[Ansteorra-archery] APD Testing at Middleford (long)

[Dewart, Charles R. --G3 Contractor (Anteon Corp)]

Greetings and Hi There,

This weekend at the archery shoot at Middleford, testing was done on APDs.

The particular one we worked on was the Golf tube version of the Siloflex
APD that was tested at Elfsea's Springfaire.  On Saturday, we: LD Plachoya,
LDY Moreg, Don Sebastian, HL Roger and HL Gilli, performed and observered
various tests on the APD.

The APD was 1.25 inches on the top with the front cut at 45 degrees.  The
arrows used wer Ansteorran War arrows that had been used at GWX, 40-45 lb
Chundoo shaft with plastic vanes.  The APD was taped between the cock vane
and the top hen vane 1/2 inch from the end on the nock with strapping tape.
THe APD extended pass the trailing edges of the vanes.  Duck tape, which
would give more strength, was not used during the testing.  In addition
after wrapping tape around the shaft, which included the nock, 5 additional
pieces were used: 1) 2inch peice to tape the front of the APD to the shaft,
2) 4 inch piece was used to diagonaly tape the left front side of the APD
rearward to just in front of the nock, 3) same as 2 but on the right front
side of the APD, 4) a 2 inch piece inside the APD and along the right side
of the nock back onto the straping tape, 5) same as 4 but on the left side
of the nock.  It's a whole lot easier to do that describe, trust me.  :)

Since there was the wieght at the nock end as with the Siloflex APD, we only
did a few head on shots.  NO PROBLEMS.

The wood shaft without the APD few about 15 feet further that the one with.
The arrow with the golf tube APD flew very well, stablized qucikly.  I was
quit pleased with the way it flew.  NO PROBLEMS.

We made test arrows for the head on test.  Roger used some of the dead
arrows to make up some crossbow bolts to shoot in the head on test.  The
head on teat basically you cut off the combat head and replace it with a
nock and use it to shoot the APD end into the grill work of a helm.  At
first we used my helm.  I was shoot arrows and Roger was shooting bolts. The
shooting was done at 15 feet or less to the helm.

Because of the way my helm is we had difficulty hiting the grill work. One
hit the nasal.  It severly damaged the nock to the point that it had curled
in on itself and wasn't useable for it's normal function (this would have
been discovered during an normal inspection).  But since the APD had not
been damaged, I shot it again hiting the side of the helm. The arrow pretty
much came apart and the APD assembly came off.  When we checked, we cut the
APD from the tape and discovered that the nock not only had been curled by
the previous hit but also split in two and was held in place by the
strapping tape.  I must make a couple of comments here: 1) This was a full
force hit at 15 feet on to a steel helm nock first. 2) Nocks aren't desided
to do this, 3) Arrows aren't ment to do this either, back end first at full
force, 4) The fault would have been discovered at the inspection after the
first firing had this been at a war. 5) Had this had been real, the tape of
the APD would (because it still had them even after we cut it apart) have
keep to two parts of the nock safe and sound away from the wearer.

We switched to shooting at Don Sebastian's helm as it was full grill with no
nasal.  Roger continued to shoot.  I had broken all the test arrows I'd made
and was hot, so I took a break.  Roger hit the grill work.  Upon examination
of the APD, it was found to have two very small dimples on the rim were it
had hit the grill.  The APD was totally use able.

On Sunday, Plachoya did some distance testing with a fiberglass shaft with a
Baldar blunt with no APD, a Siloflex APD and a Golf tube APD.  The no APD
flew furher than the Siloflex APD by about 15 feet.  The Golf tube APD flew
further than the no APD by about 15 feet.  (Well, now, this means that if
the Golf tube APD is passed that not only has it become safer, cheeper, but
oh yes we can now hit you further away. hehehehehe)

For what it's worth, I'm happy with the Golf tube APD.

It's easy to make.
It's easy to install.
Repairs / replacements only take a few minutes.
Usable by both wood and fiberglass shafts.

I want to make up about 30 or so for Steppes Warlord.

Gilli