I'm not a fan of them, but...

by pokynojoe, Thursday, November 05, 2015, 19:07 (3309 days ago) @ Warhawk

Because of my situation as regards archery, I've tried a few and owned several. There are two that I recommend. Ten Point crossbows are very good, but they can be pricey. I've owned two Excalibur crossbows in the past. Crossbows chew up center servings, so if you don't know how to serve a string, learn how. With Ten Points (or any other compound crossbow) you'll need a press or pro shop to service it, with Excalibur's you don't. The warranty and customer service from Excalibur is excellent, as is Ten Point, can't speak to the others. I had an Excalibur Phoenix that had a set of limbs delaminate and they were replaced in three days, no questions asked. We've seen a lot of Barnetts and Hortons(no longer made I think) in the shop for repairs. Guys dry fire them and blow the limbs up. One of the hottest sellers is the tac 15 or something like that. You can buy just the rail, limbs and cams and it fits on the lower assembly of an AR, or you can buy the whole bow, pretty popular around here, and pricey. The Wicked Ridge bows are Ten Points value line of crossbows, I've shot a few and they seem like a good buy for the money.

For a decent crossbow, expect to pay around 5 "C-notes", good used bows hold there value, but be careful buying used. A lot of "archers" buy them and blow the limbs up. There's a lot of cheap chinese junk on the market now. With "inclusion" in many states now, the technology is changing rapidly. This is definitely one item were the old adage holds true..."you get what you pay for."

I will tell you, they are not a panacea, and there is a learning curve, albeit not as steep as a longbow or recurve, or even a compound, but they do require you pay attention to what you're doing. Effective range is similar to a compound bow. My Excalibur Vixen was so accurate out to 40 yards I got so's I couldn't shoot at the same spot twice.

Having said all that, I sold them off four or five years ago. They are cumbersome to hunt with, especially out of a tree stand, they're noisy as hell, I never could get mine quiet. Being a long time archer, I never could get used to the "horizontality" of the damn things.
And, I'm not one of those anti-crossbow people, but it just didn't seem like archery to me.