handyhaver

Just wondering how many crossed over and why.I picked up a Barnett Revolution this year to give it a try. After picking up a dozen carbon and sighting it in, I gotta say it's pretty nasty. It's rated at over 300 fps, has a scope and is very accurate. I only shot at one deer with it so far this year, put a carbon right through a doe. Thought it was a good hit. Found the arrow with blood, tip to tip, and picked up a blood trail about 15 yards from where I hit her. Came back later that evening with a few buddies to track her out, and it started to pour about 10 minutes before we got to the woods. Pretty much washed out the bloodtrail, so we just looked around for about 2 hours that evening, no deer. First one I haven't recovered in a long time. I was using the Spitfire broadhead, and when I found my arrow, it looked like only 2 blades had opened. Whether it closed after it went through the deer and hit the ground, I'll never really know. Lost faith in the Spitfires, so I sighted in my broadhead of choice for years, RazorBak5. They flew great. They are a heavey head, but they have always seem to fly true for me. My scope has 4 cross lines in it & the RazorBaks were hitting one line down from the Spitfires, out to forty yards. I adjusted nothing. Anyway I am hoping to take a deer this year with a crossbow. I like hunting with it, has it's pros & cons, but I miss my bow. Haven't decided yet as to which one will get the "nod" next year but plan to finish out this year with the crossbow. Happy Hunting!!

Mark

MasonsRidge

I thought the only way you were allowed to use a crossbow in PA was if you were handicapped. Isn't this the 1st. year that they have tied using the crossbow?

MasonsRidge

Is it legal to use a crossbow to harvest furbearers in Pennsylvania ? The answer is no. Crossbows can be used statewide for bear and elk and for deer during any firearms deer season. In the special regulations areas crossbows can be used during any archery deer season as well. Crossbows are also legal during the two muzzleloader seasons with a muzzleloader stamp and appropriate doe tags.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Let me ask you why you switched?

adams

Excellent question Rob, I was wondering the same thing.

Welcome aboard Mark!

fastfire

I am not bashing you just want to know why you would us an expandable
broad head on a cross bow.
They have speed up the @ but are some what low on kE.
I don't remember where i read it & can't seem to find it but do remember that SPITFIRE did not recomend there use on a cross bow as blades could open upon release & close again before impact. THis was due to string jump that slams the bolt & jerking the broad head.
If I ever find this info I will post it.

Paul L Mohr

First off, What is CE? Did you mean KE? If so most crosssbows have plenty of KE to use a mechanical head. Most will shoot a bolt in the vicinity of 400 grns between 250 and 350 fps, that's plenty of KE for mechanicals.

I would prefer to use a mechanical actually if I was going to use a Xbow. For one fixed blades don't stabilize very well at higher speeds and are harder to tune. Two, you can't really tune an Xbow either like you can a compound bow. So it seems to me a mechanical might be a bit more accurate and forgiving.

Really all they are is a small compound bow mounted on a rail with trigger. The Physics are the same as a bow. They just have higher poundages to make up for the really short power stroke. Most average sized men could get simular performance out of a regular bow if they picked the right one.

Like you said, the only thing I could see that might mess up a Spitfire is how the string is released. I would have to look at one close to see. I just bought my girlfriends dad one for christmas. It was a cheap Barnette though, not a compound one. He just wants to play with it. But I will see how far the string is from the bolt when it is released. I could see if there is some distance between the two and the string slaps into the bolt there might be enough initial shock to open a blade or something. Other than that I would think the spitfires would work great on a crossbow.

Paul

handyhaver

Rob, and others,

I have taken deer with a rifle, shotgun, pistol, and my bow. At first this was just another weapon to add to my list to start. I started the season with my bow and switched over around the end of Oct. It a little heavier than my bow, and some what awkward at first. I bought it online, and came with 4 arrows. After I lost 2 of them sighting it in, I had to take a trip to Lancaster Archery for more arrows. Only after I bought it did I realize that a 22" arrow for a crossbow is damn hard to find. Most suppliers who had them were sold out, so off to LA for a fresh dozen. I had always wanted to check the place out, so it wasn't that bad.

Anyway, it's nice sittin up in a tree and having the thing already to rock & roll, not have to stay at full draw till I'm about to shake out of my tree. It's alot of fun to shoot, and like I said before, damn accurate.

Don't know if I will hunt all the time with it now since I also love the bow.

Just had to give it a try..........

Thanks for the welcome!!

Mark

handyhaver

Fastfire,

No bashing taken. This x-bow is rated @ 345 fps with 125fp of ke. It has a 15.5" powerstroke and shoots a 22" arrow. This is just a few inches shorer than the arrows I shoot out of my bow.
I have 3 dense foam targets bolted together and the field tip still comes out the back an 1" or so. Getting them out of the target is another story.

Alot of guys are using the Spitfires in their x-bows and love them. These were the first mech. heads I had ever used. I tried them because they are suppoed to fly like a pratice tip. The tip may have been open when it hit the deer because it sounded like I slammed her with a 2X4.
Have never had a problem with my RB5's. Just that they stoppped making them years ago. Can still find them on ebay NIB. I have a few boxes of them left so I'm good for now.

Happy New Years to All and>>>>>>>>>>>Hap py Hunting!!!!

Mark