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Maybe you men can answer some questions for me. I was at Cabela's today (had a gift card to use) and inquired about broadheads for my crossbow. I'm shooting an Excaliber Ibex-an older recurve crossbow. The archery guy told me I had to shoot 150 gr. broadheads through this bow. Is this accurate information? I just want to make sure I get the right heads. What about mechanical vs. fixed blades? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

i shoot 125 gr 3 blade muzzy works well

It's hard for me to put much faith in a Cabela's salesman.

g r their is 6 of us that use the muzzys in the camp that shoot ex cal s an we all have great arck an great killing on deer & pigs

As far as I'm concerned, any razerhead you can use on your arrows, you can use on your crossbow bolts. However, I personally, had issues with fixed blade broadheads planning off target. I went to silver strike mechanicals, and have had no issues since.

kell we had some planeing with the 4 blade so we stayed with the 3 blade we target shoot to 80 yards with used broad heads

The ones I had issues with were flat chisle point razerheads with crosscut blades. The silver strikes are three bladed folding mechanicals with replaceable blades.

cross cut ?

Yes, like these. This type gave me problems.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v717/PiePuncher/Mobile%20Uploads/20160101_174102.jpg

ok i have not seen them we use a 1 1/16 in three blade you put each blade in an then screw the tip on

Gunner - pull down the owners guide from Excalibers website.

Should tell you what they recommend- I had an Exomax, the website was a good source of data on it, even though that model was long discontinued.

In doing a little digging on AT, and a couple of reviews, it looks like the Firebolts shipped with the Ibex were 150 grain fieldpojnts, FWIW.

Generally - IME - fixed blades are less of an issue than mechanical- but as noted above, they can plane pretty bad.

If you go mechanical, the BH model needs to be rated for the shock of a crossbow firing, or the blades can/will deploy. I like Rage collared BH, but that doesn’t mean they are the best for you.

Thanks for the info guys.

I looked at the on line manuals but couldn't find one for the older Excaliber Ibex models. I bought this bow used two years ago and plan on hunting with it this fall. I know MILES58 runs one of these or something close to it, so I'll be talking to him shortly. 150 gr. heads just seems awful heavy. If that's what I need, so be it, but if possible I'd like to go with a lighter point. I also want to use a mechanical to avoid the planing issue too.

Planing comes from too light of weight up front. 150 and more will give better results as it boosts the FOC and makes the broadhead tipped bolt easier to tune for improved flight. Short bolts need weight forward and is why xcal recommends them. I know several excal users that thought they knew better and wanted more speed and went with 100 grain heads until they learned first hand why 150 (or more) gave them better flight than 100 grain heads. Dont worry about speed and trajectory since you have a multi reticle scope that you can sight it for all your shot distances. Get your hands on some 150 and 200 grain heads and watch your groups tighten and your penetration improve and the noise of the bolt discharge decrease.

New at this, but seems like when in doubt, go heavy, which should reduce shock to the bow. Somewhere you should be able to find a minimum bolt-weight spec for your bow.

Well that sounds right to me. Do you suggest fixed blade or mechanical?

Always fixed. (never fail and can survive the rigors of the launch and hit without breaking and they are always open meaning they don't fail to deploy) For the crossbow guys that I set up that are married to a particular head (usually 100 grain) I swap out the alum. Inserts in their bolts and replace with brass to boost the FOC. I set up two guys with the same Killer Instinct crossbows. One was willing to listen and let me put brass inserts in his bolts. The other guy was chasing speed. Both wanted to use Slick Trick (Great crossbow head). Both setups were the same with the exception of the brass inserts in one.

The guy who chased speed could not group consistently passed 30 yards. The heavier FOC guys was driving tacks at 60 yards. Weight forward in bolts is a great thing and so is the added momentum.

I'm shooting 125 grain Muzzy's on cheap 20" Bloodsport arrows with brass inserts out of my cheap Center Point Sniper 370 crossbow and can consistently hit a 1" bullseye from 40 yards rested over my picnic table.

Is your Center Point Sniper crossbow reliable?

The Barirent crossbows I have triggers jammed up and they won't shoot!

I've owned 3 Barnett crossbows, and never had any kind of trigger problem.

The Ballistic coefficient of a bolt is awful.

Weight foreword bolts are needed.

Heavy broadheads supply this feature without custom building of bolts...

That is why heavy broad heads are needed. Especially with slower .......older bows.

U will never regret shooting heavy in a crossbow, if you miss .....oh welll.

If you wound..............not so good heh?

Shoot your bow.........

And you will answer your own questions better than us internet Indians who shoot medivial horizontal ever could. IMO

The new crossbow I got is so hard to cock that I can't do it !!!!

It's a Barnett Whitetail Hunter.

They make aftermarket cocking straps to make it easier, as well as crank winches. I've got one I've never used. (Was part of a trade) perhaps we should do business.

The Barnett Whitetail Hunter C.B. came with cocking straps on it and I can't quite cock it with that.

Whats the make and model of those cranking winches?

I've learned to use my legs and back to make cocking the crossbow easier. I use the cocking strap and am able to load the string pretty easily. I haven't tried it in a tree stand yet. I usually hunt from a ground blind. I have some balance issues from a heart condition and stay out of the trees.

Here are 2 options for barnett's (keep in mind, I have never needed one, so have not used either one)

https://youtu.be/QXirI2F-t3I

I can cock my 260lb Excalibur, but it's more effort than is good for my old back. No way I could pull it off in a tree, so I ponied up for the expensive crank made just for those bows. What a pleasure to use!

Which crank did you get? I would want the one with the most mechanical advantage.

This crank is designed just for the Excalibur Matrix Bulldogs; won't even fit the older Matrix models. I didn't mind the price as I look on this setup as a long-term purchase, unlike compound bows which seem to get replaced every few years.

Just for comparison, the cocking effort for the 260lb prod is 130lbs with the hand cocker. Effort on the crank supposed to be 12. Whatever it is it's easy.

I have to agree with the above post. Due to my recent heart surgery, I had to buy one, and I looked at a lot of them, and got a Parker Thunder Hawk, due to its light weight and simplicity. To tell you the truth I shot long range rifle for a long time, both on my job and competition, so I also like the trigger on it. Anyway, shot a lot of various heads, but I like the Magnus Buzz Cut which is 125 grain, and with the bolt etc, I had more than enough weight, as recommended by the manufacturer. I killed a wild boar with it, in March, at 23 yards, that bolt went thru it so fast, it was crazy....... I think that would fly well out of your cross bow.......

Got some 150 gr. field tips and will be getting the broadheads this week. I'm going to start with some fixed blade heads and see how it performs. It's early enough yet that if they don't fly the way I want, I can still experiment with mechanicals. I'm gonna go with the Slick Tricks, after some recommendations from other shooters.

My friend uses Slick Tricks, they are a no brainer, they fly well and have been proven in the field. I have shot some deer with my compound with them, they are a good head. I guess I am a bh junkie, in all reality, most of everything shoots well........ I still have some 150 grain Razor Caps, and they fly out of my xbow, like a rocket

The truth according to Dave:

I doesn't make a damn bit of difference what you shoot for an arrow and broadhead as long as it's accurate out of your crossbow.. You have more than enough power to drive the minimum weight arrow and head through the chest of any deer that walks the ground in Minnesota.

I shoot an Excalibur Matrix 330 because it is simple, idiot proof, can be maintained without a bow shop pro required to do the work. I shoot Full Metal Jacket arrows because they are a little heavier and a lot tougher, I have killed deer with Rage 2 inch mechanicals using black collars, red collars and O rings I picked up at Menards. All worked flawlessly. I have killed a few deer with Plain jane 3 blade muzzys. They worked flawlessly. I have killed deer with 3 blade NAP thunderheads. They worked flawlessly. I have killed deer with 4 blade NAP Doublecross Spitfires. They all worked flawlessly.

The deer have gone 6 feet for the shortest run and over a mile for the longest. I very particularly shot one deer just above the heart with a 2 inch Rage and it started to bleed well after about 30 yards and made it just over 200 yards pumping out huge spurts of blood after it started. There was now blood for the first 30 because it took that long to pressurize the chest. The mile plus deer jumped the string a little and was hit because of that a little farther back than I like. It was still a double lung hit. That one bled well the entire way. I could follow the blood with a flashlight as fast as I could walk and if I could still run I could have followed that fast.. I hit one dead center of the off side ball joint between the scapula and humerus splitting it into 3 equal parts and it still protruded 8 inches out the off side with a NAP Thunderhead. I have put half a dozen right through the heart. I have put a like number through both lungs.

I cannot begin to predict which is better. I cannot begin to predict how far they will go after the hit. The best I can tell you is that you have plenty of power to drive a large 2/4 blade mechanical through any deer, so make sure you cut as big a hole as you can. Closer is better, As fast as 300 FPS is, even a deer that looks relaxed and is feeding can still jump the string some. Probably not enough to cause a complete miss, but it can cause a bad hit. Use a lighted nock, in dim light it will show you where you hit. It won't fix a bad shot but knowing where the arrow went can be helpful, and if the arrow does not pass through it may well show you exactly where the deer went. Do not believe the BS about letting Bambi lie down to die after the shot! Every deer (with one exception) I have shot with a bow going all the way back to the '50s laid down once because it couldn't go further and died within seconds. The single exception was the deer that made it over a mile. She lay down the first time just past a mile later, I never was within 300 yards of her while on her trail. When I caught up with her she jumped and went another hundred yards within sightand went down again. I jumped her again and she went down 50 yards later and did not get up again. That one was so far outside the norm, making it that far while double lunged and bleeding that heavily it hardly represents anything to consider happening again.

When you run an arrow through Bambi's chest basically you have four actions working together to kill Bambi. First, is loss of blood, simple bleeding them out. Second, they should be filling the lungs with blood. Third, pressurizing the chest to blood pressure levels collapses the lungs and suffocates them. Lastly, the pneumo-thorax decreases the lung capacity with every breath and can eventually kill even without much blood.loss.