Crossbow. Is it really necessary?

[moocher]

i should have a barnett ranger 2 through the post next week .
can anyone give me a name of a decent mail order company that supplies in strings bolts etc as the strings shot on it an theres no bolts thanks

[buttystella]

a few years ago i had the opportunity to try out a small bow made by a South American rain forest tribe. So light and easy to draw but deadly over short distance. used to take various prey including monkeys. It could only have being 24'' long with the arrows about 12" or less. Believe me when i say you could have mistaken it for a child's toy and so easy to conceal and like i say so deadly it frightened the life out of me.

[Sh3f]

Has anyone given compound bows any thought? I prefer my compound bow over my crossbow for any situation, reloading and taking a follow up shot is much quicker than a crossbow. Crossbows are heavier than compound bows, i find my bow is quiter too. Even though the draw weight of a compound is significantly less than a crossbow power isnt an issue, if a bow with 70lb draw can take down a bear at 100meters thats more than enough for me. If you think of getting a compound bow i'd sugest getting a heavier draw weight as you can wind down the draw weight untill you get used to it.

[Huntsman]

The problem I see with the compound bow is that they are very difficult to conceal, unless you've practiced ALOT then they can be quite inaccurate and they also are quite slow to reload (not that crossbows are not) personally an air rifle is the best option. You can carry more ammo, fairly quite and if you know how to change the power ( which I obviously don't but might if tshtf) can be quite lethal. Also another point if the shtf you don't want deer or big mammals for a matter of fact, you want smaller animals birds, rabbits and squirrels. Things that you can eat before they go rotten.

[moocher]

seen some weird little broadheads designed for small game other day.

huntsman do you know of any archery clubs around that allow crossbow target practice?
i should have another barnett crossbow coming soon fingers crossed.

[Huntsman]

Unfortunately I do not know of any but here is a list of certified clubs that allow crossbows: http://www.nfas.net/clubs.asp

There's a few around Bristol, Shropshire, Worcestershire, somerset and one in Montgomeryshire but none round here. There's never the facilities you want around here

[Sh3f]

The problem I see with the compound bow is that they are very difficult to conceal, unless you've practiced ALOT then they can be quite inaccurate and they also are quite slow to reload (not that crossbows are not) personally an air rifle is the best option. You can carry more ammo, fairly quite and if you know how to change the power ( which I obviously don't but might if tshtf) can be quite lethal. Also another point if the shtf you don't want deer or big mammals for a matter of fact, you want smaller animals birds, rabbits and squirrels. Things that you can eat before they go rotten.

I agree with what you say, small game is the way forward in a survival situation, and an air rifle or rimfire rifle is the best way to hunt these, although rabbit would be my last choice as the nutritional value of rabbit is quite poor.
I think the concealment issue though the compound bow wins because a case for a compound bow is just a relativly slim rectangular bag, mine has shoulder straps and I can wear it underneath certain rucksacks. A cross bow is a very dificult shape to disquise and its fairly obvious as to whats in the case unless you can dismantle the riser and then you have the problem of reassembly. Rifles I feel just make you a target, anyone seeing you with a rifle will want it even air rifles as the layman may not be able to distinguish an air rifle from a firearm.
Your right about reloading, compound bows are'nt rapid reloading, but I can get 6 arrows on target with my compound bow in the time it takes me to get 4 bolts on target with my crossbow, this is what ive found when timing myself it may not be the same for everybody.

[C4tch]

The problem I see with the compound bow is that they are very difficult to conceal, unless you've practiced ALOT then they can be quite inaccurate and they also are quite slow to reload (not that crossbows are not) personally an air rifle is the best option. You can carry more ammo, fairly quite and if you know how to change the power ( which I obviously don't but might if tshtf) can be quite lethal. Also another point if the shtf you don't want deer or big mammals for a matter of fact, you want smaller animals birds, rabbits and squirrels. Things that you can eat before they go rotten.

You need to know what you are doing with a compound bow for sure, but when you do it's faster to reload than a spring air rifle. It is also extremely accurate. I far prefer my compound bow to my Xbow. It is also far more lethal than an air rifle. You can take any game out there with it. Having said that, I would also most likely go for the air rifle if those where my only choices. You can easily carry thousands of rounds for the rifle while it's hard to carry many arrows. I would always pick the bow over the Xbox though... In terms of running out of ammo for the rifle, anyone that has shot arrows at anything but targets know arrows do not last that long. In fact, even at targets they don't last all that long...

In terms of larger animals, I would say that depends how many people you are trying to feed. Obviously you would need to know how to prepare game if you go for larger animals.


C

[Bladerunner]

Wifey just bought me an Armex Jaguar Firecat 150lb crossbow for my birthday.

Still a few weeks before I get my grubby paws on it but it gives me something to look forward to.

Anyone had one of these? If so, are they a decent piece of kit?

Be lucky (And necessary)

[Sam Fisher]

When it comes to crossbows don't let the numbers fool you i.e. prod pull!
I have owned a few of crossbows over the years and through testing them I actually found the lower 100lb pulls better than the 175 -220lb and those cheap carbon fiber bolts are quite good and don't bend like the aluminium ones if you hit a tree ^^