Re: Lose the Biscuit and Improve Your TAC15/15I Shooting Performance - By Russell Bea
Hi sangerboats,
Like you I come from an engineering background, so good is never good enough to suit me. I know from experience that Super 91 and a few others have the same mind set, so we're always pushing the limits.
We've tried over the past year to stress to other TAC15/15i owners just how important it is to get everything on these crossbows properly squared and aligned, if they intend on achieving extreme accuracy at extended ranges.
It's sad that the manufactures don't use good alignment techniques during the manufacturing process, but we've all seen what can be achieved when this is corrected. Once you have your crossbow tuned and arrows matched for tight grouping at 100 yards, getting out to longer distances is only a matter of fine tuning tweaks and getting the right whether with no wind.
When it comes to target versus hunting, I don't believe a 100 plus yard shot is unethical. I believe it all depends on your area, how open the shot is and in who's performing the shot. Clearly for the average hunter it's not something that should be attempted, but for those who shoot often enough and who've tuned their equipment correctly, I believe it can be done consistently with confidence.
The arrow shafts that we were talking about do not come from this country, they come from Japan or Korea. A little research into their carbon making process would yield the fact that these countries are producing carbon fishing rods these days that sell for over $20,000. American dollars due to the extreme cutting edge technology and high end material costs to be able to produce carbon of this quality.
These same manufacturers produce the blank carbon shafts used in the Aerobolt II arrows, so they're not over priced for what you are buying. The more you learn about the engineering, research and technology that goes into these arrows the more you can appreciate the end product.
These arrow shafts use a special insert to guarantee perfect balance and alignment of the point system on the front end of the arrow, so it eliminates a whole series of front end potential problems.
Like you, I have close to 3,000 shots through my TAC15i and since starting I've destroyed about 3 or 4 shafts. This was due to using the factory PSE Nocks and having them split the carbon on the arrows back end or from trying to shoot groups at less than 60 yards. Therefore, although I've changed my fletching numerous times to experiment with different vane configurations, I don't go through many arrows. This makes it possible to purchase and hang onto a good set of arrows for quite a while.
I've learned that the stock PSE TAC15 arrow shafts are only capable of taking things so far and then I would need a better, straighter, more uniform shaft to attain the next level of accuracy. Until very recently there were no options in this area, so we waited and prayed for somebody to produce that option. Now, at least we have it available for the discriminating few who believe "good enough", just won't cut it!
Jon
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