Well you all have my envy and admiration for the heavy draw weights you shoot. BRFShooter at 82# and Ann shooting 65#. I know you're right 45 is light end for bow shooting. But right now, my goal is just to get to 45 by the time bow season comes in. Do you think it is realistic to go from 37 to 45 in little over a month? I actually have a lot of muscles, they are just in the wrong place.

The guy said i could change limbs on same bow to increase weight in the future. For past 45# that is.

Plinker

Plinker, when you say she only shoots 52#, that is very high for a woman. When shooting with fingers for target, a point is reached with muscle development where the string is hard to get to slip from the fingers. Curing the problem means going up slightly in bow weight. It used to be called target panic. Chances are good that she is a former finger shooter and maybe still is. I have run into it many times after years of competition and had to gradually increase my bow weight. I have been shooting some type of bow for 60 years and am up to 82# for hunting. I recently switched to the release and found my bows are harder to draw with it. After enough practice it is no problem to pull them for several hours of shooting.
If you shoot enough you will progess faster then you ever thought possible. My suggestion is too use moderately priced bows until you hit the weight you are comfortable with and like because I know you will be changing bows often. 45# is the light end for hunting.

Alot of today's bows are dry fired during factory tests but, it is strongly reccomended that this not be done. Do just as mentioned above, take a close look for cracks and also have someone look whil you are at full draw. You most likely didn't hurt the bow but, it might not take too many more mishaps. Everyone learns from their mistakes.

Good Luck!


Reloader

I dry fired my new bow twice. Once i didn't know you weren't supposed to do that and then a second time when i forgot to put an arrow in.

The guy at the shop cringed when i told him that. So i asked him what it would do and he said it could actually make it fly apart? It didn't seem to do anything except sound louder for that shot only. shot? Okay, i'll call it that dumb incident. Has anybody had really horrible, detrimental effects from dry firing their bows?

Plinker

Plinker, that can be very dangerous. The limbs can crack and you may not know it until you draw it again and the whole thing blows in your face.

oh.... well i should have had him look at it real close for cracks. Hopefully it's NOT cracked, it's shooting okay. There wasn't any instruction booklet with the bow. That's odd isn't it? New guns always come with a big list of do's and don'ts. Air rifles they tell you in big letters not to dry fire. I still should have known better but it's okay, i'm going to get brand new limbs just as soon as i'm strong enough to go past 45 lbs. Probably a couple weeks.... .

I was talking to a lady who is a Bow Tech Rep and she's won a lot of state matches and she only shoots 52 lbs and she's been shooting for 20 years. In fact, her name was Ann. But didn't catch her last name. Thanks for the reply.

Plinker

Plinker,

I don't know for sure, but I think the competative shooters do not as a rule, shoot heavy bows. I am sure others here will know for sure.

I started out at 45 pounds and am comfortable now at 65 pounds. But I have been shooting bows for 4 years and only hunt big game. Take your time building yourself up to higher weight so you don't hurt your shoulder joints or get a sore elbow.

BTW- you don't need to work up as high as I shoot to be a successful hunter. Most important is skill and shot placement.

Good luck with your equipment, bow hunting is addicting.

Bows today are built tough to take the light arrows for 3D shooting. One company dry fired a bow in a machine something like 10,000 times. It is a good idea to inspect the bow when this happens because you just never know. I have had nocks break at the shot, causing the bow to dry fire without damage. Some guys go way below the arrow weight per pound recommended by the manufacturer so they can get the flattest shooting, fastest arrow possible. This is very close to dry firing.

I owned a pro shop for a few years and I have seen bows in pitiful shape after a dry fire. Then again, I've seen some not affected at all. I have seen a lot of cable stress caused by a dry fire (serving unraveling etc.) Everyone is giving good advice. Be careful and listen to the bow as you draw. Sometimes, cracked limbs are hard to detect by sight alone. If the bow makes a popping noise when you are drawing it, there could be problems.

One time, a customer wanted me to take all the paint off his bow and paint it for him. The bow was a Pearson Cobra with glass limbs. When all the paint was removed from the limbs, you could nearly see through the limbs. I had never seen limbs without paint before so I looked them over very carefully. I found two cracks in the lower limb. The guy claimed he had never dry fired it and it seemingly shot fine up to that point????

Plinker, 45#'s in a modern compound is fine for hunting with the right arrow. (not too heavy) Shot placement is supreme in archery hunting. BFR is right you can gain 'archery strength' quite rapidly, but it needs to be maintained like most muscle also. BFR is very much the exception though in stating that he feels it is difficult to draw more weight with a release. If you are using a release that is a great way to go. If not 99.9% of archers can draw more weight with a release, (it's got a lot to do with tendon strength in the hands) but less draw weight and more accuracy is the way to go, many cannot draw as much weight comfortably in a hunting situation, awkward positions are often encountered, fatigue from the hunt itself, climbing a tree etc. It's a good idea to practice drawing your bow while seated, maybe on a stool where you can shoot at your practice target. By the way, I can comfortably draw in excess of 120 lbs., (which it's rare to find a bow with draw weight that high nowadays) but I hunt with a bow set between 65-68 lbs. In closing, dry firing a bow is a massive no-no. Especially at lower draw weights a bow can often sustain a dry fire or two, but it can be devastating to a bow. I have seen bows fly apart and parts of them penetrate peoples body parts. NEVER dry fire a bow. Any good quality bow (maybe any bow for that matter) should have an instruction manual with it. They will all state to NEVER dry fire a bow. Good luck with your shooting, and focus on shot placement, as Fred Bear always liked to say 'with a bow you're shooting a knife, make sure you put that blade where it will do the most good'.

Hard to say if a month is enough time. Everyone develops strength differently. Just don't over do things or you'll get an injury. If you are shooting accurately at 45 pounds by the time you want to start hunting, by all means, go hunting.

BTW- I liked your arrow holder.

Dry fire your springer and see what happens . . .