Dry firing a bow

[Aggiehuntress]

its all physics, if there is not an arrow to help release all the energy in the bow, it will come out of the bow itself which is why the limbs/cams explode. Same applies in guns, without a projectile, the gun would explode in your face, not out the end of the barrell

[Smart]

I know your not supposed to dry fire a bow but why exactly? I don't see an arrow as having enough weight to offer any resistance that would make a difference or is it like the rumor of dry firing a gun. It has been proven that dry firing a gun has no effect on the firing pin unless you do it tens of thousands of times. I was just curious and was wanting to know.

Go ahead and give it a shot and report back to us...

[hopco.boy]

Go ahead and give it a shot and report back to us...

I liked your other avatar pic alot more than that one.

[txarcher]

What is Kinetic Energy?
The kinetic energy of an arrow is the energy it has based on its weight and speed and is measured in units of foot-pounds (ft-lbs). For example, an arrow weighing 350 grains and traveling at a speed of 275 fps would have 58.79 ft-lbs of energy. The best way to visualize this is if you shot your arrow vertically into an item weighing one pound it would have the energy to lift that item 58.79 feet.

When you draw the bow, it has potential energy stored in the string and limbs. When you release, the potential energy becomes kinetic energy.
Without an arrow, all that kinetic energy gets absorbed through the limbs, cams, string, etc.

This is a very good explanation.

[Reaper]

Go ahead and give it a shot and report back to us...

Don't listen to Smart, watch this video instead

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJoxJJjcQFU"]Compound Bow Accident - YouTube[/ame]

[jetlag887]

I have never done it, or seen it done. When I was shooting Oneida bows in the late 80s and 90s I 'heard' you could safely dry fire them.


As expensive as bows (and glass eyes) are I would rather not be a test dummy for that!

[Smart]

I liked your other avatar pic alot more than that one.

Me too but some folks got offended by a white t-shirt and the mods were forced to remove it.

[Little Long]

Had a release slip on me when I was testing my draw weight...lucky there was no arrow cause we where in camp...when it shot the string popped off the wheel and slapped my hand pretty good....seen a DXT slit a cam and snap both limbs

[txdukklr]

bad news

physics the energy is going to go somewhere, a lot is dissipated and transferred into the arrow. without an arrow it goes all the places you don't want it to.

my biggest worry is always involving that energy coming at me in the form of bits of broken this and that

[big_smith]

I have seen it done once, and had a nock failure myself. While I am no physics I can only testify to what I saw happen. The one I witnessed, I saw a Mathews Reezen come loose. The string and cable basically disentigrated, and the limbs sprung open. It looked like a long bow after the dry fire, with no strings or cables. On my personal most recent one I had a nock break at the shot. The bow made a heck of a loud racket. When I checked the string had gone past the string suppressors (Mathews DXT), the cam was over rotated, and the cable had actually cut through part of the cam groove. $200 later, new strings, cables, and cam.

[RFuson]

I dry fire mine every once and a while just to make sure all the screws and such are tight

lol!! seems like that would work!

[schlag77]

Had my bow in my back seat. Dad uses my truck to got get a piece of window glass sets the glass behind the seat. hits a bump and boom!! cuts the string! cracked both limbs. dryfiring just like cutting the string.

[Capfab]

its all physics, if there is not an arrow to help release all the energy in the bow, it will come out of the bow itself which is why the limbs/cams explode. Same applies in guns, without a projectile, the gun would explode in your face, not out the end of the barrell

No, it would not.

[jerp]

I saw it done once - at the old Red Sand Archery in Arlington. A guy standing next to me pulled a bow off the rack and drew it with his fingers. I was turning to leave the place when I heard a loud BANG! (I assume the string slipped) I looked over and he was standing there with a stunned look on his face holding a mangled bow and there was a cut on the bridge of his nose. Two guys that worked there came running over. I left.

[Coach W]

its all physics, if there is not an arrow to help release all the energy in the bow, it will come out of the bow itself which is why the limbs/cams explode. Same applies in guns, without a projectile, the gun would explode in your face, not out the end of the barrell

Ive never heard this before about Firearms.... How would blanks work.... can you ONLY shoot blanks through a blank gun?