They are smooth, if you arrow falls off and you dry fire it all that happens is the fish gets away. I am shooting an older one that sat in a guys garage for years and he gave it to me. I have shot it now for 5 years and have only changed the string a couple of times. Shooting it at 42 pounds which is actually a little heavy and shoot through almost everything. Shot a 15 pound grassie and two nice long nose yesterday and shot through both of them. You just have to watch the bottom limb when you are shooting. It cannot hit anything including you leg, other than being a little careful in that area they are hard to beat.