I'm in the club

[emptyfreezer]

I was target shooting at the cottage and my father in law asked me a question as I was cocking. Of course my brain immediately is overloaded (can't walk and chew gum) and I pulled the trigger only to hear that awful "thwack". The Axiom sucked it up like a champ. After a quick once-over I put one right back on target. So my father in law asked me how the negligible weight of an arrow can make a difference when you fire and why can a dry-fire cause so much damage on compound x-bows. I admitted I didn't know. Anybody?
Empty freezer and overloaded brain

[georgiaboy]

Welcome to the club!!

[papa bear1]

Welcome to the club,,,,,,,
I think it is due to lack of resistance Not real sure, but somebody on here does, and they will get w/you.....

Dave

[Boo]

I am not an Engineer or a Physicist. But from a layman's point of view there are 2 factors. One, the compound bows are on the edge of blowing up on every shot. Two, Excaliburs are that good!

[mr meat]

well Kathy allmost became a member! as she can,t cock the bow i cocked it handed her the bow and was reaching for a arrow and turned back to give her one as i noticed her flipping off the safety and i said stop! theres no arrow and her reply was i never noticed

[Raymond]

Welcome to the club. What an amazing product Excalibur has made. I will always be an Excalibur Hunter. Nothing but the best they are. I dry fired my Equinox twice in the same day and never damaged a thing. I learned three important lessons, first how great an Excalibur crossbow is and second how great a forum we have here, the people that makes this forum what it is today also, and third do not go practicing with your crossbow when you are not feeling well and do not have your mind in it.
Thank you,
Raymond

[Hester0305]

Welcome to the club, I thought I would never do that as well but I was humbled one day myself. My Vortex also survived without even throwing a string.

[spike]

The arrow absorbs the energy created by the string moving forward as it is released. If there is no arrow, the energy is transferred to the limbs. It is possible to break the limbs this way. Excals are very good for withstanding that shock.

The dryfire is common especially to folks just starting (but experienced shooters do it as well). The factory string which comes with the bow is more forgiving and will stretch to absorb some of that shock. A string like Boo makes isn't as dry fire friendly and he will ask how much experience a shooter has before selling him one.

You have lots of company, including me.

Spike

[Galgo]

Ditto What Spike said. its not much weight but the weight of the arrow and the force the bow uses to launch it is what prevents "dry fire type" damage every shot.

If you played baseball much its like taking a hard swing at a ball. When you connect it feels good and your swing stops relatively easily. when you miss you cork screw your self into the ground or wrench your back. That's the difference between transferring energy from the swing to the ball or absorbing it all yourself...

As always baseball explains everything...

[strum]

Ditto What Spike said. its not much weight but the weight of the arrow and the force the bow uses to launch it is what prevents "dry fire type" damage every shot.

If you played baseball much its like taking a hard swing at a ball. When you connect it feels good and your swing stops relatively easily. when you miss you cork screw your self into the ground or wrench your back. That's the difference between transferring energy from the swing to the ball or absorbing it all yourself...

As always baseball explains everything...

good one Galgo

[emptyfreezer]

Thanks for clarifying the energy transfer situation. Great baseball analogy. I usually say "cock,lock,load" as I'm going through the motions, but let myself get distracted. Unfortunately, I know myself well enough that I'm sure it will happen again. As long as there is no venison in front of me, it shouldn't be too bad, thanks to the Excal. Thanks for all the replies. I know I'm not alone...

[j.krug]

We're gonna need a bigger clubhouse soon!

[VixChix]

We're gonna need a bigger clubhouse soon!

All the cool kids hang out there!

[[email protected]]

Me also, but not really...

Built some new arrows with the new nockturnal nocks for crossbow, and experienced my first dry fire. Exocet 200 is about 6 mos old, and this is the first for me.

Have the S5 dampeners on it, using an older flemish dacron string (like it cause it adjusts nicely for the S5 and it's safer I guess for this very situation). Anyway, it seems my limbs are fine and the string seems ok.

The design of the nockturnal with the smaller protruding button/switch to turn the light on provides for a much smaller nock surface, and my string just slid under the arrow upon firing, stripped off the cock vane, and wham, what a weird sound.

I'm sending the nockturnals back to maker with letter of non recommendation for crossbow. I did read on another forum where a ten-point owner experienced the exact same situation.

So, lumenoks, I'll just have to stay with your more conventional, simpler design.

Larrie