ROBERTDD223

Hello there fellow hunters, just wanted to mention that i have a middleton bow and have been competing with it all yr, some call it a copy, who cares, these people out there making these things for us is great and so is my bow, i have won alot of local tournaments with it, and i own an excal to, its the exo 200. I HAVE THE MIDDLETON 375 AND IT SHOOTS MY 350 GR ARROWS AT 386 FPS THROUGH MY CRONY, BUT I PREFER USING A HEAVY ARROW LIKE 413GR BECAUSE I HAVE LEARNED THAT FOR ANY CROSS BOW ON THE MARKET TO-DAY IF YOU RUN THEM AT MINIMUM WEIGHT LIMBS HAVE A GREATER CHANCE OF BREAKAGE, THEY ARE LIKE RACE CARS YOU PUSH THEM TO HARD YOU BLOW THE INGINE, AND THAT EXCAL MIDDLETON TEN POINT AND HORTONS I HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN LIMBS BREAK ON ALL THESE BOWS IF PUSHED TO HARD FOR TO LONG.

Hotburn76

Dang thats fast! What where they advertised at when sold?

Hotburn76

Just seen the other post about them. That speed is nice, but does nothing for me since it is illegal in Ohio and other states have a 200# limit also. The DT 330 which reports the same speed as a the Vortex looks cool too. I think we are all going to see a whole bunch of new CB makers flying up on the map as more states allow the CB. It will be a big industry sales vacuum that will start alot of new CB makers up.

ROBERTDD223

THEY ADVERTISED 375 fps, also brad ingals winner at the wolfden championships was doing about 380 plus, but between you me an a lamp post i prefer a little heavier arrow easier on the limbs in the long run but when there competing up here in ontario speed is what most are into. Again if you push any bow to hard with minimum weight arrows for to long somthing will let go somtime, and that any crossbow, i dont care who makes it.

GrumpyTom

I think you should rephrase your statement. If a crossbow company rates their bows right down to the bare min for arrow weight, then you will run into the trouble over time (some manufactures do that just to claim higher speeds for their bow). I know some manufacturing companies (Excalibur in paticular, maybe some others) do not rate the min arrow weight at the bare minimum, therefore you can get lots and lots of shooting without having to worry about limb dammage. Excalibur builds their bows to preform as a hunting tool and to last and be dependable.

I have been around crossbows for over 25 years, seen many models (Excal & others) over that time and have not heard of many problems with limbs except of when a dry fired occured with single limb models and compounds. But now, with these newer companies that are going for JUST SPEED, then I start to hear of fatigue problems when you shoot their rated arrow. To me, that is a quality problem on their part ( a bow should preform as advertized with the equipment recomended). These is not just a strike against the middleton bow but others as well. Time will only tell how well they will stand up to the fatigue of shooting, I know Excalibur does.

Dnk

Robert, it is kinda funny (not making fun of you) that when I read your post it brings back a memory of a video of Middleton dry-firing a bow repetitively. Why is it that you can dry-fire a Middleton without harm but cannot fire a light arrow?

awshucks

What happened to the Middleton that was in first place at the Canadian 3-D shoot a week or so back?? Heard he blew a limb and had to finish with buddies Excal, lol.

GrumpyTom

Really ........... I did not know that. I remember that when the middleton first cam out, a representive (or someone that took on that job themself) came onto another site claiming that it was the best and when it was not supported by forum members, he attacked the people on that site. I responded that the Middleton bow would have to prove itself over time before they could truely claim that BEST title. That title would have to be earned not just given out. I was called names for my reasonable statement.

Now to hear that it blew up during the CDN 3D championships and the shooter needed the Excalibur to finish ............. well that kind of speaks for itself.

I guess that he must of been shooting the LIGHTER ARROWS

ROBERTDD223

THEY WERE RUNNING AT 380+ FPSCLOSER TO 390 , AND MIDDLETON ONLY ADVERTISES 375 WITH A 350GR ARROW SO EXPLAIN TO ME WERE THE SPEED CAME FROM. CRONOS DONT USUALLY LIE. AND MY ARROWS RAN AN AVERAGE OF 396.6 THROUGH THE CRONY WITH A 350.GR ARROW. I THINK 375 FPS MUST BE THE MINIMUM SPEED FOR THIS MODEL OF BOW. ANYWAYS I DO THINK THIS 350GR ARROW IS TO LIGHT, I NOW SHOOT A 500GR ARROW AT ABOUT 348. FPS WITH THE LIMBS THAT ARE ON IT. THE BOW HAS LESS SNAP TO IT AND SEEMS TO WORK MUCH SMOOTHER WITH LESS STRESS FOR SHURE, I HAVE ATLEAST 1500 SHOTS THROUGH THESE CURRENT LIMBS WITH NO TROUBLE. I SHOOT THREE TO FOUR NIGHTS A WEEK AND GO THROUGH A COURSE AT OUR CLUB ONCE A WEEK AVERAGE. ACCURACY IS ABOUT THE SAME AS MY EXCAL 200, WHICH MY DAUGHTER IS KNOW THE PROUD OWNER OF.

GrumpyTom

ROBERTDD223 you sure like to YELL when your backing the middleton bow. I think not only do you shoot a middleton, but you might have been (which I heard through the grapevine) a hire gun for the middleton bow to try a put down the Excalibur.

What I said above was that if a crossbow company advertised a certain speed with a certain arrow, that you should be able to safely shoot that arrow without any worries about it failling to fatigue. If there is that worry, then there is a quality issue because the bow is not able to fullfill what it is advertised to be able to do safetly.

As for speeds in a crossbow. MAny many many times I have heard of crossbows (mostly Excalibur because I am around them mostly) shooting above the advertised speeds. There are many things you can do to increase speeds without going below the min arrow weight. It is a know fact that you can gain anywhere from 10-15 feet per second by just doing a few things to the bow (coatting the shooting rail, type of string ect.), therefore as you said that they were only 5-15 FPS over advertised speeds, so it would not be to dificult for someone to assume they were still using advertised min arrow weights. Now if they were shooting my bow, in a National Championship, which I had gone out to make sure I had many shooters there as possible (maybe even paid them to be there with either money or product) I would sure make sure that their did not break recomended minimums or chance getting the bow to fail.

Now as for the middleton bow that failed, I had heard that they were going to have difficulty in the duration of life (the dependability aspect) from a person that really knows crossbows. Something to do with the speeds and arrows weights. Well this failure, at a very high profile , high exposure, compitation will only highlight these worries. As I had said before, ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF IT WILL BE DEPENDABLE OR NOT and the OR NOT sure has the upper hand right now.

The Excalibur president, about 5 years ago was asked if the 200 lb bow was the highest or if he could build a faster bow. His reply was that YES he could but at what cost. He would not build a bow that would not be dependable but he was testing a faster bow right then (the Exomax) which he would not add any more to the topic (it was still under wraps). You see, the more speed you gain, you give up some durability, some ease in use (harder to cock or load ect.). Bill said that he would not build a bow over 400 FPS if it would not be dependable or risk the shooter's safety. Just maybe some of these other companies do not worry about dependability of the shooters saftey.

As I said ........ FIRST major compitation and the bow fails ......... NOT VERY GOOD ADVERTISING