3 or 4 fletchings?

[hardstalk]

Does anyone shoot with 4 fletching rather than 3 and can you explain to me the pros of doing so?

[spoofman]

I have always used 3 fletchings. with a good tuned bow why change. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[huntindad]

Pros off the top of my head are, more stability with broadheads and you can nock your arrow in either position without regard to fletching alignment if that makes sense. The number one con IMO is loss of speed.

There is probably more but those are a couple off the top of my head.

Bill

[hardstalk]

Ya the nock makes sense. What about spin? And wind deflection? Does it help either?

[Patch]

I have noticed more stability at long range while shooting broad heads. I asked two pro shooters what they shoot, and both of them told me they shoot four fletch. I went from 3 fletch to 4 fletch and like the way they fly. I shoot out to 85 yd for fun, and seem to hit more consistently.

[DESERT ARCHER]

I have always shot 3 blazer the only reason why you might do 4 fletchings is for a 4 blade broadhead and stability.

[BOHNTR]

I've done a lot of testing with three versus four fletched arrows on a shooting machine (hooter shooter). One thing I've been able to confirm is that it makes absolutely no difference if you align your vanes with your broadhead blades......at all distances. Proper spine is much more important, IMO. However, if it makes one feel more confident aligning your vanes with the broadhead blades, it doesn't hurt arrow flight either.

Having said that, I did find some interesting issues between four versus three fletched arrows. First, while four vanes stabilized arrow flight quickly (recovery), they were significantly slower (fps) based on arrow drag and weight. I saw no difference between four fletched arrows and three fletched in helical though. You achieve just as quick recovery using three fletched arrows with either a helical or 10% offset.

Four fletched also seemed to have much more wind drift downrange in cross winds. Lastly, and most importantly, your objective should be to try and add weight to the front of the arrow to increase FOC. When you add weight to the end of the arrow and decrease FOC, consistent and proper arrow flight suffers.

Most four fletched arrows seen today (4" feathers) are built by traditional archers to achieve maximum recovery rate. FOC isn't really an issue as the weight of the broadhead generally heavier than compound shooter usually use.

Of course just is just my opinion based on my own personal tests. Hope it helps and good luck this year!

[Texasraised311]

A lot of the old timers and traditional shooters like four feathers because, as gene winsel puts it "at the moment of pressure you want the most stable arrow flight possible." However moving to four feathers slows your arrow flight considerably. If your broadheads will spin like a top an not wobble at all they will fly just like your field tips. As long as you tune your arrow and bow using bare shaft and/or paper tuning, the difference in stability between three and four feathers is minimal at best.

[ARCHER11]

I was having contact issues with my 2 inch Norway Fusion vanes so decided to give a lower profile vane a try. I'm going to play with the 1.5" fusions in a few different configurations. I just fletched up a dozen arrows. Some with 3 fletch, some with 4 with a 90/90 configuration and some with a 105/75 configuration. I have never really had an issue with 3 fletched arrows but because I was dropping to a low profile vane with less surface area (to fix the contact issue) I thought I would give the 4 fletch a try to increase stability. It really just helps with stability but you may not need it. I think there are more important things to worry about such as FOC and spine like BOHNTR mentioned. 4 fletch does look really cool though