Hunting Forum

Tha other day when I was in an archery shop A guy took a bow off the rack drew and dry fired it. To shop owners, did he just buy the bow or do you try to send it in under warrenty? It was my first time I've seen A bow that was dry fired, not A pretty sight.

I'm not a shop owner but I do know the uninformed shooter is not liable , the shop guy assumed and didn't instruct so he has to eat that one .Warranty might be iffy as they all have a clause in it about misuse and abuse , so how do you explain a blown up bow that isn't sold yet(without lying about the while at my practice range story) .

I have never dry fired my biw or seen it done. What was the resulting carnage like?

Touchy situation? I guess the owner is lucky the guy wasn't sent to the hospital? Obviously, the guy didn't know jack crap about bows or he would have never dry fired one. Limbs could have spintered, or maybe just snapped a string? Either way , not cool. A few years back I walked into a shop and was pulling bows back with four fingers just to get the feel of the bow. The owner got all piised and said if I wanted to pull a bow back I needed to borrow a release. I stated I would rather trust my fingers than a release I have no experience with and don't know if it will accidently dry fire the bow!

When I first got into bowhunting, I bought a cheap bow from Walmart, took it home and proceeded to pull the string back to see if I even could....Yeah, I let go and ended up with a bloody nose and bruised elbow from the explosion following the dry fire. I will say that I didn't touch another bow for 3 years being scared of them. I had no clue it was my fault, because I didn't know anyone who knew about archery who was willing to take the time to teach me. I recently went into a bowshop and watched a guy do the same when the shop keeper wasnt looking and when the result ended badly the shop said they'd just have to eat that cost because they didn't have cam locks on it and weren't on the range

I once accidently dry fired mine, but got lucky and it wasn't damaged at all, although it made a loud pop that scared the *#$% out of me. The last shop I went to had a realease that hooked in and couldn't let go of the string without releasing the weight and I thought that was a good idea. Maybe you should tell the shop owner about it.

At most proshops the bows are out of reach or the owner/staff is right there and will tell a prospective buyer not to dry fire a bow. At the proshop I use a guy came in looking at bows he was explicitly told don't dry fire the bow. He did anyway. Owner said you just bought it. Needless to say there was a big broohooha. I ended up as a witness in small claims court. Owner got his money idiot got exploded bow.

The two bow shops I normally use both have several signs up in front of the bows that say if you pull it and break it you buy it .Do not pull bows back .

The ones I used to deal with did too. They also had ranges that you could shoot 'em at.

All the shop in my area have the same signs and policy.  Their are no exceptions!!!!

I have a question about this- what is considered a 'dry fire'? I understand that firing a bow with no arrow loaded is a dry fire, but if an arrow is nocked and the bow drawn and then the tension slowly released is that the same? Reason I ask is I was practicing in my yard with my brother who had recently over worked his shoulder but decided he wanted to shoot anyway and he did this (draw and ease off) a number of times. Is my only bow still safe to use, or should I put it away for what remains of the season and get another one just to be safe?

If it wasn't fired with no arrow in it and the tension was released slowly, whether an arrow was nocked or not; it will be fine. The problem is letting it go at full draw with no resistance.... VERY bad things can, and usually do, happen.

Like Steve said , you're fine . I got a new bow last spring and I'll bet I did that a hundred times by now with setup and on the range . Letting the string go at full draw without an arrow is dry fire . If you're lucky you get internal damage to the bow but usually a string or cable blows along with that or worse case is a limb breaks too along with the fore mentioned .

Like what has been said .If it was let down and not fired without an arrow there in no problem .Only when at full draw and no arrow in it and released is a dry fire .And after shooting competition for many years you let down many times as you said .

actually mfg'ers recommend drawing the bow to full draw and letting it down prior to shooting or hunting...do it first thing after getting it out of the truck...a couple of times...does 2 things it freshens the bearing surfaces of the bow and it stretches you out...

Bearing surfaces? Tension bearing surfaces? I'm still rather new to hunting (I started last year) and only a novice archer. I'm using a Samick Sage recurve bow.

No bearings on your Samick lol. Compound bows have bearings in the cams and or wheels. Still you are apt to break the string or a limb if you dry fire your bow. A friend of mine dry fired his bow twice on the range at a 3D shoot. Fortunately no damage, he was with a bow tech and they checked it out after the first time to be sure it was ok. After the second time he changed bows until they could take it apart in the shop to check it out. He shoots the same bow as me and since I was in the group ahead of them I heard it both times. Told him thanks, now I don't have to dry fire mine, hopefully anyway.

OK, thank you all for the info!

my buddy dry fired and old bow once to see out come and it just shattered into pieces m suprised the guy would do that in first place most shops ive been too zip tie strings together to avoid that and accompany you if you want to try it and give you arrows to shoot

I pulled my bow back and my shoulder gave at about 1/3 of the way back down. Had my hand still on the string all the way down. Result was a loud snap and a jumped cable. MORAL ya don't have to be at full draw. Shops here say dry firing a bow ya buy it.