Wyvern Crossbow

So about 5 minutes before I had to ship it out to my customer I was able (with permission) to take a few shots with the new Horton Recon. Assembly instructions are pretty well nonexistant, but it is basicly assembled except for the scope, the footmans loop, and the quiver, so it is not brain surgury to figure it out. As everyone else has noted, the first impression is that it is heavy! with the scope and quiver and arrows it weighed in at 11.3 lbs. Not the best thing to lug around in the woods, but it is built like a tank!! They include this rope cocking aid that uses a metal horseshoe to grab the string. It is metal on metal and I am sure after repeated cockings it will wear away the finish on the rail. It really needs a delrin slide on it to stop the scraping. I tried to cock it by hand and got about 1/3rd the way up and said the heck wtih that! They mention string angle biting the fingers, but rolling over the cams is a bear. The rope aid, however, is one of the easiest pulls I have seen. It is a short draw, and the let off is quite a bit, so rope cocking is very easy. Though it weighs a ton, it actually shoulders well and since it is so short, it balances well. The safety is loud enough to scare any animal away though (one of my issues with Horton is the loud safetys). The trigger is a standard Horton, so it is abit heavy, but not bad. Shooting the bow it launches IMO like a regular crossbow. There was another manufacturer at the ATA that I tried and that one "relaxed" more after the shot, but the Horton seems to retain its tension and is actually more agressive than I expected (not in a bad way, it is very solid) It comes with 17" arrows with aluminum flat nocks (bout time) but I used a 420gr 20" carbon to better represent a standard hunting arrow (Horton notes that 20" is fine to use). With all that mass it has no hand shock at all. With the 420gr arrow it clocked 297fps and was 87.7db. That is a bit over 1db quieter than a DS. It has a bit more of a "thump" sound than the typical "clack" or "twang" Probably because of all the mass.

Overall it is decently fast, more than capable as a hunting weapon (except for the loud safety and the tonage to lug around) and pretty quiet. It performed better than what I expected since I had that other companys model in my mind as to what to expect. I think a guard against scratching on the rope aid would be nice, and putting it on a diet would be good, but it is actually pretty neat and it is built very well and there are lots of adjusments on the stock and foregrip so just about everyone would find some combination that would be comfortable with it...[/align][/align]OH, one thing I did forget to mention: Horton includes a second string that you can attach to the axles once the bow is cocked so you can release the tension on the string for maintainace without a press. Very similar to the string changing kit on a full size Stryker. That is cool because it does not look like it would be an easy press....


Wyvern[/align]

Moonkryket

What are your thoughts on the success of the bow in the market at $1,500.00 as compared to the Desert Stryker and Phantom? Also, compared to the Swiss twin bow which is in the same price range?

Mike Van Veghten

297ft/sec.........?

I thought Horton advertizes 325ft/sec.?(I had noted 350f/s)THAT's a big difference!
David, is the 420g arrow the factory weight...or is the factory weight lighter?

On the cocking "horseshoe". I'll just do what Darton does. I've already got a bunch...some little felt furnature protection pads. I have one that I got used...the factory pads were all but gone. I bought some from the local Lowes. So far...they work fine.

Mike

Wyvern Crossbow

The factory 17" bolts are alot lighter...I did not want to try those as I did not want to damage them (better to beat on my own arrows ) Hunting speed arrows I had expected a pretty steep drop in speed. It is about what I expected. I had questioned its use as a hunting weapon, but I see no issue there.

Yep, some pads should work fine...I was very carefull

Not sure on its "saleability" yet. There are a few new departures from the "norm" on bows this year (been lucky that I have the chance to test some of these) I think it is too heavy to be seriously taken as a hunting weapon. At 11lbs that is gonna stink on a long hike to a stand. The performance, quality, and compactness and adjustability will be a selling point, but at $1500 it has some stiff competition that IMO are better hunting weapons. Not too sure yet...and in all fareness I put only like 5 arrows thru it and it was off to my customer...

Wyvern

zophy

Are you talking about the new small recon 175?

Mike Van Veghten

Yes.

Mike