Spec me a crossbow

haaammit

haaammit

haaammit

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I want to buy a crossbow - I have more than enough land to shoot one - I'd like one that produces 120-140 ftlbs of energy - I'm getting confused with draw weight and speed (maximum speed is irrelevant if you don't know the projectile weight :rolleyes:).

I'd prefer a compound instead of a re-curve and I think I should be ok to c ock it without assistance (but I can always add that later if needs be). Budget is about £400ish - I'd like that to be a complete kit (bolts/sight etc).

Ok - over to you :)
 
Well fair enough, learn something new every day!

So why does draw strength matter on a crossbow? I thought you crank the string back, rather than pulling it back by hand? Clearly I know very little about them though!
 
manic111 said:
Well fair enough, learn something new every day!

So why does draw strength matter on a crossbow? I thought you crank the string back, rather than pulling it back by hand? Clearly I know very little about them though!
Click to expand...

They fire farther with a higher draw strength :)
 
manic111 said:
Well fair enough, learn something new every day!

So why does draw strength matter on a crossbow? I thought you crank the string back, rather than pulling it back by hand? Clearly I know very little about them though!
Click to expand...

With a bow you have to draw, hold and aim - quite a feat with all that pulling - your fingers have to do a lot of work. Trying to hold all that potential energy will make your arms wobble and your aim will be all over the place. Because your muscles are tired, your fingers can release the string in vastly different ways, causing the arrows to go wild.

With a crossbow you put all that potential energy into the (crossbow) limbs in one go and it's all stored by the trigger (sear). This leaves the arms free to just hold and aim the crossbow and to fire it with a gentle squeeze of the trigger. A big bloke should be able to c ock a 150-175lb draw weight crossbow relatively easily.

:)
 
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