Hello from Dartmoor Devon

[Plymtom]

Why are you shooting lighter arrows/quarrels with the heavier-draw crossbow? Can the 175lb crossbow fire 563 grain arrows/quarrels? (Genuine questions)

Well to be honest both have the same tip, both are the same thickness and material ( Aluminium) just that the arrows are 30 inches long and the bolts are 17 in other lands where hunting is not illegal you could attach broadheads to either, We're only interested in target shooting of all flavours, it is great fun, I cannot deny an outside chance of it being of some use in these worse case scenarios we often discuss, but I can and do deny that that is why we have the hobby.

[Lampster1209]

Hi there. Im over in Bournemouth and just joined the forum, but wanted to say hello. Hope all is going well and speak soon seeing as your this end of the country too..

[sethorly]

Compound bow vs long bow vs recurve:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnfkzqyQQJw

Compound bow vs crossbow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4VWCnWn9U

[Stasher]

Hello,
Also jave an oil fired range, I presume it wont work though if the power stops? Need to find out for sure.

Thanks!

We have an oil fired aga which works fine if the lecky goes off. BUT our oil is gravity fed and does not rely on any pumps to get the oil to the stove. If your oil is not gravity fed it may be worth looking at as a project

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[sethorly]

Hey drillerkiller...

I've done a little digging around on our shared interest. I'm assuming we're talking primarily about hunting here. For self-defence I'd go for a slingshot as it's faster, takes up less space, and ammo is plentiful. So here's what I've found.

Compound bows are commonly discarded as a survivalist tool as they're too complex when they malfunction or break. A recurve bow, however, gets round this problem. A bow is quieter than a crossbow. It can be fired around twice as fast - much faster if you see the experts holding the spare arrows in the draw hand. It can be a "sniper" weapon in that it is effective out to a long distance (a good archer could, I think, get a good grouping of shots at 300 yards). The drawbacks are that it takes a lot of expertise to become accurate out to different ranges with a bow, expertise which the average prepper might find difficult to develop due to time constraints, and that at the start of each hunting session the bow will have significantly altered due to various conditions so that the archer has to "sight" the bow before every session. Furthermore, when hunting, the bow is not ready to be fired unless you walk around with it drawn, which over time will weaken your muscles which in turn will affect your aim. Lastly, arrows are incredibly difficult to make as ideally they need to be matched to the individual bow and have a certain specific flexibility so that they act correctly in flight.

The crossbow is a pick up and play weapon as it requires very little expertise. The crossbow (recurve, not compound, for the maintenance reasons given above), doesn't need to be sighted, or needs very little sighting, before each use. The crossbow can fit a scope that can pretty much ensure a good hit at the correct range. You can walk around with a loaded primed ready-to-fire crossbow without fatiguing yourself. The crossbow has a much shorter range, though more than enough (clearly, given it's a common weapon for hunting in the States) for hunting, and has a much lower firing rate. The crossbow is louder than a bow, but there are sound mufflers available. The maintenance of a crossbow is easier than a bow (I've got this from several sources but they are vague about it - I think the main difference is between maintaining a wooden bow and the non-maintenance of a fibreglass crossbow bow). Perhaps just as important as maintenance, quarrels are easier to make than arrows as their flexibility/construction is not as important, they are shorter so you can base them off dowling rods or chopsticks etc, and the fletchings can be made from everyday materials like plastic.

This is only from a couple of days of research so I've probably missed a whole bunch of stuff - I'd be interested if anyone had any other pertinent observations. I'm gonna buy me a crossbow - the Anglo Arms Jaguar 175lb I suppose like everyone else! An air-rifle is on the to-buy list first though.

[drillerkiller]

Hello,
Also jave an oil fired range, I presume it wont work though if the power stops? Need to find out for sure.

Thanks!

We have an oil fired aga which works fine if the lecky goes off. BUT our oil is gravity fed and does not rely on any pumps to get the oil to the stove. If your oil is not gravity fed it may be worth looking at as a project

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Hi Stasher,

Thanks!

Ours is gravity fed too I think? But the water is pumped from the bore hole to ours and then we also have a pump the pumps the hot water in the house.

[drillerkiller]

Hi there. Im over in Bournemouth and just joined the forum, but wanted to say hello. Hope all is going well and speak soon seeing as your this end of the country too..

Hi Lampster!

Do you do lamping or something? (The name) Done a fair but with old lurchers and the whippet

[drillerkiller]

Hey drillerkiller...

I've done a little digging around on our shared interest. I'm assuming we're talking primarily about hunting here. For self-defence I'd go for a slingshot as it's faster, takes up less space, and ammo is plentiful. So here's what I've found.

Compound bows are commonly discarded as a survivalist tool as they're too complex when they malfunction or break. A recurve bow, however, gets round this problem. A bow is quieter than a crossbow. It can be fired around twice as fast - much faster if you see the experts holding the spare arrows in the draw hand. It can be a "sniper" weapon in that it is effective out to a long distance (a good archer could, I think, get a good grouping of shots at 300 yards). The drawbacks are that it takes a lot of expertise to become accurate out to different ranges with a bow, expertise which the average prepper might find difficult to develop due to time constraints, and that at the start of each hunting session the bow will have significantly altered due to various conditions so that the archer has to "sight" the bow before every session. Furthermore, when hunting, the bow is not ready to be fired unless you walk around with it drawn, which over time will weaken your muscles which in turn will affect your aim. Lastly, arrows are incredibly difficult to make as ideally they need to be matched to the individual bow and have a certain specific flexibility so that they act correctly in flight.



The crossbow is a pick up and play weapon as it requires very little expertise. The crossbow (recurve, not compound, for the maintenance reasons given above), doesn't need to be sighted, or needs very little sighting, before each use. The crossbow can fit a scope that can pretty much ensure a good hit at the correct range. You can walk around with a loaded primed ready-to-fire crossbow without fatiguing yourself. The crossbow has a much shorter range, though more than enough (clearly, given it's a common weapon for hunting in the States) for hunting, and has a much lower firing rate. The crossbow is louder than a bow, but there are sound mufflers available. The maintenance of a crossbow is easier than a bow (I've got this from several sources but they are vague about it - I think the main difference is between maintaining a wooden bow and the non-maintenance of a fibreglass crossbow bow). Perhaps just as important as maintenance, quarrels are easier to make than arrows as their flexibility/construction is not as important, they are shorter so you can base them off dowling rods or chopsticks etc, and the fletchings can be made from everyday materials like plastic.

This is only from a couple of days of research so I've probably missed a whole bunch of stuff - I'd be interested if anyone had any other pertinent observations. I'm gonna buy me a crossbow - the Anglo Arms Jaguar 175lb I suppose like everyone else! An air-rifle is on the to-buy list first though.

Its a difficult one to decide as they all have there positives and negative! Maybe I just need to build a collection! Although that crossbow looks good, they do 2 very similar models after a quick look about, the Jaguar and the Panther, the only difference I can really see is the stock, they go by the makers name of SAS (Southland Archery Supply) in America it seems https://southlandarchery.com/crossbows.html
I actually was looking for an SAS crossbow supplier over here a while back but couldn't find one as I read a good review of one on a US site, couldn't find one because that was before I realized the name difference.
Do you know anyone who has one and rates it?

Actually after a bit of searching, The Panther specs are: 31.5" length, and 5.1 lbs in weight, and the Jaguar is 35.25" length and 4.18 lbs in weight both 26" wide.

Also called the Armex by the look of it

[Plymtom]

I've got the Jaguar, it's fine, remember to follow through though, ( no mate not when you're trying to cock it with no cocking aid) the bolts take a little time to run along the rail so if you relax your shots will fall low which if you are shooting far enough out the bolts like compound bow arrows can bury themselves in the grass, there are many threads on here on the subject, the pistol crossbows are real fun too especially for the little ones.

In my experience there's a lot more to it to get the sort of accuracy level you'd need ( to be fair we can only play weekly in fair weather for a few hours, and it's never just one toy) so if you have a safe place you could be OK, but we must say these things are lethal, those energy figures I posted give an idea, compared to an 11.5 foot pound legal limit air rifle, you need to be damn sure you have a good enough backstop, we use a stacked foam target stood against a grass bank at a live fire range, above which is a sand bank and a military backstop, not that you need to go to that trouble, but you do need to be certain that if you miss your mark that arrow/bolt is not going to pass through into anything you do not wish to damage or harm, a garden fence for instance is not good enough, even an 80lb pistol crossbow bolt I'm told will pass through a modern domestic interior door.

I think someone else has touched on this, but if your only reason for getting one of these is to feed yourself during a zombie apocalypse, you truly would be better off going for an air rifle, far more accurate and far more abundant game which with permission you could even feed yourself with in the here and now legally, but if you are target shooting for fun then a crossbow is a start ( I'd still say firearms are a better option) joining a club is a must in my book, you don't need to wait for the world to end to play with your toys and you have generally good company that's what we do and whilst I wear a prepper hat and a target shooting/archery hat they are separate hobbies.

[drillerkiller]

I've got the Jaguar, it's fine, remember to follow through though, ( no mate not when you're trying to cock it with no cocking aid) the bolts take a little time to run along the rail so if you relax your shots will fall low which if you are shooting far enough out the bolts like compound bow arrows can bury themselves in the grass, there are many threads on here on the subject, the pistol crossbows are real fun too especially for the little ones.

In my experience there's a lot more to it to get the sort of accuracy level you'd need ( to be fair we can only play weekly in fair weather for a few hours, and it's never just one toy) so if you have a safe place you could be OK, but we must say these things are lethal, those energy figures I posted give an idea, compared to an 11.5 foot pound legal limit air rifle, you need to be damn sure you have a good enough backstop, we use a stacked foam target stood against a grass bank at a live fire range, above which is a sand bank and a military backstop, not that you need to go to that trouble, but you do need to be certain that if you miss your mark that arrow/bolt is not going to pass through into anything you do not wish to damage or harm, a garden fence for instance is not good enough, even an 80lb pistol crossbow bolt I'm told will pass through a modern domestic interior door.

I think someone else has touched on this, but if your only reason for getting one of these is to feed yourself during a zombie apocalypse, you truly would be better off going for an air rifle, far more accurate and far more abundant game which with permission you could even feed yourself with in the here and now legally, but if you are target shooting for fun then a crossbow is a start ( I'd still say firearms are a better option) joining a club is a must in my book, you don't need to wait for the world to end to play with your toys and you have generally good company that's what we do and whilst I wear a prepper hat and a target shooting/archery hat they are separate hobbies.

Hi Plymtom,

I have about 80 acres to play about on right on my doorstep, so sure I could find somewhere suitable, although there isnt many suitable banks/hills as a backdrop nearby so I would have to give it some though?
I have a couple air rifles already, although I need to get them out and brush up on my aim, I have an old springer and a pcp rifle, I tend to prefer going out with the whippet now though if I want to get some game so I havent shot them for a while.
Would you say you Jaguar seems sturdy enough and a descent enough accuracy? I would like a better one, found some very popular makes but not sure the extra cash can be justified, as your looking starting from £350/£400 for a good enough spec and popular/rated make, I probably could spend the extra cash on other stuff we need if the cheaper one is adequate.