Accidental dry-fire
 

well i was dinkin around with my bow, drew back and accidently hit the trigger and my bow dry-fired. I did not have the bow drawn all the way though, and i dont see an visable damage.. Do you think the bow is ok? 8-(

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

The bow might be ok, but I would take it to a shop and have them over look everything to make sure everything is in place. It's better safe than sorry.

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

Well, few things to look for besides the obvious. String and cable damage may not be obvious, and can rear its head several shots from now. I would change them. Especially the cable. The cable has the most stress on it.

Warped cam
bent axles
String damage

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

I don't know if its an urban myth or what, but I've heard some people say that dry firing can cause the limbs to shatter? Don't really know and don't want to find out, but thats what I've heard.

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

Definatly not an urban myth. Dry-firing is one of the worst things you can do to a bow. It puts excessive stress on the string and cable(s), cams, axles, limbs, riser, everything. When theres not an arrow on the string that unabsorbed energy causes the limbs to overextend. This action pulls on the limb bolts and pockets and on the string and cables causing cracked or shattered limbs, warped cams and axles and damaged strings. In rare cases, it has caused the cams to actually break, shearing the string posts off.

All in all, take every precaution against dryfiring. The easiest is to just nock an arrow every time you are going to draw the bow. Remember to always point the bow in a safe direction. Another precaution is to purchase a "no-fire" release. Basically this is just a release with a hook instead of the normal jaws and has no trigger. We use these at the shop I work at, and they are priceless when letting customers look at bows and test drawlengths and peep locations. And the last way to prevent it is to always keep your finger behind the trigger unless you intend to shoot.

Hope this has cleared it up for you backyardbowhunter.

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

I never draw one of these new fancy compounds without and arrow in it.
However back aroundlate 60's early 70'ssome of ushad what was called a clicker on our target bows. It was a draw check, when you got your bow to full draw it slid off the end of your arrowand made a clicking sound when it hit the side of your bow letting you know you was at full draw, and to release the arrow!
WellI was getting my equipment ready the day befor the World Championship at Cobo Hall, and was drawing my bow back in the house aiming at an alarm clock my dad had on the fridge, when my clicker went off, I got a good clean release and pin wheeled thatsucker right to the wall. Dad had just come out of the bathroom in time to see the whole thing, and that was the last time I was allowed to draw my bow in the house!
And yes I have a story for everything!

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

I did something worse, I actually drew my bow and tried to shoot at something without an arrow nocked....I didn't hit anything and my peep blew out of the string.
I fired a few rounds afterwards and noticed everything was off.
I took my bow to the shop and had it checked, lucky for me they didn't find any real damage but the shop owner hit me on the back of the head.....I won't do that again....

Like we said, take it to the shop and have it checked....

F.

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

Its probably ok. Check limbs, especially at the fade and listen when drawing. If you hear cracks, check it out. If you hear of see nothing, your probably ok.

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

Wow!!!!

RE: Accidental dry-fire
 

my buddy`s wife has dry fired her bow twice , it knocked the sights out of whack both times, but no other damage , but we did take it to the bow shop to have it checked to be on the safe side.