Well I just moved down to North Carolina from West Virginia this past year and discovered that crossbows are legal to hunt with here (WV you have to be disabled). My father in law is letting me use his Horton explorer this year and i'm trying to get acustomed to it. The target i'm shooting is a styrafoam 2ft tall target with carbon express 20" arrows 100gr field tips......The arrows are basicly ripping through the styrafoam (has already ripped one of my fletchings off of one) and another issue i'm having is inconsistency in the groups....im not using a cocking device didnt know if it was possible for the string to be rolling when I cock it causing the inconsistency or maybe where the styrafoam is eating my fletching (the bacon effect) any and all tips and tricks would be extremely helpful as I am new to this and bow season starts here September 9, 2013 HELP PLEASE
Shooting a Xbow is like shooting a Rifle. you need to have the same breathing pattern as you would with a Rifle. a Difference in Breathing will change the shot. Invest in a XBOW target. will will help eliminate the Eating of Fletching. The quick fletch for Xbow bolts are very easy to use and work great. I suggest buying some. Get a Cocking aid of some kind. the string ones work great. also Horton was bought out by Ten point so you might want to call ten point to see if they have any cranks available still if you are interested in a crank instead. The cocking aid will help insure a smooth even draw back that each limb will have the same amount of pull and not cocked uneven. Also make sure your bolt lengths and weights and feild points are the same. This will make a HUGE difference in flight 18" bolt 20" bolt 22 " bolt aluminum or carbon weight of FP
re: Thanks Rodney, like I stated I am new to crossbows always shot compound before but I figured I would give this a try.....I just ordered a string cocker I wasnt aware that, that could possible throw off the flight of the arrow; but I guess after stepping back and thinking it makes perfect sense....and as far as arrows im using carbon express 20" with 100gr field tips for now.....But I have yet to find a "crossbow" branded target I was thinking maybe getting some hay bales this evening and placing behind the existing target maybe that could slow it down some, I had no idea how powerful these things are but I greatly appreciate the advice A LOT
hay bales are worthless when it comes to Xbows. they will fly right thru them and you will be eating your fletchings even more. go on google and type in XBOW TARGETS you will get a listing of a bunch available at any outdoor sporting good chain such as Gander MTN, Cabelas, Bass Pro, ****s, Schiels, Acadamy and so on.
A rhinehart rhino block will cover you in both broadheads and field point shooting, a pain to pull some times. A spyderweb field point target is really nice, but cant shoot broadheads. No joke about weight differences in your arrows causing crazy flight, be consistent with what you shoot. Each bow has a minimum weight arrow you need to shoot, it changes bow to bow. I just received my black eagle executioners. Horton shoots half moon nocks to I believe, make sure its loaded in tight and cock vane down every time. Horton don't exist, it breaks your hit. You can shorten your rope cocker, put one hook on string, pull it up a little, then put other hook on, mark line and redo knot. Tenpoint make a retractable rope cocker I used with my sz380, loved it, no hooks flying around. You pull to hard left or right, shot goes off, have to practice a smooth even pull. practice is the key, keep at it and you will get good.
You Must have a cocking aid of some sort. otherwise you could be pulling that thing off center. Even with the aid, make sure it rides right against the rails. and while shooting it is like a rifle, its even more important that you hold your position (like follow through) longer than you would with a rifle.
