Best crossbows
 

I'm in the initial stages of researching crossbows. This is my first purchase. Regarding quality, warranty, cust. support, performance. How would you guys rate: Excalibur, Parker, Ten Point, Horton, etc. Thanks.

Wet;
This is a subject you could ask 10 different guys and get 10 different but correct answers. I shoot a Stryker 380 with Easton Bloodrunners and 125 grain point but my suggestion to you is this: 1st How far are you from the nearest pro shop? 2nd How able are you to work on or fix a crossbow?
If you are not mechanically inclined I would go for an Excalibur without all the cables and pulleys but if you are close to the pro shop go for whatever you like. See if you can find a couple of guys that are knowlegable about crossbows. What I did was go to the archery shop and ask them what they shoot? They get to play with and test everything so they are probably going to go with the best!
daddus
Can't hurt?

To me, Quality and customer service is top consideration. That being said the two absolute best manufacturers are TenPoint and Excalibur, bare none. Excalibur makes soley recurve crossbows and are top of the line. TenPoint make mostly compound crossbows and are the best in the business
You cannot do better than to make a phone call to David at Wyvern Creations 603-659-0575 He will answer all questions and provide you with all the info you need to make the right decision .

plus one for Exalubar. If you are going to hunt with it. just think when do things go wrong with your bow? of course during hunting season, right. It's nice to have a pro shop near by but they are not cheep and the time your at the shop your not out hunting. there is not much that can go wrong with an excalibur. If the string breaks, put another one on right in the field. try that with a compound crossbow you will have parts every where. I have been using them for 4 years and I won't use any other. As far as speed goes 305 fps is fast enough to take any deer at 40 yards. Just my 2 cents

Best crossbows
 

Great info guys. I appreciate it. Sounds like I'll narrow it down to Ten Point and Excalibur. Keeping it simple does have its appeal. Thanks again.

wetpdr
did you decide on a piece of equipment?
daddus

I never had no dealins wid Ten Pt they seem to be a quality crossbow maker. I am an Excal man been shootin them many many yrs. Don't spect i will ever change

Got to agree and Ten Point is U.S.A. made :rock:

big rockpile

+1 for the Excalibur.
Recurves are easier to maintain, but can be dry fired. I know. I dry fired mine. And unlike my vertical bow, did not blow up. My Excalibur can be decocked safely. Most compound crossbows must be shot to be decocked, so you need to carry 1 arrow in your quiver just for that purpose. When you are only packing 4 arrows, I like them all to have broad heads on them. JMO
your results may be different.

I leave my Bow cocked until I either get home or to camp.

Have three Arrows and have never shot over two on an outing.

big rockpile

+1 for TenPoint

I have the TenPoint TitanXtreme model and I love almost everything about it. The only issue I have is with the AcuDraw system (rope pull, not the crank). Occasionally, one side gets out of sync with the other and it won't fully retract. I have to take off the cover and rewind the string on the spool to get both sides in sync. It's a pain in the butt. Especially when it happens in the woods and you have a noisy rope handle dangling against the stock.

Other than that, I've been happy with my TenPoint and would recommend it (with the crank draw instead rope assist).

We have a Parker, just cuz it was cheaper. 6 confirmed deer kills...one I lost due to a bad shot (my fault)...all shots have been under 30yds and the deer only go 40yds max.

I don't think it matters what brand anymore with the exception of super cheap bows...I personally wouldn't go less than Parker priced bows...just depends how much you are willing to pay...I do know super cheap means super cheap made. Just keep that in mind.

Scorpyd bows.

The best reverse draw bows being made.

The new Velocity 165 is the leader for speed over all other brands & types of xbow. Basically a blending of the SLP 165 that came before it with the lighter rail & better trigger of the Ventilator. Also uses the Ventilator's stock, to me that's OK, but not a big deal. Speed is 425+fps with a 400gr arrow.

The Ventilator is a bit more compact & and still gives pretty high speed. Narrower, shorter & lighter (1/2lb) than the Velocity bow. About 400fps, or a bit less depending on arrow.

While these are very, very good bows, among the very best, they are also some of the more expensive.......

I have first hand experience only with Ten Point and Parker. The Ten Point shot great. Fast and excellent accuracy. I clean killed every deer that I shot at with it. However I did have a failure of the safety mechanism. This malfunction resulted in an unintended and semi-dryfire of the cross bow. This model was their top of the line in 2007 and came with a hand crank co%king mechanism. The failure occured as follows. I had co%ked it shortly after getting set up in the stand. I was easing off of the co%k tension in preparation to remove and propeperly store the co%cking yoke when it fired unexpectedly. My hands were nowhere near either the trigger or the forearm release. Fortunately I had my left hand that was on the forearm well below the string, but not low enough to avoid the lower edge of the yoke as it was being launched. Nasty contusion to my left thumb.

Ten Point was great about the "repairs". Frankly it appeared to me that they had replaced my cross bow with a brand new one. I probably shot it 100 times and it worked flawlessly. However I had lost confidence in the safety mechanism and sold it. The guy that bought it from me knew of the malfunction and has used it extensively over the past two seasons and with zero troubles.

I replaced it with a Parker Tornado. Frankly I like it better than the Ten Point mainly because it is more compact and lighter in weight. It too is fast and deadly accurate. I have used it for 2 seasons now. I have killed 9 deer and one coyote with it. I changed from a typical cross hair "scope" sight to a lighted red 3-dot sight prior to last season thinking that I might gain a few minutes of shooting late in the afternoon. I missed two deer right off the bat, despite a lot of practice on the range. I switched back to a sight system similar to what I had been used to and from that point on did not miss again. Not sure what my issue was but apparently there was something I was doing wrong in the field.

I highly recommend the Parker. Not sure if they even make the Tornado any longer, but certainly should be offering something similar. My bolts are "Red Hots" with 125 gr. Montec fixed blade broad heads. I have never had an issue with flight or blood trails. The scope is the Nikon BDC made for a cross bow. Most shots have been a complete pass through with recovery made within 100 yards or so.

Good luck on what you end up buying and hope you have a great hunting season.

I also have the SZ380 which is made by Bowtech and it's a awesome crossbow that is very light, deadly accurate and has the best trigger I've ever seen. I also have a Tenpoint Titan and they have been around for years and have one of the best customer service of them all. I do like the Tenpoint but it is really heavy compared to the SZ380 and the trigger has a lot of creep so I do all my hunting with my SZ and keep the Titan as a backup.

I don't know what is best so I went with seemed to have the best Customer Service and then found a used 10 Pt Titan TL4 with everything and the price was a steal!

So now am trying to tune it in using Magnus Bullhead to lop a turkey's head clean off!

So far am learning as I go. Found out bolts are hard to get out of the Block with crippled hands! :(

Shoots well tho.

JW

Not sure where you are but I know someone that has an Excalibur for sale at $500. He said it has all top of the line accessories on it. They sell for almost $500 new but I'm not sure what they come with. Research it and if it's something your interested in you can just private message me with your info and maybe you 2 can work something out.

I watched a youtube video on the Scorpyd crossbows and they look like a very nice bow but if your looking for something affordable, they aint cheap. $1200 with no accessories.

I'm also looking into buying a crossbow that is quite and $700 or less. Any info would be great. I was thinking about a reverse limb crossbow because I heard that they are the quietest. Is there any truth to that?

The reverse limb crossbows do tend to be quieter. One of the hunting mags awhile back did a comparison of several x-bows and the quietest by far I believe was the reverse-limb Horton Havoc. Horton also has another reverse limb called the Fury which is quite a bit louder - maybe due to design, or because of speed - it shoots at 360 fps where the Havoc shoots at 318 fps. Personally I would take 318 fps and be quieter....

All x-bows are going to be louder than a vertical bow, though. The quietest x-bow I've ever shot was the Barnett RC-150 - that one is pretty friggin quiet. But still a little louder than my PSE vertical compound.

If you are on a budget, I think Horton makes good bows. I have used a few different models over the years and they have worked well. Quality/durability is much better than Barnett, but probably a step below Excal or Tenpoint. I picked up a new Horton Brotherhood last year for $300 with a 4 power scope, quiver and arrows included. That is a pretty good deal. It worked very well for me last season. It is quite heavy and loud, but shoots fast and accurate.

buy a Striker 380- Best Bow for the money period. You can use one pin from 0-45 yards. I was practicingat 105 yards this year- just for fun. Its actually my wifes bow. She can pull it back, its quiet, low price, great accessory are included, and etc. If a company makes a good bow, you shouldnt be worried about customer service- You will not have any problems if you use it correctly and take care of it

Can't find anywhere, the SZ380 that you were talking about. Do u have any advise where to look?

http://www.wyverncreations.com/index...b9ac50cb137786

True, they are not cheap bows.

But they are as good as it gets in Xbows right now.

Add a good or best grade scope and you'd have a very hard combo to match.

Top of the line stuff always seems to cost a bit more than we'd like.....

Darton,great crossbow and the customer service is the best.

1st bow is a Ten Point Phantom CLS, just received my second bow from David at WYVERN, the new Ten Point "Vapor". Really great c-bows, both have cranks. Like big rockpile said, "Made In the USA"

To be fair you have to compare apples to apples.

Given two compound bows, one traditional "T" type & the other a reverse draw bow, both with arrows of same weight & speed.

Then the reverse draw bow will be a good bit lower noise. This is due to the fact the reverse draw bow needs lower draw weight with it's longer draw length.

Along with the Horton reverse draw bows you could also try to find a Scorpyd used within your price range.