150-lb. Horton® Steel Force Crossbow- A good entry level bow?

[Radar]

150-lb. Horton® Steel Force Crossbow- A good entry level bow? I'm looking at getting into Hunting with a Cross Bow, does anyone have any ideas for a entry level crossbow. I have read some good stuff about the Horton Steelforce bow and was wondering. I'm looking at it for Deer. Cheers.
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[brotherjack]

I just got my Steel Force sighted in this afternoon. I picked it for a lot of reasons:

Inexpensive (high on the list - $129.99 USD from woodburryoutfitters.com)

Recurve is a plus I think (quieter, less maintenance, field serviceable, etc - all the reasons Excalibur makes recurves instead of compounds)

The steel limbs I liked - seemed more likely to be working and trouble free in 5 years than fiberglass limbs of all those even cheaper made-in-china bows you see on eBay.

It came with a 'real sight' system for no extra money (I hate pin-sights - give me cross hairs, dots, whatever, but spare me the pin-sight, please!).

Horton has an AWESOME warranty (lifetime!)


Anyway, here's my 'off-the-cuff' review of my experiences with the bow.

The silly 17inch ultra-light aluminum arrows it came with are garbage. If you get one - don't even bother loading one. I couldn't plant a 6 inch group at 30 yards if my life depended on it with those things (really, they were that bad!!!). Thankfully, I also ordered a 6 pack of 20 inch Horton Carbon MX's with 125grain points. I can (and did) split nocks at 30 yards with these. So in conclusion, the bow is very very accurate - but you need something heavier and longer than the cheesey arrows that came in the kit to see it.

The red dot sight works excellent, and as a cross-bow sight, I think it is ideal - a scope with zoom would probably make me (or any novice) more ambitious about distances than I should be. I was somewhat annoyed to note that I had to run the elevation screw in until it bottomed out before I was shooting bullseyes at 10 yards. Shooting a ligher arrow (like those in the kit I mentioned earlier), and the bow shoots high, with no way to further adjust the sight lower. But I didn't really consider this a problem, since I wouldn't shoot the arrows it came with anyway.

The 'dial-a-range' trajectory compensator thing works very nice. One click per 10 yards, and I was planting consistent bulls-eyes at any range I cared to try. Maybe not as nice as having a multi-recticle scope, but a whole lot cheaper and just as effective.

A cocking device would be recommended for people any smaller than me (I'm your average 'big burly guy' size). 150lbs is easy enough the first time, but after the 70th pull (I was in love with shooting this thing), I could definitely feel the burn, and my fingers were getting good and sore.

On the whole, I am very pleased with the rig for the price. Had I given $500 for it, I would have been a bit peeved because of the issues related to the arrows, but for $129.99 US, I'm just tickled pink and itching for Sept 1'st to get here. It does everything I need or want it to do: which is to say it hammers a 20 inch arrow with 125 grain heads with plenty of force to take down any big game in BC, with more than enough accuracy to reach the 40 yard maximum range of a crossbow (though for me, I'm sticking to 30-yards or less - I've seen too many videos of deer jumping the string).

Anyway, if I had more money, I would have liked an Excalibur (because I dig recurve crossbows), but for the vast difference in cost, I am 100% happy with my econo-bow.

[Ronforca]

Any trouble bringing a crossbow through customs?
Ron

[brotherjack]

Na, piece of cake coming across the border. I had it shipped to the good folks over at www.montanashipping.com, and took a drive down to pick it up when it arrived. I told the guy at border I had a crossbow, he said how much, I said $190 US counting the arrows, broadheads, and such. He charged me GST/PST, and that was that.

If you had it shipped in, I don't know, but crossbows are not a controlled weapon per-se in Canada, so long as it's not a crossbow-pistol, which is a prohibited weapon. As far as customs is concerned, it's just another thing to pay taxes and duty on.

[PH30-06]

Just so everyone knows what types of crossbows are prohibited in Canada. As long as the crossbow was not designed to be fired by one hand and has an overall length more than 500mm. If you want to read exactly what the regulations say go to here. Then about 2/3rds down find Former Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 3

Basically those little pistol type crossbows are prohibited

[EricTheRed]

I have one of these and really like it. My main concern is that it seems to lack penetrating power @ around 20 yards with 100 gr broadheads. Specifically, the bolt does go deep, but remains in the deer rather than fully exiting the other side of the animal. I'd rather it flew completely through.

Has anyone else had similar results? Would 125 gr bring about an improvement?

[loki]

I have one of these and really like it. My main concern is that it seems to lack penetrating power @ around 20 yards with 100 gr broadheads. Specifically, the bolt does go deep, but remains in the deer rather than fully exiting the other side of the animal. I'd rather it flew completely through.

Has anyone else had similar results? Would 125 gr bring about an improvement?

Are you talking actual deer or your backyard target? If it's a backyard target, the target is made to catch the arrow/bolt, where as a live deer would offer less resistance and stand a better chance of blowing through (short of hitting bone).

By putting on a heavier broadhead I doubt it'll add much to the penetration, unless you have a ridiculous amount of power behind it (which 150lbs isn't). In fact you'll end up slowing down the bolt in flight, thus potentially lessening the KE, and mess with the front of center.

However don't forget that it doesn't have to blow through the animal to assure a kill. Recurvers have been killing game for centuries off of half of the KE and speed produced by new bows. It's all placement, placement, placement....

[brotherjack]

I have one of these and really like it. My main concern is that it seems to lack penetrating power @ around 20 yards with 100 gr broadheads. Specifically, the bolt does go deep, but remains in the deer rather than fully exiting the other side of the animal. I'd rather it flew completely through.

Has anyone else had similar results? Would 125 gr bring about an improvement?

Heavier arrow = more Kenetic Energy (KE), and thus more penetration assuming velocity doesn't fall off too far. My experience with the SteelForce is that an arrow between 400 and 450 grains yields the ideal velocity vs arrow weight trade-off.

I assume you are still using the lightweight arrows that came with the SteelForce. If that is true, then I would suggest you jump straight to a very heavy cut-on-contact head, something like the 150 grain Magnus Stinger or Magnus Snuffer (or really, any 150 to 175 grain cut-on-contact head). That would get you to around 400 grains of total arrow weight.

Another option is to move to the carbon arrows and stick with the 100 grain heads (that will get you around 450 grains total arrow weight).

[loki]

Another option is to move to the carbon arrows and stick with the 100 grain heads (that will get you around 450 grains total arrow weight).

Ha! Talk about the obvious that I glossed over, I forget sometimes that some people use those aluminum bolts. I assumed you were using the heavier carbon in my answer.

This is the way I'd go in the first place, to a carbon bolt that is. Adds more weight than just a 25 grain heavier broad head.

[EricTheRed]

Actually, I lost some of the short aluminum bolts it came with while practicing, because they were so inaccurate I couldn't retrieve them. The others I used to discharge the bow until the feathers (literally feathers) fell off.

I had switched to longer aluminum ones, but they don't hold up either. Have been using carbons now, and they're an improvement.

Trying to get a feel for the performance curve of increased momentum/penetrating power vs range loss/weight drag. Seems to me there must be a sweet spot where the punching power is optimum, before the increased weight begins to work against me. Am thinking this would be about 20 yards with carbon and 125 gr.

Going to do some experimentation. What do you think? Thanx