Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting My 1st crossbow

I have owned Mission and Tenpoint crossbows. I currently have a Tenpoint FX4. I understand that discretionary, slush-fund income varies among people and I also understand that there are some that simply will not spend upwards and in excess of 1k or more for a bow but when I decided to get into crossbows I wanted a QUALITY built weapon that I could be confident in and base my decision on the other points that crossbow hunting offers rather than be "soured" by a bow that wasn't reliable. Simply put, I didn't want a cheaply built bow to be the weak link or the deciding factor in my decision on whether I liked crossbow hunting or not.

Crossbows are immensely powerful weapons. We're talking from 130 lb and upward of 200 for limbs on compound style to over 300 lb limbs on some recurve style. It takes a well designed and built bow to take that kind of abuse shot after shot. Stewart-Haas Racing doesn't contract the local auto parts store brand for their racing engine needs.

As far as my recommendation, I'm partial to Tenpoint but there are some REALLY good bows, albeit not cheap, out there. Mission, Scorpyd, Horton, Darton, Parker, etc. If I was "looking" for a bow I would first figure out what I could spend. Remember, there's always the route of "gently used" bows. Then I would evaluate my hunting style, tree stands, ground blinds, stalking etc. Then I would start researching bows that fit my style. I would also peruse some of the crossbow forums, crossbow nation, AT's crossbow area etc and read what others are saying, but always read with a subjective mind. As we know, some are just disgruntled and want to be argumentative about everything.

Just got mine today, an Excalibur Matrix 380 Bulldog. One bolt assembly (apart from two screws for the quiver and mounting the scope). Took it outside and the first arrow was 4" low at 20 yards. Eight clicks and I'm on the money. Have to calibrate the scope for longer range after I play a bit.

Also ordered a crank. I can cock this okay, but at 66, I gotta be careful about putting myself out of action by not acting my age, and I want to shoot this thing a lot. Not many 130lb pulls left in this old back, I'm thinking. The crank reduces the effort to 12lbs.

This one wasn't cheap, but it's got a lifetime warranty and it should really hammer them. I'll pick up about 7 weeks in the deer woods by playing William Tell.