When I was originally working on the Fletching Review there was an issue with the FOBs (starrflight.com) that was causing them to drop more than expected. At first I attributed this to the design of the FOB, it’s increased weight and possible higher drag. After talking with Paul Morris of Starrflight, he suspected that I may be experiencing “bounce up” from the rest that was contacting the FOB just enough to upset it’s flight. He suggested that I try using a Rest Rocket in conjunction with the the Ripcord rest that I was using. The theory behind the Rest Rocket is that it helps eliminate cam timing problems as well as reducing rest “bounce up.”
The Rest Rocket consists of a couple of clips, two nock sets and a piece of rubber tubing that goes between the clips. This gives the drop away cord a built in spring that at the instant of the shot delays the drop away arm from falling, then rapidly pulls it down before the fletchings reach the rest.
After installing the Rest Rocket I updated the results in the Fletching review, but I decided to go back and do a little more testing with some more back to back shooting. For this testing I installed the Ripcord onto a Bowtech Destroyer 350 and tuned the rest to shoot Carbon Express PileDriver shafts, 125 grain points and FOBs.
After sighting in at 20 yards, I moved to 30 yards and shot two arrows from 30 yards. I immediately installed the Rest Rocket (this took all of two minutes) and shot two more shots from the same distance. The results can be seen below:
The first two shots are the ones down and slightly left, the shots with the Rest Rocket installed are high and a little right. After this first round I uninstalled the Rest Rocket and repeated the experiment with approximately the same results. This confirms that there is a definite difference in arrow flight when using the Rest Rocket with FOBs and confirms the findings from the Fletching Review. Not all rests benefit from the Rest Rocket and there is a list on their website that shows which rests will work with it. If you own one of the rests listed on the website and would like to improve the flight of your arrows, the Rest Rocket could be worth a try.
Other posts you may enjoy:
- Review: Limb Driver Arrow Rest
- Setting the First Pin to 30 Yards: Indoor 3D Version
- Arrow Penetration Testing: Real Bows, Real Arrows, Real Results…Part II
- Archery Tips 9 – Detecting Fletching Contact
- Review: NAP Quicktune Sizzor Rest
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You pics shows the Rest Rocket hooked up backwards. Should be connected up ands downs stream of the clips?
Shhh…no one was supposed to notice that in the picture! I fixed it for shooting; really need to take another photo!
Couldnt one just time the rest to fall later?
Robert, you can to some degree, but it’s a tricky proposition to get it set right if you are indeed having issues with “bounce up.” Unless you can positively tell when the FOB is crossing the rest and where the rest is at that time, it can be an issue.