Rayzr Fletching Review

[CopperHead]

I had been thinking about shooting feathers but I was also kicking around the idea of blazers. Well I saw this on Keystone and decided to give them a try. I picked up a grayling flecting jig and started stripping of the old tattered quickspins. here is the outcome. I'm still working out the kinks but they are most definitely functional.





After opening the pack I was a little concerned at the thickness of the material at the base of the fletching. I was wondering am I gonna have to trim that. After further inspection I decided against it as it seemed that the base lends to the stiffness of the feather. these little guys are 2 inches long and approximately .5 inches high. According to the documentation that weigh about 1.7 grains each. Perfect I could fletch four of these and still weigh only 1.8 grains more than a single blazer.

The current setup is a GoldTip Hunter XT 7595 @28" tipped with a Blitz broadhead.
I have been shooting these now for about three weeks and have been pleasantly surprised. Topped with a Biltz broadhead I can consistently shoot 3 to 4 inch groups at 40 yards, even on windy days. I have yet to notice any more sound to be generated by these than the 4 inch quickspin. Without any truely accurate way to gauge them I can not be certain but its definitely not noticable to me.

In comparision to a 4 inch gateway feather the rayzr seems to be much more durable. When shooting the 4inch feathers they seem to damage pretty easy. With the exception of the Blitz slicing them off I have yet to inflict any damage to the rayzrs.

Going forward the rayzr will be my fletching of choice. They seem to be the sturdiest of feathers that I have seen so far and fly well even with the small footprint. Now I just need to improve my fletching skills and waterproof the feathers, which I still need to do.

Try as I might I still get that white residue on my arrows after I fletch them. I am told that is a sign I'm using to much glue. that ia another thing I am working on. Any recommendation on how to clean that up?

[nodog]

I've heard they are stiffer which lends to them being quieter. Why the 4 fletch?

I use super glue.

I think gateways are a better quality than the other brands. Been thinking about their care. When their on the bird natual oils keep them in good shape. I wonder if rubbing them with some kind of oil wont do the trick, maybe corn oil. Sweat might work but you got the stink to deal with. Maybe a dilluted pine tar or wood oil.

Blazers aren't 5 grns as avertised 3 total almost 19 grns. All Bohning vanes weigh more as far as I've seen. The duravane equivelent does weight less and most of their vanes are always just about what they claim. 3, 4" savage vanes weight 25 grns, the claim, 8.8 grns a piece. Pretty good.

[BT]

As to the white.....use the superglue that comes with the brush applicator.
Generally you can find it at drug stores and convenience stores.
You dont need much glue at all with feathers.
Those 4 fletch are the cats meow aren't they?

[CopperHead]

BT,
No pun intended but you have yet to steer me wrong. I love the four fletch and with the feathers I can do it with less weight. Thanks so much for all the advice you so graciously give. It has made a huge impact on my archery skills.

Nodog,
You are right these little guys are pretty darn stiff. As far as the four fletch I went with them for a couple of reasons.

1. It is highly recommended by BT.
2. I use fixed bade broadheads with the smaller footprint I was concerned about steering.

As far as the water proofing I was gonna just get the powder sold by gateway to do that. The oil I would be concerned with the scent as I tend to be a scent control freak now a days.


Superglue it is then. I'll give that a try. Thanks.

[nodog]

Be interested in knowing if you notice a diff with 3, if you get around to trying them. Guys have mixed results with the powder that's why I thought of how does the bird do it. I'd be tempted to use some turkey fat, but it might get rancid.

Alright BT why are they the cats meow? ;D

[BT]

well I will tell you nodog....I have tried it all over a long period of time and I have done it all while hot rodding these bows I have had.
When I started working outside of the box as to physics of energy curves and flight dynamics as is applied to both bow and arrows , I started to find many flaws which had to be dealt with.
One of the easiest fixes I found which would control erratic cam cycle as expressed through the arrow in flight was the four fletch pattern when shot in the X pattern.
It's not a cure all but it corrects for alot of slop that cannot be controlled otherwise.
Most people I have shot 3-D with have seen an occasional arrow of mine go tail wide at around the 20 yard mark and yet hit on the mark.
The reason for this (with the black knight2) is because of the timing cycle within the cam.
When hand position is not perfect , a bad defect in float tuning is the fact that you can snap an arrow in half after it is well down range when it begins it's lift.
Plastic vanes would definitely not control the float and would most definitely cause the arrow to jut away on the path of deflection within the shaft.
Three feathers can keep the arrow from going crazy but cannot (most times) keep the forward point on track and therefore will allow for wide divergences at times...in relation to hand placement.
The four fletch , although not perfect , will correct unstable flight due to simple mass.
I dont not encourage adding any cant or turn when fletching with 4 feathers or vanes.
By adding angle or helical , you eliminate the ability for the fletch to work and only act to retard flight .....like a flu flu.
The reason that the 4X Feather works so well is because the feather will give to the area of x-tra air mass.
When a feather gives to the air it's quills lay to the side which increases mass as to width and scope I.E: volume.
Each quill in turn , exposing it's cup which acts as a sail to turn the area which is seeing the greatest pressure.
In milliseconds (as the arrows turns) the quills begin to right themselves , reducing the cupped area and width.
At the very second that the air speed is equal (and attached force eliminated) the feathers are once again equal and therefore cannot (by themselves) cause corrected force to become controlling force.
This is the reason that you will almost never see a feathered shaft fishtail or porpoise as is seen in a vain equipped shaft.
If you get a full rotation of either symptom with feathers....you would see it for yards on end with vanes

Feathers also allow an arrow to track through vegetation without error when speaking of guidance only contact.
Shooting through a straw field with a feathered arrow is no feat at all whereas the opposite can be said for a vane equipped arrow.
Not that we are going to be shooting in the midst of straw but it is Representative of what can be expected in the field which it comes to the discussion of any contact.

A four fletch pattern also has higher visual mass.
I do not have great eye sight anymore (sadly) and a 4 fletch yellow or white pattern shows up very well.
For those who just cant not look for the arrows flight....this high mass will help to get over that habit.
Most people cant not see a 4 fletch pattern as it flies out toward it's point of aim.

Four fletch X also eliminates the need to locate the cock feather because there is no correct or incorrect nock location relative to the fletch pattern or rest.

The blazer has eliminated the other benefit of the 4 fletch pattern but it is worth mention for those who do not use blazers.
It was common to use 5" vanes at one time but I will refer to 4" since that is todays norm.
3-4" vanes with a mass of 12" can be equaled in length by 4-3" feathers.
With lower brace heights ... thats an advantage.
But there is more to it than just measure....
Resistance is greater with feathers.
in fact.... a 2.75" feather is equal to a 4" vane.
I could easily fletch 4-2.5" feathers with any 1 1/8" broadhead and have the same flight patterns inside of 35 yards.

It goes on and on and I am sure I am boring the hell out of more than a few so I will stop with these here

[royden]

actually I was quite interested Bt - sooner or later your gonna talk me into trying it. I'm also interested in the quirks of timing the cams for different results. so keep right on a going ...

I prefer 4" vanes to blazers for longer shooting plus blazers tend to be harder to get good clearance past the arrow shelf. I'm sure that extra 1/8" of height gives the blazer the leverage it needs to control the arrow.

[BT]

Yup...the height has everything to do with it.
You have to have mass in width though and a running taper doesn't do anything for providing usable mass.

The taper seen in traditional cuts is only useful as a tuning aid for shooting against the riser or of a fixed rest.
On a feather , it is crucial that this taper remain simply because the user is generally traditional and requires such.
In truth , perhaps 40% of a typical vane acts to do nothing while the rear 60% does all the work.
This is why the blazer works....becasue it ramps quicker to gain it's mass.
I have used the 1.5" blazer in 4 fletch and it works fine for what it is so I am not sure why anyone would want to risk the contact potential of a 2" by going with a 3 fletch pattern....particularly with a vane that is so stiff.

I believe that most people do not use four fletch simply because most people don't.
Really!.....look around and see how much everyones bow looks alike depending on the area in which they live.
People are pretty much like lemmings and will follow what works for the person that shoots better than them.
It doesn't occur (I love this term) to think outside of the box and investigate alternatives.

I find myself doing the same thing at times but not often

[BT]

royden said:

I'm also interested in the quirks of timing the cams for different results. so keep right on a going ...

As to flight tuning with the inclusion of lift .... it is a frustrating process ....can be dangerous and most certainly is expensive.

Here is the basic starting point...
You have to select an arrow that is strong enough to be flight tuned but is weak enough to be out of the spine range.
Basically you are trying to tune an arrow that is to weak for the application.
For bows under 60# it generally is a case of attempting to work with length since the light spine shafts available are limited.
It is impossible at times when looking at these light weight applications .

Now that you have an arrow that is sufficiently weak (yet stable) you have to flight tune the bow.
Once tuned , you start to advance the timing of the lower limb.
while marking elevation of impact.
at some point you will likely have to re-tune (flight) the bow again (slightly) which may be accomplished with the tiller measurement or rest.
You never know what is going to work on any given bow so it's a matter of trial and error.
Dual cam bows are ideal for float tuning whereas this particular hybrid I have now is near impossible and I just totally lucked out when I did hit it.

You may find that you'll have to add head weight or weight the forward interior portion of the shaft while you are setting the timing.
What you are attempting to do is control the paradox at a point in time.
The paradox should happen at 20 yards and correct at 25 yards.
This necessitates the use of feathers.
The paradox is happening as the rising nock is trying to push through a descending forward point.
The arrow will leave the bow in a humpback position and at 20 yards the forward portion of the shaft will give into the rearward portion of the shaft and lift.
At this point , the feathers will fall out of the draft and right the arrow , but elevation will have already been gained.
The trick is to get the forward point to stay on line.
This is where the shaft can blow.
Since you are so light in relation to the side wall of the shaft , this controlled bend at the forward 1/3rd. of the shaft put a tremendous amount of stress on an area perhaps 3" in length.
For this reason....you don't want anything other than straight fletching.
If an arrow were to turn at this point in time it would crack the arrow in paradox and blow it apart.

Some years ago when easton first came out with it's first graphite shaft I watched three arrows out of 4 blow up at 20 yards on a 3-D course.
I wasn't shooting the bow so I got a very good look at what was happening.
All of these shafts were broken in three sections and the sections left the flight patch like a fragment grenade ;D
The Easton rep. for my supplier at that time was pretty taken back
Easton did take this information and inspect their shafts for these weak area's ....I was told.

Generally you are looking for a 3-7 yard gain depending on the application although I have seen a couple of instances where I got a solid 10 yards.

[royden]

admin said:

I believe that most people do not use four fletch simply because most people don't.
People are pretty much like lemmings and will follow what works for the person that shoots better than them.
think outside of the box and investigate alternatives.

I find myself doing the same thing at times but not often

Yes - people are sheep. But then again most people shouldn't do too much thinking anyway ...

I most of the time try to think of alternatives to the "norm" just to make sure the "norm" is the best way to go in the situation.... gets me in trouble at work sometimes .... but also tends to get us out of some jams at work more often than not. I've found that many loggers have the mentality for being creative.

I wondered why you were using cx 200's - now I understand. I'll bet you don't hunt with that set-up maybe