Nocking Point

Stace

New member
I just wanted to get everyone's views on nocking points.

How many of you position your nocking point level? Reading Larry Wise's book about tuning, he suggests a high nocking point of about 1/4 of an inch. At least to start with anyway. What would be the benefit of a high nocking point?

Also, what do you use for nocking points? One brass nock, two brass nocks or one made from serving material?
 

Murray

Well-known member
Ironman
American Shoot
AIUK Saviour
Nock points - my rule of thumb is 10mm above square (to the top of the lower nocking point, or the bottom of the nock - which ever way you want to look at it). A higher nocking point will give you less trouble with clearance, therefore it's better to start higher and move down as the bareshaft results are less likely to be misleading.

Before moving to Beiter nock points, I used dental floss, tied on, soaked in superglue. I wouldn't recommend brass nocking points they slow the string down and can bite into your tab.
 

wingate_52

Active member
Brass nocking points are too heavy and as written, ruin the tab. Using a bow-square. 6mm above the top of the button is the bottom of the nock on my strings. No arrow clearance and works well.Can shoot 100 yards and score.
 

TJ Mason

Soaring
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
American Shoot
On my compound, the nocking point is about 8mm above square -- just a little over 1/4 inch. It's about the same on my recurve, too.

I'm not an expert on compound by any means, but I assume you'd only want a nock level with square where you're using a drop-away rest. I think you'd get clearance problems when using a launcher.
 

Tony_zelah

New member
I together with a few other people I know including one who's knocking on the door of GMB have always set out nocking point so that the top of the bottom nocking point (if that makes sense) is level. At the moment we use one brass nock with a D loop
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Compounds vary from bow to bow and archer to archer. The release aid can affect the launch and hence the nocking point. Drop away rests can allow square nocking point without clearance problems but often the bare shaft test shows better results with it slightly above square. I tend to use the d-loop as the nocking point, with a little dental floss or similar on the inside to keep the nocks away from the knots of the loop.
 
F

flamingbladerider

Guest
It all depends what arrows you use as well, fatboys can be double the thickness of x10's , therefore will be a different nocking point.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
The nocking point should not change with the diameter of the arrow the height of the arrow rest should be changed to center the arrow in line with the center of the button hole. Where you set the nocking point will vary according to the type of bow. I usually end up about 1mm above zero on my Pro Eagle.This gives me a bear shaft position about two inches low at 20 yds.
 

Flying Whale

New member
Jerry Tee said:
The nocking point should not change with the diameter of the arrow the height of the arrow rest should be changed to center the arrow in line with the center of the button hole. Where you set the nocking point will vary according to the type of bow. I usually end up about 1mm above zero on my Pro Eagle.This gives me a bear shaft position about two inches low at 20 yds.
That doesn't seem intuitively correct.

I agree that it seems correct that the rest should be adjusted so that the centre line of the arow remains at the same height. However, surely the bottom nocking point should also be adjusted to keep the centre point of the arrow at the same height, and thus the arrow orientation the same (not the outside edge of the arrow), After all if you have very fat arrow, you must adjust either the top, or the bottom knowcking point, otherwise the arrow will not fit between them.

If I am just being a dense recurve archer intruding in to technical subjects I do not understand, pleas just ignore me. [I am really just a bear of very little brain]
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
I think you will find that the nocks are the same size. Fat boys use a uni bush and G nock.
Ask your self this question 'If you were shooting ACE's out side and X7's indoors what would you change?' If the nocks were about the same thickness you would drop the arrow rest and line up the arrow with the center of the button. Compound archers mostly don't use a button so do not have a a visible reference for arrow height. I shoot off fingers so my compound is fitted with a mag flipper rest and button.
 
Last edited:

Flying Whale

New member
Jerry Tee said:
I think you will find that the nocks are the same size. Fat boys use a uni bush and G nock.
Ask your self this question 'If you were shooting ACE's out side and X7's indoors what would you change?' If the nocks were about the same thickness you would drop the arrow rest and line up the arrow with the center of the button. Compound archers mostly don't use a button so do not have a a visible reference for arrow height. I shoot off fingers so my compound is fitted with a mag flipper rest and button.
In that case, I would agree that what you say makes sense...

As I said I am just a relatively green recurve archer. Maybe I am fairly unusual. I have been shooting for 15-18 months, and have changed very little. Still on the sam eriser, linbs, sight, stabiliser... The one thing I have changed this year was the move to ACE arrow.
 

wingate_52

Active member
I change string button and arrow rest as well as arrows for shooting indoor and out. Beiter nocks indoors eastons outdoors. The arrows are centred on the button and the nocks sit 6mm above horizontal top of the button.
 

jadlem

New member
For my Hoyt and shiny new Mathews Switchback I've always set the arrow rest bang on square level with the shelf as close to the centre line of the bow as possible. On my hoyt this was really close to the shelf but got the most welly out of the bow. On my new switchback I've got it plum with the button hole as this is the centre of the power stroke on the string.

Nock travel is the most important thing to consider with the nocking point position. Once you are getting the most power out of the bow that you can it's all a matter of fine tuning. My best groups are now shot having tweaked the arrow rest up 1mm rather than adjusting the nocking point.

Try as many different things out but remember to get the most out of the bow and then worry about consistent groups. It's useless having great groups but wasting 10-20% of the energy of the bow, especially if you want to shoot heavy wind busting arrows at long distance.

Hope this helps.
 

Merlin Archery

New member
Ironman
It's useless having great groups but wasting 10-20% of the energy of the bow
You can waste 10-20% of the bows energy because of nocking point position? I think you are a bit off there...

There is no fixed nocking point height that goes across the board. It's just one aspect of tuning, and you adjust it in small increments to find the best grouping. And in my opinion grouping should be No.1 on your hit list of bow set up.
 

jadlem

New member
I've seen lots of bows set up with the rest and nocking point level with the button hole when they should be closer to the centre of the bow. I have changed at least 3 bows which have been set up in this way and managed to improve the sight marks on them by a considerable amount, in one particular example we changed to heavier arrows at the same time and managed to get a 10 fps improvement over the previous set up, the arrows were 45 grains heavier!

I would love to think that it's a little bit off but there are lots of people out there with bows that are set up according to convention, not what is most effective/efficient etc.
 

jerryRTD

Well-known member
I was always taught that the button hole was the center of the bow and all the tuning I have done on my Pro Eagle bears this out. I use a button and flipper rest, tiller of the bow is zero and the nocking point is at zero as well As for nock travel I know it is level That is one of the things you can count on with an Oneida.
 
Top