Amazing, Thankyou for putting the time in , and sharing your info. Maybe next time, you could film it and post it on you tube as well. That's great info.


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## Widgeon

The review has now been updated to include drop testing out to 40 yards. The weather has been cooperative enough to get this done finally!


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## nativepride

*wow*

wow!!!!!!!!!!! somebody's got way to much time on there hands. But thanks for the info very thorough job. And very helpful.


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## dwagoner

not sure if i like seeing those short vanes like blazers and fusion mounted with a helical setup!! those only need 1 or 2 degrees offset with a straight clamp, they would prolly be several fps faster out the bow also.

great test though


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## RDJA

Great article. I do wish you would have put the total weight of the arrows in the article. I might have missed it but read it over a few times. It would be interesting to see the differences in lighter vs heavier arrows. I would think the drop % would be consistent, but I was shooting at 30-60 yards the other days with 440 gr arrows using Duravane predators on some and FOBs on others. Even at 60 yards it was hard to tell a difference in drop. I was not shooting at a line on the target but at a spot. When I executed a good shot, both hit the target close enough for a kill on an animal if the spot is considered the heart. Some times the FOBS were higher than the Duravanes, but at that distance a tiny aiming error means a lot of difference. After reading the article I would have expected to see a bigger difference at 60 yards, but wonder if a heavier arrow tend to flatten out the differences in fletching.
I love the FOBs for hunting, but get tired of replacing them when target shooting, so I use the Predators on most of my practice arrows.


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## JDoupe

Great Review. Thanks for taking the time to do this.


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## doczerothree

*Fob*

I had considered trying FOBs but I think I will hold off until the drop issue is resolved. I like the idea however and I think once "fixed" I will give 'em a try.
By the way...Great review THANKS!! Lots of good imformation!!


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## s_house

Barry O'Regan said:


> Nice to see someone took the time to sort this out.
> Thanks
> 
> Now if only we can get the Hoyt limb deflection/Cam and riser mystery solved, it would be a good year for all of us Hoyt shooters.


:amen:


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## bingshooter

Great information. Very interesting on the drop beyond 20 yards.


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## Extreme vft17

*Widgeon*

hello great info. Would you be willing to test 2 different bi delta vanes? I have plenty and willl send you some if you are interested.

Thanks


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## Evileyes74

This is great stuff, I LOVE this site!!! You guys rock!


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## Widgeon

I'm considering doing more fletchings, though with a better, more consistent way of testing them. I'd use a shooting machine and a system of normalization of the arrows to help rule out inconsistencies. The two issues I struggled with on this review were human shooting (I'm not perfect! yet...) and shooting conditions that affected the chronograph. If I had a 40 yard indoor range where I could control all of the conditions I'd be set! Sadly I don't. For the testing in the current article I had to do all of the chronographing at the same time under the same conditions and it was a pain. I feel the results turned out well, I just don't want to have to go through that again.

Anyhow, I'm looking for suggestions on what fletchings you may want to see and if there is any other info that would be useful to you that I didn't include the first time.


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## stringflipper

maybe you could check out nufletch it would be way easier to swap fletch and may be more controled


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## Paul Morris

Widgeon said:


> The wind tunnel testing would not be to see how much drift you get across 100 feet. What you would actually do is mount the arrow in the tunnel (the arrow itself would never actually move) and measure the forces created on the shaft by a certain speed of wind. The arrow could be turned into the wind, perpendicular to the wind and anywhere in between to see how much "push" the wind would create on the fletchings/shaft.


Great testing! Thanks for all the hard work. :thumbs_up

re: Wind tunnel testing. Below is a photo of my rig when I designed the FOB. Some PVC pipe with some eye bolts for hangers inside to hold the arrow at center. A leaf blower rated at 200 mph is attached at one end. My stain gages are made of fishing pole ends stuck on a dowel rod with an arrow behind it. Kind of acts like a reverse torque wrench. I also have two dowel rods with eye bolts on the end. This way you can "fly an arrow" by hand outside the PVC pipe (what a hoot!). 

I tell you what, when you take the arrow out of perfect flight (in line with air stream) and place it at at angle (represent dynamic crosswind testing) Yikes! those vanes buck like a bronco! The disk gizmos spin smooth as silk no matter what angle of attack. If you ever need to do some cross wind testing let me know, My rig cost about $50 bucks. 

My hillbilly 200 mph wind tunnel and strain gauge to measure torque, drag, etc..)








Gizmo to fly the arrow outside the tunnel


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## Widgeon

Paul, that's a great idea for a wind tunnel on the cheap! I wish I had a lot more time to build myself something similar and pershap I'll look into it for the future. Could you post or send me a picture showing the full strain gauge setup?


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## rollingstonebow

*Fletching*

Thanks again for all your time we here at AT really do appreciate it. Thanks


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## BSeals71

I know this is a old thread, but thanks for sharing your test results.


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## TheCooper

Yeh thanks a lot. This really helped!


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## NHLHVECTRIX

great info thank you. tagged


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## BSeals71

I would like to see some flight test with 3" vanes.


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## badbow148

Thanks for all the good info. very well done.


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## Windrover

Good work there BUT, you seem to be comparing apples to oranges. The fletching shown have widely varying drag co-efficient. For example OT2 shows the blazer at .00039 straight, the feather at .00073 with a degree of offset as shown. Fletching is used to provide stabilizing drag so to compare speed you should compare similar drag numbers. A Gateway 2" Rayzr with no offset still has a coefficient of .00054. It would be faster and still have more drag than say a Blazer.


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## Widgeon

Windrover said:


> Good work there BUT, you seem to be comparing apples to oranges. The fletching shown have widely varying drag co-efficient. For example OT2 shows the blazer at .00039 straight, the feather at .00073 with a degree of offset as shown. Fletching is used to provide stabilizing drag so to compare speed you should compare similar drag numbers. A Gateway 2" Rayzr with no offset still has a coefficient of .00054. It would be faster and still have more drag than say a Blazer.


Actually, having varying drag coefficients was *precisely* what I wanted. This wasn't supposed to be a contest to of any sort, it was to give the reader an idea of the variety of fletchings available and their overall performance.


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## Jeremy Babcock

I think the purpose of this was to show the general numbers, not to prove one is better. I'm sure the rayzr would have. Even the fastest coming out of the bow the rate of deceleration would be somewhere in between the 4" feathers and the vanes.


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