# Spin wing or not spin wing! that is the question.



## baller (Oct 4, 2006)

*Spin Wings*

I have shot 1 3/4 spin wings for years now, boh in my recurve and in my compound for 3d, field, Fita, and Olympic shooting. In my experience the wings don't affect range as much as they affect stability at longer ranges. They are much lighter that regular vanes. Their design does create drag, but also spin, which makes the arrow more stable, especially in the wind. Not to mention they are easily repaired if need be. I will continue to swear by them.


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## João_Almeida (Mar 3, 2008)

you are recurve right? The spin wings are good for those who dont have many draw weight normally bellow 40lbs and the spin wings help the speed of the arrow and so that the climate conditions dont affect the targetory of the arrow but if you have a high draw weight the spinwings will fall off very often and doesnt do any difference..


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## SLR (Mar 28, 2005)

The wife and I used spin wings for 9 holes of golf. A/C/Es, 670 with 28#and 32# bows . shot very straight at 45 degrees and 150yds. the wind had very little effect.


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## Joe T (Apr 5, 2003)

Spin wings/K vanes "on paper" are superior to flat vanes for recurve target archer and their dominance at elite level suggests that this is found to be true in practice also.

The unknown question is at what level an archer will find a measurable benefit from using curly vanes over flat vanes. I suspect this is somewhat above the "club level" archer. For club level archers technique dominates everything IMO.


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## pbostrom (Jun 7, 2007)

wicked now i got my answer, now!

lets discuss my suggestion


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## limbwalker (Sep 26, 2003)

I like Joe T's answer there.

I guess if I were hard pressed, I'd have to lean toward spin wings for the POSSIBILITY of an advantage. But the stars have to line up to see it... :wink:

For 99% of archers, vanes or sping wings will make no difference in score. However, some archers need to use spin wings simply to "get the distance" with lower draw weight bows. For those archers, spin wings are the obvious choice, despite their drawbacks.

For archers who shoot plenty of draw weight, I believe you have to be at such an elite level to realize any difference that most archers would be better off shooting vanes so they can spend more time training and less time repairing fletching.

Vanes are very consistent when fletched correctly. Spin wings can tear, fall off, bend or fold, be mounted at various angles, etc. - all of which creates inconsistencies in the amount of drag an arrow has. Those are the things that scare me about spin wings. I think that to justify shooting them, you either need to have them because of the sight marks, or because you are capable of shooting elite level scores. And even then, you must maintain them meticulously for them to be consistent.

I shot vanes for several years because 1) I didn't need to save weight, 2) I wanted to focus on my training and not on repairing and checking equipment, and 3) because after a great deal of testing I never saw a difference in scores.

John.


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## Seattlepop (Dec 8, 2003)

*Foc*

I think the single most important point most often overlooked is spin wing weight, but not because of their effect on sight marks, but rather it is all about FOC. 

Spin wings simply give you the best possible FOC of any vane on the market because they are the lightest. Kurley’s or others may be in that category also, I haven’t compared wt., but last time I looked, spinnies were lightest. 

I think it is possible that the advantage that high FOC brings to outdoor shooting may be somewhat less for non-elites because of point wt, not just the use/non-use of spin wings. 

In other words, elite shooters most likely pull higher weight than average, therefore they can effectively use a higher point weight, which combined with spin wings gives them FOC’s out of reach to your average shooter like me. 

Unless you are pulling over 40#’s (based on my experiments anyway), it is unlikely that you are going to be able to use the maximum available 120gr pt for ACE’s for example, to shoot 90m because the arrow drops like a rock after 70m, again just my experience. 

But, even if we hold less than 40#’s and can only use 100 or 110gr pts, spin wings will still give you the best possible FOC, which seems to me to be an advantage, and although not as high as the elite cadre and your arrows may blow more off-course than theirs, it is still an advantage over any thing else.

Got FOC?


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## engtee (Oct 2, 2003)

Having low 40# on my fingers, I bounce back and forth on the use of Spin Wings v. vanes. I do find with the spins that my FOC is better and that my sight marks are very slightly better, but I also find that at many angles, the wind catches the curl and causes problems. I just switched back to Plastifletch Max vanes, applied straight, with a helical clamp. Yesterday, I shot some at 90m, with a wind coming in at about 4-5 o'clock. The arc was beautiful.
One downside of the vanes, that I have found, is that they do not stabilize, out of the bow, quite as quickly as the spins. At distances under 30m, I do find that the arrows are not facing directly back to the spot I fired them from and with spins they are much closer to doing so. Once past 30m, there appears to be no difference.
I also like the fact that any variation in my application of Spin Wings is overcome by the use of a Bitz, with the vanes. I know every arrow will be identical, and there is no sticking together, in the quiver.


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

I've used micro blazers with great results. They beat all the headaches of spin maintenance. I've noticed no difference in the results.


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## Jason22 (Aug 16, 2008)

Are very many people using spin wings indoors or just outdoors now? I've been using my old ACE's indoors but the spin wings sure get chewed up fast.


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

2222 said:


> Are very many people using spin wings indoors or just outdoors now? I've been using my old ACE's indoors but the spin wings sure get chewed up fast.


I see alot of spinwings among the JOAD's, but I suspect it is just an image thing.


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## monty53 (Jun 19, 2002)

target1 said:


> I see alot of spinwings among the JOAD's, but I suspect it is just an image thing.


Well..........take a look at this.....

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=arch-bj-sd19-081108-095503&channelcode=sportar


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

monty53 said:


> Well..........take a look at this.....
> 
> http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=arch-bj-sd19-081108-095503&channelcode=sportar



your point is...? 

The question was, are they popular among the masses, not the elite. We already know the answer to that question.


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## nyamazan (Jan 31, 2008)

I'm new to all this but what about those vanes called quickspin? They look like a normal vane but have a small piece sticking out on one side.
Think they're made for compound bows shooting broadheads to keep up the arrow speed by not having to put on a helical or heavy offset.


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## Brandeis_Archer (Dec 20, 2006)

nyamazan said:


> I'm new to all this but what about those vanes called quickspin? They look like a normal vane but have a small piece sticking out on one side.
> Think they're made for compound bows shooting broadheads to keep up the arrow speed by not having to put on a helical or heavy offset.


Drag is drag, you can't get free energy. So however you get your arrow to spin (Spin Wings et al, helical, or Quickspin vanes), you slow the arrow down compared to vanes with the same weight but less drag. Same problem with those mechanical broadheads that "explode open with no force" from what people have told me. No such thing as a free lunch, be it in politics or physics.


Of course I'm biased, but I'll throw out that I'm a big fan of the XsWings. Light spin wing style, but as tough or tougher than rubber vanes.


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## Jason22 (Aug 16, 2008)

I was asking about INDOORS with spin wings. The original poster I believe was asking about them vs vanes for Outdoor use.

Are elite archers using them indoors or just outdoors?


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

2222 said:


> I was asking about INDOORS with spin wings. The original poster I believe was asking about them vs vanes for Outdoor use.
> 
> Are elite archers using them indoors or just outdoors?


personally, I don't think indoors they make any difference. I saw a report that said an arrow usually rotates 1-2 times at 20m. I can't see them effecting anything on that short of distance. 

Anyone else, that can share some insight on this?


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## nyamazan (Jan 31, 2008)

Would it be considered hijacking this thread to ask what size vanes to use on my 1916s to shoot the 18m indoor, bearing in mind its pretty new to me so my release it not top notch.


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## target1 (Jan 16, 2007)

nyamazan said:


> Would it be considered hijacking this thread to ask what size vanes to use on my 1916s to shoot the 18m indoor, bearing in mind its pretty new to me so my release it not top notch.


yes, it is hijacking...but, to answer your question. I use full size blazers on my fatboys and 4" vanes on my 22's.


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## tecshooter05 (Mar 7, 2005)

spin-wings arent that bad for maintenance, if your really worried about putting them on the same. check out these guys. there wraps are awesome and i have had better adhesion with the spin-wing tape to these that i ever had to just the carbon.

http://www.socx.nl/custommadewrapscom/


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## pbzmag (Apr 26, 2006)

tecshooter05 said:


> spin-wings arent that bad for maintenance, if your really worried about putting them on the same. check out these guys. there wraps are awesome and i have had better adhesion with the spin-wing tape to these that i ever had to just the carbon.
> 
> http://www.socx.nl/custommadewrapscom/


I have them on my MKII and my old ACE's. I got tired of redoing the lines as my Beiter triliner always had one line consistantly lower than the other two. I had to order straight from them as no other place had any on stock for MKII. Wraps for ACE were easier to get. Socx originally did not have some for the 725 spine but I was able to get the specs off my mines and give them to them. It took less than a week to receive them even coming from the Netherlands.


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## spangler (Feb 2, 2007)

nyamazan said:


> Would it be considered hijacking this thread to ask what size vanes to use on my 1916s to shoot the 18m indoor, bearing in mind its pretty new to me so my release it not top notch.


I use 4 inch feathers with a heavy helical with my 1916's indoor and my recurve.


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## pbostrom (Jun 7, 2007)

target1 said:


> personally, I don't think indoors they make any difference. I saw a report that said an arrow usually rotates 1-2 times at 20m. I can't see them effecting anything on that short of distance.
> 
> Anyone else, that can share some insight on this?


tadaa! 

if you look close at this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcNY2t0h-HE on the part of slowmo on the robin hood thingy u can infact see that the first 1-2 meters the arrow mearly manages to spin 1 times, but after that it just speed up very fast in spinning and after 20 meters i would presume after seeing this video that it is spinning about 2-3 times per meter after 20meter.

so to answer to your question i can probably assume that it spins about 30-40 ish times at 20 meters.

also you can test for yourselves try throw an arrow 15 meters up in the air, it will spin pretty fast before it hits the ground

note this is just an highly inaccurate estimate(made by a lazy young student(me)) but u get my point its far from 1-2 rotations at 20 meter


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## spangler (Feb 2, 2007)

pbostrom said:


> also you can test for yourselves try throw an arrow 15 meters up in the air, it will spin pretty fast before it hits the ground


I would hope that anyone conducting this experiment not be so involved in counting that they forget about dodging.



-Andrew


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## pbostrom (Jun 7, 2007)

oh yeh... forgot to mention that thing, safety first.


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## nyamazan (Jan 31, 2008)

*Inappropriate behaviour.*



target1 said:


> yes, it is hijacking...but, to answer your question. I use full size blazers on my fatboys and 4" vanes on my 22's.


I do appologize, but thanks for the answer.


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## 442fps (Dec 23, 2003)

I prefer vanes , recurve and compound .

Can't see better scores with the Spinnies for me , but i have enough of refletching and refletching .....


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