Crossbows

easypeasy

Well-Known Member
I was wondering if anyone uses a crossbow on here.
I know you cant hunt with them in the UK.

Any recommendations for a good quality crossbow.
Accuracy etc

Many Thanks
 
Years ago I used to have a Barnett Commando. Awesome accuracy. It had the apple guarantee where you could hit an apple at 60yards every time. They were not wrong either. We did not try it William Tell style with a human though.

Great fun but borderline useless in this country apart from faffing about with. Don't underestimate the power of them. I recall shooting it first time at a piece of wood that we lent up against the shed. The bolt disappeared and we thought it had vapourised on impact with the board. Turns out it had gone through that and both sides of the shed ha ha. Behind the shed was a brick wall with a chunk out of it. It was a pretty sturdy thick piece of OSB as well. Might have been rotten, I cannot remember it was many years back and we were all a bit daft. I would not advise putting one in the hands of unsupervised children. Back then you could buy what you wanted pretty much. We were under 18 but got hold of one easy enough. Hopefully it is much harder these days.
 
I think the high end crossbows have about the same energy as a .22 subsonic round.
 
Wouldn't it depend quite a bit on what one eventually wishes to hunt, e.g. target, thin skin v dangerous or thick skinned game, etc? I understand Kodiak bows have very good trigger from the start, many other types benefit from addition of a replacement rolling sear type trigger which dramatically reduces felt friction on the trigger, which of course aids accurate placement of the shot:

UK Crossbows For Sale 150+ Crossbows with FREE Crossbow Targets & FREE Delivery

TriggerTech crossbow triggers - YouTube

yt's The Field Archer has some good hunting footage up:

CROSSBOW HUNTING: Fall Deer Season Highlights - YouTube

The former owner of Danl. Fraser riflemakers was a passionate (overseas) crossbow hunter. Name left out in case others might be curious for the wrong reasons!
 
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Don't need a licence to own a crossbow but do need one to own a moderator !!!!! British law really baffles me at times !!
 
I made an 80lb crossbow from plans from a company down south once and fired it across a football pitch at a plywood box 3' x 3' square filled with cotton waste.
The bolt went so far through that the head was protruding from the other side.
So from that I would suggest that the energy is a little more than a sub .22 bullet.


Just checked my diary and the crossbow was a 120lb draw not 8o !!
 
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I was wondering if anyone uses a crossbow on here.
I know you cant hunt with them in the UK.

Any recommendations for a good quality crossbow.
Accuracy etc

Many Thanks

The best crossbows are made in the U.S.A. you need a minimum of 150lb draw weight for medium size deer, anything larger a 175+lb draw
combined with a good telescopic sight or aimpoint red dot sight and a good three blade broadhead.
 
Maybe there was a change, the crossbow was a pretty deadly arm in medieval times as far as I can recall from schooldays? Used to be a fair collection of such items in a private castle in Aberdeenshire, not sure if collection is still intact though.
 
The medieval military crossbows fired a short, heavy bolt, which would penetrate stout personal body armor and equestrian armor of the day.

I have the iron head of a crossbow bolt from the Thirty Years War, which was retrieved from the thigh of my ancestor, a commander for many years of that war, on the German side.

Back to the present, I just gave a birthday present to a son-in-law for his hunting cross bow: a Bushnell 2-7x32 crossbow scope with a crosshair and dots for the drops at further ranges. The modern crossbow shafts are much lighter than the oak ones of old, but they still are much more than necessary for most big game, due to the velocity, shallow arc, and accuracy. A heavier shaft, though moving slower, is like the heavy slow-moving bullet from a .45-70; lots of penetration. Even a 30-lb longbow with a cedar arrow and 140-gr two blade broadhead will surprise you with the penetration.
 
Several of the members of my deer lease (syndicate) have them. Bottom line, there has been so much advancement in the last 5 years that anything you buy new will be superior to anything older/used. Compound bows did much the same starting about 15 years ago. Between the new composites, manufacturing tech, etc... There are many that will consistently group 4" at 100 yards.

As to the other comments - apples and oranges - archery tackle does not kill via energy (yes it does require some, but only for penetration not hydrostatic shock) like a bullet does.
 
I made my own 50 odd year's ago,I used an old Austin 7 rear spring(that's how old I am) .It was awesome as previous thread bolt went through a solid plank of wood and then right through mothers chicken shed.Sir Ralph Payne Gallway one of the great shooting men of his time was an expert on Crossbow ,he wrote book's about them.
 
Don't need a licence to own a crossbow but do need one to own a moderator !!!!! British law really baffles me at times !!

I'm afraid that is not quite correct. You don't need a licence to own a moderator, it needs to entered on your licence if you intend to use it with a firearm. In which case you would already have a licence for the firearm.

You can own as many moderators as you wish without them being on your licence. However, civil law is on the balance of probabilities and you will be in a losing battle trying to argue that you never intend to use a moderator (not entered on your FAC) that fits on a firearm that you own.
 
Fair enough I stand corrected and apologise... but I thought that I couldn't buy a moderator without the appropriate vacant slot on my license hence my statement..
 
Several of the members of my deer lease (syndicate) have them. Bottom line, there has been so much advancement in the last 5 years that anything you buy new will be superior to anything older/used. Compound bows did much the same starting about 15 years ago. Between the new composites, manufacturing tech, etc... There are many that will consistently group 4" at 100 yards.

As to the other comments - apples and oranges - archery tackle does not kill via energy (yes it does require some, but only for penetration not hydrostatic shock) like a bullet does.

Here is a real difference in the two. Modern compound crossbows are on another level.

 
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