Archery Arrow Rests

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Arrow Rests, Drop Away Arrow Rest, Archery Arrow Rest

The primary function of an arrow rest is to hold and support your arrow until you shoot the bow.  Along with an archery bow sight, a good quality arrow rest is one of the most important bow accessories to improve shooting accuracy.  Arrow rests from manufacturers such as Bodoodle, New Archery Products, Trophy Taker, QAD and the Whisker Biscuit from Trophy Ridge have continued to improve in performance and function over the past several years.

There are three primary types of arrow rests which include the shoot-thru arrow rest, the containment arrow rest and the drop away or fall away arrow rest.   Each type of arrow rest has its advantages and disadvantages depending on what type of shooting you’re doing and the quality of the rest. 

A shoot-thru arrow rest is one of the most common designs and has two prongs that are slightly spaced apart to cradle the arrow.  The bottom feather or vane of the arrow will then “shoot-thru” the two prongs when the arrow is fired.  The disadvantage of this type of archery rest is the fletching must pass through the arrow rest cleanly to not impact your shot and not damage the fletching.  Most importantly, the shoot-thru arrow rest does not hold your arrow in position as well as a containment rest, drop away rest or fall away arrow rest.

The second type of arrow rest is the containment rest which is especially good at keeping the arrow in place; thus, these arrow rests are a favorite of many archery hunters.  The containment arrow rest is relatively easy to install and tune,  unlike the drop away or fall away arrow rests described below.  The arrow will be completely surrounded by the rest or the rest will make contact with three points of the arrow.  The most common complaint with containment rests is that over time, the vanes or feathers that come in contact with the arrow rest may wrinkle and the edges become damaged.  Most archery hunters believe that fletching  damage after  repeated shooting of an arrow only slightly impacts the accuracy of the shot.  A containment arrow rest, such as the very popular Whisker Biscuit, is recommended for hunters that want to always be ready for the next shot.

The third type of arrow rest is the drop away or fall away arrow rest and is preferred by many experienced bow hunters and technical archery shooters.  The significant advantage with these arrow rests is that the rest will fall away or drop away prior to the fletching passing by the rest; therefore, there is virtually no damage to the arrow fletching and hunters can use any size of vanes or feathers.  The drop away or fall away of the rest is typically triggered by the movement of the bow cable, flexing of the bow limbs or the movement of the arrow.  Theses arrow rests are really a combination of the best features of the shoot-thru and containment type rests and are generally more expensive.    If you select this type of arrow rest, it’s recommended that you have the arrow rest installed by an archery  pro shop as tuning and adjustment of the arrow rest for your bow is typically more technical than most realize.

Bow hunters should not randomly buy an arrow rest without first understanding the benefits and the downfalls of each type of archery rest.  The market trend is that more hunters are moving to the drop away or fall away arrow rests; however, the most popular arrow rest by far, the Whisker Biscuit, will continue to be the choice of many hunters for years to come.  Quality Archery Bows is proud to carry a wide selection of arrow rests from companies such as Bodoodle, NAP, Trophy Taker, the Whisker Biscuit from Trophy Ridge, QAD and many more.  Browse our arrow rest selection today.