LAST EDITED ON Aug-07-09 AT 10:13AM (MST)[p]
c3, lets do it;-) I love coldies! You are right, not all setups will tune perfectly. Some will easily, some will with a little tinkering, some will with major surgery, and some never will. I can accept the first two situations, bows in the last two categories get ditched.
I have a Mathews Switchback that I'll never get rid of. It tunes like a dream without much effort. Provided I do my part it will shoot any head I screw on there right with field points. A bow has to be tuned PERFECTLY to do this in my experience. Now I have a Bowtech Captain that is almost as good, but the one I had previous to this one was a total lemon and would not tune at all. I sent it back and got a new one. My bro's Drenalin will tune close enough but not quite perfect. I am confident I could get it there but close enough is good enough for him. My buddy's Drenalin LD will also shoot any head perfectly, but it took a lot of fine tuning to get it there. His Hoyt Ultratech never would tune for him, but I could shoot it perfectly. Another buddy's Bowtech Tribute will shoot broadheads perfect with no tuning at all, just centershot. I've also had a PSE, so has my brother, that would never tune right. Those didn't last long.
My point is that it runs the gamut. There are so many variances with bows and with the shooter's form. Some tune easily, some will tune but take some effort and some won't tune at all. The fact of the matter is that in my experience MOST of today's high end bows will get there if you are willing to go through the headaches of getting everything set absoultely right. It may take a lot of work setting ATA, brace height, timing, tiller, cam/idler lean, paper tuning, walkback tuning, and of course broadhead tuning. Most shops won't take the time required to achieve tuning perfection so its a good idea to learn yourself if perfection is what you expect. I'm a perfectionist to a fault with my archery equipment and I never could get a shop to put forth the attention to detail I wanted so the only solution for me was to learn to do it myself.
I don't mind the effort, but I won't tolerate a bow that won't tune at all. I'm not afraid to unload one that wont cooperate.
I probably did oversimplify, but I still think knowing the basics of bow tuning and how to get a bow to shoot broaheads and field points together (at least in theory) is a good excercise and something most bowhunters would benefit from learning. You may not be able to acheive Hooter Shooter, same hole, kind of perfection, but certainly accuracy that is more than acceptable in hunting situations. You shouldn't have to move your sight anyway.
As a sidebar, speed can be an issue too. With today's speed bows and the light arrows that are popular, getting the same flight out of field tips and broadheads can be more difficult. Bump that arrow weight up to keep speed at 280-290 and below and you will have an easier time tuning.
Is it happy hour yet?