lswoody

I'm looking at getting a Barnett Panzer or a Horton Steel Force X-bow. The Panzer claims 245 fps and 65 ft lbs. of energy and the Steel Force claims 240 fps and I forget the ft lbs. of energy. How much ft lbs of energy is enough for whitetail deer hunting out to about 30-35 yds????? And are these x-bows a good choice? Thanks, Scott Woody

coyote170

Barnett has a need to show improvement in their crossbows,Hotburn 76
can answer questions on Hortons,he seems toknow quite a lot about
them.The entry level on Excaliburs,Hortons,Parkers will give you a good
selection to choose from,ask before you buy we will all try to help you.
Dont do like I did and rush into a bow that the company was having a
lot of problems at the time and I did not research it like I should have!

lswoody

Thanks for the info coyote!!!! Would like to hear about the Barnett issues. Would a Horton Summit or the Steel Force be better????? thanks, Scott Woody

Cossack

Both would do the job. But save yurself some trouble and look at a Excalibur Vixen or Phoenix. Lots less maintenance and great support.

coyote170

And dont forget the Parker line also!

awshucks

I too favor the Excals. I would get a Summit before a Steelforce and no B-netts for me, had one blow up and problems w/ two other ones. Excals have lifetime warranties, so don't be afraid of a used package deal if you can find one. I dialed in a Horton HD Realtree 175 for a friend and was impressed w/ it, also did the same w/ a PSE Viper, both economical choices, both better than Steelforce. Some guys just hunt deer w/ them a few weeks a year, anything will work for that, some better than others, but if you become an arrow junkiy like alot of us, it's Excal all the way in my book.

lemoyne

Dollar for quality Excal blows the rest away. They have by far the best dollar for dollar.
Thats not to say that there are not some other fine bow out there ,I love my 10 point, but it takes more maintainance than my exocet but it shoots just as good. I had a bad experiance with Barnett, and I dont like it when they dont back up their product. The steel force bow is good for bow fishing I suspect that is what it is designed for it throw a very heavy arrow well, but nobody will ever accuse it of being fast its a 20 yd resonably flat then it drops off. You might check the pawn shops and such a friend of mine pick up a nice high end Horton that way for $125 and has been using it for 2 years now and it has not given us any trouble. Lee

Hotburn76

The Steelforce has 44 pounds of KE if I remember right. I would get the Summit before the Steelforce though. But is your budget really that tight and can only spring for the steelforce? If you could get up to the 300 dollar range then you could get you a real simple Vixen Excalibur and have a low cost CB with great quality. One thing that I have been watching about Excal's compared to most others is resale. Look on Ebay and most of them guys have to be getting close if not more for the Excal's when resold. I have seen some used packages on there pushing close and some times more then new prices. Most CB's do not do that.

As far as KE goes it is to debatable to give a good answer on that. One thing that is being supported and warrants credit is that it takes around 50# for a mechanical to open up and work properly. Mechs use alot of energy to open so some studies have said that 50 is what is needed on them. But I have no fact on this, just what I have read in magazines and TV and places like on here. If using a fixed blade then there is to many factors in what is needed and to many people are "right" to know. Ohio has a minimum draw weight for long bows at 40# and I bet that would be in the low thirty's or high 20 on KE maybe lower in the 20 yard and out range. A older guy I am friends with that set me up with my Martin Dream Cast recurve shot a Martin at 45# regularly and taught me alot about deer shot placement. He scolded the newer faster bows and said any guy that gets a pass through shot on a deer is dumb! He is mid 70's now and gets into a ladder stand every year and takes deer with his recurve. He toldme that the worst thing a guy wants is a arrow going through a deer. You guys might read that and think I or him are nuts but I sometimes think he is right. He said he always puthisarrow right in the heart shot zone and is pleased to see the arrow only half way in the deer as it runs off. He said a arrow thatis half way in will bounce up and down or catch on trees as the deer runs making multiple cuts and shredding up the lungs real fast. Kinda makes sense right? He is old, and old school and has said all most all of his deer drop within sight. Now this was kinda long and maybe some will disagree with it, but sometimes I think we get to jacked up on power, them old guys been killing deer a long time with slow bows!

GrumpyTom

I do not have any knowledge of the bows you are asking about, but I do know somethings about power of a bow with deer after over 25 years hunting crossbows for deer.

Will a bow which shoots 245 fps & 65 foot pounds be enough for you, yes ........ at short distances. Remember that those calulations are at the bow, not out at 30 yards. Crossbows do have a great tendicies to loose speed father fast, which in turns lowers your KE. I have a bow that is 150lb pull and shoots 270-275 FPS and it has more then enough energy to pass through deer. Many even use bows of this poundage and speeds to hunt moose. The thing to remember is that it is shot placement that is most important. Even your most powerful crossbows, when your shot hits the shoulder of a deer, you could be in serious trouble in trying to recover that animal.

Hotburn76 I understand what your saying about not having pass throughs with an arrow, but I think that I want to have a second hole for a good blood trail. BUt I do think that once your arrow head passes through the animal, from that point forward it is wasted energy. When you have those higher poundage bows, it is not if you are going to get a passthrough, but how far your arrow will travel after it passes through. On the flat, my Relayer usually gets close to 20-30 yards, unless it strikes solid bone. How far ddo you want to travel to recover your arrow after the shot, sometimes I think looking for my arrows is too far

10ptCrossbow

Summit over the Steelforce, no questions. 10times the bow and WAY safer for tyhe user!
Randy