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Help, Crossbow drawn and will not fire

3374 Views 22 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  Cossack
My crossbow is drawn and will not fire. It is a Browning 171. The trigger is not part of the Triggertech recall. The bow needs to be uncocked before it can be sent in for repair. The local shops in southern NH do not have a bow press that will work with the limbs in a drawn state. A friend that worked at Horton tried to get the bow to fire and to remove the string. Unfortunately his portable press did not work with split limbs.

Looking to see if anyone has thoughts/recommendations for safely uncocking the bow.

Thanks.

Jeff
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Is the bow "supposed" to be drawn with the safety OFF, and did you draw it with the safety ON?
It may be stuck in anti dri fire .
recock the bow , load an arrow safely and see if it will shoot .
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If you decide to use ratchet straps which will work with extreme care:
1)have a clear working area, so if something failed one does not have things go flying.
2)remove the scope and any accessories. Again, this is to prevent further damage if something goes wrong.
3)do not use the quick release style ratchet straps. You want to be able to do this in a controlled method.
4)collapse the limbs a bit as it you were further cocking the crossbow. Then remove the bow string.
5)remove the riser. Now you will just have the riser to contend with and can reduce the pressure on the limbs.

I have done one where I used a second ratchet strap as a back up for a controlled method. Release a bit with one, then a bit with the second.

Wishing you all the best and be careful.
Is the bow "supposed" to be drawn with the safety OFF, and did you draw it with the safety ON?
I do not remember if the safety was on when it was cocked.
The manual does not reference the saftey position during cocking. The customer service person said the safety position does not matter.
She had me try the obvious stuff, is the arrow fully seated....

Thanks

Jeff
Did you try to recock it? Pull the string back using the rope cocker as far as you can. Repeat several times. Load an arrow and then try to shoot it. With an arrow loaded, point in a safe direction and move safety back and forth several times, then try shooting it.
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It does sound like you are stuck on the prongs of the AFD. Are you 100% certain it is fully cocked?
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Did you try to recock it? Pull the string back using the rope cocker as far as you can. Repeat several times. Load an arrow and then try to shoot it. With an arrow loaded, point in a safe direction and move safety back and forth several times, then try shooting it.
I tried recocking it several times with the rope and wiggling the safety on and off. No luck.

With your finger on the trigger and light pressure (pointed in a safe direction) you can feel the safety moving. However the trigger still acts like the saftey is on.

Thanks

Jeff
I would just go with the ratchet straps then. If still under warranty I would want a new set of limbs also. It's not good for them to be in a cocked position for this long.
Thank you for suggesting that I request new limbs. Had not thought about the potential damage to the limbs.
It should still be understood warranty. The bow has never been shot and the tags are still on it.
Attached is a picture of the cocking mechanism with an arrow loaded. Not sure if it is helpful.
Tree Games Air gun Shotgun
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That's not fully cocked. It's sitting on the ADF. Cock it all the way back into the trigger.
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Make sure the safety is off and then pull it back the rest of the way.
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TP has a video on what to do when this happens with one of their products. Like others have suggested here, that video instructs us to essentially re-cock because the common issue is the string being caught between the trigger release and the anti-dry fire bridge (my term).
I see you’ve tried that already so either that’s not how your xb works, or you have a different issue.
I looked up a picture of his bow properly cocked. That does not look like the trigger latches to me. Looks like the ADF.
Friend, if your in NH, just go see Dave at Wyverns. He is 30 min from Manchester
https://reviewfinder.com/info/top-crossbows/browning-171/

Your bow isnt fully cocked. The arrow is jammed up almost completely above the string. dont attempt to shoott that arrow as it is in your pic or you will have a dry fire...
Yep in the video on the above site every time he shoots the bow you can see that ADF dropped down that the string is sitting on. The bow needs to be clicked off safety and recocked till you hear that safety snap back into safe position. It can be hard to pull one back that is on the ADF so apply some muscle to it.
Thank you for your comments. We were able to remove the string. I am planning on taking the bow by the shop to have it looked over.


Friend, if your in NH, just go see Dave at Wyverns. He is 30 min from Manchester
Friend, if your in NH, just go see Dave at Wyverns. He is 30 min from Manchester
Thank you. His shop is only 20 minutes from me.
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