New Crossbow Advice please give me your 2 cents

[Lee M]

Rookhawk - Sounds like you really like the xbow you are a dealer for. That was a pretty detailed sales pitch. In my honest opinion it somewhat implies Scorpyd has created some kind of star wars super weapon.

I have a reverse Horton crossbow that is probably 7+ years old. Works well and is accurate. I shoot it every now and then, and have taken a few whitetails with it. But I'll admit to be more of a compound bow shooter. I like the challenge of having to shoot a lot to stay competent and I am not yet ready to give the commitment needed to a traditional recurve/longbow. Having shot bows for 35 years, I would have to say that I have never met a person that I think should consider taking a 75 yard shot at an animal. I sometimes practice at 100 yards, but that is only at targets. I takes a long time for any arrow to go 75 yards and there are just too many factors in the field that make that far beyond what a realistic range is (in my opinion). I would honestly say that even 50 yards is farther then what 80% of people should attempt at an animal. I am not doubting your personal skill, and I also note that you said in your post that each person needs to decide what is ethical for them, but many elements in a hunting situation are out of a hunters control. The issue in my opinion is that crossbows make it easy for anyone to pick up a bow and hit a target without any practice and that translates into an unreasonable thought of what they are realistically capable of doing. In my home state of Pennsylvania, bow season was opened to crossbows quite a few years ago. And that opened up a great sport to many who did not previously bow hunt, which is good. But that also had some issues. Many previous gun only hunters bought xbows and started launching arrows at distances that are way out of their competence level. I know this as I have numerous friends who fall into this category. The dust off their xbow before the season, fire off a few shots and tell me how many bullseyes they hit.

Speed sells - I get it. Most major bow makers market this. You had this as your very first highlight. But ALL bows are relatively slow. A slow cartridge like a .30-.30 or .35 Rem is still 4-5 times faster then the fastest bow. And these two calibers are thought of as close range guns (inside 100 yards). So I just cringe when I hear claims of long range bows. I love the sport of bow hunting, xbows included. But they are all still relatively primitive weapons and we all need to respect what they are capable of and what is really an acceptable, ethical and realistic distance to harvest an animal cleanly in the presence of mother nature and fidgety animals. And just like with compound bows, there are many good quality xbows out there. I would recommend to anyone interested in any bow to shoot them before deciding. Then buy one and practice, practice, practice. The practice piece is more important then the buying piece. I have a friend who owns an archery shop and shoots a new brand/model each year, as he gets them for free. I asked him which is the best and he responded, they all shoot better then I am capable of achieving. There is no super bow. However, that is not to say that Scorpyd is not a good xbow. It may be one of the best out there for all I know. But it is still just a bow.

I would like to hear what some of the other archers on this site think? Jeff, Forrest, Brickburn, what are your thoughts? Thx

 

[Lee M]

Also - Nice shooting sheephunterab !

 

[rookhawk]

And just like with compound bows, there are many good quality xbows out there.

Lee, that was what I assumed when I got into archery about six years ago out of necessity. (My family eats 5-6 deer a year and archery is our only legal harvest method)

What I discovered was that the archery industry makes what I call crap. If we go to Cabelas with $1500 you can get a decent utility rifle of immense quality for a comparison. (Fn made model 70?) Look at archery and its plastic junk. Scorpyd are the best crossbows I've seen and they still seem inferior to a thrifty rifle in form, design and finish. I felt the same way about bows and rep only one, gearhead.

The thing that finally convinced me was when I broke two crossbows made by Stryker (Solution), rated best Xbow of the year by many sources in the industry. Getting warranty and return was a nightmare. That's a $800 weapon and it was so poorly made and assembled. The trigger was excellent, however.

It will only get worse as speeds increase the forces on the xbow get worse. The only way to moderate this is reverse draw as it is less stressful. Look at the 450fps Barnetts, they have huge issues due to stress.

The other thing I noticed is there is a paltry margin in archery overall, I don't know how brick and mortars do it. I sell Scorpyd as a service even though the time and hassle to sell one makes it a wash. The old saying, I won't quit my day job!

 

[CAustin]

Interesting topic as I'm thinking of getting a crossbow!

 

[flatwater bill]

Some random thoughts from 34 years of xbow hunting:
Most any of the cheap models from the discount catalogs will reliably kill deer.
The original string is still fine on my 1998 Horton legend.
Ten Point is excellent with a great trigger: the weak point on most xbows
Killed antelope with Excalibur Matrix, the most accurate bow I've tested. Sold bow week later: heavy trigger and awful noise is why.
Reverse draw is a huge advantage with long power stroke, and great speed at modest draws.
Rook hawk sells the best bow I have ever seen
FWB

 

[Art Lambart II]

As a long time bow hunter and compound bow user I have had to except the risk of string damage or failure in the field. If your string is damaged or broken during a hunt your hunt is over. When it came time to switch to a crossbow this problem only compounded (no pun intended) the additional force generated by the crossbow puts even more stress on the cams and string of a compound crossbow increasing the chance of failure with each shot. Then I discovered the Excalibur crossbow the most accurate, reliable, durable crossbow on the market. The Excalibur is a re-curve crossbow, no cams, no cables, just limbs. If you accidentally dry fire a compound crossbow you've just destroyed your crossbow, if that happens to an Excalibur just cock it and go hunting. If you damage or break the string on a Excalibur you can change it in the field in less than 5 minutes. Other crossbows may be faster, have a better trigger or an automatic safety but if I'm going to use my limited vacation time and spent my hard earned money on a crossbow hunt it will be with the most accurate, reliable, durable crossbow I can find, for my money that's an Excalibur.