Well, just made an expensive mistake with my bow yesterday. Was talking to a non-bowhunting friend while doing a little practice yesterday. When I triggered the release, the bow sounded odd and the string slapped my left arm. When I looked at it, I first wondered what the heck just happened followed quickly by where the hell did the arrow go. To this my friend replied (not having a clue) that "you didn't have a f*ing arrow in the bow." Due to my lack of attention, I dry fired my own bow; therefore, I'm an idiot.

Now to the bad news. Took my bow (Mathews V3X 29) in today do evaluate the damage. Well, damaged strings, bent both cams, bent one axle (that I'd upgraded to titanium), and damaged at least 2 limbs. After making a plan to repair all the broken components, I started wondering about what else was damaged that we could not see. This thought quickly became a concern over whether or not I could trust the bow to shoot properly or safely with just changing the new components.

To ease this concern and provide piece of mind, I purchased a new Mathews Phase 4 29 to replace the V3X and move all my extras to. Apparently, this is not too uncommon a mistake as there are videos to be found online of this moronic mistake. So, my lack of attention turned into a $1400 mistake within 24 hours.

On the bright side, I upgraded my bow to the new model. On the downside, I have to hide the evidence from my wife (she doesn't read the site fortunately) after just telling her that the problem was fixable and wouldn't require a new bow.

I'm now the only person I know of that has blown up their own bow and a rifle. Though that is a story for another day.

Feel free to sling arrows at my dumbass!

Yes never ever ever ever never ever dry fire a bow!

it happens. i was at Archery Country and one of the long time techs was shooting since it was a slow day. he was talking to a friend. next thing you know whack! the unmistakable sound of a dry fired bow.

it can happen to just about anyone when you get distracted.

Dry fired my Vertix at a 3D shoot a couple years ago. Luckily no damage to bow-only needed new string. Definitely not a good feeling when it happens.

Same here. String busted but no bow or other component damage luckily. Wicked case of string slap. Felt like a dumbass and have the scar to remind me of such dumbassery.

Not quite the same mistake but it was still a d*mbass mistake on my part. Day before bow season, I was doing some last minute practice and noticed the strings had a small spot that looked iffy. I slung maybe three arrows without any issue. I pulled back the fourth arrow and the bow pretty much blew up in my hand. Strings ended up not holding up. Destroyed the bow and slapped the hell out of my arm. Escaped injury but I missed out on the first week of the season due to having to shop for a new bow.

Moral of the story: Don't trust strings that you aren't sure about. First bow was a cheap, used one but it still sucked and could have been a whole lot worse if I sent an arrow somewhere it shouldn't have gone.

I'll join you in the dumbassery.

Was shooting with my wife one day. She thought something was off on her sight so handed it to me to shoot. I flung a couple arrows without any problems.

After nocking an arrow on her bow and handing it back to her, I picked up my bow and let 'er rip. You guessed it! I never nocked an arrow.

Sure sounded funny! Took me a moment to figure out what happened. I'd gone through all the proper motions and my brain thought I'd done nothing wrong.

I blew my bow up (dry fire) practicing 3 days before an Utah Elk trip. Had to buy a new bow as I wasn't confident I could get new strings in time.

Exact same thing happened to me a few years ago. Got distracted talking and didn't notice the arrow fell out. I felt sick afterwards. Luckily I didn't have any major damage. You are not alone!

By string popped on the draw for a kill shot on my scimitar.... luckily no damage other than needing a new string.... but made for a long tracking job.

Crazy that the resistance of an arrow makes all the difference.

As someone who does not bow hunt or play golf or own the tools to do either, i didn't really consider the fact that the action of dry firing a bow would ruin it. I'd never really think I could find a situation in which I'd ever test it out but the fact remains, it's handy to know. So I'm sorry your dicked up your bow, but if I ever get a bow, I'll know better.

I am not going to go through the list of "that was really stupid and expensive" situations I have gone through but it is expensive and somewhat impressive.

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I am not going to go through the list of "that was really stupid and expensive" situations I have gone through but it is expensive and somewhat impressive.

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Here

Made a mistake... understandable. I once accidently fired my 22 pistol in the house. Mom was not happy.

The only dumbass thing you did is hide it from the wife.

Same thing. Cracked the limbs, bent the cams, the bow string wrapped around the limbs/cams twice.

Was wild as hell and my forearm was black and swollen.

makes me want to cry even today. That Hoyt was a tack driving sob. My buddy talked me into going with the new Mathews and I've regretted it ever since.

Oh it'll come out but at a more appropriate time.

I've done it too. I had a new bow, only a few days old. I was moving around the yard practicing at different distances. I was distracted by getting the distance exactly right with my rangefinder, then I just shot the bow without ever nocking an arrow.

I was so mad at myself and had a hard time sleeping that night, as I kept thinking about what it was about to cost me. Ultimately, there was no damage and the bow shop got it back in order.

How's the phase 4 vs the v3x? Been thinking about getting one of the two. Usually buy a year or two behind and used

Haven't gotten to shoot the phase 4 but the V3X was shooting great. Smooth and quiet with plenty of speed. I had made some modifications to titanium parts to lessen vibration. Sling same for the phase 4. I would consider a Hoyt if I didn't already have all the accessories for Mathews. Buddy has a Hoyt (RX7 I believe) and that thing is crazy fast and flat shooting. Though his draw length is 3-4" longer than mine.

Came very close to doing this about a month ago. Was shooting 3D, talking to a buddy. Came to full draw and realized I had no arrow on my bow. Could have been bad

Bonecrusher92 said:

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Oh it'll come out but at a more appropriate time.

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This is the best part of the story...

I did this two summers ago - talking to the neighbor ( distracted seems to be a common theme). I was startled and amazed that my arrow ended up laying in my bow case. It took a few minutes to register that I clearly never put the arrow in place and my mind still didn't want to accept the fact that I never put the arrow in place because it was such an ingrained step in the process

Very lucky that all I had to do was replace string

My father in law almost lost his eye from a dry fire incident. Pretty scary stuff.

jpb1999 said:

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Bonecrusher92 said:

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Oh it'll come out but at a more appropriate time.

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This is the best part of the story...

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Yeah, keep us updated on how that discussion progresses.

OnlyForNow said:

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Crazy that the resistance of an arrow makes all the difference.

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It's quite a mass to accelerate. Crazy forces. String slap SUCKS.