3D Archery Q & A: DIY Speed Nocks, pick up 6 fps and gain some sight placement yardage.

By Barry O'Regan Bohning Pro Staff Field Reviewer, Bohning Staff Shooter, T.R.U. Staff Shooter.

Hello Everyone, I was curious about these speed nocks used on high performance bows for faster arrow speeds, while reducing string vibration.

Yesterday I took my 2008 Hoyt ProElite X2000, Cam 1/2 with a draw weight 56 # and 29.5 draw length as well as fletching some new Bohning Blazers on my 28.5 inch V6 Victory 400 Arrows to the range.

I also brought a dozen brass nocks (0.50 cents) usually used to hold your arrow in place on the string and keep the arrow from sliding up or down the string.

I also took my freshly calibrated Chronograph. I shot my bow and my arrow speed registered 275 feet per second (fps).

My experiment was to prove whether speed nocks are worth the effort in increasing arrow speed and reducing string vibration.

After some trial and error over 30 minutes placing a number of nocks starting right at the end of the serving below each cam, and shooting my arrows through my chronograph to record any speed increase and adjusting the nocks up and down the serving for the optimum sweet spot to gain as much speed as possible I gained close to 6 fps and quieted my bowstring oscillation in the process.

Conclusion

I am now shooting between 281.6 and 282 fps. To some that may not seem a big speed increase, but for me when shooting 3D I am usually within 8 points of a perfect score, and come either 3rd place, sometimes 2nd place and rarely 1st place.

So to me a 5 to 6 fps increase is huge, especially since I gain a few yards on each pin sight.

Certainly proof above I now have a faster arrow with a flatter shooting arrow which I hope will get me a few more points in a 3D tourney and put me in more 2nd place finishes with a few more 1st place spots.

Now I am in the process of changing my Cam 1/2 to a C2 cam on my ProElite and I am confident I will break the 290 fps barrier without increasing my bow weight from its current 56 pounds to 60 pounds.

Today I will back at the range with my FITA bow which is another 2008 ProElite, but was heavily customized and machined by Jim Posten, hence not a out of the box Hoyt.

One exception between my 3D Hoyt bow and my Fita Hoyt bow is my Fita Hoyt is a X3000 limb and is cranked up to 59 pounds and shoot 305 fps with 28 inch Victory Nanos, with Bohning fletches.

I figure with the addition of speed nocks I should pick up about 6 to 10 fps on my Fita bow.

I will let you know in a future post what those results bring.

So attached are the photos of the DIY of this process with proof in the pudding for those who want to take 30 minutes and get the same results as I have received.

No Chrono, no problem, fire a dozen arrows from different distances like 20,30,40,50 yards and mark their location with golf tees.

Once you put on the nocks in that sweet spot on the serving, fire another dozen arrows are the same distance like the first time, then compare your original arrows placement with your new and improve nockified arrow placement and you should notice your sight marking shows your arrow grouping a tad higher than they were before.

What to do to get an increase in arrow speed.

Here is the sequence I followed to get the additional arrow speed and flatter trajectory and silencing my bow string oscillation. These photos show my bow performance without putting nocks on the bowstring.