So, I have been running a movable sight since getting back into archery in 2019. I started with an HHA Tetra with the wheel, and after that I moved on to an Axcel Achieve XP. I never liked the look of multiple pins or horizontal pins, so I settled pretty quickly on a single pin. I now run a .010 fiber in the center of a 4x lens in my Ultraview Scope.
Setting up a sight tape has always been pretty much the same, regardless of whether you were using the wheel on the HHA, the slider on the Achieve, or almost any other movable sight on the market.
You would start by shooting a few arrows to get sighted in, then mark two or three distances on a blank piece of paper on the sight, or write down the corresponding numbers from the provided scale. Once you had those two or three distances, you would take your marks and compare them against a paper or metal sight tape, looking for the one that most closely matched your marks. From there, you could assume the tape would be reasonably accurate at the varying distances going forward.
For the most part, this worked. You might be off by a few yards at longer distances, or sometimes a little more, but in general you knew the tape was going to be approximately accurate.
Now, we have a new process that can be done with only a few tools.
Precision Cut Archery is a relatively new piece of software that helps build sight tapes for modern movable sights. To get started, you need to know a few things that can be measured on your bow, along with the weight of the arrow you want to build the tape for.
First, you need to know the height of your peep at full draw. This can easily be measured on a draw board, or you can have a trusting friend measure it while you’re at full draw.
You also need your sight radius, which is the distance between the center of the peep and the sight pin—or, in my case, the fiber, lens, or aiming reference you’re using. Again, this is very easy to measure on a draw board, but it can also be measured by a friend.
For example, my peep height is 3.5 inches and my sight radius is 30.5 inches.
You also need to know the weight of your arrow in grains.
Once you enter all of this information into the Precision Cut Archery software for your specific bow and arrow setup, you only need two more pieces of information before you can build your sight tape.
These final pieces of data require some additional equipment because you need to calculate the speed of your arrow at specific distances.
Precision Cut Archery has preferred distances depending on the device you are using. With a LabRadar, they want your arrow speed at 20 and 65 yards. I could only easily get to 60, so I used that number. If you’re using one of the Garmin Xero units, they want your speed at 1 yard and 60 yards.
I recently acquired a LabRadar, so I was able to get everything I needed by shooting at 70 yards. The LabRadar collects speed data at designated distances out to 100 yards, so each shot gave me velocity data at 20, 40, 60, and other distances downrange. I could take several shots, average the speeds, and come up with the following numbers for my bow:
At bow: 284.1, 20Yards: 274.4, 40 Yards: 266.7, 60 Yards: 259.
If you’re using a Garmin, you’ll need to take several shots with it positioned at 1 yard, then move it out to 60 yards. You’ll also need to protect the front of the device and shoot your arrows over the top of it so it can measure your downrange speed.
Once you have your speeds, you enter that information into your bow setup inside the software.
Then the fun begins.
I entered my speeds and started playing around with the software. You get to customize pretty much everything, from how the numbers are displayed to whether you want lines for every yard or every two yards. You can select different line lengths, line weights, fonts, and highlighted distances.
One of my favorite features is the ability to add additional marks for shorter distances.
This is particularly important to me because some of the 3D shots we take can be as close as 5–6 yards, especially when shooting at smaller targets. Having dedicated marks for those shorter distances is a great feature and something you don’t typically get with a standard sight tape.
Once you’ve finished changing all of your settings, the software generates a PDF containing three sight tape options along with all of the details of the settings you selected.
You then print the sight tape onto sticker paper, check the scale to make sure everything printed correctly (make sure you print at 100% scale), and stick it onto your sight with the indicator set to a known distance. I personally use 30 yards.
Once that’s done, you’re ready to go.
I also like to put a piece of clear packing tape over the sticker paper. This helps protect the tape from rain and keeps it functional when you’re out shooting in wet conditions.
Below is the PDF generated from my bow and arrow data, along with a zoomed-in version of the sight tape showing my short-distance indicators.
PCA – Sight Tapes – 2026-09-04 0936 – Joshs Mathews Title – Outdoor 3D TAC