Crossbow Market

[ko4nrbs]

There must be one heck of a market for crossbows with so many for sale out there. Between the Chinese manufactures, Excalibur and the handful of US manufactures there are tons of crossbows (Recurve and Compound) being offered. Personally I am firmly entrenched in the Recurve camp with Excalibur being my choice of manufactures. Not to say there are not other good crossbows out there. My Exomax is the only crossbow I have owned so I can't speak with any authority on the other offerings.

Having a proven Warranty reputation in place is why I went with Excalibur. Don't think I will ever need it with my Exomax but I get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing it's there if I do need it someday.

I've never shot a compound crossbow so don't know anything about them. Are cable and string issues really that much of a problem with them? There are so many of them in use I am curious.
Bill

[vixenmaster]

I have had a couple compound style crossbows n they be ok. Some are made well while others are the pits. I own a Mission MXB320 of which it doesn't need a press to change out strings. It narrow n lite its decent made. Yes those across the pond companys will flood the market wid cheap crossbows, many are not any good but the ppl. will buy cheap made junk n then be sad by the out come

[acreek]

Based on what I read from compound crossbow user experiences, they do require fairly regular adjustments to keep the cams timed. It seemed to me that it was a constant exercise for people who shot often. I have a press that can handle crossbows, even reverse draw crossbows, and I still went with an Excalibur partly because of the cam timing issues I read about. It's a lot more straightforward to shoot the Bulldog, find that it tunes best with a 1 15/16" brace height and keep it at or around there with a half twist or twist than it is to do the string and cable twist dance to time the cams on a compound crossbow. Plus the more parts you have, the more something can go wrong. There is beauty in simplicity. That's why so many people still shoot recurves and longbows today.

[otisbrazwell]

my self have had the pleasure of hunting with Excalibur speed bows and did go through
limbs. most of this season was spent with a mission mxb 400. bow stayed tuned and had no limb failures. BUT lately I have been hunting with a Excalibur matrix 310. I'm back on board with the 310 which is one sweet shooting bow and have satisfied the need for 400 fps. later today after firewood deliveries ill be in the deer woods with Excalibur as the bucks are rutting here came close yesterday with a monster

[SEW]

I've shot xbows for 33 years. Started with Barnett Wildcat, thru most of the PSE "fires" 125# & 150#, Hunter(now 10 pt), 10 Pt, Parkers, Bowtecks and finally, late to the party Excals for the last 4 years. I've been a shootaholic, having shot some of my xbows over 7,000 shots. Shoot less now but M380 has>2,000 trouble free shots, M405 >1,500 and BD400 around 500. All trouble free.
Many of the compounds are very pleasant to shoot, are very efficient, have great triggers, are light and compact (thinking of Solution 350&390). Yet are more delicate than the Excals, eventually get out of tune, often because of company policy have to be serviced by the factory or at least the dealer. When they're down, they're down for a while. Been there, done that. Then worst of all, they're only made for very few years and stop being supported.
Excal, on the other hand, can be completely owner maintained, has a vast variety of aftermarket suppliers (strings, TT triggers, DrStirrup,etc), and we can have spare limbs(blemished or new), spare triggers,strings, and be back in action in minutes if the rare break occurs.
The consistency of point of impact is likely the greatest asset. Keep an eye on brace height. It'll stay dead on.
As I've stated, the Excal models don't go out of date but can become vintage.
My 380,400 &405 certainly haven't been surpassed speed wise. As we get older, and eventually more frail, Excal has models that are light and very user friendly and seem to be currently moving more in that direction.

[galamb]

I sell crossbows at work (along with rifles, ammo etc) and the market has more highs and lows than roller coaster ride.

There are two basic groups of hunters (our market) that buy crossbows.

There are the "minority" of us who are dedicated to our crossbows - we shoot them often, buy "decent gear" and actively hunt them. That group usually goes for higher end, more costly bows.

Then there is the "didn't get my deer in the gun season so going to Hail Mary in the late bow" bunch. They have little interest in bow hunting, but have an unused tag that they want to fill. They see a crossbow and think it's just a "mildly handicapped rifle". They don't want to spend too much and don't care about warranty, where it's made, how to service or how tough to service.

They see a sub $400 CAD Barnett Recruit hangin' next to a $900 355 Matrix and immediately decide that the Recruit is all they need. After all, they are going to go out an "take their deer" then hang the bow in the garage until the next time "nature works against them" in the gun hunt.

It doesn't matter that I had to re-tap half the holes to get the thing assembled, or that even right on their website Barnett suggests that their string will only last for about 100 shots before needing replacement (at a shop with a bow press) because the thing will not likely see 100 shots in their lifetime.

(and being honest, Barnett's are the worst crossbows to assemble, even "their" higher end stuff - often missing screws, have to re-tap poorly tapped holes and struggle to line things up to get the hardware in, in the first place unlike Excalibur, 10 point and Horton which go together like you would expect)

So yes, their is a market for the "starter bows", even the ones made in China with names like Jaguar, CroMagnon which make them sound tough or fast.

They are little more than "garage decorations", but that's all some want - only needed when Mother Nature screws up the "real hunt"...