anti-dryfire project

[j.krug]

I read recently in a crossbow magazine about some of the new crossbows with anti dry fire mechanisms. What I didn't like about these devices is that you can not de-cock with the rope cocker. The only way is to put an arrow in and fire the crossbow. I like being able to de-cock with the rope cocker and would not want to give that up to have anti dry fire.

[bkisel]

Well, I'd also like an auto safety on. Then I want a visual alert (flashing light?) to tell me that I'm touching the trigger but the safety is on. Then I want... Heck, this sport is getting much to dangerous and way to complex, think I'll take up tiddlywinks. Honey, where are my tiddlywinks safety glasses?

Bill K.

[Pydpiper]

Awshucks, who I happen to think is a bit of a genius as well as a member here has designed 2 excellent products for Excalibur crossbows, one is the rangefinder/camera mount that was so impressive that Excalibur bought the rights to and now sells on their product page. The other is an anti dryfire device, simple, elegant, light and functional. Perhaps he should consider selling those, I am guessing there are people who would purchase it.

[Cossack]

Dryfires can be eliminated by adopting a simple shooting regiment: I Cock bow 2. Engage safety 3) Pick it up and insert arrow 4) Check to make sure arrow is all the way back and hands are out of the way of the string.5) Proceed.
Do it exactly the same way, EVER TIME, avoiding distractions while shooting.
EVERY dryfire I've witnessed occurred during distracted bow use.

[awshucks]

The other is an anti dryfire device, simple, elegant, light and functional. Perhaps he should consider selling those, I am guessing there are people who would purchase it.

They are free. You get two pieces of masking tape that go on inside of limbs. One says ARROW? and the other DUMMY!. And, I'm not sure I came up w/ the idea at that!

I've been on a bunch of xbow forums ever since I got a computer ['05] and have never heard/read of an Excal limb breaking. That's a lot of dryfires! You folks that don't opt for the FFF string have even less to worry about.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but this is yet another entry into "The No Winner Olympics" much like ethical range and best bhead threads.

If you want a dry fire equipped bow, there are a bunch available and the resale value of Excals is quite respectable. We all knew what we were getting when we bought them! Part of that is a manual safety and no DFI.

[Boo]

The fastest bow in the world had the dry-fire mechanism removed because it caused a few bow blow-ups. The whole line of those bows have no auto-safety either. The company who designs in an auto-safety or anti-dry fire mechanism is more exposed to litigation that the one that does not. If you dry-fire your bow you did it. If you forget to put on your safety it is your fault. Personally the simplicity of Excaliburs is one of my favourite features. K.I.S.S.
Probably the best thing one can do to prevent a dry-fire are the words ARROW? on both sides of the limbs that you see. Like Smoke said, the best mechanism is the one between your ears.

[Bill T]

Adding an anti-dryfire device is easy to do, we have several prototypes we've considered in the past, the real question is "do we need one".
REASONS TO HAVE AN ANTIDRYFIRE
1 Save limbs from damage. This is generally not an issue with our equipment since our crosbows survive unscathed about 100% of the time with the Excel string and about 80+ percent of the time with the Flemish string.
2. Safety. Another non-issue, the only potential safety concern besides a damaged ego that occur on a dryfire is the possibility that the string might come off and slap someone. I've never heard of any injury more serious than a slap with a wet towel.

REASONS TO NOT HAVE AN ANTI DRYFIRE
1. You can't cock the string onto the antidryfire and be unable to fire the bow with a deer in front of you. This can and does happen. If you don't wait for the second click when you cock the bow you are in trouble.
2. You can uncock the bow by hand instead of firing an arrow. This is a real safety issue as it's common for finger/thumb injuries to occur while unloading by firing an arrow into the ground.
3. The bow will be more reliable because the antidryfire can't screw up and shut it down.

[one shot scott]

An anti dry fire would not allow the bow to be let down without firing an arrow, and its another item to malfunction during a hunt. Dry fires suck, but excals are fairly forgiving when it happens unless you have a FFF string. A cheaper and a more reliable option is the sts or the soon to be excal string stopper.

The most dangerous crossbows to dryfire are the compounds.

Excals are great as they are.

[Boo]

Excals are great as they are.

Exactly!

[lvt01]

X2 on that one!

[wabi]

3. The bow will be more reliable because the antidryfire can't screw up and shut it down.

Enough reason for me to want mine NOT to have antidryfire!

[See4miles]

I understand Mr. T to be saying he will leave things as they are. GOOD NEWS!

[killshot]

Excals are great as they are.

Exactly!

X2

[awshucks]

I understand Mr. T to be saying he will leave things as they are. GOOD NEWS!

What Bill actually said was to add a DFI, I'd/we'd have to jack the price up for no good reason, lol.

[wabi]

Thanks and sorry about working an old tooth loose. Next time I will check
so I dont re-post. I am totally impressed with excaliburs limb technology. I feel
100% more comfortable than with the cams and cables on my "old" Barnett.
Thanks for all your insites and opinions,you have made me a more inteligent
archer. Hank

Hank,
Your lack knowledge of the reasoning behind not having a dry-fire device on the Excaliburs is understandable. No problem with reviewing the reasons.

A lot of us are sometimes too easily influenced by the competitor's advertising. Just because another brand has features the Excalibur doesn't is not necessarily an indication the other brand is better. Some us fall prey to the hype that speed is the way to judge performance, but that's not necessarily true either.
In my opinion accuracy and ease of maintenance are strong selling factors for the Excalibur line.

The options of being able to let the string down by hand (not available on those bows with anti-dryfire) and easily changing a string at home or in the woods are valuable to me as an Excalibur user. I usually shot an arrow to unload the bow, but I sometimes let the string down by hand if I think deer might be close, but it's past legal hunting time. I can make a quiet exit and stand less chance of "educating" the deer to my blind or stand location that way.

I'm sure a dry-fire preventive sounds appealing, but the best option is to learn a sequence of:
Cock bow - put safety ON - load arrow.
If you're not ready to load an arrow, don't cock the bow. You'll never dry-fire it if it isn't cocked.

The only exception I make to that rule is when hunting from a tree stand and it's necessary to cock the bow on the ground. Some of my stands don't allow safe cocking of the bow in the stand (not enough platform room), and in those cases I'll cock it on the ground, put the safety on, then hang it on my pull-up line. When in the stand I get all my accessories stored I haul the bow up, check the safety, then load an arrow.
Luckily my #1 stand is big enough to cock the bow in easily (a two-man ladder stand), so I can haul it up uncocked, then get it ready to shoot when I'm set to start the watch.