Expensive Day at the archery Range

[pintail_drake2004]

Well, the folks are at work and my brother is at training so I was left here all to my lonesome. After doing some serious though about doing chores or shooting, I opted to go out back and play with my new setup. I have not had the bow that long, pse BowMadness XS, and have put close to 500 arrows though it. My brothers girlfriend, God bless her, saw that bo was in need of a new archery target-as our Block has been shot x-thousand times by the two of us-so she went out and bought him a GlenDel buck. Shes a keeper!!! I have had this bow sighted in 10-40 yards since I got it. Started shooting today at 30yds and the first 3 arrows broke when they hit the target I have no clue what is going on. They are Carbon Express Maxima Hunter Arrows with Blazer Vanes. IDK what was going on, they JUST BROKE when they hit the target!

Any ideas? As of now, this bow has been stored outside in a case-could the heat have made the arrows fragile? Its enough to make my arse work button holes-thats for sure. At $80/6 arrows they are not your Wal-mart special. I have shot carbon express for almost a decade now, and have never had a problem like this. Though all the rest of my shooting session was OK, the overall accuracy was "off" a bit. I am literally baffled by this-I'm usually at 1-1.5" group guy at 30yds. Any thoughts on what could have happened, or caused the arrows to shatter like they did would be helpful.

Pintail

PS: by the time yall read this, all the chores will be done...plus a few extras in prep for Mothers Day.

[m gardner]

The only time I've broken arrows like that was when it rained on the target and water got into the layers and froze. I know one thing. I'd be scared to shoot any of the other arrows as they may prove to be fragile and blow up on the bow. Is there a metal frame in the animal you hit? We shoot MacKenzie animals and they have a conduit frame. From the looks of the arrows the nocks popped out and they usually only do that when they hit something hard. Other than that I'm clueless as usual.

mark

[earnhardts12000]

i would say heat outside but could be too hard target, maybe underspined too much kinetic energy idk just thoughts otherwise baffled too i shoot maximas and have had no troubles

[bluelund79]

There is rebar or a metal frame near the front leg on those targets-I assume thats what you hit. Thanks for steering me away from that target as my birthday present....

[Leo]

First thing I'd check for is something hard in the target.

Next I'd make sure the rest of my arrows don't have any cracks in them by flexing them by hand (wear gloves and glasses when you do this).

[RangerClay]

The top arrow looks like a typical broken arrow to me, frayed and splintered. The bottom arrow however looks different. Broken in two places without any splinters. Looks almost cut. Very straaaange indeed. :shifty:

[elkoholic]

Unless you hit the target in the area of the frame, which might explain the broken arrows, I would not be shooting the rest of them. Even if you hit the frame the arrows should have skidded off the side (unless they perfectly centered the frame) instead of breaking. I would lean towards the storage conditions degrading the integrity of the shafts. That is a interesting thing, given the hardness of the shoulder on a large buck and not even thinking about elk, moose or bear. So much for the strength of carbon shafts. When it comes to storage, it is never recommended that equipment be stored in closed cases, and, it is also a good idea to avoid temperature extremes for extended periods of time.

[Doc]

You are hitting something hard that is in or just behind the target. I'm pretty sure of that. Three of the four look as though points and inserts have been driven up into the shaft. That is exactly what happens when an arrow hits a rock, concrete block, steel, or some other hard im-moveable object. Look at where on the target you are hitting the target. Take something like a straightened out wire coat hanger and push it into one of the holes and see if it comes up against something hard like metal reinforcement. Check out if you have placed the target up against something hard like a stone or concrete wall. I'll pretty much guarantee that that damage was not caused by faulty arrows. Those arrows are getting severely abused in some fashion.

By the way, I have no doubt that even aluminum arrows shot into the same part of the target would wind up with blown off nocks and tips and points driven up inside the shafts.

Doc

[Flintlock1776]

I had those arrows and had similar results. I don't use that style/brand anymore

[Tecumseh]

You might have gotten a bad batch of arrows? I've been shooting the same dozen maxima hunters for two years and have had no trouble with them,I'd contact Carbon express and see what they have to say about it.

[dbHunterNY]

yea i don't know. around the vital area there's supposed to be a metal frame in the target. I've never seen one break like that one though. Usually the ends are just messed up.

[pintail_drake2004]

Took the bow, broken arrows, and 3 good arrows to Dicks (where I got it) for inspection. They checked over the bow-said the split limbs were warped and out of time. Checked one of the broken arrows (the longest of the 3) and it flexed like 6 inches with ease. Checked the remaining arrows, 2 flexed like they should, but one could be bent almost 8 inches. Everything is under warranty so thats not a problem. Im just glad this happened now instead of October.

[Doc]

Took the bow, broken arrows, and 3 good arrows to Dicks (where I got it) for inspection. They checked over the bow-said the split limbs were warped and out of time. Checked one of the broken arrows (the longest of the 3) and it flexed like 6 inches with ease. Checked the remaining arrows, 2 flexed like they should, but one could be bent almost 8 inches. Everything is under warranty so thats not a problem. Im just glad this happened now instead of October.

So how did they fix the warped limbs? Did they replace the bow? And by the way does it seem reasonable to anybody that anything on the bow could drive tips and inserts up inside the shaft? I assume the flex testing of the arrows was done using a spine tester and a chart telling what the spine deflections under standard loading is supposed to be. See that's one of the problems I have with buying archery equipment from "general sales" outlets. The staff behind the counter seldom has any better understanding of bow set-up, and problem analysis than any of the customers do. I have run into this kind of thing more times that I ever should have. Good fortune with running into someone with proper training and experience at the archery departments of almost all of these kinds of places, amounts to just plain luck. And usually the luck is all bad.

I will say with all kinds of confidence that the damage depicted in your photgraphs had absolutely nothing to do with your limbs or any part of the bow timing. Those are clearly impact damages ....... very clearly. Also, there is nothing about arrow spine that will drive a tip and its insert up into the shaft as was clearly the case on two of those three arrows. It is good that Dicks is willing to make good on their mistaken notion that they have a product problem that needs warrantee satisfaction and are willing to get you some replacements for the damaged arrows. But, I will guarantee you that if you continue to shoot into the same target, hitting in the same place that caused the damage, you will simply continue to mangle some perfectly good arrows.

As I said before, straighten out a coat hanger, stick it into one of the holes made by the destroyed arrows and try to feel whatever is in there that is demolishing your arrows. My guess is that you will likely encounter some steel or other hard material somewhere in there. If you do encounter some arrow-breaking material in there, then your conversations should be with the Glen-Del people ....... not Dicks.

Doc

[pintail_drake2004]

Tip and inserts were not driven up into the shaft, rather left in the target. The points I recovered are not damaged at all-like you would see when you hit a rock or something hard. You can see in the 2nd picture the tip is intact and not driven up into the shaft. All 3 arrows hit within 2" of eachother in the heart/lungs area. I gave the other 2 tip/inserts to the guys working on my bow (I had to remove them from the target). I have used a metal spike in the holes and have not felt anything solid. I have even tried it from different angles (though it was a straight on shot).

The manager of the lodge at Dicks use to work for the big bow shop down here until they closed-I know him personally and only deal with him. They replaced the limbs, got everything squared away like it should be, and spine tested the arrows. Just for comparison they tested some brand new arrows that were in stock.

I wont be shooting this target again until I figure how what happened. I guess its back to our Block.

[Doc]

I'm looking at the top arrow in the picture with the splayed out front end, and cannot imagine any other scenario other than "impact damage". That arrow definitely has had something driven up inside it and even though the insert and tip were not left in the arrow, That doesn't mean that they weren't what created that damage. As far as the nocks blowing out of the arrows, that is definitely an impact result. Neither of those things could possibly be related to arrow spine or bow performance. Or maybe somebody could explain something I'm not seeing about how those kinds of problems could cause the front end of an arrow to open up like that and the nocks fly off the arrow.

Doc