Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Crossbow help

If you were in the market for a new crossbow, with a maximum budget of $1,000 for the setup, what would you get?

Also, are there any models below that price point that are huge bargains?

Titan M1, Wicked Ridge Fury 410, Wicked Ridge NXT400

Excalibur Micro takedown - there’s several in the series now.

My favorite has been the 360, they shoot flat, kill deer and elk, while being easy to do you own maintenance on - when needed.

X1 Very nice bow for the money

i would spend a few bucks more and get a Ravin ,you won`t be sorry. Pete53

Looks like they have a 380 now. Pretty slick. Gonna stick with my Matrix Bulldog for now, but might lighten up the sights.

There’s a couple “newer” models in the Micro line - but having handled them - I don’t see an advantage to jump up.

I did not like the “Assassin 400” extending stock - it feels weak (aka cheap) on the friction lock for the locking the stock down. The shop floor demo model was worn out after a few weeks.

The biggest feature I really like is the takedown, and the carry case - no more banging the limbs in and out of the truck. And, it’s a lot easier to store in the house without the limbs on the barrel.

Of the three I’ve handled, shot and, have - or were talked out of - all three have been “on” for zero after multiple takedowns. I know we’ve taken 3-4 deer, and one elk over the past three seasons, and I’m probably light on the deer count.

I bought an AXE 340. Which is now the Mag 340 after name use lawsuit. Great crossbow. Pretty much bullet proof and great warranty from the company. I did upgrade the scope to the red or green illuminated crosshairs
I preferred a longer draw and wider limbs so I recently picked up an older Matrix.
I have the AXE listed on another forum only because I bought the Matrix.

I have a kodabow with a micro 360 front. Love it

I'm firmly in the Excalibur recurve camp. I have an older wide limb Exocet, an Axe 340 and an Assassin 360. I like my Axe 340 so much the old Exocet is relegated as a spare/loaner, and I haven't even taken the Assassin out of the box. I also have had a couple Tenpoints, good bows but I'm drawn to the simplicity of the recurve Excals. As mentioned, maintenance or repairs can be done in the field if needed.

I'm quite happy with my Centerpoint sniper 370. I think I paid 215.00 for it 3 years ago and am pretty sure you can still get them for 300.00 or thereabouts. I've shot it a bunch with no problems and it's accurate enough that you could literally head shoot squirrels from 40 yards with it. It has a machined aluminum chassis/track, adjustable AR-15 type stock and is fast, accurate and relatively quiet. I finally got out hunting with it this past fall and killed a buck and a doe with it and it worked as good as any crossbow could have. It isn't necessary to spend 1000.00 on a crossbow for deer hunting. There are plenty of fast, accurate, good shooting crossbows on the market for under 600.00 that perform great. Most of them come with crappy scopes so be prepared to spend a couple hundred more for an upgrade there. I ended up putting a Vortex Crossfire II speed adjustable crossbow scope on mine and it works as advertised.

My dog’s ice cream man picked up a complete rig at a pawnshop for about $150 and proceeded to kill the first deer he saw, so I gotta agree. Also agree that the scopes are often crap, even on spendier packages. I ended up with a re-furbed Nikon 3x that’s working well, but have used a whole slew of optics on mine. If you limit your shots to 40 yards or so, all those multi-point reticles aren’t really necessary either, just zero at 30 and hold up a bit on longer shots.

Another vote for excalibur recurves. I own a matrix 380( no longer in production) and used to own the original exomag. A lot simpler than compound crossbows. Whatever you get, check crossbow nation and other such major forums first to see what warranty or quality issues may exist. The fact is the crossbow technology race went insane about 5 years ago with companies rushing new models onto the market so quickly, its constant warranty carousel-customers are being used basically as beta testers. Ive seen models that require new owners melt something on them with hairdriers before they work properly. Find a model that has been around at least 3 years, gets decent reports and needs minimal tinkering to keep in order. Another reason excalibur gets the nod. They have become susceptible to the rapid model turnover/warranty carousel to a degree as well, but still better than most brands.

Yeah I stuck a Weaver K-2.5 on mine for awhile before I bought the Vortex and it worked fine to 40 yards like you said. The Centerpoint scope that came with the crossbow was terrible optically. I didn't think they made scopes that crappy except for the little 3/4" tubed toy scopes that come with kids BB guns anymore. Anyway the K- 2.5 was needed elsewhere so ended up with the Vortex and I'm quite happy with it.

I have an Excalibur package I bought a few years ago. One of the.limbs exploded on the 6th shot the first day I got it. They replaced it in less than 2 weeks. Good now. They shoot hard. The bow is accurate. But it is loud.

Gents,
When I first went to a crossbow, I did some research then purchased an Excaliber Exocet. Way more than you need for W T Deer. Shot a black bear in the 250+ area, no issues. Then we bought some boxes to hunt from and the windows were too narrow for the recurve, so I bought a Ten Point. The Excaliber was a great bow I wouldn't hesitate to buy another, but the Ten point is also good. Both are very accurate.
Soup

We have 2 complete crossbow combos (bow, multi point illuminated scope, bolts, rail lube & cocking devices).

1st was a Horton reverse limb compound, 2nd an excalibur grizzly recurve.

Both have been used on multiple WT & black bear.

Horton reverse limb is more comfortable to carry & shoot - great balance.

Excalibur very front heavy & cumbersome to carry far.

Typically, Deb gets the Horton & me the Excalibur.

We don't have more than $700 in either package.

Horton & a pretty lady, grocery shopping;



Results with the Excalibur;

There are a ton of options including many good ones already mentioned. I'd stop by a few archery shops and look a few models over and take a few test fires if they allow it. You can always search the web for reviews after you find a couple models that interest you.

I have had the 355 xcal for the last 12 yrs. other than me not tighting the crank cocker up and it smashing the back of the scope up I have put 2 strings on it .at our hunting camp there is 9 or 10 xcals. that have the same results . and we shoot them a lot .any one with 300 fps or more will kill a deer at 50 yards

I feel much better now. Did the same thing with a Leupold 2.5 on mine. Thought sure they’d just replace it, but by golly they fixed it. Now it’s safely sitting on a 98, out of harm’s way.