I will start this blog by offending those who still shooting the old tapered nocks. If you are one of those folks, please stop ASAP! Your accuracy depends on it! Seriously, the chances of having 6 arrows that will hit the same spot time and time again is low.
Back in the day, I would spin all of my arrows and check the nock alignment. After finding several that would be misaligned I would cut them off, dress up the taper and reglue another. Eventually finding a half dozen worth hunting with.
Jump forward 15 years and into 2009. I find it hard to believe an archery shop would even stock those shafts any more with one exception being the traditional guys. Even they are turning to uni bushings in the ends of their shafts.
Correct nock alignment is critical to obtain good arrow flight. 1/8 th turn and you will suffer left or right impacts in your target. The uni bushing allows us to do 2 things well. Align nocks for proper flight and replace them easily when broken or bent.
Uni bushings are not installed in every shaft, some do not require a bushing at all. Just simply insert the nock in the arrow and rotate to the correct alignment. In the event that a nock does not fit snugly just take your pocket knife and scratch it 3 times (in the same alignment as your vanes) long ways and reinsert it. Now it will be perfect.
You will need to replace them every so often as they will wear down in the grooves that make contact with the string. It really depends on how much you shoot. If after work or on the weekends you only fire 30 shots at your bag target, you will probably never need to replace them. However if you sling 200-300 arrows on a daily basis you are looking at replacing them annually.
I will tell you how I found this out. One day while shooting on my range a friend of mine came in and started shooting. After about 100 shots he approached the counter and asked if I had ever seen a bow that would shoot a 4" group of arrows at 80 yards then the next day it would shoot 2" high at 20 yards. My reply was this, "No, I have not." I really did not buy it. The part about being 2" high, I had seen him shoot a group at 80 yards and you could pull 6 arrows at the same time with one hand.
After watching this unfold I noticed several arrows were hitting high and the rest would wad up in a quarter sized group in the X-ring. We talked a bit and then he mentioned the fact that he had replaced a few and that's when his groups started to change. I grabbed a bag of nocks and we replaced the one's that were hitting high. The next group was very tight and in the X-ring.
After a close inspection of the nock groove I could see some wear. He admitted that he was shooting the same nocks for over 2 years. When an arrow would be deemed unusable, out came the nock and into the new one. That would be fine for most but this fellow shot a lot of arrows. He was a pro shooter and really practiced.
I replace my nocks every 2 years just for safety reasons. All plastic has a shelf life and arrow nocks are no exception. That goes for vanes as well. I know, I too have arrows that are 10 years old and have the original fletching but I would probably replace them prior to hunting.
Uni bushings have a downside also. After doing a test with a Hooter Shooter (A machine that you can lock your bow into and fire without human error http://www.spot-hogg.com/products/hooter_shooter/index.php) I found that an arrow with a creased or dented bushing would not hit the exact same hole as did the rest of the arrows.
At 20 yards with a hunting bow this would be insignificant. Back up to 40 yards and see what happens. I typically replace 1 uni bushing every time I practice. I do it so often that hot glue works the best for me. I used to use epoxy to secure them to the shaft but that proved to be a real challenge to remove whenever I would bend or crease one.
Good Luck.
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