Compound bow tuning guides
Every reference on the site, in the order a bow actually gets tuned.
These are the long-form articles behind the calculators — what each number means, how to read it in the field, and which adjustment fixes what. They're written for hunting setups first: compound bows, field points and broadheads, real distances.
Each guide pairs with an interactive tool. The guide explains the diagnosis; the tool runs the math on your numbers.
Tuning and setup guides
- Paper tuning a compound bow
How to read every paper-tear pattern — high, low, left, right — and the rest, nock-point, cam-lean, and spine adjustments that fix each one.
- Broadhead tuning a compound bow
Every broadhead-vs-field-point impact pattern, diagnosed, plus the corrections that bring the two groups together. The last tune before season.
- Arrow setup for compound bows
Spine, total weight, point weight, FOC, kinetic energy, and momentum — what each one is, what it changes, and the numbers worth caring about for whitetail and elk.
- Compound bow sight tapes
How sight tapes work, why calibration beats chronograph speed, and how to print one at exact 1:1 scale so the marks land true.
- IBO speed vs measured speed
What an IBO rating actually means, why every advertised number is optimistic, and how to read the gap between the spec sheet and your chronograph.
Field reports
Original data we collected and published — measured numbers, not manufacturer claims.
- IBO honesty — brands ranked by advertised vs measured speed
Independent ranking of 12 compound bow brands by the gap between advertised IBO speed and chronograph reality, from 55 at-IBO datapoints.
The order things get tuned
Tuning is sequential — each step assumes the one before it is clean. Working out of order means chasing a symptom whose cause is upstream.
- Contact check — a vane brushing the rest or a cable produces tears no adjustment can fix.
- Arrow setup — spine, point weight, and total weight, before any rest movement.
- Paper tuning — the coarse first pass on rest height, nock point, and centershot.
- Bareshaft and walkback — more sensitive checks that surface what point-blank paper hides.
- Broadhead tuning — the hunting confirmation, at 20 yards and out.
- Sight tape — last, once the arrow flies and the speed is settled.
Re-run the sequence after a new string, a draw-weight change, or any arrow change.