Matteo Campagna
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Vane type and size change the arrow's launch speed only slightly

2 studies

ForContextAgainst20102015202020252009, for2009, context2020, for
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There are two measurements, with very different bows and arrows, and they point the same way. In 2009, a shooting machine that releases the same way every time, a 44.8 lb bow and 29-inch Easton A/C/E 470 shafts: one metre from the bow the bare shaft leaves at 215.65 feet per second, the two spin-wings at 215.1 and 214.4, the two Tite Flights at 212.5 and 212.4. Between the bare shaft and the slowest vane there is about 1.5%, within the same type the smaller vane is a few tenths faster, and the order repeats exactly with two different strings. In 2020 a 48 lb wooden bow on a mechanical device shoots wooden arrows with feathers and vanes of five sizes, and at launch the speeds fall between 42.66 and 43.73 metres per second; over the next 5 metres, however, the energy lost ranges from 1.92 to 7.90%. Fletching therefore changes the arrow's launch only slightly and what happens to it afterwards a great deal. Neither test reports any statistics, the first is a conference paper with no stated number of shots and in the second the arrows do not all weigh the same.

Also phrased as: "smaller vanes faster arrow"; "spin wings or rigid vanes"; "vanes and arrow speed"; "how much vanes slow the arrow"; "vane position on the shaft"

In practice

Vanes are chosen with speed in mind too, and the idea goes round that low, short vanes send the arrow off faster than big ones.

Evidence

  • 2009
    For Equipment tests Published later

    Robotic shooting machine with a mechanical release, 29-inch Easton A/C/E 470 shafts, 44.8 lb bow, 20-strand string, speed one metre from the bow: bare shaft 215.65 feet per second (standard deviation 0.197), 1-3/4 inch spin-wing 215.1 (0.202), 2-13/16 inch spin-wing 214.4 (0.295), Tite Flight P175 212.5 (0.327), P200 212.4 (0.241). About 1.5% between the bare shaft and the slowest vane. No statistical test.

    Performance analysis based on an emulated archery machine · Kuo-Bin Lin, Kun-Shu Huang, Chi-Kuang Hwang, Chia-Wen Wu

  • 2009
    For Equipment tests Published later

    In the same test, within the same type the smaller vane is slightly faster: with 20 strands the 1-3/4 inch spin-wing gives 215.1 against 214.4 for the 2-13/16 inch, the Tite Flight P175 212.5 against 212.4 for the P200; with 12 strands 215.6 against 215.2 and 213.6 against 213.0 feet per second.

    Performance analysis based on an emulated archery machine · Kuo-Bin Lin, Kun-Shu Huang, Chi-Kuang Hwang, Chia-Wen Wu

  • 2009
    Context Equipment tests Published later

    In the same test, three details. The speed order of bare shaft and vanes is identical with the 20-strand and the 12-strand string, and with the thinner string the differences narrow (from 212.4-215.1 to 213.0-215.6 feet per second). Gluing the 1-3/4 inch spin-wing at 0, 3, 6 and 9 centimetres from the nock keeps the average between 215.0 and 215.4, but the standard deviation rises from 0.231 to 0.275. The number of shots per set-up is not stated.

    Performance analysis based on an emulated archery machine · Kuo-Bin Lin, Kun-Shu Huang, Chi-Kuang Hwang, Chia-Wen Wu

  • 2020
    For Equipment tests Published later

    An elm wooden bow of 48 lb fixed on a mechanical device, always drawn to 29.5 inches, wooden arrows with five different fletchings, speed measured at 1 and 6 metres: at launch they all fall between 42.66 and 43.73 metres per second (2.5-inch feathers 43.73, 2-7/8 inch vanes 43.62, 4-inch feathers 43.52, 4-3/4 inch vanes 42.66, 5-inch feathers 43.69), while the energy lost over the next 5 metres ranges from 1.92 to 7.90%. The arrows do not all weigh the same (34.48 to 35.58 grams) and there is no inferential statistics.

    The important role of bow choice and arrow fletching in projectile experimentation. A ballistic approach · Christian Lepers, Veerle Rots

Status history

  1. 2009 Reported The first measurement arrives: a shooting machine with an identical release every time tests four vanes and the bare shaft on the same 44.8 lb bow. Between the bare shaft, at 215.65 feet per second, and the slowest vane, at 212.4, there is about 1.5%, and within the same type the smaller vane gains a few tenths; the order repeats exactly with two different strings. It is direct evidence on the equipment, but a single test with no statistics: reported.
  2. 2020 Reported A second test arrives, from another laboratory and with another bow: a wooden bow on a mechanical device shoots wooden arrows with five different fletchings, feathers and vanes, and at launch the speeds stay between 42.66 and 43.73 metres per second, a spread of just over one metre per second. The large differences come later: over the next 5 metres the energy lost ranges from 1.92 to 7.90%. Two independent tests point the same way, but neither has statistical tests and in the second the arrows also differ in weight, so the evidence remains limited.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Vane type and size change the arrow's launch speed only slightly (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/vanes-arrow-launch-speed

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_alettevelocitauscita,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Vane type and size change the arrow's launch speed only slightly},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/vanes-arrow-launch-speed},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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