Shattered bolt

[Dawg2019]

My son had a great opportunity at an 8 point whitetail the other evening. The buck was only 31 yards from the blind, I ranged him and told my son to take the shot. He lined up his crossbow and squeezed the trigger. Much to my surprise I saw the green nock fly way under the deers belly. My son has been an excellent shot with this crossbow, producing groups of 1-2” at 50 yards. I suspected maybe buck fever got the best of him. After the hunt we went to retrieve the bolt. Much to my surprise just 15 yards from the blind I found a fletching, and where I saw the nock go under the deer I found a section of the bolt 5 or so inches with the other two fletchings still attached. No blood, no hair.
My question is have any of you ever heard of a crossbow bolt exploding or coming apart mid flight?

 

[dlmac]

My son had a great opportunity at an 8 point whitetail the other evening. The buck was only 31 yards from the blind, I ranged him and told my son to take the shot. He lined up his crossbow and squeezed the trigger. Much to my surprise I saw the green nock fly way under the deers belly. My son has been an excellent shot with this crossbow, producing groups of 1-2” at 50 yards. I suspected maybe buck fever got the best of him. After the hunt we went to retrieve the bolt. Much to my surprise just 15 yards from the blind I found a fletching, and where I saw the nock go under the deer I found a section of the bolt 5 or so inches with the other two fletchings still attached. No blood, no hair.
My question is have any of you ever heard of a crossbow bolt exploding or coming apart mid flight?

not in mid flight, but did have one explode on the shoulder of an elk. Seems it had been a practice bolt that had the field tip changed to a hunt tip. Apparently it had hit a back stop in practice and had micro fractures in the shaft.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Had one slide forward off the string so that there was a gap of about 2 inches and it came apart when the string hit the nock. Wasn’t fun.

 

[skydiver386]

The first shot Tina ever fired at a deer from my Scorpyd crossbow, the limb hit the blind and I watched the red Fire knock go about 3 feet left of a nice doe at 30 yards.

Year before that, my younger brother shot at a nice ten pointer right below his stand. Instead of leaning over, he put the crossbow between his legs and pulled the trigger. Being a reverse limb crossbow it gets wider as the cams roll and the limbs move out to the side. Wacked him on the inside of both knees and left purple bruises the size of grapefruits. I told him "Bet you won't do that again!" just like any older brother would.

A lot can go wrong with a crossbow shot.

 

[Hunt anything]

Had one slide forward off the string so that there was a gap of about 2 inches and it came apart when the string hit the nock. Wasn’t fun.

This was my guess, I have heard of it before.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Had one slide forward off the string so that there was a gap of about 2 inches and it came apart when the string hit the nock. Wasn’t fun.

not in mid flight, but did have one explode on the shoulder of an elk. Seems it had been a practice bolt that had the field tip changed to a hunt tip. Apparently it had hit a back stop in practice and had micro fractures in the shaft.

I only know of three things to cause an arrow or bolt to explode. Two As mentioned by @John Wasmuth and @dimac, the third is an arrow or bolt with a weaker spine weight than recommended for the bow or crossbow draw weight.

Lucky the bolt exploded down range. I have a friend who is a bow tech. He had an arrow explode on triggering his release. Pieces went flying in all directions including a large piece going through his non shooting forearm. It could have been much worse than it was.

 

[Nhoro]

Carbon fibre can shatter like that. Even in a crossbow, the shaft flexes in flight and it can break apart. Maybe it hit a branch or twig that you didn't notice ? Anyway, any bolt or arrow withstand a lot of stress during the acceleration, flightcand impact. At least it was a clean miss and not a wounded follow up.