The Benefits of Nock Tapered Arrows

 

 Here is a quote by Bob Burton (avid Hill collector and of Whispering Wind Arrows) -

"Lets talk tapered shafts. Dr. Robert Elmer in his book "Target Archery" made the following statement. "I believe the parallel arrow shaft is a product of modern American technology, I don't know of a race of men that lived by the bow that shot anything other than tapered shafts."

Tapering has nothing to do with fletch clearance, or weight forward. The primary benefit is overcoming paradox faster. By removing weight from either one or both ends of the shaft, the shaft stops its oscillations faster and begins spinning on its axis quicker. That will allow the arrow to retain its velocity longer(Less drag) and have more remaining energy, and flatter trajectory at impact. Its not something that will be observed by the shooter, because it happens so quickly. Its especially beneficial on bows cut less than center, where the arrow goes through a great deal of paradox. Past center bows have much less paradox to the arrow and its benefit is minimal.

I have arrows in my collection that go back to the 1800's every one of them are tapered. To give you an extreme example. Elmer did some testing, in the 1940's, using a barrel tapered arrow and a Breast tapered arrow of the same spine and physical weight. He had one of the best target archers of the day shoot them at 100 yards at a 48" American round target. He stated that the breast tapered arrow consistently printed 1/2 (24")a target higher than the barrel tapered arrow. Now that's comparing a taper against another taper, I can't even imagine what the difference would between a taper and a parallel arrow. So don't discount the tapered arrow, they are well worth the time and effort. I'm sure some will say, I only hunt and don't shoot at animals a 100 yards away, true but quick recovery allows the arrow clean passage thru tight spots and a arrow spinning on impact allowing deeper penetration. I know a lady who was shooting a 40# bow at 25" shooting tapered arrow in Africa several years ago who shot 17 animals most being pass through's" 

 I am also a believer in the benefits of a good nock tapered arrow.  Here is a picture of my latest creations.  Sort of a John Schulz / Howard Hill commemorative style. 

I put a 10 inch nock taper on them using 2 jigs I made out of scrap angle iron and sanding belts.  One jig is for rough tapering with 80 grit. This gets the 11/32nd arrow to 5/16th at the nock end.  Then the second jig is for finish sanding and is fine grit.  I can run a dozen douglas fir arrows through these jigs with my drill in about 25 minutes.  A small bit of work for added improvement in flight.  After all.....Howard Hill did it!