Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I ordered the Barnett quad 400 crossbow from Cabelas and just got it in today. I followed all the directions and put it together just the way it said it was supposed to go, but when I went to shoot it the problems began.

When I went to load it the first time I found the bolt holder (little metal thing that holds the bolt on the rail) was sized wrong and would not hold the bolt in place. It didn't even make contact. No big deal, it's just a piece of metal and after I uncocked the bow I bent it back into place. Then when I cocked it again and got ready to shoot, I noticed the safety would not slide into the "fire" position. It was stuck. So upon inspection, it seemed a spring was jamming against the safety, when I tried the safety again it worked and I actually got to shoot it once. When I did I heard a "ping" sound and the spring shot out of the action. Apparently, this is the spring that holds the trigger in the forward position because now the trigger flops around in the breeze. After this I read some reviews on this xbow and saw that these kind of problems seem to be common.

So have any of you had any problems like this? My solution is just to send it back and get another brand. I can't seem to get ahold of Barnett customer service, so I'm going to get another brand. What crossbow would you all recomend in the $300-$600 range?

I thought about just having the bow repaired, but after all this and reading the reviews, I'm afraid to shoot/hunt withthis thing.

If nothing else I have my back up xbow, a Horton Summit 150 HD, it's not fast but it worked last year and the quality is far above the Barnett.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

"Problems"? these are not problems.

I guess you didnt buy the recommended 0.5" arrows (by Barnett), so sure the holder didnt hold.

The safety is there for a reason. Liability issues demanded disabling the common but un-safe habit of people to engage the hazardous "fire" position.

And the trigger - Well, the "Breeze Trigger (TM)" is a unique feature of Barnett (pat. pending) offered free for a limited time. Be thankful.

I really dont understand your problem in getting the customer service. True, they didnt unswer any of my mails, but they did talk to me on the phone 3 times, and gave me an exiting variety of 3 different (and conflicting) answers to the same question.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

i am sorry you have gotten one of the bad Barnett CB's. that will take the wind out of your sails. you got a compound so i take it you prefer that style.
there maybe a couple Ten Pts. in that area of money & of course you can get a better Horton. Depending on your stock likes Parker has several models also. its so hard to recommend a CB for another my likes maynot be yours. the way one feels to me maybe diff than you feel it. for the money you have to buy the ones above should do well by you. i lke the Parker BB 175 lb model as a personal choice. i went to Bass Pro and tried every CB they had.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I HAD a quad 400 for a few days
Sold it ,THANK GOD and got an excalibur.
The guy I sold it to said it blew up on him after 3 shots,he ordered a new one from them,sold it and got an excal,I guess it is still out there
Hope you get it all worked out

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I did a lot of research on the web before I settled on my Horton Summit 150HD (in my price range) some of the stuff I read about Barnett turned me away pretty quick. One guy had the bow granade on the first shot and the cable cut his throat requiring surgery. Barnett said he must have dry fired it and it was not covered under warrenty. What about the poor guys medical bills? I read about cracked limbs, bad safeties, terrible triggers, etc, etc, etc. I was going to get one until I did a bit of surfing and while I don't believe all I read on the net, the same tale from several differant sources gets my attention.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

A lot of us me included started out with a barnett and went thru that expensive learning process. I would send it back and get a excalibur.

Martin

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Quad 400's blowing up... Seems to be a trend here.

I've been looking into the Parker "Terminator", but I can't find any reviews on it. I'm a little "gun shy" about ordering another xbow without hearing what others have to say about it.

The Barnett is going back to Cabelas. They even have a box for it on the return sheet; "Quality was not as expected".

Until I get refunded for it, I'm back to using my Horton Summit 150. It's slow, but it's consistant and SAFE.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Did you call Barnett customer service? If you bought a bow from another company would you call customer service then?

I will never understand how people would pay money for a product and not follow through to make sure that they are getting their money worth.

At the very least, call customer service, give them an earful and then send it back to Cabela's.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

why fool with customer service if the seller agrees to take product back and refund or exchange ? if barnett was the only CB on the market i would be hunting with my ML!

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Ive got a tenpoint, had it for 7 years now, performs good, no complaints

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Was this supposed to help the poor guy? Thirty-nine posts and you are an expert? This person comes online looking for help and you bury him in crap?
Wiggy, ignore this trashing you got. Get a hold of David at Wyvern Creations or Danny Miller at Horizonal Archery. You will not be guided wrong. BTW, it does not sound like you've done anything wrong.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

+2;)

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Wiggy,what DNK said is very good advice,for EXcalibur Danny Miller is
the best around,for all others David at Wyverns Creations is a super
guy and has vast knowledge of many different crossbows.I bought my
Ten Point from him and his service is second to none!I also went the
Barnett route and there are a lot of good folks here to help steer you
onto a good crossbow.Get what fits you and your pocket book as I
said contact David he can work for you and get you going,good luck!

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

my brother has BARNETT for 10 years now and has had no problems with it.

he only shot it about 20 times ,he takes it out, shoots 2 shots in bullseye at 20 yards,then goes out and gets a buck with it each year.

mine, i have HORTON and the limbs split after about 60 shots.

horton told me any bow that sits for 10 years could split on limbs,mine did .

i also dry fired it 2 times by mistake,so maybe that split limbs, horton felt it was AGE of bow not dryfire.:eek:

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I have heard lots of problems with Barnett Xbows over the years.My wife and I both have Barnett Quad 300;Barnett changed the limbs and cams to the newer Quad 400.a couple years back. we have taken many,many deer and hogs with ours.we have had a couple small problems but Barnett fixed them at no charge to me.

I guess we have a couple of the good ones.

truley sorry you are having problems.I do believe if you send it to Barnett International at Odess Fla. they will fix it to your satisfation.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

i was at gunshop yesterday.

you would not believe the number of compound bows brought in broken,cables,strings,cam wheels.

same with BARNETT or any other compound crossbow.

if you shoot a compound crossbow a lot, you will get these issues,I FEEL WITHOUT BEING EXPERT ON THIS,just my opinion on what i see.

this is why if you shoot a lot, i would get the crossbow that is recurve type,like the EXCALIBER whick dnk,awshucks and others use.

my limbs on my horton split,it was 10 years old and hardly used.

horton told me just from sitting with pressure on the limbs,limbs will split or weakend.

i only had 60 shots out of it.

also its good to have shop close that repairs crossbows.

my shop is expert in HORTON line,has parts and gets quick service from horton.

thats most important thing, having repair shop close for your model.:eek:

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I bought a Horton Supreme 175lb. last year. I am happy so far and it is in you price range.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Well I sent the bow back to Cabelas, and haven't heard back from them yet.I got out my Horton Summit 150 and put a red dot scope on it and sighted it in with my broadheads (muzzy 100grain 4 blade) and just in case something were to happen to that I hooked my older Horton Yukon up with a new peep sight for a back up. Both shoot 260 fps and should be fine out to 30 yards. The Horton worked ok for me last year, it'll be fine for this season too. I always stayed away from the red dot sights, afraid it would run out of batteries half way through a hunt but now that I've tried it I really like it.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

wiggy,
It wouldnt hurt to check with David at Wyvern Creations he can work
you a very good deal,and his back up customer service is second to
none,good luck on your search!

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Cut your losses and send it back. I had a Barnett for about 20 minutes. I did not even take it out of the box. I took one look and packed it back up and ordered a 10 pt. Couldn't be happier.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I guess you missed the part when hesaid he tried tocall and got no answer! ;)


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Did a lotof research and bought a Ten Point GT-Curve. I love it. And it is in your price range.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I hunted with a Bartnet for one year with no luck. Barnett Revolution. Upgraded the next year to a excalibur.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

ill second the above.. get a excalibur. Customer service is top notch:) Ten points very good also, but ive been a excal fan for a few years now.

sorry about your bad luck though.. Its just the luck of the draw sometimes

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

rafsob -

Did you call during their normal working hours?

I've called them four times in the last three weeks. Got a polite recptionest and then sent to the person I needed to speak with...no problems...no waiting, every time!?

And....was helped and other info transfered as requested !

Personally...I'd check out the Darton lineup. I have three of them (07 lineup). Very nicely done.
Many shops have the 07 bow and will sell at a discount. The 08's are kinda expensive.

Mike

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Well I got the good news from Cabelas yesterday that they got the bow back and they gave me a refund. Since I've been shooting my Horton crossbow so much I'm going to stick with that for this season. I used part of the refund money to buy a new treestand.

I was talking with my neighbor yesterday about this whole deal and he said that he's been shooting a Barnett Quad 400 for years now with no problems... I guess it's hit or miss with them.

My next xbow will be an excal.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

my brother has barnett 300 and has had no problems but he shoots it very little, so that may be bad comparison.

compound crossbows from what i read NEED more maintaince than recurve bow,so its good to have bowshop close for that reason.

but, if you dont shoot a lot,then compound crossbow, only in my opinion is one i would use for deer hunting.

if i shot a lot at home, i would get EXCALIBER,no doubt about that.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I purchased one in june of this year. I have shot over 35 times but also stay using the easton brand of bolts. recommend by barnett. They do say when you change strings or cables were they barnett. If they say to use their line of strings and cables, then the best thing to do is stay with what they say. We all know not to buy a car on a monday or a friday, because friday they can't wait to hit the weekend, and monday they just don'tcare to be at work. All companys threw out the world are face with this kind of work issues. I say if you buy a cheaper one then the recommend one you could run into problems. Trying to shoot lighter bolts or ones because their less in cost. Would run you in some problems to. It's set up to push a weight that is equal to the release of the string to the certin weight of the bolt. Any slight change in thiswill cause the string and cables to pop that will snap them. If youdo all the recommends then they can't say their ain't a issue with their bow. It will be alot easier to get a legal act going then to give them achange to blame fault on you. Mine has puttwo shots in the same hole at 41 yards. Still hitting the same spot today, useing a barnett 4 by 32 scope.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I had a Barnett Quad 300 for several years and had multiple problems with it.I just bought a Tenpoint Flex and love it so far and its not real expensive.

Bill

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

It seems to methatcrossbows are like rifle scopes, buy the most expensive one you can afford. On recommendationsfrom this site, I purchase a ten-point (looked long and hard at excalibur). Abit expensive at first, but glad I did so in the long run. I've been told that Parker is also worth a look, though I haveno personal experience with them.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

i know people that take crossbow out,shoot 5 arrows in same hole at 20 yds,put it away and go hunting.

those people can get away with a cheaper crossbow,will last years.

for us that like to shoot 30/40 shoots each time,maybe 2 times a week, better bows are needed and good bowshop that handles that brand of bow is a MUST.:eek:

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Looks like Barnett is gaining a bad name for themselves. I tagged my second doe with my horton summit 150 last saturday. No sir, I'm not missing the Barnett at all :D

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

Looks like your self-fulfilling prophecy is manifest.

The Horton is proof that you don't need speed to harvest a deer. Slow and steady wins the race.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

I recently bought the new Barnett predator avi about two months ago. I had a Ten point, but thought I could shoot flatter with the barnett as a friend had purchased one and raved about it. Well, I have had two strings blow up in my face and two sets of cables go bad. Thats it for me. I should never have sold my Ten point. It was the titan TL4 and I shot plenty of deer with it and loved it.I went to Gander Mtn. and bought the Ten Point Titan TL7. That was yesterday and I have it dialed in and shooting well. Deer season starts saturday and I am confident enough with it that I will be out there with the rest of em. I spoke with the bow tech from Gander Mtn. and he said that a lot of the Barnetts were coming in with all kinds of string, cable and pulley damage. Not to mention some cracked limbs!!! I learned a very hard and so far, expensive lesson.

RE: Barnett Quad 400 junk
 

When will people learn that it is not greener on theother side!!!

If you are happy with the one you brought, then dance withher and stoplooking around the roomfor something better. ;)

Barnett Quad 400 dangerous junk X2!!!
 

As an FYI, I nearly tore off 8 of my fingers the first quad400 I tried, as it misfired with the safety on and they asked me to send it to them. I received a brand new quad400 in the mail a few weeks later, and guess what, 2nd shot with it sighting it in yesterday and the string blew up at the cam, nobody was hurt this time.

Law suit being pursued......

Good luck with all that. I ended up killing a nice eight pointer that opening Sat. in '08 with my new Tenpoint. I have been hunting with it ever since with good success. I ended up forcing the reseller to buy back my barnett. He did not want to do so at first, but I had used my debit card to purchase it and my bank forced him to take it back and refund my money. A lesson well learned. What a nightmare to have a crossbow misfire while the safety is on. Very dangerous indeed. Mine just kept blowing up strings in my face.