Blazer vane question

[IHunt2live]

I'm starting to think of all the stuff I will need to do before my cow elk hunt and the first thing is a new set of one dozen arrows.

I currently use PSE carbon force Ravens 300, which they don't make anymore, but I've realy liked them and am planning on staying with the carbon force arrows, either the STL hunters or predators.

I would realy like to try blazer vanes and my question is for all you who use blazers do you have a twist in the vanes or just have strait vanes. I've read that a twist is not needed but it seems like to me a twist at least wouldn't hurt.

Any advice?

[bobbyo]

THe more twist the more stable the arrow will be in flight. The trade off is more noise and slightly slower arrow. You have to take in consideration your rest and type of broadhead you are using. If you have a drop away no worries. Twist away. If you are using mechanicals straight should be fine. If you are using fixed the twist(helical or offset) i would have offset proportional to my cutting diameter. Meaning the bigger the cutting diameter the greater the offset. I think you would do great with most 100 grain fixed blade with 4 degree offset.

[tommat]

I use the PSE arrows and blazer vanes....I offset them slightly and am getting great groups to sixty yards with fixed blades 1" diameter.

[300 wsm]

When I shot Blazer's I had a slight twist on them. I switched to feathers and get way better broadhead flight with them. I have shot 10 different broadheads now and they all fly just like my feild points. My feathers are 4 inch with a slight twist.

[jamaro]

One thing you might want to take into consideration is that the more you twist the harder it is to get them to glue correctly... You might want to look at the new Fusion vanes....

 

J

[gauchoand]

Well this is kinda funny to me I remeber when I first started fletching I was having trouble getting proper vane adhesion to the shaft with the blazers. I was doing it helical and I went to sportsman and asked someone at the counter about it and they told me blazers are not designed for helical Fletching. Well A few months later I was looking at the Bohning website and it said right there that they recommended helical thats when I started to recognize that Sportsman couldn't hack it. They have since updated the info on it. They say now that the recommend a 2 degree offset or a 3 degree helical (offset is when you use a straight clamp and helical is when you use a helical clamp.) They also make the statement taken straight from their website:

You must pay attention to the diameter of the shaft, because the smaller the diameter of the shaft the less offset you can apply to your fletch. The larger the diameter of the shaft the greater the offset you can apply to your vane. This also means that you must reset your jig when fletching different size arrows. Be sure you follow the instructions from above to ensure the vane makes contact with the shaft along the entire base of the fletch.

But so you know in there '09 catalog it says about the 2 and 3 degree. I personnally use the 3degree helical and really like the way the fly.

[jeffcros]

I shoot blazers and fletch my own with a bitzenburger jig. I set a vane in the clamp, put a shaft in there, and adjust offset as much as the shaft will allow for that size of fletching. With the blazers you might have to mess with it a couple of minutes but they will be fine. I've been shooting them for a couple of years now with great results

[John O]

I use Arizona E-Z fletch for my 2" blazers, with the 4 degree offset, and they fly awesome to 70 yards.

[deserthntr]

i dont put a twist in my vanes, they fly just as straight so i dont. i use the az easy fletch, dont forget to get the right fletcher. i accidently used the aluminum on my carbon so the fletchings fell off

[rtkemp]

IHunt2live

 

I too shoot the PSE carbon force Ravens 300, which they don't make anymore. I am getting near the point of purchasing new shafts.

 

Are the STL hunters or predators comparable to what we shoot now? And what is the advantage/disadvantage of switching to blazer vanes?

 

Thx

 

[IHunt2live]

IHunt2live

 

I too shoot the PSE carbon force Ravens 300, which they don't make anymore. I am getting near the point of purchasing new shafts.

 

Are the STL hunters or predators comparable to what we shoot now? And what is the advantage/disadvantage of switching to blazer vanes?

 

Thx

 

First off thats for all you comments.

 

rtkemp, yes the hunters and predators are alot like the ravens. the predators are just a little more strait then the hunters but you know I'm no robin hood so i figure i wont be able to tell a difference between the two. Just comes down to how much you want to spend.

As far as the blazer vanes I've herd a lot of good things about them and that the work well with fix blade broadheads and I would just like to give them a try.

[deserthntr]

i dont know any of the disadvantages, but some of the advantages are they fly better in wind, cause of less drag and less for the wind to push on. also they fly better with broadheads i have found, but i only shot fixed blade. those are just some, enough to convince me to switch. i love them

[IHunt2live]

For those of you who shoot with blazers do you have wraps or not. I kind of like not wraps. is there a big difference in visibility of the arrow in flight?

[cmc]

I've shot some form of carbon force 300's for the past 4-5 years and went to blazers about 3 years ago. The STL hunters are great and I've taken elk, javelina, bear and antelope with them. I fletch my own arrows and my process is clean with alcohol, both the shaft and blazer and use AAE glue on my Blitzenberg jig. I've never lost a vane and I mean never! That' shooting through animals, through targets, through cactus (lots of misses) they have never fallen off. I have a very very slight twist off center on the jig and after testing straight, slight or hard helical this works the best for me and my bow setup.

 

I've recently wanted to break the 400 grains mark for my bull elk hunt so I went with some Easton Full Metal Jackets and after putting them together I ended up with a 436 grain arrow. They fly really good but I haven't put any broad heads on them so the jury is still out. I'm tempted to add some wraps to them to aid in visual flight and seeing the hit on an animal better but I've never ran or worked with wraps before.

 

cmc

[DubTee]

As far as wraps go, I think they look cool, as far a visibility on arrow flight, you should not be able to see them. With a perfectly tuned arrow and proper follow trough, all you should really see is the nock. Now when you have missed, hit, or better yet shot through your animal, the wraps help in locating the arrow. What I really like about wraps is it gives me a bit better sense on what kind of blood I have, (lung, liver, or guts), it really shows up well on the lighter color wraps. For those of you concerned about seeing exactly where you hit an animal, try the lumenocks, or some kind of lighted nock. Price turns some off of them, but you will know exactly where you hit the animal and that can sometimes make a big difference. Plus, it looks like a laser beam flying through the air which is pretty cool.