After much consideration I decided that I wanted a Crossbow. Not one of your crap Chinese bows that are made from inferior material, Granted they look good yet I just do not trust the quality of these bows. I was about to find out that my final purchase was similar to them. Are they made for hunting or just for target shooting? Granted some of them are pretty accurate but only when you take the time to dial them in and keep consistent shooting patterns. I moved on from these bows rather quickly. I should say that all my weapons training and use has been with Firearms. Mainly rifles and shotguns. I had no idea what I was getting into with Crossbows and none of the videos on Youtube.com helped influence my decision since they really were not all that help full anyways.
So here is my guide to buying a crossbow. There are some basic things you want to know before you do end up purchasing one.
1 - What are you going to do with it? (Target shooting, Minor Hunting, Assaulting an objective in stealth silence?)
2 - How strong do you want it to be (This ties in with #3, but do you want it to kill everything god ever created or do you want it to just be able to penetrate a target at 50 yards?)
3 - How portable do you want it to be? (This ties in with #2 since for strength you sacrifice portability. Do you want something compact or do you want something big?)
4 - What is your Budget? (I recommend at least $125 U.S.D. to start)
5 - What are your state laws if you are going to hunt with a crossbow? (Check out Hunter's Friend - State Crossbow Hunting Regulations for US & Canada to find out what your State considers legal. Utah sucks!)
Those are the five key points in making a crossbow purchase. Now I wish I had thought about it more. I love my crossbow but I can not hunt anything legaly in Utah with it. So now I am searching for a great deal on a compound bow. I love the whole archery deal more then my firearms at the moment and I really want to take some game with a bow for food and sport. Anyways... moving on lets look at some good crossbows.
Now this is what I call the Generic Crossbow Version 1. Version 2 is in the first photo in this posting. The only difference between the two versions is that 1 is wood stock and 2 is fiberglass stock with a lighter butt stock. A lot of different places list this under a different name so I just went with Generic. Its good looking and has power, but I don't know how accurate it is and personally I have rifles that look like this already I don't need a Crossbow this way. Ebay sells a lot of them ranging in price from 50$ to 100$. If you do buy anything crossbow wise from Ebay remember to look at the sh
ipping! That can rape you.Next up we have a lovely model that I wanted to buy for months. I almost did except when I had the money, no store had them in stock for a decent price. This little bundle of fun is made by Barnett Crossbows and is known as the Panzer V. Impressive look, specifications, and if you spend abit extra you get a good package with a Red dot sight and an under bow quiver. The thing is sexy and all black. Too bad I did not end up buying it, I bet it would of been great. What I did get however I love.
Now you might be asking yourself "Wait a minute, We've seen three bows now and there have been no Compound bows. What the hell? Compound bows are the wave of the future and the way to go!" If you aren't, well you were going to ask yourself that question eventually. Perhaps. Ok so probably not. I don't much like compound bows, or rather did not until I did some research on them and found that they have a couple more disadvantages over recurve crossbows, yet all in all they are the better deal. I did not list any compound bows in the first part of this guide because it is about the cheaper better bows on the market that you can buy. I stress do not purchase a crossbow for under 100$, they have 100lb draw compound NCSTAR bows on ebay with fishing gear setup. Those are pieces of shit. Worthless scrap metal hunks. Most of what NCSTAR makes is worthless, except my spotting scope, I do like that bit of kit. Anyways, moving on...
Next we have a Folding Crossbow! Wait... what? A crossbow that folds? What is to prevent it from folding when you need it most? Probably some cheap plastic or pot metal clips. Granted the idea does sound cool when you first think about it. A crossbow that folds up to save space and you can impress your friends by making it unfold in a cool way. Yet practicality sets in and you start to realize that its a very unnecessary addition to a weapon that has been around since ancient China. Not to mention that the stock is rather odd looking and the grip can't feel that good in your hand. Another downside is that there is no listed Manufacturer so its technically Generic Crossbow #3, now with Kung-Fu Folding Action! HI YAW! Don't be fooled by this one either. On ebay there are variations with non folding limbs that claim to be 180lb draw. There is no crossbow that looks like this that has a 180lb draw. They are all 120lb crossbows. The only reason they claim to have a 180lb draw is because the model number on the box is 180. I hate false advertising and in this situation it pays to do your research, or at least it pays to have me do your research for you.
The last one was a big consideration of mine until the Barnett Panzer V won out with sheer awesomeness. (Ok so I lied, I do have one compound crossbow on this page but its a pretty low end one.) This one is by Horton, another established name in Crossbows. It is known as the Trac 150. They claim it has a Stealth Black color... well, kinda all black is stealthy. So I don't really know what is so special about their claim. It has compound gears which is still a downside to me. I prefer the classic look. The stock reminds me of a cheap Chinese knockoff of an AK-47 synthetic stock and the grip looks like it would work well but I imagine that my palm would get unusually sweaty after handling it half a day. It reminds me of the grip on a Hi-Point 9mm Carbine before I bought the ATI stock for it.
The last crossbow I will show you is the one I purchased. The plastic tips for the string broke after several uses but they were easy to find replacements for and I just love the look of it. This is the Guide Gear 150lb recurve crossbow from Sportsman's Guide.
I have been shopping with them for two years now and I have never had a problem with anything purchased. The two final factors in my decision to buy this crossbow over any of the others I had seen were this. 1 - Parts, I knew this was a generic crossbow that had been custom modified to fit what Sportsman's Guide wanted for their Guide Gear selection. If the limbs or string broke I could easily replace them. If anything happened to the mechanics of the crossbow I could easily find new fittings. 2 - Trusted retailer. I had made many purchases through Sportsman's guide and they seemed the logical choice to go through. The Bow came with four bolts and I bought an additional four. The price tag was only around 120$ for everything. It came in a box and I took the pieces out. with minor assembly I had it ready to go. Now there is one big thing that I never knew about before and no one ever told me. Remember you need WAX for a bowstring. Important for one that is made in the Flemish style with synthetic fibers. I took about ten shots with the bow and did not wax it, no problems yet I found out about waxing the string and went to look for some. At Sportman's Warehouse I found some wax that works perfectly. Now you can get it at Sportman's Guide (the two businesses have no connection. Guide is strictly online) but I chose to opt for immediate purchase in person instead of waiting another week for it. Here is a link on the wax I use. Tex-Tite Bowstring Wax.
My Crossbow shoots great so far, I have yet to put it through any real accuracy test. It is a great starter bow and now I know what to do with them. Look for part 2 coming in a couple days, I will have linked video and more advanced information on Crossbow purchasing.
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