# Proper Nock Fit



## bfisher (Nov 30, 2002)

General rule of thought is that when you nock and arrow, hold the bow horizontally with the arrow hanging vertical. Give a decent tap on the string and the arrow should fall off. Too tight and accuracy may suffer as the arrow will act stiff. Too loose and it can just fall off the string.

I actually serve my string with the appropriate size serving so that when my nocks gently snap on the string I can easily slide the nock up and down the string, meaning fairly loose.


----------



## MacOfNiagara (Aug 2, 2006)

bfisher said:


> General rule of thought is that when you nock and arrow, hold the bow horizontally with the arrow hanging vertical. Give a decent tap on the string and the arrow should fall off. Too tight and accuracy may suffer as the arrow will act stiff. Too loose and it can just fall off the string.
> 
> I actually serve my string with the appropriate size serving so that when my nocks gently snap on the string I can easily slide the nock up and down the string, meaning fairly loose.


Hmm, I thought my nock fit was too tight but it sounds like maybe it is fine. With my previous setup the nock would come off very easily. If I hung it off the string horizontally it would sometimes fall off, and if not a very small tap would set it loose. 

Now with my new arrows and string it takes a harder tap. It does 'click' on, which had me thinking it was too tight, but, it does slide up and down pretty easily. If I pull it off it gives a twang and pulls the string just over a 1/4" befoee letting go. My previous string / nock setup would barely move the string if at all.

My thinking is that the energy needed to pull off the string is wasted energy that should be going into the arrow. It also seems to have the negative effect of pulling the string into the limb tips and thwacking them a bit.

Is the only draw back to being too loose having the arrow fall off. If that is the case I think I will go with a looser fit. As I said it was VERY loose before and I never had an arrow fall off, and I am not pinching the arrow. It used to just gently hold in place and rest on top of finger.


----------



## Deezlin (Feb 5, 2004)

MacOfNiagara said:


> ...Is the only draw back to being too loose having the arrow fall off. If that is the case I think I will go with a looser fit. As I said it was VERY loose before and I never had an arrow fall off, and I am not pinching the arrow. It used to just gently hold in place and rest on top of finger.


I think so. I agree, I don't see any other reason. If you want to loosen the fit, you can remove the nocks and boil them in water. Then remove one and snap it on the string and allow it to cool. If it is still too tight, then add a piece of paper on the string and do the samething again. Too tight of a fit will also damage the center serving. If you are using a light arrow and a drop-away, and the string is rotating at all, it may throw the arrow slightly left or right. I had this happenning one time with light, low FOC arrows.

Nock fit is more important that most people realize.


----------



## SonnyThomas (Sep 10, 2006)

*proper nock it*



bfisher said:


> I actually serve my string with the appropriate size serving so that when my nocks gently snap on the string I can easily slide the nock up and down the string, meaning fairly loose.


Yep.


----------

