Buck Magnet

Hey guys,

As some of you may remember, I had a bit of a scare awhile back with my Liberty. I thought that I had a cracked limb but it turned out to be a split in the camo. Well, last night that all changed. I was on shot 27 of 28 in my screen shoot and I heard a slight cracking noise when I drew back! I immediately let-down and started looking at my bow. I timed out on that screen and didn't get to shoot. Well, I looked over my limbs and didn't see anything. I decided to draw it back again on my last shot and there was no noise so I shot my last screen! I didn't think anything of it as I didn't notice any crack!

Well, a little bit ago I decided to put some wax on my string and I decided to just check the limbs again! To my suprise, I found a crack on the bottom limb! I have no idea how I missed it as this crack is exactly 5-1/4" long and runs right through the words "Liberty VFT".

Thankfully that limb didn't go last-night as I would have probablly been in some serious pain! I am taking the bow to my pro-shop tommorow to get my limbs changed! Thankfully last night was my last shoot so I really don't need my bow until May when turkey season kicks in!

Here is a pic I took of the limb...

gibblet

ooooh, i remember that noise. i remember when you first were talking about this and your buddy checked it out and decided it wasn't cracked. that was 6 months or so ago wasn't it. it won't blow up on you. they are solid, not laminated. i always wondered if the limb really was cracked. that's where mine went also.

TerryM

Gibblett,
Just curious about that comment. Are you saying a laminated limb is more likely to have a catatrosphic failure than a solid one? I have been looking at Hoyt recently and that seems to be the limb of choice in the higher end bows they make. I have always wondered how reliable a laminated limb was compared to a solid one.

Buck Magnet

gibblet,

The first thing I thought last night when I heard that slight crack was to check out where the camo had cracked! That was fine. That is on my top limb, where as this actual crack is on my bottom limb.

I got ahold of my pro-shop and he said BowTech is running a little slow on getting parts to him simply because they are selling so many bows, but he said that I will probablly have my bow back and ready to go in about a week!

TFOX

TerryM

Laminated limbs are by far better than solid glass limbs.What you see in the above picture is more common than one might think with glass limbs and the laminated limbs from Hoyt have one of if not the LOWEST fail rate in the buisness.Thats not saying they don't have some fail from time to time.


NOT bashing any one manufactuer but it does surprise me that top end bow manufactuers have not brought the limb technology up to where it should be.Lets face it,with the prices of bows today you would think they would be using the best technology available.

muzzyman88

See, this is the soft of thing that concerns me. I just bought an Allegiance and love the bow. But, there was a rash of limb failures on Bowtechs last year. Now, I know all of the Bowtech faithful is going to come to the rescue and make a lot of excuses for why they had this issue arise last year, but it makes me wonder.

I can't recall seeing pics of any of the failed limbs, but I seem to remember seeing something about most of them being where the limb is the most flexed, as is where Buck Magnets is. I have already noticed an enormous different between my Allegiance and my previous Hoyts as to limb pre load. The Bowtech seems to have much, much more preload in it. It makes sense to me that if that limb were to fail, it would fail where the most extreme bend is in the limb.

Now, I"m not going to make a mountain out this. I really like my Allegiance and its probably the nicest shooting bow I've ever owned. I don't know much about whether Bowtechs limbs are laminated or solid. I just hope I don't ever go through that. Honestly, if the limb were to fail on my Allegiance, its back to Hoyt for me.

JOE PA

Too bad about your limb, but (like Dave C's limb) it seemed to "go" at a pretty convenient time for you. Hope you can get yours fixed a little quicker than he did.

I still don't really see this as a "rash" of limb failures. Compared to the # of bows out there, the reported problems are not all that many. It seems like the reported problems are with the Liberty, Patriot, and Mighty Mite. I don't recall hearing about problems with the Justice, though you would think they wouldn't be exempt. (same riser + limbs as the MM). Does anyone remember any problems with the Pro 40? I don't recall hearing anything about problems with P40 limbs at all on any message board. Still, if it happens to you, you aren't going to be happy about it.[:'(]

That type of crack gives you pretty good warning before anything dramatic happens. There are a few daredevil speed freaks around here that shot bows (with very underweight arrows) for thousands of shots with longitudinal cracks in them like Buck Magnet's limb. It's not the kind of crack that is going to cause your limb to "explode." Still needs to be replaced, though.[&:]

bbahunter

I have seen laminated wood core limbs blow with no prior notice.
But the new laminated carbon fiberglass limbs hold together well.
Solid limbs ,such as the picture indicates usually start with a visible crack so you can
be forewarned not to shoot it until you get new limbs.
And they usually crack right down the middle.

gibblet

after speaking with one of the reps last year, if i was on a hunting trip and it happened, i'd keep hunting and get it fixed when the trip was over. that's just what i would do.

Techy

I have seen that crack before. It needs to be replaced obviously, but it isn't super urgent. My buddy shot for a while with a crack like that.

ANd yes, it happens to all companies. I have seen it on just about all bows.