FOB fletching

[jon greenlefe]

Had a recent experience shooting in normal ABA club round when someone in our shoot group was using FOB vanes. These are the the circular one piece ones that are a push fit push onto the end of the arrow complete with nock.There are three ultra short vanes joined by a circular surround They look like a cookie cutter.They seem quite effective and am told that for hunting are very good as there is no damage to fletch or arrow if there is a pass through - the nock and vane assembly simply fall off and can be put back on the arrow, assuming you can find it!
So yes, they are a useful development for the hunter and also obviate the need for a fletching jig.

The problem we struck in a target application with a shoot group of five was that with closely grouping arrows the circular part of the cookie cutter design passed over arrows already in the butt and continued down the shafts & removed all three fletches at the one go, not just a nick in one fletch as is the usual experience when arrows are closely grouped.
We ended up asking the guy who was shooting with the FOB fletches to shoot first so we could avoid this problem. He is a nice bloke and we made a few jokes about it so no aggro. This avoided the original problem it introduced two new ones. Too close a shot to the FOB arrow already in the A zone resulted in the second arrow going through the ring part of the FOB fletch with much the same outcome, particularly if it went slightly further into the butt - all fletches neatly peeled off!
If other group members' arrows did not actually go inside the circular part of the FOB fletch but instead glanced off the outer circumference, it caused a significant deflection resulting in a C or worse rather than the A it was on track toward.For the class one targets where it is usual practice to pull and score arrows as they are shot it was OK but for most of the other distances this just wasn't practicable.
This fletch destroying capability of FOB vanes would be even more significant in an IFAA shoot with shoot groups of four archers each shooting four arrows at 28 targets.The user of these FOB vanes was under the impression that the ABA had approved the use of these vanes but wonder if this was correct.

[Serum76]

One of my mates shoots fobs at the club and I too am interested to know the answer to the above question. Not that its been a problem other than him shaving the top off his own finger with one but would be good to get the official stance on them.

[Cabba]

We actually have a couple of guys that have tried these FOB vanes at the club. Have not had any info passed down to us regarding whether these are approved or not (that I know of).

Maybe Tony can help us out by answering this one.

[Mark Burrows]

Fob Vanes have been around for nearly 10 years now so if they were as good as all the claims then everyone would be using them. They were specifically designed to stabalize broadheads, supposedly quicker and more efficiently. Having never used them I can't comment. This doesn't mean they cannot be used on the field course and you see them from time to time but none of the top archers use them for target and perhaps this is because they couldn't shoot groups without vane damage.
As far as I am aware they have neither been approved or dis-approved for use in ABA shoots.
However if I had someone in my group tearing the vanes off my arrows I would getting that person to shoot after the rest of the group had shot, scored, and removed their arrows.
I would suggest the FOBS be left to use where they were intended and that is with a broadhead attached to the arrow.

[Cabba]

thanks Mark,
Since the FOB's have not been dis approved we can't stop people from trying these things out. Most find out for themselves that they are not much good for target & go back to their normal vanes.

All we can do is recommend to those wanting to try them that they were designed for broadheads & not appropriate for target shooting.