Compound explosion take 2

[mporter012]

Bought Mathews Tactic in March of 2020. Bow exploded on me in Oct of 2020, 6 days before a hunt. Broken string, cams bent to hell. Mathews said that I did not properly nock the arrow, would not cover warrenty. Cost $500 to rush repair (Eye opener that you need 2 bows!). Hunted PA rut the next week, and then came back west, and put bow away for the season. Started shooting again a couple weeks ago in prep for elk season, and bow did the same thing, except this time, string did not fully break, but both cams bent to hell. I have a lot to learn in archery and life, but I know how to nock an arrow, and since last years explosion, I’ve been particularly aware of making sure arrow is nocked. So I call in, and this time Mathews says, “you must be torquing the bow, causing string to de-rail, bows do not fail, but we will warrenty this time.“

Couple questions.

1. What are your thoughts? I‘m shooting 60 pounds, it’s more than comfortable pulling back. I’m possibly torquing some, and need to be aware of that, but if a little torque is all it takes to wreck a bow, it would seem to me that of all the 10s of thousands of schmuks firing off arrows everyday, bows would be exploding left and right.

2. I’ve now completely lost confidence in this bow. I’m done with it. I’m not sure I want to sell it to someone else, because I‘m convinced there is something actually wrong with the bow, and I’d hate to ship it off to some guy and then have him go through the same shit. Mathews says they’ll take it back and give it a one over, but the guy on the phone made it seem like that was a complete waste of time.

3. Should I push Scheels/Mathews for a refund or anything like that? I feel IIke I’m getting screwed. Not saying I am, but it feels that way. I’m looking at other bows now, and will probably pull the trigger on something the next few weeks, but not sure what to do with this one I got.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Billy Goat]

Are you busting nocks?

Bows don't spontaneously bend cams. The fact that the string was damaged but intact and cams bent, there was a lot of energy there that didn't get to go anywhere but had to be absorbed by the bow.

Not saying you didn't nock an arrow, but you could be damaging nocks and then they are busting causing a dryfire. I have had two nocks fail in the past 6 weeks, fortunately it hasn't caused damage, but has caused me to change nock brands completely.

Torque will definitely derail a bow as well. Not to be a dick, but if you aren't using a product properly and it fails, is it still on the manufacturer?

I have seen a fair amount of bows derail from grip torque, some cams are definitely more prone to it than others, but it's still from not holding it properly.


If you are lacking confidence in it, there's no point in continuing to try to shoot it. However I'd recommend working on your form so it doesn't happen again with whatever you are replacing it with. Keep your bow hand relatively loose, shoot with a wrist or finger sling so you aren't worried about the bow jumping out of your hand on the shot.

 

[Scrappy]

Video yourself shooting or have someone watch you shoot. They might catch your issue right off.

 

[Kularrow]

Is your bow a 60 - 70? You might have taken too many turns out of it. If not shooting with fingers can derail you. If it’s neither of those things, strings just don’t fail off, there has to be a torque issue.

 

[sf jakey]

Dump it and start over. You will never have confidence in the bow. Maybe it’s you, maybe not. Either way the bow doesn’t work for you. Go to an archery shop, not Scheels, and get setup correctly.

 

[gotbull]

What jakey said
Go to a bow shop have them set it up.
If they fix it and you shoot alot you may gain confidence in it.
If you have reservations about it dump it.

 

[mporter012]

Is your bow a 60 - 70? You might have taken too many turns out of it. If not shooting with fingers can derail you. If it’s neither of those things, strings just don’t fail off, there has to be a torque issue.

It’s a 50,60,70

 

[mporter012]

Dump it and start over. You will never have confidence in the bow. Maybe it’s you, maybe not. Either way the bow doesn’t work for you. Go to an archery shop, not Scheels, and get setup correctly.

I agree. I’m done. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the bow. I just don’t know whether i should sell it. I hate to screw someone else. I’ll have an archery shop look at it, and if they say it’s ok, they can buy it off me, and it’s up to them at that point.

 

[mporter012]

Are you busting nocks?

Bows don't spontaneously bend cams. The fact that the string was damaged but intact and cams bent, there was a lot of energy there that didn't get to go anywhere but had to be absorbed by the bow.

Not saying you didn't nock an arrow, but you could be damaging nocks and then they are busting causing a dryfire. I have had two nocks fail in the past 6 weeks, fortunately it hasn't caused damage, but has caused me to change nock brands completely.

Torque will definitely derail a bow as well. Not to be a dick, but if you aren't using a product properly and it fails, is it still on the manufacturer?

I have seen a fair amount of bows derail from grip torque, some cams are definitely more prone to it than others, but it's still from not holding it properly.


If you are lacking confidence in it, there's no point in continuing to try to shoot it. However I'd recommend working on your form so it doesn't happen again with whatever you are replacing it with. Keep your bow hand relatively loose, shoot with a wrist or finger sling so you aren't worried about the bow jumping out of your hand on the shot.

I’m not busting nocks, as far as i know. Both times this happened, the arrow was gone. Never found it. I’m going to likely just start over, at a real archery shop, not Scheels, and get back to the basics. You’re not being a dick, I‘m more than willing to admit It could be me, but man I just feel like you’d REALLY have to torque for this to happen. My front hand is loose, that was really stressed in my early archery lessons. I would think that the torque would have to be significant.

 

[nettereo16]

I agree. I’m done. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the bow. I just don’t know whether i should sell it. I hate to screw someone else. I’ll have an archery shop look at it, and if they say it’s ok, they can buy it off me, and it’s up to them at that point.

I think you can sell it in good faith if you note that the bow had an issue and was rebuilt by Mathews under warranty. Any buyer in that situation would know the bow's history and can take it for what that means to them.

My feeling is that this bow either derailed through torque or the nocks failed -- were you able to recover your arrows to inspect them?

 

[Burnt Reynolds]

Two prong attack, simultaneous execution:

1) Go to bow shop(s), shoot what interests you with a pro observing. If you're torqueing the bow to the degree necessary to derail the string they will see this and stop you immediately. If this occurs you'll know the odds are you, unfortunately, had a hand in the failures of the Mathews. If there is no interruption to your test shooting with an observer present I would say you're gtg. Definitely describe to the LBS what your experience has been so that they are aware to keep a keen eye on your shooting.

That said, bows are mechanical devices and sometimes shit happens with mechanical devices. We are glad you didn't lose an eye or put an arrow through your arm!

2) If Mathews sends an entirely new bow, don't have a second thought about selling it. If they rebuild your old bow, turn it into wall art of some kind. Losing faith in tackle is a real thing. Then see step #1.

If they send a completely new bow you are not getting screwed imho. A refund would be ideal but I'd imagine low odds of that taking place. Your bow rebuilt would be you getting screwed over after 2x explosion.

 

[MallardSX2]

For what its worth I have owned three Matthews bows.

Two of them had terminal failure. Both were repaired under warranty.

My LX broke a limb on the 3rd shot fired from the bow and my Heli-M trashed the string, cables and cam on the second shot from the bow shop.

I still shoot a Matthews...lol Too stubborn to change.

 

[mporter012]

For what its worth I have owned three Matthews bows.

Two of them had terminal failure. Both were repaired under warranty.

My LX broke a limb on the 3rd shot fired from the bow and my Heli-M trashed the string, cables and cam on the second shot from the bow shop.

I still shoot a Matthews...lol Too stubborn to change.

STILL SHOOTING MATHEWS?? What!?!?!

 

[mporter012]

Two prong attack, simultaneous execution:

1) Go to bow shop(s), shoot what interests you with a pro observing. If you're torqueing the bow to the degree necessary to derail the string they will see this and stop you immediately. If this occurs you'll know the odds are you, unfortunately, had a hand in the failures of the Mathews. If there is no interruption to your test shooting with an observer present I would say you're gtg. Definitely describe to the LBS what your experience has been so that they are aware to keep a keen eye on your shooting.

That said, bows are mechanical devices and sometimes shit happens with mechanical devices. We are glad you didn't lose an eye or put an arrow through your arm!

2) If Mathews sends an entirely new bow, don't have a second thought about selling it. If they rebuild your old bow, turn it into wall art of some kind. Losing faith in tackle is a real thing. Then see step #1.

If they send a completely new bow you are not getting screwed imho. A refund would be ideal but I'd imagine low odds of that taking place. Your bow rebuilt would be you getting screwed over after 2x explosion.

This is exactly what I’m going to do.

 

[5MilesBack]

I intentionally torque my bows both directions when torque tuning and also just to see the effects that has on my arrows at the shot. Even at 32.5"+ draw length I've never had a bow derail. Something is amiss. However, my current bow (PSE Freak SP) has blown up on me twice now. The first time a yoke loop broke at full draw.......catastrophic failure. I replaced the limbs, the cams, the axles, the string set, and the cable slide. The second time the d-loop broke at full draw while on the draw board. The string was destroyed but the cables held so the limbs were fine. But it sheered the draw module right off the cam........so replaced the cam as well.

I've also had several splintered limbs on the bow, and just replaced two of them this past week to get my Frankenbow back up and shooting again. Last time though, as PSE stopped making these limbs. I've turned the bow down from 75lbs to about 70 now to see if they'll do better this time around.

I say keep rebuilding your bow and figure out why it's happening. You'll get to know that bow intimately and know exactly what it's doing and what it takes to change things up on it and tune it.

 

[OR Archer]

I’ll say it’s not the bow. If you had a catastrophic failure and can’t find the arrow it would tell me you didn’t nock an arrow. 9/10 if you actually had an arrow nocked when that happens there’s not enough force to actually propel the arrow.

 

[5MilesBack]

I’ll say it’s not the bow. If you had a catastrophic failure and can’t find the arrow it would tell me you didn’t nock an arrow. 9/10 if you actually had an arrow nocked when that happens there’s not enough force to actually propel the arrow.

I would say that's likely true. When my yoke loop broke and the bow blew apart, I found the arrow all around me in 5 pieces.

 

[mporter012]

I would say that's likely true. When my yoke loop broke and the bow blew apart, I found the arrow all around me in 5 pieces.

Listen, not trying to be a controversial d bag, but the arrow was nocked. 100% sure the arrow was nocked. I ALWAYS double check, because after last years explosion, I’ve been completely paranoid about it, because i was shooting with my shirt off last year, and got a welt about the size of a bowling ball on my chest. So the arrow was nocked.

 

[mporter012]

I’ll say it’s not the bow. If you had a catastrophic failure and can’t find the arrow it would tell me you didn’t nock an arrow. 9/10 if you actually had an arrow nocked when that happens there’s not enough force to actually propel the arrow.

See below. The arrow was nocked.

 

[JoshOR]

Yep, reboot. Get it checked, sell it, buy a new bow and start again.