Cam lean

I shoot an Elite GT500. I've been tempted to update but it just hasn't happened. My strings were changed in August 2015. Last June when my buddy bought a new impulse (green with envy) I had the shop go through mine. I shot a bit and was on. Then the string on the code red rest began to fray. I took it to a different shop. Same shop that changed the limbs a few years prior. They put a QAD rest on, I had asked them to paper tune. Granted I know the shooter has a lot to do with tune, but it'll get me close.

Once I got the bow I didnt shoot. Didnt hunt last year at all. First year ever. About a week ago I got it out of the case to start practicing. First shot miss...waaaaayyyyyyy left. And waaaayyyyy high. Crank and crank on site adjustment. Finally get it where I'm grouping them tight. Yesterday I look at the felt on the rest, and it's got a wear pattern on the right of the rest. Nock an arrow. My eye tells me the rest is way to the left. I shoot through paper to verify...almost a 3 inch tear. End up moving the rest 1/4" to the right (arrow looks square now) and an 1/8" up. Shooting bullets. Much tighter groups.

Sent an email to my shop. Response was very apologetic. But then went on to say the older binary cam elites tend to need to be shimmed to make up for cam lean. And that even without being shot things can change. I understand that, but can cam lean change where the string is in relation to the rest that much? Is my local shop just trying to save face. To me having to move the rest that much means it was never paper tuned or even had an eyeball down to check for square. He said they use a machine to paper tune which takes out some of the user quirks.

Either way, I'm putting 5 arrows in a 4" circle at 60 yards. Just need to know if I need to go to a different shop. Can cam lean make that drastic of a change. Apologies for the length of my ramblings.

So - wonky cam lean can make your rest tune way outside of true center shot or way inside, and shimming cams is relatively common to get the bows shooting with the arrow and sight close to down the center where you don't have yokes to tune with.

With that said - doesn't sound like your shop did a great job setting that bow up. Unless your grip puts a very different torque on the bow than how they set it up in their shooting machine - I wouldn't expect that much difference. Also, nothing should change that much once set up with current string materials unless strings weren't built that well.

True test - if your broadheads hit with your field points, don't worry about it and go hunt. If you want to really fine tune things in the future - you can set your rest so that an arrow runs straight down center shot parallel to the riser or stabilizer (if it's not already there), and shim the cams if you have any tears. But, probably not worth it if the bow is shooting well.

Any shop that tells you they'll paper tune your bow without you shooting it is suspect IMHO. Those hooter shooters can be great tools to test a bow/arrow/head consistency, but ultimately the shop (or you) needs to tune the bow for your hands.

Glad you got things figured out and have your arrows shooting well!

Steelsearchin said:

Any shop that tells you they'll paper tune your bow without you shooting it is suspect IMHO. Those hooter shooters can be great tools to test a bow/arrow/head consistency, but ultimately the shop (or you) needs to tune the bow for your hands.

Glad you got things figured out and have your arrows shooting well!

Click to expand...

Thats what it was. Hooter shooter. I know the guy behind the bow makes a huge difference. But if I can visually see the arrow not sitting square to the riser, I have a hard time believing cam lean from sitting, or the operator (had someone behind watching to make sure I wasnt torquing the bow) can cause me to have to move the rest almost 1/4" right and 1/8" up. I've never really paid much attention to cam lean in the past.

Before my elk hunt two years ago I sent my bow down to Carter's Archery in Missouri to get it "Crackerized" as they say on AT. They replaced the string/cables and tuned it for the arrow I sent them. When i got it back things looked great, and it shot awesome out to 30-40 yards w/ field points, but when I put some fixed blades on there it was great. I paper tuned it and found out I had to move the rest up about 3/16" to get bullet holes for my shooting style. Once I did that, the FB broadheads and field points were consistent to 85 yards. Each rig/combo/shooter is different, and I'm super happy w/ the job the shop did, but nothing can replace good knowledge of your own equipment and practice, practice, practice...