FLETCHES: ARE FOUR BETTER THAN THREE?

In all forms of archery, arrows nearly always have three feathers. One of them, called the cock feather, is at a right angle to the nock, and it is usually a different colour to the other two feathers. The reason for this is so that the archer can more easily discern the cock feather because it should be facing outward to avoid friction throwing the arrow off when it flies past the bow and tearing the feather off. This type of arrow was used by English longbow archers, Kyudo practitioners, and by the vast majority of traditional and modern archers today.

An arrow will fly with two or even no feathers, but it will not be as efficient. Three feathers are required for the arrow to stabilize properly in flight. But considering the extra time needed for the archer to make sure his arrow is placed on the bow correctly, why not four feathers? I had some wood arrows custom made with four feathers to test. Alas, the plastic nocks that were placed on the arrow had very small fins slightly protruding from the nock, thus compelling one to think in terms of placing the arrow on the bow in a particular position. It was hard to tell if and to what extent the nock was effecting flight when placed with the offending little fin inwards, but I found it off-putting nonetheless.

My reason for wanting four-fletched arrows was to eliminate concern for the position of my arrow when nocking it, which would speed up the process of nocking an arrow. While I have no reason to master rapid fire during archery, sometimes I do get a little annoyed by the time required to nock a three-fletched arrow. Ancient horse bow archers did indeed use four-fletched arrows. They had no time to spend nocking arrows while charging on horseback on the battlefield, unlike longbow archers, who were stood in ranks away from the midst of battle. 

To my surprise, I found that the four fletches did not make any difference to the performance of the arrow. Whether four feathers would improve the stabilization of the arrow in windy conditions, I cannot yet say. The only advantage I can see is speeding up the time the archer needs to shoot an arrow.

While I am sure to never find myself on horseback in the middle of a battlefield, thinking, "Damn, if only I had four-fletched arrows that I may dispatch these infernal orcs with greater speed!", I am inclined to procure some four-fletched arrows with less obtrusive nocks, just so that I can enjoy more time shooting and less time nocking.