Arrows all hitting the left side of the target

[dtalbot]

Hi All,
Guess I was doing something dumb when I went down to club for a play this morning to see if I could hit a target at 40yds.
The good news is the vast majority of the 5 dozen arrows I shot hit the target, the not so good is that it didn't seen to matter where I set the the side to side adjustment of the sight virtually every arrow I shot went left of centre. Maybe ten or a dozen were more or less central or right of centre the rest (and all the misses) were markedly left of centre.
Any idea what I was doing wrong to produce such an effect? I just can't figure why moving the sight over to the left seemed to have on effect at all on where my arrows were hitting.
Cheers
David

[geoffretired]

If you are right handed and the arrows fly left, either they are a bit stiff for your poundage or the button and sight are not adjusted to each other.
Another cause could be the string alignment. If the string appears well to the right of the sight at full draw, you could expect the arrows to land on the left.
What was happening at shorter distances?

[dtalbot]

Yep, I'm RH, only shot 40yds today but shooting 20yds last time it was spot on. Can't remember where the string looked to be, will see if I can figure that out tomorrow
Thanks
David

[dtalbot]

Thinking some more the button was a bit loose when I took the bow down, could that have been some of the problem?

[Kae]

Originally Posted by dtalbot

Thinking some more the button was a bit loose when I took the bow down, could that have been some of the problem?

That could of been the whole problem.

Although as everyone else has said above, their are other causes.

Kae.

[gjb]

You need to get a coach or another experienced archer to watch you shoot. Do the basic checks on your setup first (centre shot, brace height, nocking point, limb alignment).

[reckless]

arrows gong to the left (rh) though this may be a tuning issue, it may also be down to your body as you come through the clicker. one of the problems that is a constant with me is arows to the left, this is mainly caused by a slight leaning back when at full draw and becomes more apparent if i am fatigued. also can be caused by improper use of back tension leading to a lean back to get through the clicker. i would rcomend some work with a good coach if this is the case as it is a problem that needs to be worked through with guidence.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by geoffretired

If you are right handed and the arrows fly left, either they are a bit stiff for your poundage or the button and sight are not adjusted to each other.
Another cause could be the string alignment. If the string appears well to the right of the sight at full draw, you could expect the arrows to land on the left.
What was happening at shorter distances?

I get this problem too - the closer the target is the more central the arrows are. The further away the target gets, the more left the arrows go.

I'm right handed, my sight CAN'T go more to the left at 80yrds without falling off (!!), and I think my string is just to the right of my sight when at full draw (but only just !). Thought this was just me being odd, so I'm glad someone else has got this problem too !!

[Snarkhunter]

Originally Posted by reckless

arrows gong to the left (rh) though this may be a tuning issue, it may also be down to your body as you come through the clicker. one of the problems that is a constant with me is arrows to the left, this is mainly caused by a slight leaning back when at full draw and becomes more apparent if i am fatigued. also can be caused by improper use of back tension leading to a lean back to get through the clicker.

I have a similar problem though with me it is letting my bow shoulder come up as I draw. This shortens my draw with the result that I end up pushing my bow arm forward to pull through the clicker. Result: arrow way to the left, even off the target! Again, fatigue makes this more likely as my shoulder comes up in a (subconscious) attempt to brace the bow arm.

I am now becoming aware of this enough to come down from the draw if I struggle to pull through the clicker. However, it took weeks to work out on my own what was going wrong, so I wholeheartedly endorse Reckless's advice to get someone to watch your form!

[Jacqamoe]

Check and see if your sight and string are parallel to each other before you do anything else! It's simple to check and not hard to correct if there is a problem...

First get a bit of card or plastic that has straight sides and draw a line on it - again making 100% sure it's straight and parallel to the sides. Next put your bow up as normal and tape the card/plastic guide to the edge of your sight (you might have to move or remove your sight pin and it's mounting for this). Now stand behind the bow and look at your string and see if it is in line with the line on the card, or if as I suspect to one side or other, making your sight and string not parallel. This means as you move from one distnace to another your center shot will be out, often by quite a bit...

If this is the case you just have to undo the screws that hold the sight to the sight arm and move it until you get it parallel. Once this is done tighten it all back up and double check once more that it's in the right place then shoot and enjoy!

It's not hard to do, sorry I'm not better at explaining it, but hopefully you'll understand what I mean!