hello all, i am new to crossbows and decided with all the friends wanting be to help them at home with sighting in and advice, i thought i would start this topic..i am not expert on crossbows, recurves i am.. been at this for 45 years,wow ,that long,oh my..well,here we go.things i found out with crossbow is this..they are not light,real heavy in a tree or shooting off hand.the slighest movement and your arrow could be off at least 3 inchs from bullseye.with scope its hard to get center of target unless shooting off of rest ,much harder than recurve or compound..at 30 yards not on rest your arrows could beoff as much as 7 inchs,book says you will have 5 inch drop.this is do to not being able to steady your shots and scope brings bullseye in more than pins or distict shooting with recurve.up to 30 shots a good compound or recurve shooter would and can out shoot a crossbowIF crossbow shooter is not strong in arms and has a lot of practice.rest assured on that.crossbows are noisy.we know that.i took my spitfire 100,s and put as much wobble into the arrow as i could..i wanted to see if the arrows would shoot all over..nope..those spitfires even loose shot the same point as a balanced arrow.i dont think balance with crossbow arrow is that extreme as with recurve or compound..sunlight, you better postion your stand so sun is at your back or to side.any sunlight into scope makes things tough to see and concentrate.this is secret to compound..concentration.you dont get that on compound or recurve, you pull up and let arrow fly.i have not tested yet on pulling up and just shooting compound to see what happens..i did notice in tree that arrows will slide down say about 2 inchs on rail if you bump or move arrow..this is something to watch.also on horton dial- a -range,it moves when the cocking string bumps it. i took white paint and maked the no.2 postion on dial so at glance you can see if you are on no.2..this is bad thing.i more thing to worry about in tree hunting,thats no good.i use 20 yd line in scope only..this is way i always did things. i sight in for 20 dead,no shots over 30 yds or so. 5-7 drop at 30 and dead on at rest 10-20..safety, you betterhave your foot into front when you pull string back, i almost got it in the ,well,you guys know where..man, that would have been a trip to hospital..with gloves some put their fingers up to high..i believe string will take a finger off if not in a glove..well, thats about it for now,.thing i saw most is this, if your arms are weak,THAT is bigtime problem in treestand..i think some kind of tripod rest or walking tripod would be a big help.no way you can shoot these crossbows if you are wandering all over taget..i was surprised how far off a arrow shot because i did not hold the front rail on stock secure while shooting off a sand bag..if you do not hold that crossbow on front good, your arrows will shoot all over..now do that in a treestand with no rest and shooting down hill..oh,forgot this too. on our recurves and componds,shooting out of treestand you usually aim a little lower at 10-20 yds as arrow will be a few inchs high.. i did not notice this with crossbow,it seems you can aim same as shooting off ground on rest..hope this was helpful, most of you already know this.. give your experiences and correct me if i am wrong on my info i tested..take care.sproulman