Where the vanes sit relative to the shaft's stiff side does not change the point of impact
1 study
The summary today
There is a single direct test, and it dates from 2025. A French group measured on an automated bench how stiffness changes all the way round sixty Easton X10 shafts of spine 325, fletched the arrows while recording the angle between the reference vane and the stiffest point of the shaft, and shot them from a machine at 70 metres indoors, over five sessions and in random order, with a 231 newton recurve. That angle does not enter either of the two models that predict the horizontal and vertical position of the hit, nor the combination of features that best explains how close the arrows land to one another: what counts is the mass, the mean spine and the way stiffness varies round the shaft. The same study explains why fletching on the label orients nothing: the label is printed at random with respect to the stiff axis, so the resulting angle is spread evenly round the shaft. The limits are those of a single test: one bow, one set-up, one of the stiffest spine categories and a machine that takes the archer out of the picture. The authors leave open the very question that matters most on the range, namely whether turning the nock by 120 degrees, as archers do with arrows that leave the group, actually moves the hit.
Also phrased as: "indexing vanes to the spine"; "fletching on the stiff side of the shaft"; "turning the nock 120 degrees"; "spine alignment of arrows"; "vanes lined up with the shaft label"
In practice
Archers are advised to fletch every arrow with the same orientation relative to the shaft's stiff side, and when an arrow leaves the group it is tried with the nock turned a third of a turn before it is discarded.
Evidence
-
2025
For Equipment tests Published later
Sixty Easton X10 shafts of spine 325 characterised on an automated bench, with stiffness measured all the way round the cross-section and described by a sine wave, then fletched with a controlled procedure and shot from a machine at 70 metres indoors, five sessions in random order, 231 newton recurve. The angle between the reference vane and the stiffness maximum is not selected in the model of horizontal position (mean spine and amplitude of the variation, R² 0.186), nor in that of vertical position (mean spine and mass, R² 0.467), nor in the combination that best explains how close the arrows land to each other (mass, mean spine and frequency of the variation). The machine puts 95 per cent of the shots of a single arrow within 3.5 centimetres of the group centre.
Improving the arrow selection process in archery: the stiffness variation pattern matters · A. Kuch, P. Laguillaumie, F. Durand, J.-F. Debril, T. Monnet
-
2025
Context Equipment tests Published later
The phase of the stiffness sine wave relative to the label is 3.101 ± 1.790 radians, from 0.007 to 6.214, and the angle between the reference vane and the stiffness maximum 0.007 ± 0.858 radians, from -1.535 to 1.529: the manufacturer's label is applied at random round the shaft, so anyone who fits the vanes using the label as the reference is orienting them at random with respect to the stiff side. It is also why in this study the angle is spread evenly round the shaft.
Improving the arrow selection process in archery: the stiffness variation pattern matters · A. Kuch, P. Laguillaumie, F. Durand, J.-F. Debril, T. Monnet
Status history
- 2025 Reported The first and only direct test arrives. Over 59 Easton X10 arrows shot from a machine at 70 metres, the angle between the reference vane and the stiffest side of the shaft enters none of the models that predict the point of impact, nor the combination that best explains how the arrows group: what counts is the mass, the mean spine and the way stiffness varies round the shaft. The same work shows that the label is printed at random with respect to the stiff axis, so fletching on the label orients at random. It is a single study, with one bow and one spine category, and the claim is written in the direction of its result: reported.
Related
Related articles
- Why do my arrows go left, right, high or low?Where your arrows land is a report: how to read impact patterns, and what the measurements say about the sight, the grip, bow torque and launch speed.
- Choosing and matching competition arrowsWhich spine to choose and how alike the arrows in a dozen are: charts, weight, the stiff side of the shaft, straightness and nocks, as studies measure them.
- Bow tuning in archery: how to tune your bow, backed by scienceBow tuning and the research: spine, centre shot, button, nocking point, brace height and tiller. What models and machine tests show, and how precise you need to be.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Where the vanes sit relative to the shaft's stiff side does not change the point of impact (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/vane-position-and-shaft-stiff-side
@misc{campagna2026_aletteorientamentoimpatto,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Where the vanes sit relative to the shaft's stiff side does not change the point of impact},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/vane-position-and-shaft-stiff-side},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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