Dry Fire A Bow? Now What?

[MoBuckChaser]

My buddy bought a brand new Mathews Halon about 6 weeks ago. Was coming out to hunt tonight but had to stop by a guys house for a minute. Big mistake. 2 idiots wanted to look at his bow while they were standing there, so he handed it to the first idiot, when the guy pulled it back at 70lbs and let it go! Cables and strings flew everywhere. My buddy blew a gasket, but it didn't help the situation. The guy offered to pay for new strings and cables, but could anything else have gotten damaged a guy would not see? Cams, limbs, anything else maybe?

Anyone ever have it happen?

 

[loshonhora]

anything could be broken/cracked. limbs, riser, anything. i'd think about a new bow. that idiot was lucky he didn't get his arm flayed open or lose an eye.

 

[Bill]

I'd send it back to Mathews for evaluation. They'll go through it and make sure it's safe.
Not going to help if he wants to hunt this weekend. But better safe than sorry.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I'd send it back to Mathews for evaluation. They'll go through it and make sure it's safe.
Not going to help if he wants to hunt this weekend. But better safe than sorry.

He is going to use my DXT since I cant pull it back right now. We got him covered for the rest of the season.

 

[bigeight]

Wow ! Props to him if he didn't throw an absolute tantrum like a kid in Toys R Us !
That sucks ! I'm with the posts above. No way to know what kind of damage that may have done. Good news is, is no one got hurt. That could have been way worse.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Any pro shop should be able to get it put back together. Make them shoot it a few times first!

 

[Native Hunter]

Holy cow - back to Matthews for sure....... And unfriend that kook....:eek:

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Any pro shop should be able to get it put back together. Make them shoot it a few times first!

He is going to take it to the bow shop in the morning. The shop said they look at the riser and limbs with a magnifying glass and some kind of light. Then they will re-string and cable it if it looks good. Man I don't know if I would ever trust it after that.....

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Holy cow - back to Matthews for sure....... And unfriend that kook....:eek:

Tough to unfriend the guy, he is 2 months on the force, and rides nights in another car along side my buddy. This ain't going to be good for a while, my buddy is almost like me.

 

[UP Powers]

No one touches my bows or my guns. No reason. you can look at it all you want, just don't touch it.

 

[Native Hunter]

Tough to unfriend the guy, he is 2 months on the force, and rides nights in another car along side my buddy. This ain't going to be good for a while, my buddy is almost like me.

He ain't exactly like you cause you would have shot him...:D

 

[MoBuckChaser]

He ain't exactly like you cause you would have shot him...:D

He would have been wearing it around his neck 20 seconds after it happened. But my buddy is a little bit more level headed.

 

[yoderjac]

This is one thing I would not trust a bow shop to do. You could have micro-fractures not externally visible in the limbs. I would send it back to Mathews. They will likely x-ray or simply replace the limbs. I'm just glad to see no one got hurt.

 

[wiscwhip]

At the factory they can test the riser for stress cracks to ensure it is safe to shoot. The moron would be paying for new everything else, no exceptions, limbs, cables, cams, and anything else.

 

[Tree Spud]

My buddy bought a brand new Mathews Halon about 6 weeks ago. Was coming out to hunt tonight but had to stop by a guys house for a minute. Big mistake. 2 idiots wanted to look at his bow while they were standing there, so he handed it to the first idiot, when the guy pulled it back at 70lbs and let it go! Cables and strings flew everywhere. My buddy blew a gasket, but it didn't help the situation. The guy offered to pay for new strings and cables, but could anything else have gotten damaged a guy would not see? Cams, limbs, anything else maybe?

Anyone ever have it happen?

Yes, a buddy dry fired an older bow ... it exploded, never used it again. Another buddy had a small branch lodge in the cam as he was walking in, didn't notice it ... pulled back & released and the bow exploded.

I think he can do all the testing & inspection he wants. Given the potential for stress cracks and other damage, I can't image the factory being able to give him a complete clean bill of health. In the work we do, to guarantee weld structure & wall thickness integrity of metal components, is about $1500-$2000 per component. There are very controlled ASME testing procedures that are done to verify.

Not sure how you do this on composites, there is also the issue of any machined precision roller components (cams, bearing, spindles, etc) that suffered from the stress of dry release/bow failure.

I would read the factory testing disclaimers very carefully ... end of the day think he will end up buying a new bow.

 

[tooln]

WOW thats tough call on what to do. There could be damage thats not seen now but may come up later. But I bet neither of them do it again.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

He is really starting to think he may tell the guy its his bow now. I think maybe I would as well. It would always be in the back of your mind every time a guy pulled it back and heard a little noise, no matter how slight it was.

 

[JFK52]

I would give the guy who broke it the old bow and have him buy the injured party an exact duplicate new bow. Case Closed!!

 

[bueller]

It can't be the first time the factory has had to deal with this. I'd contact them and see what their procedure is. They may "fix" it and send it back or they may replace it for less than a new one would cost. If they send it back and it's still gives an uneasy feeling when shooting then sell it for more than what the factory charged for repairs.

 

[Bill]

Have him send it back to Mathews.
I guarantee they send him a new bow at a discounted price.

They might say they fixed it. But everything will be new. Everything! and it will be documented in their file even if it's not in his.