HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

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amayumi
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Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:32 am

HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by amayumi »

Hi ALL

A bad surprise here

I cocked my Vortex and give it to My son to fire, as we always do on our backyard range.

I always check if he is doing everything right but this time i must confess I did not (my bad only: I was on his side, shooting my bow and and got distracted)

And he forgot to put a bolt..and a dry fire occurred.

The vortex limbs looks good but..

The rope find someway to disengage itself from the limbs... And we found it on the ground, in front of xbow.

The rope and the limbs seem to be ok..

But I am very stressed here..

1. Does anybody here ever saw anything like this, I mean , a rope that disengaged itself on a dry fire?

2. Should I switch the rope? I got a backup here. Just don't know if I should use it, since the old one still looks ok.

3. I inspected the limbs but did not find anything wrong. Is there anything special to look after?

4. And finally...
Does anyone here ever used some kind of string or rubber band to guarantee that the rope loops will stay in its place in the tip of the limbs?

I mean..
I am very surprised with the rope self disengage and I was thinking if the rope loops was attached to its place with something like a rubber band, it would stay in place during another dry fire ,. minimizing any damage, at least...as much as possible..

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
gerald strine
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by gerald strine »

Relax a bit here the old long limb bows are very tough limb wise and are known to survive dry fires.
Take a cotton ball and run it back and forth along the length of the limbs and along the top and bottom edges if their is splintering of the fiberglass fibers it will snag the cotton ball fibers, if no splinters are found great if a small splinter is encountered it can be sanded down in most cases. look for cracks in limb but I doubt you will find any miner blemishes in the camo film coating are common and are not cracks. a real crack needs to be addressed by factory service
If you have a spare string use it and retire the old one to be on the safe side.
In all likely hood I bet the biggest issue you will have is with getting the new string settled in brace height wise and that is no big deal just some twist in the string as it stretches a bit and it takes a big difference in brace height to have a significant difference in ware the bolt impacts the target in short hunting ranges.
Be thank full you did not buy a compound x bow as you would just have been taken out of hunting season , but with the Excalibur you are going to be fine.
Best of luck.
Jerry
Hunt eat sleep repeat.
hankenhunter
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by hankenhunter »

Heh, welcome to the forum. Congrats, you are now our current dryfire king. :clap: Your reign will last till the next dryfire post usurps your throne. In the meantime, examine your string for broken strands or anything unusal. If it looks good, throw it back on your bow and cock it. Run a cotton ball over the limbs and look for any snags which would indicate the start of a sliver or splinter.
The Vortex is one of Excaliburs most bombproof bows and have been dryfired thousands of times by others. It's pretty rare to hear of a limb breaking. Other than a lesson learned, no harm no foul. As for the string flying off, you got lucky. Mine launches the camo string twenty yards into the weeds. Go back to shooting knowing you have a wicked tough bow.
Hank
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janesy
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by janesy »

Great tips above, I'd just like to a add, don't put elastic bands on the limb tips. They won't help, and will only fly off anyway.
If you are concerned about this happening again, perhaps you should consider adding the guardian anti-dryfire system to your bow(s). Very easy to install, and it will not allow this to happen again.

Goodluck and welcome
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WNYBILL
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Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:19 am

Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by WNYBILL »

What is the ROPE he is talking about?????

Bill
ko4nrbs
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by ko4nrbs »

janesy wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:09 am
If you are concerned about this happening again, perhaps you should consider adding the guardian anti-dryfire system to your bow(s). Very easy to install, and it will not allow this to happen again.
Goodluck and welcome
I also highly recommend installing the Excalibur Guardian Anti-Dry Fire Scope Mount. I put one on my Exomax for insurance and have already had it same me a dryfire.
https://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-Guardian-Anti-Dry-Scope-Mount/dp/B00BQ7CKHM

Bill
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papabear1
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by papabear1 »

WNYBILL wrote:
Sat Nov 03, 2018 9:28 am
What is the ROPE he is talking about?????

Bill
STRING :thumbup: ???

Dave
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known as doe bow
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Squirrel
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by Squirrel »

You should be fine with the vortex. The exo bows are more resilient to dry-fires than the newer bows.
If you had dry fired a matrix or micro, that would be another story.
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galamb
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by galamb »

I have a Vixen II. It has dry fired or partially dry fired at least half a dozen times (darn plastic flat nocks had a way of allowing the string to slip off/over/under).

One time I had a stringing aid break (before they added the metal to them) and the limbs went "high speed" into a concrete floor.

I looked over the limbs closely after each incident - ran a cotton ball over the limbs to check for cracks/splinters and then put her back in service.

She has somewhat north of 15,000 shots on her now and no worse for wear. Sometimes not having a leading edge bow has it's advantages :)
Graham

Micro 340TD, 17" Gold Tip Ballistics (180 gr inserts) - 125 gr Iron Will/VPA/TOTA (504 grains total/21.6% FOC) @ 301 FPS
amayumi
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Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:32 am

Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by amayumi »

Hi all

Thanks for all the info and love!

I am relaxed now!!!!

Atb
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Boo
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by Boo »

Cock the bow when you check for splinters with a cotton ball. When you find your string, check the loops for elongation. A well made Flemish string will likely have no damage on a long limbed bow.
If I had to count the times I dry fired, I'd have to take my shoes off. Aside from the embarrassment, the bad part was wasting time looking for the string and worst, looking for the arrow that never got put in the bow! With all the dry fires, never has there been any damage. It is possible so check those limbs. If you have DB bars, they may be bent forward. If they are, just bend them back.
Don't stress, feel good that you have a good, resilient bow.
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longbow joe
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by longbow joe »

ANOTHER REASON TO LOVE THE LONG LIMBERS! poor things just go tossed aside like a red headed stepchild. I will continue scooping up all of the unwanted and love them.
Vixen 2, metal ibex,Phoenix,sapphire,matrix 330 ,matrix 355 ,vortex and baby grand piano y25 relayer.
Trigger tecs,leupold crossbones and nikon bolts.
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Boo
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by Boo »

longbow joe wrote:
Sun Nov 04, 2018 5:56 pm
ANOTHER REASON TO LOVE THE LONG LIMBERS! poor things just go tossed aside like a red headed stepchild. I will continue scooping up all of the unwanted and love them.
Agreed, they really are nice bows. Although I'm selling my Equinox, I'm keeping my Vortex, Exclipse and Ibex.
Some people just like stepping on rakes
longbow joe
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by longbow joe »

Ohhhh don't tempt me boo. ......l just bought a Phoenix. 5 years old shot 20 times....gotta lay off till after xmas
Vixen 2, metal ibex,Phoenix,sapphire,matrix 330 ,matrix 355 ,vortex and baby grand piano y25 relayer.
Trigger tecs,leupold crossbones and nikon bolts.
Zombie slayers and mostly swat broadheads.
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dithian
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Re: HELP! Dry fired my vortex!

Post by dithian »

My bow recently had a partial dry fire when the string came disengaged from the limb while shooting. There was a bolt in the bow, which is probably what saved my limbs. Best I can guess is that one of the string eyes had stretched out and I hadn't noticed it. Just my two cents, but I wouldn't reuse a string after a dry fire. Along with the cotton ball test, take a good look at the limb tips to make sure they're not cracked. That dry fire twang is one of the worst sounds in the world.
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