Just dry fired my first self bow

[Cima]

Hi all, I just finished making a vine maple self bow, it’s about 65” and between 55# - 60# at 28”. I’ve put less than 100 shots in on it so far, and I accidentally dry fired it while I was stretching the limbs, I think around 22 inches give or take, and I kind of freaked out. I drew it a few times afterwards and didn’t hear/see/feel anything off, and I plan to do some shooting soon, so I don’t think anything is wrong with it, but should I be worried? I have seen conflicting information on this and other forums, some saying it’s totally fine, and some saying the bow will inevitably explode on me sooner than later, so any help is appreciated!

[Cima]

I broke/hinged my first few attempts at self bows and I’ve been wanting to do this since I was a kid so I really took my time on this one (about a year all said and done) which would make it that much worse if I just ruined it. I was also planning to take this thing hunting next month, so suggestions on whether I should just get back to the shave horse and make a new bow would be appreciated.

[sleek]

It happens. Usually the bow is fine. You did what you were supposed to do. Only thing left is to rebuild confidence and start shooting it, pulling it a little further each time until you are at full draw.

[Selfbowman]

Well said Sleek

[organic_archer]

I teach bowmaking workshops throughout the year and even with regular forewarning, a few first-time bowyers/archers have accidentally dry fired their bows. Most have been at full draw after failing to get good arrow nock registry on the string. None broke outright, and in all but one case there has been no news of breaks since.

Although it’s best to avoid it at all costs, I think most selfbows can handle a dry fire or two. The one student bow that eventually broke was after 5 dry fires back-to-back. It took a while for the person to figure out the arrow situation. I let them know the bow would eventually break, and it did, but 4-6 months and thousands of shots later.

[Eric Krewson]

I haven't dry fired a selfbow through carelessness but have had nocks and arrows break when I dropped the string resulting in a dry fire. None of these dry fires caused any harm to my bows and I use DF-97 for strings which have no stretch and should make a dry fire rougher on a bow. 

[superdav95]

I actually had my brother in law dry fire one of my bows while shooting one of my bows.  It causes something inside me to sort of short circuit.   It’s an awful feeling for sure.  In my case it was fine after a careful inspection of the bow.   He must have accidentally pushed the arrow knock with his thumb as he drew back and arrow fell off as he released.  I find this happens with inexperienced shooters more often.  The more pre instruction given lessons this I still find it happens.  I personally like a looser fitting knock on my more primitive bows.  I do not let other people shoot these bows unless I’ve seen them shoot other similar bows first.  I know this sounds paranoid but find people new to shooting just aren’t always able to hear that many instructions and apply them correctly.  I know I’m getting off on a tangent here but I’ve found that starting people new to shooting off with baby steps.  I do much the same when I train new handgun shooters (firearms instructor).  We do many empty/unloaded handgun drills first working on grip, stance, trigger control and sight picture.  Amazing but many of these principles apply to shooting bows.  Even the anchor point.  I’ve taught many people how to hone their handgun shooting specifically over the years and I find many of the same principles apply.  The more I instruct new archery shooters I’m amazed at the parallels.  Anyway sorry for the tangent but I find many of the dry fires happen when actually shooting the bow.  In my case the bow was fine and we carried on.   He was more careful after that in his thumb position. 

[Muskyman]

Kinda off target her but, I have dry fired someone else’s bow. I was at a archery range one time and met up with a guy I knew. There were a few compound bows around but most of us shot recurve bows. He had a Bear polar II bow he had just bought. I had seen some compound bows but had never pulled one but had noticed how people shooting them struggled during the first part of the draw while pulling them. As we were talking about the bow he handed it to me and said pull that once and you’ll buy one. I took the bow and not wanting to seem like a wimp I figured I’d pull with all my might at first to make sure I got it broke over. Well as you might guess I pulled and having no idea what to expect went right on through the let off to the end of the draw length and lost grip on the string and you never heard so much noise from a bow. I thought the guy was going to pass out. The bow didn’t break but needless to say he never offered me his bow again.

[Kidder]

I had a string slip on a pretty aggressive reflex deflex boo backed osage which caused a dry fire. Caused the limb to break on the grain and into the boo. The lesson I learned was to make sure I had my nocks fully cut in by the time I went to a short string.

[superdav95]

I had a string slip on a pretty aggressive reflex deflex boo backed osage which caused a dry fire. Caused the limb to break on the grain and into the boo. The lesson I learned was to make sure I had my nocks fully cut in by the time I went to a short string.

+1.  This belongs in the DAMHIK category.  Lol

[bassman211]

I have had dry fires were the bow flew out of my hands. Just lucky I guess ,but no broken bows.