So, the last few years I've come to realize that my shoulder, despite reconstruction, just isn't up to the practice I think is needed to be ethical. My doctor gave me a crossbow permit years ago after the surgery, but I've resisted.

Well, I decided that it's probably time and headed over to Lancaster to browse crossbows.

Now I realize that I know absolutely nothing about them, and think it's time to get some opinions/advice from people that have hunted with them.

I hunt woods. Long shots would be 50 yards, and I've never shot a Deer with a bow past 30.

I'm guessing I don't need a 4k crossbow any more than I needed a 4k rifle to kill deer, but I also don't want something louder than an AC/DC concert in 1981.

Oh 24HC, enlighten me.

Dead nuts accurate. Incredible power. Can de-cock it with out having a shooting bale with you in your truck.

https://www.tenpointcrossbows.com/product/vengent-s440/

See, this is the kind of thing that never would have occurred to me until AFTER I bought one that I couldn't de-cock.

What Old hat said. Excellent choice of crossbow.

I picked mine up from Midwayusa when they were on sale for 999.99$ plus shipping.

A deadly machine.

I should have mentioned about the scope which is graduated and illuminated if you need that early and late. I need that function.

So, the "package" scopes are fine? No need to upgrade?

Last thing that can’t be stressed hard enough,,,,use the right bolts.

I really like mine.

Hey Goalie -
I am in the same boat as you (jacked shoulder). I got a crossbow permit in August, and hunted with a Tenpoint Viper S400 this season (one step under the Vengent S440). Yes, the package scope is fine. I see you are in MN too...I bought my rig from A1 Archery in Hudson, WI so if you are anywhere near the Twin Cities I'd suggest checking them out. Since crossbows are legal in WI for everyone, they have a ton of them in stock you can try. good luck

IMO, some package scopes are fine, some are garbage.

I would recommend staying away from the super fast, super narrow crossbows. That will help with string and limb life.

Compound crossbows tend to be faster (on the whole), but are also a bit more troublesome to maintain. For that reason, many folks prefer the simplicity of recurve crossbows such as Excalibur.

Now is a good time to check out good, used bows. Good ones can be found for well under 1K.

👍

I'm the kinda guy that put Trijicon 1-4 on my single shot 30-30 for the early/late shots. 🤣

Thanks!!!!

A torn left rotator cuff forced me to go to a crossbow or quit bowhunting - I’ve had about 6 different crossbows since.

My favorite was a 327 FPS Mission Dagger that I regret selling to my B-I-L, my two now shoot 372 and 396 FPS.

However, I think a slower shooting crossbow will last longer - I’ve taken 2 elk with vertical bows that probably didn’t reach 270 FPS - go figure.

Ravin R10 de-cock and have a good scope that’s graduated, not illuminated.

The biggest problem people have with them all is letting a limb hit a tree or blind when fired. Not good, especially with recurves.

I’ve never hunted one but my 10 year old son has, the R10 is very accurate and not a bad price. I think they’re all a lot louder than a compound, so on a whitetail I think 40 yards is pushing it, even tho it’ll be accurate a lot further.

All the same can be said for the Center Point Sniper 370 plus it's quiet, fast and it costs 300 Bucks. Just smoked a buck and a doe with mine a couple weeks ago.

I had a Centerpoint just like yours. They are good machines.

I resisted for years and finally decided to go over to the dark side and bought a Ten Point Viper S400 mainly for the easy cocking and de-cocking. The scope is great with green/ red illuminated reticles and is blisteringly fast and very accurate. All crossbows make some noise but the Viper's bolt is down range so fast it shouldn't matter within a 50 yard shot limit.

I take that back, the R10 is illuminated red or green.

I shoot an Excalibur Micro 360. I like the Excalibur's for their recurve style and simplicity for maintenance. I also like the compact style of the Micro line for enclosed blinds. Lots of good choices out there these days. Just see what fits best for your application.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/excalibur-micro-360-td-crossbow-package?rrec=true

Crossbow????

What a bunch of scumbillies

Break out the Grandpa’s Deer Suckers

And what are the "right" bolts????

I bought one early on when VA legalized them for deer, just a basic xbow with 3 dot sight.
Shoulder issues here as well.

Can't remember the brand.
They are[or were] very cumbersome to carry and hold.

Last time I saw it a friend[townie] was using it for his groundhog problem.
Oh well.

Different xbows use different knocks?
2 styles I believe.

LGS has the Mission sub lite for 1K.
Been tempted
Shorty could use it, plus my shoulder is fugged. Doc said its way better....no restrictions.
Feels like crap, aches 25/7.
Keep doing PT at home and its still hurtin.

Mission, Ten Point or Ravin

I think Mathews makes Mission? Or my wires crossed.

Different nock types and weights/ spine of bolt.
Use what the manufacturer says.

If they claim their rigs use proprietary bolts....they may not be lying. Might also be influenced by warranty.

Yup.

But I still might buy one LOL

I'd recommend TenPoint as well. Made in Ohio and excellent customer service in my experience. They also make the Wicked Ridge line.

We have 2, horton reverse limb, quiet & compact, not clumsy & balances well & an excalibur grizzly, great maintenance free x-bow, but feels clumsy & very weight forward.

Both came with "package" propriety, illuminated scopes that we've had no issues with.

Both have taken Whitetail & Black Bear.

The compactness of the horton, make it easier to shoot from a ground blind, so Deb uses that & I use the excalibur.







** Both must be shot to decock !

Don't go Cheap, 1k to 1300 you can get a great bow that will last along time! Excaliburs are great iv owned a couple, I'm shooting a R10 Raven this season, buddy talked me into it, I Love it, fast easy to cock and uncock it. Shot a nice 8pt with it 28 yrds, my buddy shot his 8 pt at 50yrds. 10 points are also good bows!, I'd wait till after deer season be some good sales.

Don't own one but have shot multiple - Ravin, the R10 is a compact little fugger. If I was inclined to go to a crossbow that'd be it. Once you get it dialed in its pretty much point and shoot.

I opted for the Ravin R10. Dead-nuts accurate. There's a reason they tell you not to shoot at the same dot on a target! Better than a 50% chance you'll 'Robin-hood" a bolt. Bolts aren't cheap.

Haven't had a chance to draw blood with it yet. Maybe next week I'll pop a doe with it.

Tag. Good info

I did that one time and right up
The center of my first bolt.

No more..

The ravin R10 might be your Huckleberry. It has a de-cocker so you don’t have to shoot to unload, made in the USA, and if you go to Capra’s in Blaine they’ll set it up to your liking. With the scope included it’s about $1200

Mine are older xbow but they get it done , with 340-360 FPS .
An old Barnett quad 400 and a Parker tornado .
Have shot deer out to fifty yds with both and never had one jump the shot .
Broad heads are an important factor as are the bolts .
Rage is my go to broad head and get the ones made for x-bows .
Never had a Rage fail , I’ve heard of it , but have personally shot a few dozen of them over the years and no problem .
Last year was out of town hunting and in a crunch bought Rexpid broadheads made for a bow , didn’t pan out , first deer was late and I couldn’t see what happened other than no deer .
Second was early evening , a perfect broadside shot on a six .
Placed cross hairs at rear of shoulder and jaw dropped as I watched the bolt wobble in flight and strike high at rear of ribs only penatrating what looked to be a couple inches .
Buck ran off , spent entire evening looking for him and half the next day , no deer .
Talked with some others who said it was the broad head opening when fired , don’t know if this is an issue of the brand or that they weren’t designed for the thrust of a xbow .
That is why I say get the ones labeled for xbow , then you don’t have doubt .
The rage cut one nasty gash and haven’t lost a deer to them .
That’s shooting through the shoulder strongly quartered to me exiting at rear of ribs , one even broke the rear leg too .
Bad momma jama!
Kenneth

I haven't been there in forever

Decision for me was between the R10 and the Tenpoint Viper S400. A few things that I found when looking that tipped me to the Viper. Cost was fairly similar IIRC as they are competing crossbows:

1. The Ravin cocking/decocking system makes noise (think of like a noise that a ratchet wrench makes)...not super loud but you can hear it.
2. Take this with a grain of salt because the salesman at A1 told me this and I did not confirm it myself but he said that the string for Ravin needs to be replaced much sooner than the Tenpoint (250 shots vs 1000).

I shot both and I preferred the Viper as it was heavier and seemed to absorb the energy being produced better...maybe slightly quieter than the Ravin but they are both loud regardless.

Thanks guys.

There is a lot to look at. I'm going to hit some local archery places after the season.

Yes, there are.

Not using the right bolts can void your warranty by causing the limbs to splinter.

For the Tenpoint Crossbows I recommend and use the Wicked Ridge 20” bolts with a 100 grain cutter up front.

Goalie if you have a Cabelas anywhere close by or a Archery Shop, it wouldn’t be time wasted to peruse, discuss and just ask questions.

You’re about to make an investment of sorts and you’ll want something that fits your needs to a “T”.

Jmo and good luck. Let us know what you decide on.

This is true.

Says the guy that uses a scoped, smokeless inline for a "muzzleloader". LOL

There's about a zero percent chance he wasn't trolling you with that.

😂🤣😂😳

You can cock and decock quietly by holding your finger on the release. Shop I bought from said 2k shots on the R10 string replacement.

Look at Mission. I have one and you don't need a crank to de cock.
I'm 76 and can't use a bow anymore but I have cross bow authorizations in most Western states.
Harvested a 6X6 bull in AZ last year.

I did a lot of research on X-bow or bow forums before purchasing.

I think the most mentioned as a favorite was a Scorpyd Deathstalker. No dealers near me so I couldn’t handle one,

Are any of these x bows more left hand friendly than the others?

Holy crap, crossbow nation is gonna be a time suck.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've got a lot better idea of what this will entail now.

Okay, I went cheap. I have an older Horton that I gave about $350 for a package deal. It shoots 330 fps. Only issue I've come across is the hardware loosened and the accuracy suffered. I Loctited everything and the bow has been super reliable and deadly. I always wait for a double lung and none of my animals have traveled more than 50 yards, most less than 20.

I did learn to not shoot groups of bolts at a single aim point. Pretty easy to stack arrows at 30 yards. I use a target with 5 aim points, shoot one bolt at each point.

JFC, the crossbow projectiles are ARROWS not bolts.

IMO, Scorpyd crossbows are hard to beat. I also like Mission and Excalibur.

Jeff Bezos calls them bolts!!

https://www.amazon.com/R138-400-Grain-Exclusively-Crossbows-Straightness/dp/B078J7476D

Lol..

Clip/magazine

Totally worth arguing over. 😉

Loose-lose


It’s all the same thing round hear.

hear, their, yonder

^^

He knows..

Whatever you want to call the sharp pointy thing that shoots out of them, crossbows sure have benefited from technology! Lots to pick from! I still shoot my vertical compound bow, in fact, just got a new Elite EnKore start of the bow season. But a good friend and long time hunting partner just started using a TenPoint crossbow this year. He's very happy to be in the woods again bowhunting.

How has your friendship weathered him crossing over?

Do you make condescending remarks to him for his use of the crossbow?

🤣

My buddies all use my shop as Venison Central, so they'll leave me the fugg alone and just throw in a "gimpy" or "cripple" comment every so often.

My nephew is gimpy

I'm aiming more for the relatives Renegade so finally refers to.....

Edit: doesn't he call them the Downs syndrome duo or something????

Bought the only thing I'll ask him, is if needs any help carrying it. It's his 300 acres we hunt, so I don't go too bad on him.

I bought a $350 Wicked Ridge (ten point cheapie) and I have killed the hell out of deer with it. Can't imagine spending a couple grand on one,

The more I look, the more I'm liking some sort of recurve like Excalibur.

I still bow hunt with compounds recurves but was curious about crossbows .


I got excaliber to play with after research this past year on crossbows. . The super narrow high angle limbs have had issues on the higher tech wheeled limbed crossbows.. tuning issues , blowing up. but sure work great for most. I want simple good dependable performance and less schit to go wrong.


Id get the mechanical cocker and shoot the heaviest bolts ( arrows) you can. Its a pain cocking by hand after 15 to 20 rounds


Im got best results with 2219 bolts and a good coc head. phug the mechanicals I put 75 grain brass inserts in my carbon bolts to make the them heavier and bow shoots much more quietly. . I put a rubber blunt on bolt to shoot into the ground after shooting. Kind of a pain, unwieldy to carry. Bought a crossbow case with back pack straps if ever intend to use hunting.


lot of fun to shoot and can find for around $600 set up on sale

I have an Excalibur. Shoots good but is loud. Scope that came with mine is suspect. It is sighted in.

There's pretty much zero chance a package scope stays on it if I buy one.

😉

Approaching 70, I'm considering a crossbow. Thanks for the reviews.

Nope. Most have features to make both lefties and righties happy.

All this talk about crossbows and no mention of the trigger quality. Cabela's allowed me to try several bows, shooting them narrowed my choice quickly. Mighty gawd awful triggers on most of the bows I tried but it was 9 years ago and I sure hope the issue has been addressed.

The Excaliburs take trigger tech replacements

I like the compact nature of a compound, the Excalibur is like carrying a set of Moose antlers around, not really a big deal if your on stand or blind.
Mine is an Equinox, I can live with the open sights, exellent accuracy, I like the simplicity of the Excalibur.
I don't think anyone mentioned that....you can change the string on a Excalibur bow in the field. I had to do that when I cut some of the strands on my string while out hunting...not positive, but I don't think you can do that on a compound without a bow press??

The buck I shot this year, came in behind me, I shoot left handed, had the R10 in my left hand, and switched to my right and shot the buck. I know with th Excalibur bows you can get rt or Lt. Cheek pice for the stock.

Excaliburs have cheek piece on both sides of the stock.

So does our Horton.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm set up to hunt.

Cool.

Hows it shoot?

Is it loud?

Have not got out yet. Been busy after work.

Gee, four pages and unless I missed it, no haters.

I have an Excalibur. Easy, effective, but a PITA to carry around, and not much fun to shoot for pleasure. When the season’s over, it goes in the corner until next time. Actually thinking about skipping the season next year to concentrate on small game and bird shooting. Only need one or two deer a year for meat, and on the public land here chances of seeing a trophy buck are slim.

Four seasons, six shots, six deer. Ranges from 20-40 yards. Muzzy 125gr three-blades. Two arrows recovered.

Good to know. I've got some of those broadheads already.

I'm looking for a tool, not speed or status symbols.

I've increased my bolt recovery rate after switching to factory excaliber bolts with luminocs !