Crossbow Specifics needed

[Bow Walker]

Thanks for the input guys.

I will definately be trying some of these comments on him when I see him next.....

Bring him over to your place and let him read this thread. If he's still not convinced - well, you did your best and tell him that he can go hunting by himself or with his irresponsible and unethical buddies.

[.303]

Bring him over to your place and let him read this thread. If he's still not convinced - well, you did your best and tell him that he can go hunting by himself or with his irresponsible and unethical buddies.

Sounds good to me.

[wiggy]

Yep tell him to grow up. Ive been using a excalibur for a seven years and kill deer with it every year. I shoot does because its open season in December as we just have too many of em plus they just taste great. 30 yrds is the deal and closer is better. They make noise no doubt about it and the deer react to it every time. I would also like to state that i do not think crossbow hunting should be considered bow hunting and good friends of mine who bow hunt chid me all the time when they see me heading out with the tool. I do love it as its very efficient as you do not have to worry about drawing or movement and its very easy to use from the ground. I can hit a pie plate at 100 yrds every time but would never attempt or squeeze lol at any animal period unless its standing broadside and not moving at 3o paces. The things are real killers from that range and in and I recommend extreme care. Hunters should not carry them cocked and arrowed; it still amazes me that we can use them

[Mountaintop]

303, should have given you the link to the Excal arrow ballistics page in my last post. Hope this helps

http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/con...row_ballistics

[greatwhitehunter]

Give him a test
Set a pie plate out at 100 yard, give him 5 arrows and see if he can hit it 5/5 times. Propably won't, my bet anyway.

[Bow Walker]

In your original post you say that he is planning on practicing out to 100 yards and that he thinks the crosbow is lethal out to those distances.

Well he's right. The crossbow is lethal out that far. It's good to know what your equipment is capable of, and the only sure way is to actually shoot it out that far.

Is it a good idea to try (or even attempt)to kill an animal at those distances? That's a definite NO!

Like greatwhitehunter says - set up (6" pie plates) "kill-zone'' sized targets out at 75 yds and 100 yds. It's really hard to hit that lethal area from that far away. The pin will be covering most of the animal (and all of the pie plate) at those distances - almost impossible to pick out the proper spot to aim for.

Also - at distances over 60 yards, the aiming point will be thrown off just by breathing and having a heartbeat. It's good to practice shooting that far, but to actually think that killing something that far just because the bow is capable of it borders on the irresponsible.

[BCsniper]

There is a few things to think about:

Can you kill an animal 100 yards away or more with an arrow/bolt?

Todays crossbows can easily get a bolt out to more than 100 yards with accuracy and enough KE to put an animal down and depending on your sighting system can be very accurate as well. The arrow speeds are approaching or exceeding 400 ft/s with the majority of cross bows in the low to mid 300 f/s.

Can you be accurate in killing that animal?

If your crossbow has a bi-pod or stead rest and you do all the things a long distance shooter does your bolts can be accurate enough to kill a stationary animal at 100 yards or more.

But your crossbow will make noise, your animal has multiple seconds to move prior to the projectile getting down range and your prone to greater affects of the wind on your bolt.

How much Kinetic Energy does your arrow have at the point of impact?

Generally you need the following KE to:

25 ft. lbs or less for small game - rabbits, foxes,
25-41 ft. lbs for Medium Game - Deer. Antelope -
42-65 ft. lbs for Large Game - Elk, Black bear, Wild Boar
65 ft. lbs for X-Large Game - Grizzly

Your Kenetic Energy is your best measuring tool. If you are shooting a 400 grain bolt - 350 ft/s - your 1 yard KE is 108.83 FT LBS of Energy.

The friction from the arrow will cause it to slow as it flies down range. The slower the object is moving the less friction will occur on it.

After 20 yards, for each additonal 10 yards further you lose approximatley 7 ft/sec and 3-4 ft.lbs KE

Range KE Velocity FPS
1 Yard - 108.83 350

10 yards - 105 343
20 yards - 101 336
30 yards - 97 323
40 yards - 89 317
50 yards - 85 310
60 yards - 79 300
70 yards - 75 294
80 yards - 73 287
90 yards – 70 280
100 yards - 66 273
110 yards - 62 266
120 yards - 55 251
130 yards - 53 244
140 yards - 50 237
150 yards - 47 230
160 yards - 44 223
170 yards - 41 216
180 yards - 39 209
190 yards - 36 202
200 yards - 33 195
210 yards - 30 188
220 yards - 27 181
230 yards - 24 174
240 yards - 21 167

Verdict:

He should have more than enough knock down power to kill something at 100 yards. He also should be able to have the right sights to be able to make that shot.

He will have a 2 second fly time to get out that far. He also has to hold his crossbow rocksteady to ensure he hasn't flinched even a little bit. The winds can't be moving because he will have wind drift left to right. A front to back wind might carry his arrow short or too far.

Train to be a sniper to 100 yards on the targets and find your comfortable maximum hunting range. (Suggest less than 60 yards).

Good Luck with your hunt though, have to keep us posted of how he does!

[troutseeker]

Do yourself a favor and let him do as he wants. No sense getting in an argument with a father-in-law and maybe ruin a relationship. He'll find out during hunting season if it works for him or not.

[savagecanuck]

It is possible to reach out to 100yds with a modern crossbow.The one that comes to mind is the Styker,it has a hand crank and shoots over 400fps.I have taken 2 nice bucks in the last year with my old titan 10 point[285fps]both at 50 yds but with alot of practice.I just bought the new top of the line Excalibure Equinox and am going to site it so the bottom graduation is for 60yds