# Level sight to natural cant



## field14 (May 21, 2002)

I know that Frank Pearson was an advocate of doing this, along with what is likely to be many others. However, today, what with people really focusing on bow balance in all planes, I would think they are accomplishing this through the use of their stabilizers and side bars and leveling the 2nd axis without a "natural cant". I do agree, however that leveling 3rd axis at FULL DRAW is likely the better approach, because each and every one of us handles our bow differently and at full draw is where the "action is" when angled up and downhill.

Just my thoughts. I so happen to NOT level my bow to any natural cant; but I learned the bubble game many years back and leveling up the bow for me just comes natural and I don't have problems with canting the bow. FOR ME, it is better to concentrate on other things, but leveling up is an inherent part of my shot sequence after all these years, so it just "happens" for me by second nature.

If you watch the Vegas videos closely when they do give you a view of the archers' bubbles, you will rarely see a bubble out of center very far...and when they are, you'll see the shooter making that very slight correction, too. Bubbles ARE important indoors as well as outdoors...especially when going for super-X's on the Vegas face; let alone X's on the NFAA face!


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## BearArcher1980 (Apr 14, 2012)

I am not a professional by any means, nor will I claim to be. I will say that for me not having a 3rd axis level what I have done is hang my bow from the ceiling by a hook with nothing but my sight an rest on it from my top idler wheel (single cam bow) which hangs level and has a forward tilt. I leveled my bubble to that and when at full draw my bow hits level everytime. This probably isn't the proper way to set your sight bubble but it worked for me in setting all my axis on my sight.
When I shoot I do check my level before I go through my release routine, and even at a natural draw it always comes back level and the bow looks great when you look at a picture of me from behind.
Hope this might help


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## field14 (May 21, 2002)

BearArcher1980 said:


> I am not a professional by any means, nor will I claim to be. I will say that for me not having a 3rd axis level what I have done is hang my bow from the ceiling by a hook with nothing but my sight an rest on it from my top idler wheel (single cam bow) which hangs level and has a forward tilt. I leveled my bubble to that and when at full draw my bow hits level everytime. This probably isn't the proper way to set your sight bubble but it worked for me in setting all my axis on my sight.
> When I shoot I do check my level before I go through my release routine, and even at a natural draw it always comes back level and the bow looks great when you look at a picture of me from behind.
> Hope this might help


Years ago before the advent of the "tools of 3rd Axis", we would hang our bows by placing our wrist sling under the string where it met the cam....and then dangle the bow from there...of course, the bow was always pointed downhill...and then we would set the level. Worked just great for the most part.
Then, we also started bending the rods (back then only 8/32") to get the bubble to sit level as we laid the bow against a level door jamb or wall in the house and tilted the bow uphill or down hill. We quickly found out, however that we had a lot of scope rod breakage by using this practice.
So, I started to cut the bubble out of the scope body (Magna-Site Scope), clean out all the glue and then lay a bed of epoxy into the bottom of the scope body. I would then place the bubble into the epoxy, put the bow on the level door jamb/wall and then get the bubble level when the bow was level. I would then point the bow uphill and move which-ever END of the bubble would place the bubble level again, go to center for a check, and then go downhill and repeat, back to level back to uphill. Once done, I would then let the bubble dry in the epoxy.
I always left by Kilian Chek-it sight with TR Bar on the bow, and only removed the scope and scope block. I would check it for level quite often, but normally, the 3rd axis would stay put. Of course, the old Killian Chek-it blocks were flimsy, but with the poundage I shot, there wasn't all that much vibration to throw it off.

OLD way, improvised, but it worked for me well enough to shoot in the higher 550's on field courses. I still have that same Killian CHek-it site, with TR Bar and the 6X Magna-Site to this very day. That Magna Site, although worn, still works just fine, too. $25 back in the day...hahaha.


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## BearArcher1980 (Apr 14, 2012)

That's awesome Tom. Its little tricks like that that have made us who we are today. Sometimes people take for granted all our technology today and forget how far we have come just in the past 10 years with this sport.
The guys that have been shooting before compounds were introduced have such a wealth of knowledge that is priceless. I crave knowledge in our sport and soak everything up like a sponge. You can learn something from EVERYONE, even if its what NOT to do lol.


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## field14 (May 21, 2002)

BearArcher1980 said:


> That's awesome Tom. Its little tricks like that that have made us who we are today. Sometimes people take for granted all our technology today and forget how far we have come just in the past 10 years with this sport.
> The guys that have been shooting before compounds were introduced have such a wealth of knowledge that is priceless. I crave knowledge in our sport and soak everything up like a sponge. You can learn something from EVERYONE, even if its what NOT to do lol.


If you haven't read "ProActive Archery", it might be a good one for you to get. Just google ProActive Archery, you'll find it.
I've started work on another archery book. The full title is uncertain, but will contain a newly coined "word" within said title.

I've gotten nearly all the photos amasssed, and the outline is nearly finished. It will NOT be a "technical what to do thing" and it won't have lots of charts, graphs and "records" or tournament results in it. That's not at all what this book will be about. More historical, but not from a tournament winners' and doers aspect.

I hope to have it done, edited, reviewed, and published before September, 2013.


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## BearArcher1980 (Apr 14, 2012)

Thanks Tom, I plan on purchasing your book in the next week for sure. After reading the reviews on it, it will be in my hands shortly lol.


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