I've never even picked one up but I've gotten interested in getting one to hunt with a little and I need to know what to look for when choosing one. What's the best crossbow for the money?

I am new to crossbow but I did alot of research and spoke to quite a few people who have experience and here is what I ended up with

1) check state regulations as to any restrictions (weight and width)
2) Like anything else in this world the more you have to spend generally buys you better equipment(not always)
3) Xbows are clumsy and heavy, newer ones are getting very small limb widths some as low as 13"
4) Xbows are extremely sensitive to cocking methods. I recomend a crank type cocking mechanism
5) Sights, either dot, iron sights or scope

I believe the best Xbow out there is the 10 point,they have probably the best products, best customer satisfaction and a factory service that stands miles above the competition.
Here is their web site with forum
http://www.tenpointcrossbows.c...forum-view.asp?fid=2


I bought the Lazer HP which was my second choice only because Illinois had a min limb width. My first choice was the 10 pt Turbo but the width restriction eliminated it.

I bought the accudraw crank system along with the illuminated 3 power scope.

Xbows are not with out draw backs, they are heavy, they are awkward in a treestand or tight places and they are one shot weapons meaning the odds of getting a quick follow up shot...ain't goin to happen

On the plus side they are deadly accurate provided you properly cock them, they are cocked and loaded and ready to shoot.

They are also a pain to decock, since you need to shoot them to uncock them and so far I have lost 3 bolts including a decocking bolt.

They require special targets primarily because of the velocity of the arrow and the relatively short shafts, will over penetrate regular compound targets.

My advice, put in the little bit of time to learn how to shoot a real bow or just stick with guns.

quote:

Originally posted by loboga:
My advice, put in the little bit of time to learn how to shoot a real bow or just stick with guns.

There are some people that due to age or injuries can no longer hunt with hand pulled bows. Your advice is no well taken. My wife would not be able to hunt if it not for crossbows.

Go to a Pro shop that has them and an indoor range if Possible. My Fiance went to Cabelas and shot diffrent bows. We ended up with a Horton Realtree 175. she has killed a Black bear at 8 yrds for her first animal . It has made SCI record books in the cross bow section #10. Good Luck.

quote:

Originally posted by loboga:
My advice, put in the little bit of time to learn how to shoot a real bow or just stick with guns.

Whatever.....


Trigger pull and ease of cocking are big issues to check into. Go to a store that will allow you to shoot as many as you can then buy what shot good.

You might have better responses and info in the firearm forums....because crossguns/crossbows aren't archery tackle

that ought to get the insults flying

Hey Kend, My buddy Quagmire, down in Florida, is real interested in getting a Crossbow. He has a bit of a shoulder problem and is planning to Bowfish with it. And perhaps Kill a garden-raiding Squirrel or two.

Apparently there is a large interest in using them for Bowfishing in central Florida. When he stopped by a BowShop, they told him there were all kinds of folks buying them to use for that, Hunting Hogs and just having fun.

I do NOT know beans about them, but he mentioned there needs to be some kind of regular String Wax applied to the Crossbow String and the "Rail" it rides on needs to be Waxed. Apparently the String touches a Rail as it is shoving the Bolt and if not taken care of properly, the String has a short life.

We talked just last night about it and he mentioned that if you type Crossbow into Amazon, you get a real long list of Crossbows. But, best of all, the site allows people who buy them to post Reviews whether they are Good or Bad. Just click on one of the Crossbows you might be interested in and once it pops up, scroll down the page to find the Reviews. He was laughing so hard about some of the reviews that he was having a hard time telling me about them.

Best of luck to you.

I have shoulder problems and have a second surgery pending. I am a die hard bowhunter, even though I also hunt with a gun. I am not willing to forgo bowhunting altogether so I just bought a crossbow to use when the shoulder won't allow use of my compound. I will hunt with my compound bow when able, but the crossbow allows me to continue bowhunting with a bum shoulder.

I looked at a lot of crossbows and shot a few different ones. I ended up buying a Parker and it is sweet. Very accurate and fast. Parker has several models to choose from, but I chose the Hornet Extreme because it has a short axle to axle measurement and is a little faster than some of the other models. Take a look at the Parker crossbows.

Andy

In Illinois like most other states if you get a medical statement from your doctor that meets the states requirements you can hunt with a Xbow regardless of age. Recently the state allowed hunters over 62 to substitute a Xbow in lieu of the convention archery bows. I meet the age requirements and I do like compounds and I do plan on using them but I will use my Xbow in the cold weather since the heavier clothes can interfere with the compound plus I now can overdress when I use the Xbow which means more stand time.

I have shot a lot of them. And a lot of deer with them.

Several pieces of advice...
1. Shoot as many as you can. Find what is comfortable for you.

2. Ten Point, Parker, Horton, and the big brands are a good place to start. The crossbow industry is still coming up, and not quite on par with verticle bows. It is still very possible to get a bad bow. Moral of the story - shoot a xbow before you buy it!

3. Reverse limb crossbows are very compact, minimize felt shock/recoil, and are pretty accurate - definitely worth a look. Must have a cocking rope, which may be a disadvantage in the treestand.

4. Lightweight models are easy to carry, but no fun to shoot. A new model I shot a while back was under 7 lbs, and had more recoil than a 20 gauge. A 9 or 10 lb bow will be much more pleasant to shoot.

If you have any questions about a particular brand/model, fire away.

gd

I should say, I have NO problem with anyone hunting with a crossbow, in PRIMITIVE WEAPONS or FIREARMS seasons, its NOT archery equipment and does not belong in archery seasons. 99% of crossbow hunters are just gun hunters that want to hunt in archery seasons without putting out the effort to shoot a bow. You cannot hunt with a gun in archery seasons and you should not be able to hunt with crossbows in archery seasons.

I guess I'm a bit surprised, because they were legal in my home state of Ohio before I was born. I took for granted it was the same everywhere else for a long time. At present, better than half of the deer taken during archery season each year in Ohio are taken with crossbows.

I will say, I think crossbows are the best way to get a young person into hunting without all of the recoil and noise of a gun. I've seen a ton of kids take their first deer with a crossbow. Different strokes for different folks...

loboga

Here is a Thought Last week I just came back from Africa and my friend shot an Elephant at 15 yrds with a cross bow. It was a 53 lb male
one shot it ran about 300 yrds then topped over.
Light weight Horton with a 900 gr total arrow weight.

p dog shooter, that reply I am sure belies your intelligence level.
BOWHUNTERS, BOWHUNTERS fought for many years to get the special ARCHERY seasons we enjoy. Crossbow MANUFACTURERS fought to get crossbows into archery seasons, so they could line their pockets with the money from gun hunters who are to lazy to make the effort to learn how to shoot a bow. Those are the facts, obviously some of you don't know any facts, so you don't post anything intelligent.

I'm not "too lazy" I just can't consistantly shoot a compound bow because of recurring "tennis elbow". It hasn't bothered me in months but do the wrong thing and I'll be hurting for weeks! Not going to spend the money on a compound to not be able to shoot when season rolls around.
Any legal method that gets more people in the woods is a great thing!

loboga Sorry I have been following this for many many years.

What the cross bow have been around for a 1000 plus years a very new invention. I heard the same BS from the flint lock hunters when trying to limit inlines.

I started hunting with a long bow 40 plus years ago and hunted every bow season scence.. Went to a recurve and then a compound. So that most likely makes me a BOW HUNTER don't you think.

WHAT TYPE OF BOW DO YOU HUNT WITH.

Most likely go to a cross bow in the next year or so due to medical reasons, Well that make me any less of the BOW HUNTER then I was. I guess I should just give it up the let the youg pups have at it.

I think we should outlaw compounds sights and releases and make every body hunt with a long bow wooden arrows and stone points again.

When BOW HUNTERS started the fight compound bows were not even around and very few recruves.

The modren compound isn't a bow when compared to the frist long bow/ cedar arrows I started with. Years ago there was talk about outlawing compounds some states might have even done it for a while.

Where would all the so called BOW HUNTERS be now back to string and a stick most would not be hunting if they had to give up there modren bows sights, carbon arrows and releases.

Stop your whineing it all comes down to you and some other bow hunters just wanting to limit the number of hunters out there.

I am all for increaseing the number of hunting opperutitys we have. The game numbers in mosts states have greatly increased from when the laws were frist passed.

What has decreased is the number and area of places advailable to hunt.

I for one would be fine with bows being bows....no compounds no x-guns. That aint gonna happen now that the genie/compoundis out of the lamp I sure as hell don't want the seasons being eroded any more than they have been already by the compounds.

Once again, hunt with whatever is legal, but crossbows aren't archery equipment and don't belong in archery season, neither are muzzzleloaders, rifles, shotguns grenade launchers etc.. If its about opportunities, just let anyone hunt with anything at any time and save a lot of money by not enoforcing all those pesky hunting regulations. I am not all that keen on the compounds either and I don't believe they should be considered bows anymore, BUT they don't have a rifle stock and you don't sit there at full draw, waiting to pull the trigger. Crossbow MANUFACTURERS, NOT hunters are responsible for pushing these laws through and they only care about one thing $$$$$$$$. When the market for crossbows isn't making them rich, they will be pushing some other piece of crap off. In fact you can already buy a RIFLE that shoots arrows, why can't I hunt with that in archery season? My shoulder hurts some time. I AIN'T about making it easier to kill animals folks or at least it shouldn't be. By the way p dog, I hunt with longbows and recurves and have since the 50's.

I'm glad this didn't turn into a personal soapbox thread.

I thought this was a question/answer thread.....

Wrong!!!!

kend asked the question...."What's the best crossbow for the money?"

I'm convinced that the best value-for-money, and also simply the best, is the Excalibur line. They are simple, extremely accurate, very quiet and totally reliable. I greatly prefer the simplicity of the recurve design as opposed to the complicated mechanisms of the compound crossbows. If they have a drawback it is their width...they are much wider than a compound design, especially some of the newer compact models.

They are easily and quickly cocked using a rope cocking aid, which decreases the effort required by about 50% and also ensures perfect string alignment for each shot. The rope aid takes up virtually no space in your pocket. I believe they also offer a crank-type cocking device to reduce the effort of cocking even further.

And, no, you absolutely do not have to fire the bow to de-cock at the end of the day. It is very easy to grasp the string with both hands, and restrain it while tripping the trigger with one of your thumbs. No lost bolts.

John

I like the looks of the new vertical crossbows. Hickory Creek Archery makes one that shoots standard length arrows. Weighs about 3.5 pounds. It is kind of a hybrid, so you cant compare it to a classic crossbow. I also like the Excaliber crossbows.

loboga,

Get over it, When peeps, pins, releases, and compounds of 85% let off are "archery" who give a rip what comes next. When the gun hunters see how the new technology is effecting their hunting things will change.

I shot a crossbow the other day it was amazing. I hit a 3 inch circle at 30 yards never having shot one before before. If more folks get out and hunt, great. But we all actually know it will just allow those that currently hunt to hunt more, which is great also. Why limit oneself to the November gun season and the rut when that magic last week of October can also be available?

This will all sort itself out. I shoot a selfbow by the way. I have made quite a few sinew backed bows also. I have a store bought reflex/deflex bow also and it feels like cheating compared to a selfbow. It's all relative.

I understand take on the crossbow, but archers today would also get grief for taking the shots that Howard Hill and Fred Bear took on game regularly back in the day. Shoot your longbow and have fun. Others will have to choose their shots more carefully because it is too expensive to loose one of those bolts or carbon arrows shooting at a cowpie or pinecone.

tarawa, I am interested to see pic of the vertical crossbow. Necessity in not the only mother of invention.

slim buttes, YOU get over it. I don't care what you have in Nebraska, here we have a four week bow season in September and then a three MONTH gun season, bow season is long gone by that "magic week" in October so all those that are to lazy to make ANY effort to learn how to shoot a bow are hunting with a rifle by then anyway. Yes things "will sort themselves out" if to many deer start getting killed in "archery" season the DNR will change the current four week season to ONE WEEK, that already happened once and the BOWHUNTERS in the state did a lot of work to get it straightened out, NO crossbow hunters were to be seen, which I would expect, that would require some effort. I see NO advantage to making hunting easier for anybody, you want easy, stay home and play video games. You get out of something what you put into it and as you pointed out, shooting a crossbows take NO effort, but then some people are proud of the fact that are lazy.

I have gotten over it, maybe I didn't make myself clear.

Nebraska has a long "archery" season and just this year anyone can use a crossbow. I may see more hunters taking advantage of the situation, but not enough to worry about my ability to hunt.

I think it will be more fun to see people start trying to get their "trophies" in the pope and young books. That will be fun to see play out.

Shooting a crossbow may not take too much effort, but it does take money, that may be a limiting factor. If you haven't seen any advantage to making hunting easier, you obviously haven't seen the archery industry in the last 20 years. I shot a compound with all the bells and whistles once and did almost as good as the crossbow, if I would have shot it twice I may have improved. The point is the compound/gadget guys started effecting your archery season long ago.

Again I have "got over it" long ago.

Oh, more deer won't be killed to effect the length of the archery season. More BIG bucks will be killed during the archery season and the gun hunters will get pissed and effect your archery season. JMO.

I think we archers just have to get over it too. The wannabees with their cross guns will jump up and down and cry and wail until with the help of the big bucks manufacturers they get into the bow season, it's just a matter of time. I'm glad I was able to hunt in "the good old days" where we actually have a true bow season, looks like that is gonna go bye bye.

slim buttes, I told you to "get over it", because that what you told me to do in your first post. Maybe people have different manners in Nebraska, but I wouldn't come down to this part of the country and presume to tell people, that you don't know, what to do. I know all about the archery industry for the last 40 years and NO I don't see any advantage in making things easier, making a few industry whores rich to the detrimate of bowhunting. MORE people don't make it better, more of the RIGHT kind of people do make it better and products that only cater to those that want to kill stuff with the least amount of effort aren't going to help ANYBODY. IN FACT crossbows in bow seasons DO mean more killed deer, LOTS more, NOT because they are more effective, because they are not, BUT because now you have a whole bunch of people hunting in ARCHERY season that wouldn't be there if they had to spend a few hours learning to shoot a bow and they sure are not going to make any effort to save ARCHERY ONLY seasons.

I was flipping through a "Bow & Arrow" magazine today and noticed someone is now manufacturing a CrossBow that has an automatic Cocking Device. I didn't have timeto read the ad, but it must be battery powered, because it showed a flick of them pushing a button to do the Cocking.

So, if your old sore/broken-up shoulders have kept you from being able to Cock one, and if it is Legal in your State, that might help some of you to be able to get in the Woods again. Just take a young`un along to do the Deer dragging.

Best of luck to you.

I looked at one of those crossbows that cock and uncock itself, uses a co2 cartridge makes a small hissing sound as it takes the string back or forward, I think it was around $1600 and made by Parker.

Wow, those new self cocking crossbows really do belong in the archery season!!

If they only made one out of PVC!!!