Deeku

I'm planning to buy my first crossbow, and now I have three candidates to choose from. For some reason, all of them are Horton models. First of all, the cb will be for target practicing only. It's Illegal to hunt with crossbows in my country.

So, which of these would suite me best?

1. Horton 08 Explorer HD 150 (red dot pakage, 349$)
2. Horton 08 Team Realtree 175 (red dot pakage, 419$)
3. Horton 05 Hunter Max 150 (crossbow only, 209$ on bargain bin. Plus red dot sight and arrow quiver etc. Still a bit cheaper than 08 explorer pakage)

At least Hunter bow should be accurate and good quality?

For some reason I'm facinated to power . So, I think more power = better crossbow. But still, I have never shot any crossbow. Maybe the 150 models areenough for me, and have plenty of power for target shooting?. Do you eaven need more than that in target practicing? Or can you shoot from further distances with 175lbs crossbows?

ranger56528

For target you might want to go 175-200 for better shot placement......JMO....

martinfaw

Deeku, welcome to the forum, my two cents worth on getting into crossbows, it is expensive to learn i could have saved a lot of money if i knew what i know now.
For target shooting I would get a excalibur vixen $355.00 on ebay. There is no maintaince just changing strings which you can do yourself.
You don't have to carry it to a bowshop for anything.

Martin

Mike Van Veghten

If you want a bow that's VERY easy on strings and servings and at about 19 yards will put an arrow into the back of another arrow (I know...I lost two arrows with one shot!)...take a look at the Darton line-up.

You can shoot this bow all day without worrying about...waxing the track or serving.

A little pricey...but can be had fairly inexpensive if you look around.

I know they're (darton) not part of your list...but well worth looking into. By the way...I only shoot one arrow per bullseye now!

Also...for what it may be worth..."most" modern crossbows, will shoot fairly accurately with a little getting used to the bow you've chosen and a good sight/scope and quality arrows.

Mike

DaGriz

Buying a crossbow is like buying oats. If you want good first caliber, high quailty oats you buy those that come from a reputable manufacturer. If want cheap you can buy those that have been thru the horse and are close to a P.O.S.
It's thesame with crossbows You can buy good quality, top rate crossbows or you can buy those that are close to a P.O.S,

Look at CB's from the Big Four: Ten Point, Excaliber, Bowtech, Parker.

Mike Van Veghten

Griz -

You saying the Darton line is cheap?
I beg to differ!

I've had them apart...(have you?)...they are NOT cheap bows. Designed and made very well I might add. Some may not like the weight at the front (many don't like the weight of the Stryker, it's even heavier !!), some have a hard time with the bull pup design...tell me something bad about the mechanical design of any of the Darton line in the past 3 or 4 years.

Also from what I understand..Horton has made great strides in their designs also.

So what have you to say there?

Mike

sproulman

i would go with martinfaw on his info.

i have horton sl hunter.
i only put 80 shots thru it and limbs split on me.
had to have shop replace them for 125 dollars.

with horton you need shop to help you change strings and order parts for you.

i would go with EXCALIBER.

907Alaska

X2

Deeku

You can't change the string or other parts in Horton by yourself? Didn't think about that :/. I have no bow shops nearby, so would have to send the bow to maintaince.

Sounds like Horton splits people into two groups. Some say it works great with no parts breaking, others say the limbs break after just a few shots. Interesting, hmm. Horton seems to have a 3 year to lifetime warranty on limbs. At least in new 08 models. Cheapest bows have 3 year, and more expensive models lifetime. Of course it's a bit difficult to send bows to seller for warranty maintaince, the posts cost over 100$ per direction . So I think by ordering abroad, I have to forget the warranty.

Maybe I should take a look at excalibur models again. For some reason I'm not so facinated about recurve crossbows. But they are as powerful or?

I have been looking crossbows from : http://www.yeoldearcheryshoppe.com. Seems easy to order to Finland. I have never used ebay yet. For some reason can't make my email valid in PayPal. Just says message sent, and no mail gets there. Yet I trust more in stores than an individual seller. So, if there is more good candidates in this price group, tell me .

Excalibur seems to need a separate bow pakage. That makes it maybe a bit more expencive than those models I had in mind. But the price range I had thought would be around 400-600$. Customs takes there share and adds VAT + their own fees, so I will pay about +27% tho those list prices . But about 400-600$ on list price.

10ptCrossbow

If you are looking for inexpensive, then I would suggest the Horton Summit. That design has been around for a couple decades and it just works.Same performance as the Explorer, just not as much weight. It should be about the same price or a little less then the Explorer.Excal makes a god bow and don't forget about TenPoint's new Flex recurve that starts at $399.
Randy