Want a crossbow

[acwatkins]

So I understand speed is extremely important, what fps should is ideal?

 

[Inigoes]

So I understand speed is extremely important, what fps should is ideal?

Anything new-ish will be over 300.

 

[outrider58]

A newer used brand name crossbow will have an anti dry lever that makes it unable to dry fire without a bolt in place. Easy to tell, if you look at the space in between the rail just above the trigger there should be a lever which once the bolt is in place allows it to be fired. Note some bow brands (Barnett & maybe others) will also have trigger safety in same area. Crossbows like other bows once dry fired could have cracks in the limbs or they explode/shatter upon firing.

Good point. I would only buy one with that option.

 

[rgramjet]

Took my crossbow to the range today. 3 bolts, 3" group, in the ring, at 40 yards. I put it away after 3 shots.

 

[outrider58]

So I understand speed is extremely important, what fps should is ideal?

It is because cross bows are loud as sh!t!

 

[Gunlawyer]

Im thinking about getting a crossbow but have no idea what to look for or which ones are good or bad. I have a really nice guitar im gonna try to trade for one at a pawn shop maybe. What should I look for? Which brands are best?

If you want to kill deer with a relentlessly reliable and trouble fee and effective tool, make it simple! With way over 100 deer removed with bow and crossbow, and a 2 year stint with Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia dropping bodies year round, my experience leads me to suggest you avoid all the complex crap and go simple.

No cams, no pulleys, nothing to go out of tune, no delicate limbs, nothing to vibrate loose. Just pure rugged simplicity is what you want.

Get yourself an Excalibur recurve and call it done.

I have had an Excalibur Equinox (they have new models these days-no longer make the Equinox) for a few years and it has killed a great big pile of deer and has been dropped out of trees onto rocks, stuffed through branches and thorns and bushes and dragged and dropped and tossed into trucks and used hard like a hardcore hunting tool and it always hits where it is supposed to. From hot/humid summer hunts in August to well below freezing frigid vigils in the stand in January, it has always worked as it should as there is really nothing that can go wrong with it because there is nothing fancy about it. It just launches bolts reliably, quickly and loudly. 
Just hit the easy button and go recurve. Simple is better!

Chris

 

[willtill]

If you want to kill deer with a relentlessly reliable and trouble fee and effective tool, make it simple! With way over 100 deer removed with bow and crossbow, and a 2 year stint with Suburban Whitetail Management of Northern Virginia dropping bodies year round, my experience leads me to suggest you avoid all the complex crap and go simple.

No cams, no pulleys, nothing to go out of tune, no delicate limbs, nothing to vibrate loose. Just pure rugged simplicity is what you want.

Get yourself an Excalibur recurve and call it done.

I have had an Excalibur Equinox (they have new models these days-no longer make the Equinox) for a few years and it has killed a great big pile of deer and has been dropped out of trees onto rocks, stuffed through branches and thorns and bushes and dragged and dropped and tossed into trucks and used hard like a hardcore hunting tool and it always hits where it is supposed to. From hot/humid summer hunts in August to well below freezing frigid vigils in the stand in January, it has always worked as it should as there is really nothing that can go wrong with it because there is nothing fancy about it. It just launches bolts reliably, quickly and loudly. 
Just hit the easy button and go recurve. Simple is better!

Chris

Amen. I have an Excaliber Vortex and it is simply the best way to stick a deer.