Dry Fired Hoyt - Help Please!

[CJ_Hoyt4Me]

Well, I made a mistake I thought I would never make - I dry fired my Hoyt RazorTec yesterday. We were shooting a friendly tournament in the yard and Iwas not paying attention - made an adjustment to my sight, pulled back, and WHOOMP! I could not believe what I had done. I checked my bow and the only thing I could find wrong was the peep flew off. After thoroughly checking the limbs and string (and making sure everyone was waaay behind me) I shot one arrow to see what would happen - nothing, it shot fine. My concern is that there could be problems that I don't see. Does anyone know what else I should be looking at? Should I take it to a pro to look over? Any help would be appreciated.

CJ

[300ultramagshooter]

I would take it to the pro shop and have them check it and I'd keep a closeeye on the limbs for cracksI did it once when I first got into archery I shot that bow for2 moreyears hope this helps.

[The Rev]

Look for fraying around your cams where cables are tied to the cam. If you see any fraying, replace cable and or string. This happened to me, and broke a cable at full draw. Quite an experience. ( Not pleasant)As far as seeing a crack, the limb may break before you see a crack. Just listen for anything strange. If you hear something unusual, stop what your doing, and don't shoot it again until you know for sure what that sound was.

[TFOX]

The most likely thing that would happen that you can't see is a bent axle.Most shops have no way of checking axles but they are relatively inexpensive and I would replace them regardless.It only takes a couple thousands of an inch to cause prolems.


It is one of those things that will cause a flier every now and then,because the axle will rotate to the high side on some shots and to the low side on other shots and consistancy suffers.This is barely noticable to most but to some it is quite noticeble.


We all know that confidence is so important and now that I have mentioned to you that it could be a problem,you will never have complete confidence that a flier was caused by you or the bow.[:-]

[Sniper151]

In most instances if there is damage it will be evident immediately. Strings and or control cables are usually the first to let go on a dry fire. When either of these fails, the possibility of damage to limbs or cams increases. You stated that you have shot the bow since the mistake. Has the impact point changed on the target? If you are a right hand shooter keep an eye out on group changes that are high right. This is the first sign of strands of the string starting to let go. Fewer strands will increase arrow speed and decrease arrow spine resulting in a high right impact on target. Many times the strands that are damaged are under the center serving and will not visible. It sounds like you were lucky this time, but I would have the bow thoroughly checked out by a pro shop just for peace of mind.

[JAKE53]

Thank god you have a hoyt, they are built well, and will take a dry fire.
If you don't see anything wrong you are probably safe. I would still take it to the pro shop and have them check it out. You could have bent and axle and not know it. Better safe then sorry.

[Elkcrazy8]

You should have any dry fired bow checked out. I have a hunch that you will be just fine. Hoyt dry fires there bows on purpose for testing and you would be surprised how many dry fires they will hold up to.

[SW Iowa Hunter]

"Thank god you have a hoyt, they are built well, and will take a dry fire.
If you don't see anything wrong you are probably safe. I would still take it to the pro shop and have them check it out. You could have bent and axle and not know it. Better safe then sorry. "



I was thinking the same as above except that thank god it was a hoyt I am not sure they have enough zip to hurt themselves.

Seriously though I would keep an eye on it but every bow that I have ever seen dry fired had obvious problems right away or they were alright.

If you are pushing the limit of the bow with poundage there is usually a better chance of problems than if the bow is backed off alittle. I would keep a close eye on it and if it makes you feel better take it down to a shop and let them look at it.

[NCYankee]

I read somewhere that Hoyt will occasionally pulla bow offthe assembly line and dry-fire itone-thousand times. I don't know if that number is accurate, but that's what I thought it was. I'm sure one time won't hurt...although I think having the pro-shop check it out wouldn't hurt either!

[Cougar Mag]

It doesn't matter what brand of bow, a dry fire can cause damage. A guy dry fired an my inlaw's Hoyt target bow just last year. No cracked limbs, but the cables jumped out of the wheels' tracks. He took it to the pro shop and they checked it all over.