flat nock F.Y.l.

[halfbreed]

Before my trip to wyoming last week i had bought some bolts but trying to find flat nocks was impossible. I tried a half moon nock and 1. not meant to be shot out of a excalibur and 2. Flew like crap for me so after some serious brain storming cuz i was leaving in 3 days i went to the nearest sporting goods store and bought some 2216 flat inserts for aluminum arrows and used them for flat nocks. They work great so far and have had no problems with them or the string being damaged. I have been watching them both very closely. Now i'm not saying to use them over the recommened nocks but they have worked in a pinch when i didnt have time to order the real flat nocks and nobody seems to carry flat nocks, metal or plastic in my area.

[paulaboutform]

Surprise! You did find your flat nocks. That's actually true. When I used aluminum nocks I actually rounded the edges lightly with a fine grit sandpaper then polished them with a polishing wheel and jewellers rouge on my dremel. Just keeps the serving nice. A helpful hint, do not epoxy your aluminum nocks in place. Rather, use a low temperature glue stick from an archery shop or even a tiny amount of hot melt. Reason being is that if you damage the nock you can screw a field point into it, heat it slightly and remove the damaged nock. Makes life much easier and the nocks won't fall out.

Paul

[halfbreed]

Cool. Thanks for the tip. A little new to crossbows so any tips are welcome. I did slightly round the edge on the nocks i put in with 400 grit sand paper ever so slightly yesterday.

[paulaboutform]

Cool. Thanks for the tip. A little new to crossbows so any tips are welcome. I did slightly round the edge on the nocks i put in with 400 grit sand paper ever so slightly yesterday.

[L. E. Carroll]

great info....

I also have used them and found an easy and fast way to uniformly bevel the sharp edge at the back of the shaft a bit... I re-load rifle and pistol ammo so I tried my chamfer tool ( for outside of the case neck ) to remove a bit of metal and Like said before follow up with fine sand paper or use wifes emery board lightly.

Gene

[DeathMerchant]

So are these nocks for 2016 arrows a slip fit or are they somewhat loose or what?? I think the ID of most bolts is .300, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I assume you guys wouldn't have used them if they were too tight going in. I am just wondering how difficult they are to insert??

[halfbreed]

I think my bollts were .300 and they were the slip in inserts and they fit perfect. Added a little glue and done. The hot melt is a good idea though to get them out again.

[DeathMerchant]

I think my bollts were .300 and they were the slip in inserts and they fit perfect. Added a little glue and done. The hot melt is a good idea though to get them out again.

Thanks for that. Actually, this is a great idea for nocks on other than Excalibur bolts. I have read where a lot of people have made screw in attachments of various types that simulate regular arrow nocks so the bolts can be fletched on Bitz or other fletchers that require a locating reference point.

[DeathMerchant]

Well, I ordered some Easton 2216 nocks and found them to be .310 diameter which prevents them from fitting into Gold Tip Swifts or BE Executioner shafts. I wasn't about to force them in. I had some Excalibur threaded flat nocks which measured .300 and they slipped in with a slight interference. Anyone who is using these 2216 inserts, what kind of bolts are you installing them into??

[j.krug]

I've used them is the past before as well and they work just fine. I like to round the sharp edge slightly to keep from damaging the serving/string.

[halfbreed]

Deathmerchant,

Try the next size insert down from that. When i bought mine i bought 4 different size inserts, found which one fit, and took the rest back. Hope this helps.

[DeathMerchant]

Well, thanks for that info. I should have done a little more research on my own or maybe remembered my compound bow aluminum arrow days when I knew that the Easton aluminum arrow ratings such as 2216 provided the info I needed. The first two numbers indicate the OD of the shaft in 64ths and the second pair of numbers indicate the wall thickness so it's fairly easy to determine ID of the shaft itself. In the case of the 2216, the OD is .344 so subtracting the wall thicknesses of 2 x .016 = .032 leaves you with .312 ID for the 2216 shaft. So the insert that fits this OD would be too large for the ID of .300 on crossbow bolts. The proper inserts would be the ones for 2114 - 2117 shafts.
Woody's Sporting Goods carries the regular Excalibur rear inserts but they are around $12 per dozen. I wasn't able to find them anywhere else online. These 2114 inserts can be had for much less per dozen however the threaded portion of them is recessed compared to the standard Excalibur inserts.

[halfbreed]

Well your smarter than me in that respect. That was alot of math. Lol. ....i did the old 'buy every size and pray one fits' method. ...and yeah they are recessed but its cheap and effective way to get nocks when there are no real ones to be found. ...or just to be cheap.

[DeathMerchant]

Cheap is good. I'm primarily doing this so I c an have a way to fletch my bolts using a Bitz or similar type fletching tool. I just took a short piece of 8-32 threaded stock and bonded it to a standard arrow nock so it could be threaded into the insert and function on the fletching tool.

[halfbreed]

Good idea. I have a Arizona e-z fletch but its for arrows not bolts. My uncles have a Bitz so I can use theirs. Since i dont think I will be shooting a vertical bow for a long time, if ever, i should just invest in my own... but then again it gives me a reason to go over and bullsh*t with them.