gold tip nock/arrow failure

fountain · October 12, 2011, 07:20:00 PM

my dad and i were shooting sunday afternoon off of his fron porch. i had been shooting my bow when i decided i wanted to shoot his big jim bow some. we were shooting at an apple and trying to see who could hit it first.

i grabbed up his bow and pulled his hammerhead tipped arrow out (green label gold tip 35/55). i drew and shot...at the shot i didnt know what had happened...the bow jumped out of my hands and landed in the yard and my arm was on fire. i just knew i had dry fired it..pulling arrow off the string.

well i jumped off the porch and grabbed the bow..then i saw the arrow laying there. i grabbed it up to see the nock busted and the arrow itself was split. i was shocked and a little worried.

the bow seemed to be fine and i was too..a little shook and my arm was on fire from the string wearing me out. this is not the first time this has happened, but the frist time the arrow has busted. it happened a while back with my dad and his recurve and it was ugly....in front of a big crowd too! it tore his arm up very bad causing him to have to stop shooting for the day. the nock broke and the bow fell to the ground..it was fine though.

here are some pics from sunday

chopx2 · October 12, 2011, 07:27:00 PM

wow! Glad no one was hurt. I've had nocks break at the shot, but nothing even close to that dramatic.

wv lungbuster · October 12, 2011, 07:28:00 PM

I haven't had one do that but have had a bunch break on not so hard impacts. I'm always having to drill the rest of the nock out.

Whip · October 12, 2011, 07:41:00 PM

Wow, that would shake a guy up!
I've heard about nock failure on Gold Tips before.

I've been shooting them myself for years now and have never had a nock fail, but so many people have reported problems that I am wondering what is going on?? Why are some, like wv lungbuster, constantly having problems, yet I have never had one?

I wonder if it is certain designs or spines that cause trouble? I shoot 55/77 Traditional shafts. Mostly blems from Big Jim in the past couple of years. Zero problems.

Sure would be nice to nail down the particular shafts, spines, and nock colors that cause problems.

fountain · October 12, 2011, 07:55:00 PM

well this was not a blem but a green label xt hunter...but..flo orange nock. im not sure whats up, the other one that broke and caused damage was a white nock i think.

Huntschool · October 12, 2011, 08:05:00 PM

There was a whole thing about bad nocks from GT. Saw it over on the Widow site

matt61 · October 12, 2011, 08:10:00 PM

You probably hit it and cracked it another arrow and not noticed it.Try getting rid of the push in nocks and replace them with the Three Rivers
aluminium nock inserts and a trad style nock.They will give you a quiter bow because the nocks will not be such a tight fit on the string and a bit more speed.When I first started shooting Goldtips I Texas heart shot about six of them with the push in nocks,was not happy.Since I changed all the nocks to nock inserts I have smashed lots of nocks and even dead centred the inserts and crushed them like standing on a drink can and it was a case of just pull out the crushed insert and glue in a new insert and nock and the arrow was ready to shoot with.Have not killed an arrow practicing since.
cheers
Matt

KHALVERSON · October 12, 2011, 08:11:00 PM

whip
i thought the same thing myself
but the last couple dozen shafts i bought the nocks were junk
i ended up replacin them all with easton nocks
havent had a problem since

kennyb · October 12, 2011, 09:23:00 PM

I'm with Whip...been shootin' the blems from Big Jim. I began replacing the nocks when this issue came up a couple of months ago! Thanks

Kenny

BigJim · October 12, 2011, 09:26:00 PM

Whip, the nocks are all the same except clear vs. solid. They aren't specific per spine.

You know, I hear the same thing about the nocks here and on LW but have personally never had one break that shouldn't break. All my personal bows pull no less than 80lbs and wouldn't dream of wasting my money on replacing the nocks on my GT's. Most all I shoot is GT's since the other guys don't make an arrow stiff enough for me in the woodgrain.

Now before you think I'm just defending GT, I sell arrows from the three major manufacturers and I also sell the replacement nocks. So if you are worried about the nocks, by all means replace them.
Fountain, how old is that arrow?

thanks, bigjim

graybarkhunter · October 12, 2011, 09:41:00 PM

i shoot gt 5575;s and havent had any nock prob as of yet(knock on wood) , question, if i was to replace them what kind would be compatible ? maybe a signature nock?? thanks

October 12, 2011, 10:26:00 PM

I just had my first one break a week or so ago. Nock broke on release, bow flew out of my hand and hit the concret floor in the archery shop. I have had several nocks break but it was alays one ear would break. I figured I had hit it and cracked it. This one last week broke off inside the arrow so I think it might have been a faulty nock, but don't know for sure.

Bisch

rraming · October 12, 2011, 10:47:00 PM

I think the GT nocks are good and use them instead of a Beman on a Beman shaft. Bohning makes a double nock that fits as well. No offense but I am certain the end was chipped or cracked with a nock install or an arrow hit. Could also be a bad shaft from handling or manufacturing. We take shafts for granted and it is difficult to inspect every shaft prior to every shot (which they say to do on most carbon shafts). No harm, no foul! Glad your safe

stujay · October 12, 2011, 11:37:00 PM

Sounds like no one knows for sure what the problem with these arrows are. Think I will stay away from gold tips. Thanks for the heads up.

JimB · October 12, 2011, 11:45:00 PM

There has been thread after tread about Gold Tip nocks blowing up.Do a search.I have had great luck with Gold Tip shafts but have had 4 out of 12 blow up,resulting in dry fires,which I'm happy to say,did not destroy my bow.I feel very lucky.It has been an ongoing problem which Gold Tip almost acknowledges but they say it is limited to 1 in 1000 cases.Read the threads.Make sure you let Gold Tip know what happened and supply them with any relevant pictures.I'm so glad that no one was seriously hurt.I like Gold Tip shafts but will never be able to trust Gold Tip nocks-ever.I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt before it is over.

El gran J · October 13, 2011, 03:58:00 AM

I just got some blemished GTs and after putting my first arrow on my PSA, I didn't like the fit on the string. I replaced them with knocks from my CX heritage arrows-some knocks are a little bit tighter fit than others but I've got lots to try-they seem to be working out. After reading this thread I'm throwing the GT knocks out!!

fountain · October 13, 2011, 06:45:00 AM

jim that shaft is about 2 years old and shot very little. it always stayed in the quiver and i just pulled it out and put a hammerhead on it and shot it.

ive been told by several to send the pics to gold tip and let them know what happened. i know they are aware of the nock failure. would they do anything about this?

love gold tip shafts, but recently began to shoot axis and cx shafts..but none the less the gold tips are good shafts and i can get them from jim easily.

all this said, my dad will still shooot them, we may just change all the nocks now. im still a little gun shy, but not gonna stop shooting

TNstickn · October 13, 2011, 10:48:00 AM

Got my first two dozen from Big Jim, no problems. Next dozen I picked up locally and 4 outa 12 blew up just like JimB. Scary to say the least. Love the shafts, oh ya, first two dozen had white nocks, second set orange. I changed the second set white. Inspect you nocks carefully at least.

JimB · October 13, 2011, 02:39:00 PM

"Sounds like no one knows for sure what the problem with these arrows are."

Actually,they do.Gold Tip has recently acknowledged there has been a problem with the material in some of their nocks and have offered to replace nocks.Their estimate of how often it happens doesn't jive with my experience or those I've read about but I understand business and public perception.At least they have acknowledged it and seem to want to fix it.Who knows how many of those nocks are out there in quivers,on shelves in stores? You can't look at one and tell if it's bad.You only know when it blows up on release.

The 4 that broke on me were brand knew and shot from a 53# recurve.I pulled all the GT nocks from all my arrows and replaced them.End of problem.I have got to believe that GT will fix this problem though I think the response has been slow considering the potential consequences of a nock blowing up at release.It's just that I can never let myself put one of those on the string and release it again.

Don't get me wrong,the Gold Tips have been great shafts.I've pounded them for 3 years,hitting some bad stuff,frontal hits and side slaps.Most were footed front and back but I have yet to break one.They are great shafts.I just change out the nocks to Bohning Signatures.It's just a self-imposed safety measure that I have to do now.It means that Gold tips now cost me $6.00 more per dozen than they used to but $6.00 is way cheaper than a new bow.

I've been shooting two different sets of Victory V Force arrows,the past year and their nocks a smaller,slimmer and lighter but none have ever failed.

Be careful guys.

Michael Golden · October 13, 2011, 06:03:00 PM

You guys saying that you would bet it was damaged from shooting, I will take that that bet. I bought a dozen GT 5575 about a month ago and I have had some problems with the nocks as well. I posted on another thread about 2 nocks that broke on back to back shots that were brand new. I have pictures after discovering that both had broken at the same angle inside the shaft, thank god they didn't cause I dry fire. After this happened to me a replaced all my nocks, it ain't worth a breaking a bow. There is something seriously wrong with the nocks.