Crossbows

zzzippper

zzzippper

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The Walking Dead has me curious about these weapons. The interwebs doesn't seem to have a lot of information about them. It appears that many archery ranges in the Denver area do not allow them. Are crossbows not considered archery?

It appears that the Barnett Recruit is a quality, reasonably priced introductory bow.

Not much point in getting one if I can't find a place to shoot it. I would never hunt with it. At least nothing other than walkers.

Does anyone have any experience?
 
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I shoot my Excalibur Exocet 200 crossbow in my backyard and use "The Block" archery target that does a good job stopping the bolts. You need to have a target that is rated for crossbows.

I have killed white-tail deer, wild turkey, and wild hogs with it here in Florida. Longest shot was 43 yards on a 205 lb. wild boar; ideally most of the shots I take are at 30 yards or less.
Due to a shoulder injury ten years ago I cannot pull a traditional archery bow back, and have a Disabled Person's Crossbow Hunting Permit issued by the state of Florida.

Check out Excalibur Crossbows website, at one time they had a video of the president of the company elephant hunting in Africa with his crossbow and making a one shot kill.
 
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/United-Cutlery-Avalanche-Crossbow-120-lb/dp/B00EDMO03O/ref=pd_sim_sg_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AXXAC1B6F22GT05BZ41"]Amazon.com : Avalanche Crossbow 120-lb. : Sports & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PgpfUFTtL.@@AMEPARAM@@41PgpfUFTtL[/ame] The Avalanche 120 pound crossbow or the circa $40 Cobra system crossbow pistols work well to learn with and can be shot in a spacious backyard. Really nice hunting crossbows cost a fair amount, you can easily spend as much as an AR. The Cobra system bow can take small game and will penetrate a human skull. The even more powerful Avalanche 120 is a bit underpowered for deer.
 
You can shoot them in your backyard with a backstop like the block as stated above. Once you have it sighted in it doesn't take a lot of practice like a regular bow. After 5 shoulder operations I got one for hunting and enjoyed it.
 
My oldest Son had a Cross Bow but He lost two many Bolts (arrows) So He sold it.
 
I shoot a Tenpoint Turbo XLT II Accudraw. It's rated at 345 FPS with carbon fiber bolts while shooting a 100 gr mechanical broadhead. I've shot mine through the skyscreens and average 336 FPS with a fresh tune-up/lube job, aluminum bolts and 100 gr RAGE 2" 2 blade mechanical broadheads.

I've taken 6 deer with this particular XB, bolt and broadhead combination and love it.

The factory installed scope on mine was "Pre-Zeroed" at 30 yards. It only took about ten shots to zero out to fifty yards.

Longest on target shot was on a big doe last year, 45 plus yards. Shortest on target shot was a running squirrel, less than 10 yards. That was a difficult shot.

I've shot my XB into the practice block enough that I'm on my second set of cables/third bow string and I'm on my forth broadhead catching block.

As others have mentioned, I too shoot a XB out of medical necessity. Two wrecked rotator cuffs, a broken right shoulder and arthritis in both the left and right shoulder joints make it impossible for me to draw and hold a conventional bow with a draw weight over 40 pounds.

BTW, the XB and I are going turkey hunting in the morning. If everything works out I'll post some "Meat" pictures.

Class III
 
I can't confirm this, but an acquaintance—whose name I don't remember— mentioned he and some running mates made crossbows out of automobile leaf springs and used rebar for bolts.
 
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