Loaned a bow to a friend, came back like this. I have not seen a lot of failures, but was told it just let loose while being drawn. Is this what a dry fire looks like? Any analysis appreciated.

Thanks Tom

Looks like a new bow or limbs (if this bow is a 3 piece) from your friend should be coming your way due to a possible dryfire.

If your "friend" was raised like me, I expect he has insisted on replacing your bow?

Really hard to say Tom. Sometimes bows fail,your friend is the only one that knows for sure.

Does a dry fire typically cause damage to the back or belly of the limb?

Dry fires usually don't cause damage unless the bow has issues to start with. Bows are hardier than you think and it was probably a starved glue joint, or some other anomaly. If the bow has issues to begin with, then a dry fire doesn't help obviously...but likely won't hurt much if the bow is in good shape. Lots of bows break, and for various reasons. Examine the bow limb where it broke and look for indications of why it came apart. I wouldn't jump to conclusions ahead of time. We can't tell by looking at photos here.

Totally agree with George

Have a Black Widow that I have accidentally dry fired numerous times- no hint of any damage- guess a short draw length is a plus here

I had a very similar thing happen years ago n a 1 pc.Wing lower limb &can assure you no dry/fire took place. I concluded as was mentioned above that a bad place was in the glue line just biding time....could not prove or disprove?

What does your friend say happened?

I had a Gtreatree recurve that did the same thing. With mine, it looked like poor glue application.

Not trying to assign blame at all. I think there may have been some problem with the limb to start. I have not been around the trad world long enough to have seen an example of dry fire damage. Just curious.

Tom

draw length could also be a factor,combined with dryfire

Hard to guess,I have seen a big name bowyer's bow completely delaminate just by stringing it up.I suspected it may have been stored in some excessive heat at one time.Both limbs just colasped along the glue lines,never seen one do that before.I have had a couple dry fires when a nock broke or too loose on serving.One was a 73# longbow and just the nock overlay popped off but it was fine after a new nock overlays were glued on.

Probably did it trying to string it without a stringer! Time to fork out for new limbs buddy!

There's no way to know what caused the failure without having seen it. Personally, I would send it back to Great Tree. You may be surprised, they may replace it if they feel it was a dry glue joint.

Normally a dry fire will exploit any weakness in the riser first. Usually starting with a crack in the throat of the grip and around the shelf. If the weaker link is the limb in a dry fire scenario, the string will usually rip right through the limb at the tips and leave you with a three piece split limb.

Ive done enough dry fire testing out of my shooting machine......needless to say its fun but its such a waste!!

Hard to say what was"really" to blame for that particular limb failure but my first guess is always glue failure. It looks like it started near the fades where the most pressure is in a limb.If you have any clean or smooth surface between any of the cores or core to glass surfaces its a simple delam where the glue didnt adhere to the other surface.

If there is ripped apart core wood meaning that it is basically shredded but still pieces of core stuck to the lamination next to it, then I would say that either the core wood itself possibly had a flaw or the bows overall design lead to its demise. ie....if the fades ended to abrupyly causing a sharp hinge in the limb as it is drawn. This would put A LOT more pressure on the belly core than normal.

This one doesnt look like a dry fire failure to me. Jus sayen.

I have have 2 bows where the limbs blew, I believe they were both core wood failures. One was from a slight hinge at the fadeout, finally just put too much pressure on the core. The other was possibly an imperfection in the core I did not see before hand.

The second one I glued back up and shot it quite awhile before it blew again.

I do not wear depends :)

Don't speculate. Call Greattree and see what they say. Time to put their customer service to the test

Yep. Send it back and DEMAND that they replace the bow.

That's why i don't loan out my stuff, Bows, guns, rod's and reels.

I once borrowed a bow yrs ago from a friend and it to came apart at full draw. no dry fire. things just happen sometimes. it could have been dry fired but maybe not...never a borrower or lender be...

I appreciate all the inputs and insight. I sent the picture to the place I bought the limbs from, and they will be replaced under warranty. Thanks all.

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