bran, I want to echo BigBulls comments about Ten Point as being "THE BEST" in the industry. There isn't another crossbow company around that will criticize them or not tell you that Ten Point isn't the gold standard among crossbows. Usually the competitors are overheard or advertise like, "Ours are just like Ten Point, or ours has the same features as Ten Point". Heck then why not get a Ten Point?

I must admit that while I am a 20 year veteran too the sporting goods business and have been bowhunting for over 20 years, this is my homestates (TN) first season with crossbows being legalized for everyone during the regular archery season. Since June the shop I work for has sold in excess of 250 crossbows. We carry Horton and Ten Point. Obviously for monetary reasons the Horton has outsold the Ten Points about 5 too 1. But that is because we sold the crap out of a 150# Yukon/Red dot scope pkge Horton for under $300. In the over $500 range the market was dominated by Ten Point.

We have had a few Hortons come back in, a few for mfgr problems and the majority for stupid human error. We have had 1 Ten Point come back and it was a 82 year old man who actually attempted to dry fire the bow SEVERAL TIMES [:'(]over the course of two weeks. Finally the aluminum housing at the back of the flight rail that holds the string stop which prevents the dry firing, BROKE! He fully admitted it was his own fault but we gave him a new bow and Ten Point sent us a new replacement as well.

I have hunted with a compound (and two years with a recurvein the early 90s when I got burned out on compounds) for two decades and didn't feel I wanted a crossbow. But they have been SO much fun to shoot, setup and sell that I actually purchased one a week AFTER our bowseason actually opened here in late Sept. I bought the Ten Point Titan TL-4 red dot package. It is of course a 165# bow and it came with the Accudraw 50on it. I LOVE IT and have already killed with it. Two other gentlemen at work are older and have actually used crossbows for nearly 10 years (had doctors approval which was legal in TN) and they both use and swear by the Ten Points. I believe they both have QX4s.

I differ from Bigbulls in that I FULLY recommend at least one of the two Accudraws available from Ten Point. The 50 like mine is the manual "ropes" that reduce the effort by half (since you are using a pulley the effort is cut in half. When you consider that there is two handles you can divide the effort in half and then half of that again because of the handles. In reality you are pulling 1/4th in each hand! lol clear as mud?) and is a faster and quieter system than the "winch" type Accudraw 100. My brother and a friend both bought the Elite pkgs with the Accudraw 100 and they actually liked my 50 better after seeing it in use. BUT I recommend the Accudraw 100 for small people, elderly, weaker ladies and small teens who might not can handle the other alternatives. I have also sold several 100s to handicaps in wheelchairs. The nice thing about the 100s is you can recock the bow while seated, something to think about for the hunter!

They are a breeze to setup and shoot. We have a small 10yd test lane in our store and every single crossbow has left ready for the woods. Pins, single or multidot scopes are ready for action if they are hitting about 1.5" high at 10yds. I can't tell you how many I sold this year too folks who came in not for sure they really wanted one but after only one bolt, they HAD to have one!

I actually use the carbon bolts from Horton and use the same broadheads I have used for the last couple of years in my Hoyt (100grn fixed Rockets). The two older fellows I mentioned swear by the 100grn Revolutions from Rocky Mtn.

Good luck and don't hesitate to get your dad a crossbow. I for one am GLAD our state saw the light on them. They have really encouraged many more people to get into the woods during bowseason and hopefully that will get up the harvest numbers as they are sadly lacking in our over populated state!
RA