My vote is instant. However, the damage can be subtle. On a recurve, you may have limb splinters that you don't notice for awhile. I had a Quad 400 blow up possibly due to too light an arrow, which is a form of dry-fire and it was like a grenade went off. A compound type may not show any obvious signs, but have timing issues, don't know much about them. If you didn't see any damage and it still shoots ok you should be good to go.