Archery Tackle : Page 61

spitzer shaped bullet. Its composition is a copper alloy. Thelines scribe two parabolas starting from the open end andjoining in a rather sharp point. Bullet points are usually usedon inexpensive arrows. They are not considered to be thebest shape for good target arrows for the following reason: Ifthe arrow is drawn so that the point is even with the back ofthe bow, it will be deflected to the left, when shot, because

Figure 17. Bullet Point Pile

the curved lines of the pile bear on the arrow plate beyondthe parallel line of the shaft. (Dotted line outlines cross sec-tion of bow at arrow plate Fig. 17b.)

Since the days of Roger Ascham, in the reign of HenryVIII, target arrows have been footed. In those days the targetswere sod butts which may have contained gravels and smallstones. No doubt many self arrows were broken when shotinto these butts, so the footed arrow was probably inventedto prevent this breakage.