Question

[stonekiller]

Braced my 60" Kodiak , shot once ,everything fine shot again and the string sounded like a dry fire and went from front of the bow to the back of the bow. The arrow went to the target and with reasonable accuracy and penetration, and the string was still in the nocks, just on the wrong side of the bow. No damage to the bow but it stung my knuckles pretty good on my bow hand. I have shot thousands of arrows and never had anything like this happen. rebraced bow checked brace height 7 1/4 . The only thing out of the ordinary was I have been having some arm pain and probably a little shaky and not quite at full draw. Anyone else ever see this happen?

[Orion]

Very possible a twisted limb. Draw the bow and slowly let the string come back to brace.  Does the string track into the string grooves, or does it contact the limb to the side of the groove and snap in at the last moment.  That would indicate limb twist.  May be able to see it just by looking down the string on the belly side of the bow. 

I suppose an extreme string pluck, accompanied by an extreme sideways torque of the bow could also cause it, but I'm thinking a twisted and/or weak limb.  Exposure to the sun, particularly while the bow was strung, could cause the limb to weaken/twist.

[stonekiller]

I checked the limbs, this bow is only about a year old, always unstrung after use and kept inside . I don't think it was the bow I think it was me, but I don't know what I did. I guess with my bow arm pain I must have really torqued the riser upon release, I don't know but this really bothers me.

[McDave]

Assuming it wasn't the bow, you must have torqued the riser or the string, or both.  You should have a very loose grip with your bow hand, so the handle can turn freely in your grip in response to any pressure on it.  A good example of this is the rotational draw, where it is part of the plan that the handle will rotate in your grip as the bow is drawn.  Even though you may not be using the rotational draw, you should hold the handle as loosely as you would if you were.  On the string side, try to keep a little clockwise torque on the string as you draw the bow, to offset the natural tendency for a RH shooter to put counter clockwise torque on the string.  By the time you get to full draw, hopefully it will even out and you won't have any torque in either direction.  Check this by relaxing your bow hand at full draw and rotating your string hand slightly one way and then the other.  The bow should react to these small inputs by rotating back and forth in response to the small forces of your string hand.

With your bow strung, put one end on the floor and the other end in your hand.  Raise and lower the bow and sight along the string to verify that the string runs true from end to end and there is no limb twist.  Reverse the ends and do the same thing.

[styksnstryngs]

McDave, which rotational draw are you talking about? If you're referring to the KSL/NTA shot cycle, the grip doesn't actually rotate in your hand.

[McDave]

This one:    About 1/3 of the way through the video, Arne makes the statement that “You're allowing the bow to turn in your hand.”

[kenneth butler]

I think the string was out of the  groove on one side of the limb.  That will do it and you are lucky it didn't twist a limb. >>>---> Ken

[McDave]

I think the string was out of the  groove on one side of the limb.  That will do it and you are lucky it didn't twist a limb. >>>---> Ken

I agree that this is the most likely reason for the problem that occurred.

[Orion]

Yep.  I overlooked it initially, but what Ken said.  Very likely the string missed one of the nocks, which will severely twist the limb at full draw and often unstring the bow at completion of the release.  That could twist the limb as well so you should now check for that as well.