Saw a post on here earlier and it got me thinkin, what IS the best crossbow out there? I personally love my Horton Hunter (175#) and wouldnt shoot anything else. I had a Horton Explorer before and was pleased with it as well. I see a lot about Excalibur, I have never shot one so I would be ignorant to comment on it either way. Same with TenPoint. But I just wanted to get a little discussion on here discussing the ins and outs and pros and cons of all our bows!
IMO...the best crossbow is the one you are most comfortable with. Sounds non conclusive, but in reality once the bolt leaves the bow they all do about the same thing. Some faster, some a bit more accurately, but generaly they will all put something sharp into a 8" circle on a deer at 40yrds or less. If you are uncomfortable with a bow you will not be as accurate, or confident as you will be if it fits you right.
That being said...engineering wize, Bowtech has it as far as pushing the envelope. Quality, Tenpoint. Customer service, Excal. Simplicity, Excal. Reliabiltiy...that is a toss up between all of them. Accuracy....well, that is a double edged sword. If you compare an off the shelf bow and use the bolts that the manufacture supply, it would be between Excal, Tenpoint, and Stryker. However, you tune the bolts to the bow, and all of them are about the same...
Picking a crossbow is similar to picking a spouse. Everyone has their own idea of perfect.
I used a Horton Hunter for a few years and thought it was good, but when I shot an Excalibur the Horton was soon forgotten. I had a buddy that held on to his Horton Hunter for several years after I switched to Excalibur. He finally decided to take a few shots with my Excalibur Phoenix shortly after i got it. We were shooting at 25 yards and I always pull the arrow after i shoot to save on destroying arrows. He put three shots into the same hole in the target his first three shots. He owned an Excalibur Phoenix shortly after that range session and his Horton now hangs in his outdoor shed to serve as a "loaner".
In all fairness, the recurve design is not for everyone. TenPoint is very close to Excalibur on accuracy and good trigger pull. Horton is a good crossbow, but in my opinion if you shoot an Excalibur or TenPoint you mayget an urgeto switch brands. Not saying Horton won't get the job done, but I am saying the Excalibur & TenPoint get it done with ease!
If you are going to do a lot of shooting (year round) the excal recurves are in my opion are tried and proven, you change the string and shoot, shoot, shoot with very little maintaince.
But from a treestand or blind the compounds smaller limbs are better, I practice year round with my excal exomag (185 lbs.) mag tip and hunt with my Buckmaster Maxpoint (stock made by excalibur bow made by Bear).
What IS the best crossbow?
