Strange shooting session

[mchurch]

This evening I was shooting my Equinox. I shoot pretty much every weekend. It normally is a flawless rig. Tonight I shot it at 50 yards and it hit about 20 feet in front of the target. I went to 20 yards and it hit about 5 feet in front of the target. It made a loud sounds during both shots. It sounded kinda like an aluminum bat hitting a baseball. The string stoppers on the S5 are split. I have not seen any limb slivers yet. The bottom fletching was nearly chopped off. It looks like the string is going under the arrow. It has never done this before. I checked the screws and they were tight. I can't figure this one out.

[peter p]

Were you shooting the Easton Power Bolts at the time?
What do you have as your knocks?
Was the arrow fully seated all the way back?

[gerald strine]

Sounds like a partial dry fire your bolt was not fully seated or improper shaft / string thickness can cause the string to slip under the bolt causing the symptoms you described.

[mchurch]

I was using the Easton powerbolt. The nock was an aluminum flatback nock that I buy from Wyvern Creations. The string is an Excalibur FFF string. The arrow was fully seated, I checked right before shooting. I compared my arrow retention arm to my Vortex and did notice that the Vortex was quite a bit closer to the rail than the Equinox. Could this have been the culprit? I have never heard of them wearing out.

[PA_DeerHunter]

Hold your bow (uncocked) up to a light source, as if you were aiming to shoot the light. Now look down the rail looking to see if there is any kind of space between string and rail.

On my own particular bow I have found that there is a little play in the limbs, within the limb pockets. Of course the tension is so high on the strung bow that limbs don't move too easily, but on occasion I have bumped my bow limbs pretty hard when moving through trees, or even bumping the limbs into my shooting bench. Horizontal limbs can be awkward in certain spaces.

But I too heard what sounded like a loud buzzing sound on the subsequent shot, as if the limbs were cracked. They weren't cracked, but one of the limbs had been bumped hard enough to cause it to shift upwards in the limb pocket. When I looked closely I could see the bow string hovering about an eighth of an inch above the rail. The limb had shifted enough so that the string no longer contacted the rail. The result was my arrow shot about 10 inches low at 20 yards, barely clipping the bottom of my block target. Whoa!!!

I remedied the situation by giving the shifted limb a sound thump downward with the heal of my hand, shifting it back into place and bringing the string back into contact with the rail.

I don't know if all Excal. limbs can shift in their limb pockets, but mine do. And I check them any time I bump the limbs into a tree, or the shooting bench. You want to make sure that string is contacting the rail. Otherwise it can make poor contact with the arrow, even strafing over the top of the arrow when shot causing a dry fire.

[mchurch]

I looked down the barrel and the string is in full contact with the rail. I will give Dan Miller a call in the morning and let you know what I find out.

[vixenmaster]

I spect if'en yer string has hit hard enuff to split the S5 setup. The string has jumped under yer serving causing a partcial dryfire & will raise hob on string limbs & arrows

[mchurch]

I talked to Dan Miller today and he thinks that the arrow retention arm is to far off of the rail. That makes sense to me. I will send it to him for repair.

[Dash]

Its an easy fix if you want to do it yourself.
To close the gap, you have to remove your scope mount. Remove the 2 screws holding the tensioner in, "while remembering which hole the short screw goes into". Bend the tensioner down a just a little and refit it. If its too low to the rail it'll make a noise when you fire it. Then just adjust it up slightly while its in position. "Small movements when bending"
I hope you get it sorted soon.