Crazy Crossbow speeds

[Hi5]

A bow with enough energy to push an arrow at 500fps would be interesting. To heck with the speed increase. Think of the potential for enlargement of the broadhead, admittedly a (mechanical broadhead), not fixed broadhead.

What’s bad about more weight and much more cut? Penetration isn’t a big concern now, with present bows. The cut size has increased, but is still less than full potential.

[xcaliber]

A bow with enough energy to push an arrow at 500fps would be interesting. To heck with the speed increase. Think of the potential for enlargement of the broadhead, admittedly a (mechanical broadhead), not fixed broadhead.

What’s bad about more weight and much more cut? Penetration isn’t a big concern now, with present bows. The cut size has increased, but is still less than full potential.

Often times the deer I shoot with my crossbow die faster than gun shot deer! I'm talking well placed shots in both cases.

[Farmer]

Y25 ,mag 340 and my M380 are all I need ..easy to maintain ..darn near bullet proof....a slow accurate heavy arrow works for me .....no cams , no timing issues no need for a fancy bow press....and for what they want for these crossbows $$. A limited market IMHO !

[DuckHunt]

On establishing a speed limit... I despise the idea. It would be like New York's silly 200 lb max. Still, we need to be part of the decision if one has to be made. Otherwise, the limit will be set by people who know nothing about crossbows or by people who want to see them banned altogether. Therefore, I would suggest 410 fpc @ 350 gr.

I kind of agree that it would make sense that any limits be set by folks that have some knowledge in the subject. But that'$ not how politician$ work the$e day$. Much like my Excalibur's, I prefer to keep things simple. I'd suggest a limit of 400fps with a 400gr arrow. That leaves a lot of room to build bows faster than they need to be with questionable reliability.

Personally, 350 fps with a 400gr arrow is about as fast as I ever desire to go. All of my bow kills have been at lesser speeds. My 400TD is a beast and way more powerful than I need. It also sees the least time in the stand for a number of reasons.

[one shot scott]

Companies build them because people buy them.

Ever hear of the complaint of anti firearm folks use against the 2nd amendment and gun control : The forefathers never envisioned a scope mounted autoloader for protection therefore the 2nd should be kaput and modern firearms banned. Comparing archery season by saying "... they didnt envision that during archery season" sounds eerily familiar. Arming a newb with a recurve longbow imho he is more likely to wound game then he is at 50 yards with a crossbow shooting 500fps plus. And besides, to top it off it doesnt matter what you carry you aint gonna hit sh!t if you dont have hunting/stalking skills that include knowing game/terrain/weapon limits. It weeds out the fly by nighters, so-called slob hunters (hate that term).

Arrow speed doesnt matter.

As far as i know, anything shooting over 500fps in Canada requires a firearms license. Any archery company that knows this and still pursues going over that despite attracting the ire of the RCMP or the GOC will never get another $ outta me.

[Hi5]

A bow with enough energy to push an arrow at 500fps would be interesting. To heck with the speed increase. Think of the potential for enlargement of the broadhead, admittedly a (mechanical broadhead), not fixed broadhead.

What’s bad about more weight and much more cut? Penetration isn’t a big concern now, with present bows. The cut size has increased, but is still less than full potential.

Often times the deer I shoot with my crossbow die faster than gun shot deer! I'm talking well placed shots in both cases.

Dan, you’re right about a well placed shot, of course.

It’s the poorly placed or marginal shots that might be compensated for if there was the largest possible cut. It would do no harm to maximize the cut if it can be done without sacrificing adequate penetration.0

[Hatchet]

Just thinking of the extra penetration power and broadhead choice. Huge cut options. If I had all that power to spare I'd use heads like these.
[url=https://postimages.org/]

[Hatchet]

Seriously though that much speed doesn't interest me at all. Fun to read about but I have a BD400 that tears up my targets and vanes bad enough that I only shoot it occasionally. I shoot my BD308 and my daughters Apex the most because they save the target and dont tear up arrows near as much.

I would hate to see bow speeds mess with crossbow inclusion. Maine is still in a probationary period of crossbow inclusion. Maybe when it comes time to make it permanent these 500fps bows will hurt our chances. Or maybe the electronic range compensation scopes will. Surely our opponents are keeping an eye on this technology and will try to use it against us. I love archery season. Would hate to lose it for someone else's choices.

Take care
Hatchet

[nchunterkw]

A bow with enough energy to push an arrow at 500fps would be interesting. To heck with the speed increase. Think of the potential for enlargement of the broadhead, admittedly a (mechanical broadhead), not fixed broadhead.

What’s bad about more weight and much more cut? Penetration isn’t a big concern now, with present bows. The cut size has increased, but is still less than full potential.

Often times the deer I shoot with my crossbow die faster than gun shot deer! I'm talking well placed shots in both cases.

Dan, you’re right about a well placed shot, of course.

It’s the poorly placed or marginal shots that might be compensated for if there was the largest possible cut. It would do no harm to maximize the cut if it can be done without sacrificing adequate penetration.0

Usually a bad shot is because you hit bone and limited penetration. Not sure a larger cut BH would help in that case too much. Harder to push that big blade through bone. Might help on a gut shot though. But then again a 4" cut 2 blade placed tight behind the shoulder just might open up into the shoulder bone .

I shot 2 deer this year with 2 blade 1 1/8" BHs. Not a ton of blood on the ground but each one went about 50 yards. Probably less. Can we really expect to improve on that? That's not to brag. Most on here who put a good shot on the deer see the same results. Lots of recoveries at about 50 yards.

[Prmtvbowman22]

I measure my success as a hunter not by how far I can harvest an animal but how close I can get them to me without being detected. I've shot deer at 400yds with a rifle and shot deer at 5yds with my 350se. I consider the crossbow shot a much greater accomplishment. Bow speeds are more than double traditional bow speeds and do the job well. I have no interest in greater speed.

[ko4nrbs]

I measure my success as a hunter not by how far I can harvest an animal but how close I can get them to me without being detected. I've shot deer at 400yds with a rifle and shot deer at 5yds with my 350se. I consider the crossbow shot a much greater accomplishment. Bow speeds are more than double traditional bow speeds and do the job well. I have no interest in greater speed.

I agree that getting up close and personal is in a large part the lure of archery hunting. Being able to arrow a deer at 100 yards or more sure isn't on my bucket list. If I wanted to do that my 30-06 is more than adequate.

I met a guy in the woods several years ago that made his own recurve vertical bows, arrows and broadheads. His passion was getting as close as he could to the deer. He killed some really big bucks and is a true woodsman in my opinion. I'm not as passionate as he is so I will stick with my scoped Exomax, tree stand or blind.

Bill

[xcaliber]

I have arrowed a lot of deer inside 15 yards, and to me those were my best hunts. Knowing you played the wind right, and you don't stink is one thing, but not getting busted lining up the shot up that close, that's what gets my heart pumping!

[longbow joe]

Exactly ....well put dan.

[Normous]

I have arrowed a lot of deer inside 15 yards, and to me those were my best hunts. Knowing you played the wind right, and you don't stink is one thing, but not getting busted lining up the shot up that close, that's what gets my heart pumping!

Dan, your speaking my language as I have crossbow arrowed 40+ deer under 20 y and I could not pay enough money for that up close contact and sense of success getting in close.

But, at the end of the day, I have to confess that I really like fast crossbows, even used at short distances using large cut mechanicals. The deer just stand there not knowing what to do and fall over DEAD.

I once shot a prototype Crossbow from a smaller US crossbow manufacturer that spit a 400 gr arrow nearly 550 FPS . Interestingly, this Xbow did not require a complicated cocking assist aid. I rope cocked it without complaint

[xcaliber]

I have arrowed a lot of deer inside 15 yards, and to me those were my best hunts. Knowing you played the wind right, and you don't stink is one thing, but not getting busted lining up the shot up that close, that's what gets my heart pumping!

Dan, your speaking my language as I have crossbow arrowed 40+ deer under 20 y and I could not pay enough money for that up close contact and sense of success getting in close.

But, at the end of the day, I have to confess that I really like fast crossbows, even used at short distances using large cut mechanicals. The deer just stand there not knowing what to do and fall over DEAD.

I once shot a prototype Crossbow from a smaller US crossbow manufacturer that spit a 400 gr arrow nearly 550 FPS . Interestingly, this Xbow did not require a complicated cocking assist aid. I rope cocked it without complaint

I would be full of BS if I said I don't appreciate speed, why would I have a Matrix 380. But on my bucket list is a spear hunt. No specific game, but just the opportunity. I know I could get a deer, squirrel, and most likely geese.