Always check your carbons

[Sean B]

While on a shoot Saturday, I had one of my carbons explode on me as I released the string. The arrow snapped 5 inches down from the nock.  As I released, the main part of my shaft shot off 20 yards to my left at almost 90 degrees, while the fletched portion went about 7 or 8 feet in front of me.

Luckily, there was no damage to my bow and and none of the other shooters were injured.

During the shoot, I had several misses with the blunt tipped arrow.  The best I can figure is that it must have hit a hard surface at some point, causing some stress in the upper portion. I guess if I were a better shot, none of this would have happened!!

[J.Williams]

This is a good reminder Sean and I'm glad you weren't hurt.Tyler showed me one of his arrows after it took a hard hit and at 1st it just looked like the finish was scratched a little.I bent the arrow to see if it would raise a splinter and it snapped in two.  :eek:Hate to think what might have happened if we hadn't looked it over.ALWAYS look 'em over after a hard hit.

[LONGSTYKES]

Always check your arrows, can be very painful otherwise. Hands and arms with holes the most likely.

[Jerry Jeffer]

This is an Arrow Dynamics Hammer Head 2 shots later after hitting some rock.


 

[hayslope]

That looks pretty much like Sean's arrow!  Very similar break.

Sean - glad no one got hurt.  Certainly a scary situation.......Shorts-checkin' time for sure!

Great to meet you guys and shoot with everyone!  That broken arrow reminds me to check mine more often after I miss and whack something solid!

[Sean B]

Jeff, that was a pretty good course with lotsa hard things on the ground to hit if you missed foam!!  I did destroy another arrow, but that one was pretty obvious.

Jerry, that's just how mine broke.

Tony, It was great meeting every one as well.  I gotta say, with all of the talking that we were doing, every one was keeping a safe distance behind the shooter.  If someone was standing to my left, it wouldn't have been pretty.

[Rob DiStefano]

yep, always a good reminder.

do a quick visual and stress check for all arrow types before loading onto the string.  check the shaft AND the nock, too.

[Sean B]

I do have to say that it was MY fault, for not checking.  With all the laughing and BS'n we were doin, it still was no excuse not to check.

[John Havard]

Rob's point about also checking the nock is an excellent one.  If one of the nock ears gets damaged from another arrow bouncing off of it a dry fire can happen.  Check them both!

[BCWV]

I very seldom shoot carbons myself but my wife does. I have made it a practice to check hers before every shot, even new ones.
 I bought her a new dozen shafts last summer. They where not blems and very good shafts. I won't say what brand because this could happen to any of them but I will say that I can buy 4 dozen Surewood shafts from Braveheart for what I pay for 1 dozen of these shafts.
 I fletched them up and thought that I had checked them all. One of them exploded on the first shot. It broke right in front of the fletching. She did get a small cut on the thumb of her bow hand but it could have been much worse. I've checked them before every shot since.

[Mitch-In-NJ]

Another reason I like aluminum - they don't explode.

Good point about checking the nock end.  I shoot Legacy's with the swaged nock end.  I don't glue my nocks on, I twist them on.  If a nock cracks on impact it pops off.  When glued on they can crack and stay on until your next shot.  I have had it happen and it's no fun.

[Bowwild]

I know a company. that will go unnamed, that carries a $10-15 million dollar insurance policy to protect Walmart in case the carbon arrows they sell result in a judgement agains the store.

This is why we use aluminum, full-length arrows in NASP. With 2 million kids shooting NASP arrows each year, if something can happen, it will.

[Robert Honaker]

That's why I use aluminum.

[CRS]

absolutely

[owlbait]

Yep, shafts and nocks! My buddy had a nock blow on him yesterday. Cut him next to his nose. Could've been much worse. Take the time to be safe, the time you might lose to an injury is much more troublesome.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

That's probably one of the most overlooked safety aspects of archery, checking your arrows regularly and especially after a miss.

I found a bad spot in one of my Victory arrows while shooting in practice and it didn't make any noise, didn't have any noticeable damage, and I never hit anything with it.
BUT.......it started flying kinda funny. All my arrows were grouping except this particular one. So I took it into the bright sunlight and rolled it around on the pic nic table while carefully inspecting it from nock to tip. I finally found one tiny spot about the size of my pinky fingernail that looked like a wrinkle in the carbon. I had never seen anything like that before.
I tossed that one aside to be sent back to the manufacturer. I'm just glad I had enough sense to take a closer look because it just seemed to fly in an odd fashion, while the rest flew perfect.

Moral of the story is, don't always rely on hearing a crack or seeing any damage. An arrow wobbling in flight can also be an indicator.

[Berube]

A good reminder!

[Thumper Dunker]

Glad your ok and no arrow prts in your arm or hand.Check them all befor you shoot.

[cacciatore]

Good advise,sometimes we give for granted the most simple safety rules.

[Stone Knife]

Thanks Bro