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Should I worry about bow damage after dry firing?

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2.1K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  kballer1  
#1 ·
I've dry fired my 35# samick sage takedown recurve, a few times. Basically my arrow rest's tip was damaged and the arrow would come off and fall and I'd accidentally dry fire it.

Here's a picture:



As far as the limbs go I haven't noticed any cracks or anything like the one on the riser.
The dark red part above the Samick logo that looks like a wooden part that pilled is smooth when you touch it, it might have been since from the beginning regardless of the dry firing i'm not sure.

the crack left to the logo seems to be the only part suffering damage.

Should I worry?
 
#2 ·
I think even at the low #age, a dry fire is a no go. My daughter has a "lil banshee" that pulls like...16.5# and she dry fired and put the bow out of commission.

Take it to a bow shop and see if it is broken beyond repair, or if it is fixable. I personally wouldn't shoot it in the meantime.
 
#4 ·
I don’t see anything to worry about there. Dry firing a recurve isn’t good, but it doesn’t do the kind of damage that a modern compound being dry fired does.

The poster above doesn’t seem to realize that this is a recurve.

Did you fix the arrow rest issue? Continuing to dry fire it isn’t a good idea, but I don’t think you’ve done meaningful damage here.

Recurves don’t blow up or have the kind of stored energy that gets released in a failure like a compound. If they break, it’s during the draw or at full draw. Your hand goes back and you punch yourself in the mouth or something (like if you punch a release during the draw on a compound), the arrow drops, and the bow breaks in half. It’s not the potentially dangerous situation that happens when a compound fails.

D
 
#5 ·
Go over the limbs with a cotton ball and see if you come across any snags. Replace the string because even if you don't see any damage you could have broken strands under the servings.

Stop shooting the arrow(s) with broken tips that are causing your dry fires; pay closer attention to your arrow before releasing because if you keep dry firing your bow something will let go and end up injuring you, and if your arrows are so short that a damaged tip is allowing them to fall off get longer arrows.
 
#6 ·
Not usually with a recurve.