Crossbows

[NSB]

If you get a crank on your crossbow it will take about 5 lbs of force to crank and cock the bow. Anyone can do this, even super old geezers like myself. I bought the crossbow when I had the hand surgery a few years back, and next month I’m getting my right shoulder rebuilt. I’ve already been told “no more archery for you”. Just to heal will be nine-twelve months. At age 74 that doesn’t bode well. The doc already told me my shoulder will never be able to shoot my compound. Too bad, I just bought a new BowTech Solutions SS last year and got to shoot about thirty shots off it before my shoulder went bad. The upside is that I did get a nice buck with it the very last shot I took with it. I shot one buck with the crossbow left handed (I’m right handed) because it was off the right side of my blind and the only way to shoot was trying it left handed. It was 35 yards and ran nineteen yards after I shot. Try that with a compound bow! The crossbow is a blessing for the decrepit old geezers who still want to bow hunt. No reason to give up what you love.

[crowbuster]

same here on the shoulder work. Bow was my fav. season. yrs later got a crossbow. Back in the saddle !

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I was once quite accomplished with a bow. Went through all the compound do dad stuff and finally settled on a Hoyt Ram Recurve. Shot it instinctive and could hit really well at 20 yds. Came down with a motor neuropathy about 10 years ago and lost some strength in my hands and arms. Been thinking about that crossbow for a while now.

[Thumbcocker]

Keep a good grip in the crank when cooking or uncocking. Ask me how I know.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[NSB]

I was once quite accomplished with a bow. Went through all the compound do dad stuff and finally settled on a Hoyt Ram Recurve. Shot it instinctive and could hit really well at 20 yds. Came down with a motor neuropathy about 10 years ago and lost some strength in my hands and arms. Been thinking about that crossbow for a while now.

Go for it! Like I said, spending more for a crossbow doesn’t make them more accurate or “feature rich”. All my geezer buddies jumped on the band wagon when I got mine. They’re a bit more financially conservative than I am and all got decent xbows, about half of what I paid. We were all surprised when we found out that they all shot about equally well. At this time, about all, if not all crossbows come with an anti-dry firing safety feature meaning you can’t wreck your Xbow by shooting it without an arrow in place. Get a decent scope that has multiple dots on the reticle (most all do) without spending over 2-300 dollars and even the most lowly crossbow will kill deer all day long if sighted in properly. Get one and get back out there hunting. I think you already know what you’ve been missing. FWIW, there’s almost no setting up a crossbow like there is with a regular compound bow. They come in the box pretty much ready to go. Some require some assembly but it’s quite simple with easy to follow directions. Mostly just bolting the bow on to the stock. Good Luck.

[MrWolf]

My Crossbow uses the cord. Just make sure they lengths on both sides are about equal and good to go. Like I said, even with my messed up back and neck I can set it. Only need one shot, no follow ups and accurate. Great deal for me at $210 when I got her.

[NSB]

Keep a good grip in the crank when cooking or uncocking. Ask me how I know.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Wow, that’s nasty looking. My xbow, and others I’ve seen with a crank have a crank that ratchets and locks as you turn it and won’t go backwards. Was this a factory xbow crank? What brand bow? For anyone considering a crank, I suggest googling a video on how they work. YouTube’s got one for every subject.

[SSGOldfart]

Ouch, My Excalibur has a latch that stops that from happening. Remember to watch out for string. while that finger heals

[trapper9260]

That is not good. I know when you decock it that you need to hold the crack all the way if not , I think that is what would happened . I am a use to use the hand crank for decrank the string. But still need to watch what you do . Like is stated keep your finger way from the string. Sorry for what happened to you Thumbcocker. Hope you heal good .

[NSB]

The safest way to decock a crossbow is to buy a special arrow made for that purpose. They cost about ten bucks and you can just shoot them into the ground (they’re heavy and have a large rubber blunt head on them). You can also buy a very small special made target that you can sit on the ground and shoot a target tipped arrow/bolt into. They cost about fifteen bucks and you can also use them for a practice target. You SHOULD NOT try decocking a crossbow by hand unless you own a crossbow specifically designed to be decocked by hand. You probably will end up with a very damaged hand or fingers.

[Thumbcocker]

Wow, that’s nasty looking. My xbow, and others I’ve seen with a crank have a crank that ratchets and locks as you turn it and won’t go backwards. Was this a factory xbow crank? What brand bow? For anyone considering a crank, I suggest googling a video on how they work. YouTube’s got one for every subject.

I was holding the latch that let's the ratchet work so that I could cook it quietly in the blind. I like being extra sneaky. To decock you have to hold the button down. If the crank gets loose it will bite.

I agree about not going overboard on the crossbow. My old Parker, an entry level unit, worked just fine on deer and turkey. My Raven cost a lot more but it can be decocked and is only 10" wide. I paid for that convenience. Don't be afraid to look in pawnshops for a used crossbow. Any competent archery shop can tune up a used bow for a reasonable fee. Also, while you can plink with a crossbow past 40 yards, I have found 40 yards to be a practical limit for me. I feel no remorse for using a crossbow. It is a legal tool that fires a single projectile. The accuracy allows for fewer poor shots and lost animals. Also a HUGE plus is that women and youngsters find crossbows less intimidating and easier to use. If we want hunting to have a future women and kids need to enjoy it.

[William Yanda]

I believe there is a crossbow forum.

I think that's the one:
https://www.crossbownation.com/

[technojock]

Since this is likely to be my one and only crossbow, I went with a Barnett Whitetail Hunter II. It has a 150# draw weight and is rated at 350 FPS. I have a messed up shoulder from a bike crash back in the 1980's and I can't pull back my compound bow any more. The action to use the rope cocker on crossbow is like rowing a boat and is way less strain on my shoulder. I planed to use it for archery hunting here in Oregon but they removed crossbows from the disabled hunting permit. I don't know if that will ever change but I'm happy to have it for a toy. I have plenty of rifles that I don't hunt with so this is just like one of those.

The scope that came on it wouldn't adjust for windage and I didn't think Barnett would come though on warranty. So I ordered a more expensive scope from Amazon and that one won't adjust enough to give enough elevation. While hashing it out with the manufacturer of the replacement scope, Barnett has agreed after 3 weeks to replace the original scope. I expect to hear back about the second scope by tomorrow however, I'm probably going to send it in for a refund and get a Vortex scope later this year when the $ are flowing better.

I bought a decocking arrow that has a heavy 1" disk end. Here's what it did to a water jug at 10 yards.

I shot it at about a 30 degree downward angle and the arrow plowed about a 12" furrow in the soft dirt after going though the jug. BTW, I didn't notice the brand name on the jug until long after I shot it.

Thanx for the tips on the archery forums. I'll check them out...

Tony

[fixit]

While most crossbows currently have finger guards to prevent this, do be mindful of finger placement....my son successfully broke his thumb by getting it in the way of the string when target shooting. Not a good way to start deer season!

[Scrounge]

I recently checked off an item on my bucket list and bought a Barnett crossbow. Anybody know of a good place to go to talk about these and archery in general?

Tony

My wife lost one of her favorite doctors a little over a year ago to a hunting accident with a crossbow. Severed his femoral artery, and bled out before anyone knew he was in trouble. https://kfor.com/news/local/he-lived...sbow-accident/ Be careful out there!

Bill

[NSB]

My wife lost one of her favorite doctors a little over a year ago to a hunting accident with a crossbow. Severed his femoral artery, and bled out before anyone knew he was in trouble. https://kfor.com/news/local/he-lived...sbow-accident/ Be careful out there!

Bill

We had a person in my state two years ago who died as a result of his own actions while hunting with a crossbow. He was pulling his cocked and loaded crossbow up a rope to his treestand platform and it went off while being pulled up. The arrow/bolt passed through his stand (mesh steel) and hit him in the chest. NOTE: NEVER PULL A LOADED CROSSBOW UP INTO THE STAND YOU’RE IN. LOAD IT AFTER YOU PULL THE BOW UP. BE SAFE.

[huntinlever]

Sorry, I had a similar thread and conflated it with this one.

[SeabeeMan]

My crossbow is a cheap Carbon Express Piledriver 390 I grabbed on a MidwayUSA deal a few years back. Before that I had a Barnett Predator which was a big, heavy, ballista of a crossbow. My current one is much more compact but still nothing compared to the high dollar units. It works great and has harvested about a dozen deer over the last few years I've had it.

As to the accidents, a crossbow ought to be treated exactly like a firearm, at all times. Look at all those accidents through the lens of the 4 basic rules of firearm safety and you have something that was done wrong somewhere along the line.

[M-Tecs]

Crossbows are very good for what they are intended. That is to go out and kill stuff. Taking them out to the cabin and putting a couple hundred shots thru it with your buddies not so much.

The maintenance and string life get to be a real issue the higher the performance of the crossbow. I am mostly familiar with the Raven line since the pro-shop I work at part-time sells more Ravens than any other. Raven requires a string change at 400 shot using only Raven strings to maintain the warranty on most of their line. That about $140 dollars. The R500's are 250 shots. They need to be decocked every 8 hours per the owner's manual. I suspect cocking at sunrise and decocking at sunset is OK? I do know they start blowing up on their own if left cocked for more than a week. I have rebuilt at least a dozen that blew due to being left cocked. The normally requires replacing the strings, cables and limbs and possibility some cams.

At the shop crossbows are less than 5% of the bow sales yet they are over 50% of the maintenance work. The lower powered crossbows that can be cocked with hands on the string or using the doubler pull rope are much less maintenance, but they are slower and less energy.

If Airbows become widely legal for hunting crossbows will become a thing of the past.

When I started at the pro-shop it was for the employee discounts for a high-end crossbow. After working on them for 4 years I will shoot my compound bow for as long as I can.

[Head Shot]

Hello:
This isnt what id call a crossbow but interesting .
Traditions makes a 22lr single shot rifle called the crackshot but also included an arrow launching bbl that uses a #5 red 27 cal nail gun power load to launch up to 385 fps.
I saw it on gun broker.
It has a scope mounted on it and the inner bbl liner actually slides into the open end of a 2216 aluminum arrow thats 16 inches long and the outer bbl is bigger so that the fletchings are kept centered and arrow from falling out.
Seems to me if i recall correctly it was called the XBR option maybe - Dont quote me on that.
It could shoot fish arrow tips or broad heads or target tips per the 8x32 threaded insert.
Here in my state hunting deer with it would NOT be legal but maybe carp shooting ?????
Ive never seen anything like it before.
Thought i read traditions came out with it in 2019 ish maybe ????
Head Shot