Parabolic vs shield cut feathers

[Mxairtime]

I shoot a locally made one peice bow 45 # made in the south west of australia where i live. About a year ago i switched to parabolic feathers becuse of reading they were faster and slightly quieter for hunting. I had 6 shafts with damadged feathers so i scaped them and glued some left over shield cuts. The differance at the range is chalk and cheese. Im shooting tighter groups with these shields than ever did with parabolics. Havent hunted with them yet. Interested in hearing other opinions. Thanks16098431017998401893179361138785_1609843167841.jpg16098431017998401893179361138785_1609843167841.jpg

[Geezer51]

Never did a comparison myself. But have read that shield cuts have more total surface area, therefore able to provide better flight. It's all I've ever used.

[Mxairtime]

Yeah starting to think the reason my shield cut shoot with better results is because my shafts arent tuned as good as i thought they were. Or is it the fact my form and draw lenghth has evolved in a year?? . Mayby what worked a year ago doesnt now and the shield cut is straightening my arrow quicker. Might be time for another tuning session... errr i hate them.

[Bowmania]

Your picture is from down under.

Never compared the two. The feathers I shoot only come in shield.

Any chance you know Mark Ballard?

Bowmania

[stevelong]

I've not done a ton of testing but I'd GUESS if you can see a dramatic change - - it's SOMETHING. both shields and parabolic same length feathers?
I have felt like some of my fletches are noisier than others due to height......so it stands to reason there's SOME STEERING / flight correction differences as you change fletches.
However it alters accuracy, ? DUNNO ?

[Carboniac]

I surprised the the difference is so large.

That said all the reasons people prefer parabolic are reasons that cut down drag. So it sounds like as you suggested that your set up could be tuned more.

[giegs]

Similar surface area and offset? Guessing Steve is onto something with the height being a major contributor to noise with all else being equal.

I like the shield cut since it lets me use fletching to nose as a draw check.

[Nuthatch]

I've used both over the past 20 years. Really never noticed much difference between the two provided the arrow was well matched to the bow. Shields are easier to see in flight and after they hit the target.

[Mxairtime]

Thank you for your well educated input. You guys in the u.s are light years infront of us down under. First of all sorry for the upside down pics. Dont know what happened. No never heard of mark ballard. The height of my shield cut sits 3mm higher than my parabolic. Thought i would run into contact problems there and have to adjust my knock but no not the case. (Sorry about the metric mesurement) both feathers have zero off set. And yes they are definately easier to see in the target.

[Mxairtime]

Correction shields sit 1mm higher towards the last 3mm of the parabolics

[Tom M]

Only time I really noticed a difference in the feather cut was when I tried Banana cuts. The first chopper I got made a high back besides more feather surface. They did look cool in my back quiver. Then I shot them. I will be gentle and say they compared to flu-flu’s in noise and speed.

[longbowguy]

Over the years it seems many archers intuitively sense that the parabolic design should produce less noise and drag. But is it so? I have never seen a careful test. I hope one of the science type guys on here will someday rig one up.

Or maybe I don't. I prefer the look of the shield cut and would be displeased to learn they are truly less efficient. Never mind. - lbg

[KirkMcquest]

Im a shield cut man. Its all Ive ever shot and to me they are the classic fletching. It makes sense that parabolics would be slightly faster and have less noise because there is less feather. Less feather less drag less noise.

[lameduck]

In my experience, the difference is in the way the fletching hits the shelf when the arrow is not perfectly tuned or in the case of a bad release. The shield cut is less forgiving when it comes to those scenarios.

[TravisL]

I was thinking the same as the above 2 posts. I read that shield cut was slightly more accurate and slightly noisier. I don't notice much different in sound, but I prefer shield cut mostly because I think it looks better.