Crossbow guidance...total noob

[Pale Ryder]

If you have the ability to shoot during the week, AAF&G is a great place. However, it has restricted times for shooting. M-F centerfire hours are 10 to 4 and Sat it is 10 to 1. There is no centerfire shooting on Sun. Rimfire shooting is from 9 to dusk.

Anne Arundel Fish and Game – A Shooting Sports Club

aafg.org

Sounds good cuz I’m semi retired. Have to check it out. Thanks

 

[Waingro]

Sounds good cuz I’m semi retired. Have to check it out. Thanks

I have a spot right in Millersville you can use to sight in your crossbow if it helps you. Shoot me a pm if I can help

 

[Pale Ryder]

I have a spot right in Millersville you can use to sight in your crossbow if it helps you. Shoot me a pm if I can help

That’s a very generous offer, I may take you up on it. Thanks.

 

[spur0701]

My advice to anyone would be to not un-neccessarily over think your choice.

I've got a Ten Point Titan with the crank system that my late wife got me for my birthday about 15 years ago, I think at the time it was something like $700 or $800 and it was the top of the line bow at the time. Since that time the only thing I've had to do to other than yearly maintenance (start and end of season cleaning, waxing, oiling) is to replace the spring in the crank system that automatically retracts the drawing sled after you cock it, and I used it broken for a couple of years before I even did that...you just had to use the crank to retract the sled after you cocked it or cocked it by hand. I've never replaced the string or cables, though I think ten Point would say I should.....ever year I chrony it at the beginning of the season and the speed has always been the same...but then I'm not shooting it a lot, just to take deer and a few bolts to unload it or make sure the red dot is still sighted in. To me it's just like shooting a rifle and I get enough practice at that. I've proably taken 20 deer with it.

Before this Ten Point I had a really really cheap Barnette Quad 300 I impulse bought from Sportsman Guide back in the early 2000s, it's what I started hunting crossbow with. Looking back on it now, it was really crappy...but it shot true and I took something like 45 or 50 deer it and I kept it as a backup to the Ten Point until one season about 5 year ago I was testing it before the start of a season and one of the limbs finally broke.....I sold the remains of it on eBay, a guy bought it to repair one he had broken.

 

[Waingro]

That’s a very generous offer, I may take you up on it. Thanks.

No problem brother. Just let me know if I can help. I'm gonna throw a couple bolts in a target one day this week after work to make sure it's still on. I'd be more than happy to help

 

[shocker998md]

Bumping this back up as I read through it all.

Now that it's 2023, what is a bang for the buck K.I.S.S. rig to get me started?

 

[Slackdaddy]

Bumping this back up as I read through it all.

Now that it's 2023, what is a bang for the buck K.I.S.S. rig to get me started?

Excalibur micro is about as simple and deadly as they come.

 

[Archeryrob]

Do some reading up and pick one and don't go crazy on spending money. Crossbows' have become like compounds now where they have essentially hit the wall on designs. They got over 400 fps and stalled out. lots of new cross bows with X, Y or Z but they aren't that must different, or faster. Some of these high end crossbows are really nice, but can you justify over $1k price difference for what they give you. The added distance doesn't matter when it is a project moving slower than the speed of sound. Becuase a string jumped deer will not be on a tag for you.

Pay attention to triggers and stuff like that. I bought a Killer Instinct 350 years back. It was good and killed deer just fine inside 40 yards. The release system failed and they just replaced it at a local shop. I just paid the local shops labor and KI gave them the parts for free. It was like a different crossbow with the new trigger and release on it. You will look at bows from the same manufacturer and very few FPS difference between them but some are more expensive. Look at the triggers and release on them and read comments about that. I'd rather have a better xbow a bit slower, than a faster one with cheaper parts.

 

[E.Shell]

Bump for the next guy on the bandwagon...me.

Been bowhunting deer with a long bow, recurves and compounds since Maryland started the special archery season and I've taken most of my deer with archery gear. I've sold off or given away most of my stick bows and had been using a compound the last few years. I'm getting increasingly decrepit and I'm finally going to buy a crossbow.

Looking for:

Accurate
Light weight
Decent trigger
Easy cocking
Relatively inexpensive

...more or less in that order.

Hunting both Sika and WTs from a tree. I'll likely restrict my shots to less than 30 yards.

I've read through the thread and based on what I've seen, I'm leaning toward the Excalibur Micro 380. One penny under a grand at Amazon.

A lot of the posts are older, so I'm wondering if the suggestions are still about the same.

Is there something similar and newer I should look at?

Thanks In Advance!

 

[Inigoes]

Wicked Ridge has some decent offerings at a good market price,

Crossbows Archives

Simply the best crossbows. High quality crossbows from the industry leader in crossbow technology and innovation for more than 20 years.

www.tenpointcrossbows.com

The wicked rdge equivelant to what I have is the RDX. The decocking feature is nice to have.

 

[E.Shell]

Thank you Inigoes, I'll have a look!

 

[Sampson]

Give this one a view, I checked it out in person but didn't buy it last time visiting the Christiana store. It was very good for the price.
Still may buy it.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/wicked-ridge-m-370-crossbow-package-with-acudraw

 

[308Scout]

2x on WR. They are essentially prior year TenPoint models that get rebranded to the WR line. The tech on them is essentially identical.

 

[E.Shell]

Give this one a view, I checked it out in person but didn't buy it last time visiting the Christiana store. It was very good for the price.
Still may buy it.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/wicked-ridge-m-370-crossbow-package-with-acudraw

Thanks Sampson, I appreciate the lead!

2x on WR. They are essentially prior year TenPoint models that get rebranded to the WR line. The tech on them is essentially identical.

Thank you 308Scout!

 

[Archeryrob]

I got a Killer Instinct and they are just as good as others and cheaper too. I got a 350 and it is way more power and speed than we need inside of 40 yards. Drives the bolt and broadhead through the chest and 12" in the ground. If you hit a tree after the deer, just forget about the arrow as it will go so deep you'll never recover it without destroying the tree.

I had the release get bad on me and they fixed it in the local shop up here. KI had them do it all no charge. Put a new thumb release safety on it and I like it even more now.

I would not buy he cheapest one as it has a cheap trigger and that matters a lot! The $300 one is a nice bow and the others are just fancy unless you move to the narrow width bows.

https://www.cabelas.com/l/killer-instinct-crossbows-shop-all

Keystone sporting good in Hagerstown sold them and one of the guys in there said it was probably the best value for the dollar.

 

[outrider58]

I know very little about Xbows, so I am no help here. That said, I dread the day I am forced to hang up my compound bow. I'll probably quit bow hunting. I won't know until I get there though. I think the problem is, there are simply too many choices out there and you don't want to take the wrong one. Good luck Ed

 

[Speed3]

I have a Excalibur matrix 380(5+ yrs old at this point). My stepson bought a wicked ridge combo for like $400 vs my 1k. His xbow shot just as well and had a better trigger than mine.

 

[pre64hunter]

I had an old Barnett - terrible customer service.
Next a Killer Instinct - very nice, accurate, great customer service _ the bow shop had it more than me during hunting season, first the factory string, then in replacing it the new bearings were bad, then they didn't align the cams properly, after everything seemed good the limbs began separating.
Killer Instinct sent me a new bow.
I bought a new Excalibur Mag 340, EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
When the new Killer Instinct arrived I sold it NIB!
I too hunted all my life and shot bows a lot. I shoot my xbow a lot and I'm not one to settle for good enough and shoot and test for the best combination. I like simple. The Excalibur is simple, no cams and you can work on it yourself, no bow shops. I upgraded the factory string to a JBK and use a Leupold scope. Actual velocity with the 340 was 334 fps., the JBK increased velocity slightly to 338 fps. AND I'm shooting the factory Quill arrows with a 125 gr. tip!
I also upgraded to the target trigger. Big improvement but not worth $200. The factory trigger is plenty good enough. While installing the new trigger, I found the Excalibur very easy and simple to take apart. You can take the trigger mechanism out and scope mounts off, remove the bow from the stock. when I put it all back together it was still zeroed.
I like the aluminum barre/rail, it's stiff. The composite barrel/rail can flex and my Killer Instinct had a hump where there was a web section.