Limb Break?

sinclair · Post by **sinclair** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:28 am

Just curious if anyone has ever had a limb break and what happened when it did?

Skarek · Post by **Skarek** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:19 am

Not heard of any limb breaks that was not due to a dry fire.

A dry fire leads to splinters in the limbs, but as I understand it seldom anything more dramatic than a need for a limb change.

As the limbs are glass fiber I would guess that even if the limbs broke at full draw there would be no real dramatic effects. They would probably just slowly break, but stay together. Not the more catastrophic break you can get with a steel bow (medieval xbow) where you get a piece of metal flying in an arch in the string around your head hitting your head at high speed. Still I have just heard stories about this happening. I have never met a person that has seen it first hand or met someone that seen it. It might just be a legend.

*edit* Made some changes, must have been quite tired when posting*/edit*

Doe Master · Post by **Doe Master** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:55 am

I personally have seen a bows with training wheels

blow up . But it is the cables not the limbs that are the dangerous part .

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 6:28 am

a buddy of mine had on blow up in his face when he was about to shoot. it took 30 stitches to close the wound and ended his hunt for that year. he now shoots excalibur

Stash · Post by **Stash** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:09 am

On some bows. other things can break besides limbs and cables...

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:25 am

Whoa!

Can you imagine having a riser break into three sections on you while shooting?

wabi · Post by **wabi** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:57 am

The only fiberglass limb I've ever broken was on a compound bow. It was not a "snap it's broken" experience, but what actually happened was I heard a sound similar to ripping cloth when I drew the bow. I actually checked the seams in my clothing for rips! Didn't find any rips, so I nocked an arrow and drew the bow again. Heard the ripping sound again and checked the bow that time. One limb was about halfway broken through, but the fibers were still holding it together.
I'd say the chances of one snapping cleanly are slim, but it pays to check limbs on any bow regularly. Any "splinters" (I check my Excalibur with it at full draw, the safety ON, and the limbs in a position where they couldn't hit me if it did fire) should be a signal to stop shooting and contact the manufacturer immediately!
Be especially observant if any event that would put unusual stress on the lims should occur! (dry-fire, string breaking, etc.)

Normous · Post by **Normous** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:34 am

That looks like a cast riser. Whose (manufacturer) crossbow was that?

Stash · Post by **Stash** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:37 am

Barnett Revolution. Less than a week old. Fortunately, the customer was not hurt.

awshucks · Post by **awshucks** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:21 am

I remember when I'd never heard of Excalibers, decided I was getting back into xbows and did the "two finger" shop in a Cabelas catalog. One finger on price, the other on fps, lol. Ordered a Quad 400, and the same day ran into an Excal guy who promptly started describing his experiences, the trigger pull, accuracy, ect. Had a huge growing knot in my gut, so called Cabelas back and ordered an Emax too. Both came on same UPS truck.

To make a long story shorter, the Quad sat for a month unopened and a buddy bought it from me. While trying to get less than 2.5" groups at 20 yds, it blew up in my face. Crap flew everywhere, lol, and although I came out uninjured, my buddy, an old Viet Nam vet who had been sitting on a bucket, hit the deck and got scraped up a bit. Cabelas got the Quad back, buddy got an Excal, all's well now.

warningshot · Post by **warningshot** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:24 pm

just had my bear bow break as well......it's my practice bow i use to practice pulling ....the bow had never been dry fired or dropped or anything like that .....kinda scary .....i had inspected the bow lately but not that day .....