How to Tune Your Bow for Better Accuracy

Even a perfect shot will miss if your bow isn't tuned correctly. Tuning is the process of aligning all your bow's components so the arrow leaves the bow as straight and undisturbed as possible. It doesn't require expensive tools — just knowledge, patience, and a methodical approach.

Step 1: Set Your Brace Height

Brace height is the distance from the deepest part of the bow grip to the bowstring at rest. It affects the bow's forgiveness, arrow speed, and sound on release. Your bow's manufacturer will specify a recommended brace height range (e.g., "7.5 to 8.5 inches").

• Too low: faster but noisier, harder to shoot consistently, more sensitive to form errors
• Too high: quieter, more forgiving, but slightly slower

Start at the middle of the recommended range. Adjust by twisting or untwisting the bowstring (twisting increases brace height; untwisting decreases it). Always check brace height after any string work.

Step 2: Set Your Nocking Point

The nocking point ensures every arrow is placed at exactly the same position on the string. The standard starting position for recurve is 3/8 inch above square (i.e., 3/8" above 90 degrees from the arrow rest). Set it with a small brass crimp-on nocking point or by tying a knot of serving thread.

Fine-tune by observing arrow flight: if arrows consistently fly with the nock high (tail up), lower the nocking point. If the nock flies low (tail down), raise it.

Step 3: Check Tiller

Tiller is the difference in distance between the top and bottom limb tips and the bowstring. For most recurves, a top tiller slightly greater than bottom tiller (by 1/8 to 1/4 inch) is standard. An uneven tiller causes directional differences in limb timing and can introduce inconsistency.

Step 4: Paper Tuning

Paper tuning is the most revealing diagnostic tool in archery. Set up a sheet of paper held in a frame about 6 feet in front of your bow. Shoot an arrow through it at close range (6–8 feet beyond). The tear pattern tells you everything:

• Bullet hole (perfect circle): Your bow is tuned correctly ✅
• High tear (nock high): Lower the nocking point or raise the arrow rest
• Low tear (nock low): Raise the nocking point or lower the rest
• Left tear: Move the plunger/rest in or increase plunger spring pressure
• Right tear: Move plunger/rest out or decrease spring pressure

Make one adjustment at a time and re-paper. Never adjust multiple variables simultaneously or you won't know what changed what.

Step 5: Walk-Back Tuning (Final Check)

Once paper-tuned, shoot a single pin at your sight setting, then step back in 10-yard increments without moving your sight. If arrows stay on the same vertical line through all distances, your center shot is correct. If they drift left or right as you move back, adjust your rest's horizontal position.

When to Seek Professional Help

Bow tuning at the competitive level is highly precise. If you've gone through all these steps and still cannot achieve a clean bullet hole, visit a pro shop or a certified coach. Minor form issues (like gripping the bow too hard) can mask tuning problems entirely — the bow and the archer must both be working correctly for tuning to be valid.