chinese crossbow?

[jh45gun]

I tried something new I have shot and owned cheap Barnett recurves which the Chinese bows are a copy of. I  also was given a cheap chinese copy which was so BAD I gave it back I did not even want it in the house. Same with the Barnett Ranger I had I gave it away. Yea I killed two deer with it but they were closer then most shots I get that is why I got them a normal shot hard to say if I would have or not as the Ranger is on the low end of power for a xbow. They might say 150 pounds but they do not have the speed other xbows have at 150 pounds. I also have shot examples of Horton bows and a Ten Point. Out of all of them if you like wheel bows the Hortons and the Ten Points were nice bows I would not mind either though the Ten Points I feel are over priced. The new Horton Recurve bow looks promising Horton must have figured if you can't beat them join them as this bow looks like they have taken some Excaliber features and come out with a nice looking Recurve bow. Imitation the sincerest form of flattery    You do not have to spend a lot of money to get a nice crossbow the Horton packages starting out at 300 bucks and the Excaliber Vixen at about 350 prove that, reasonable yet still nice xbows. The old adage you get what you pay for does ring true in the case of the Cheap Chinese and Barnett crossbows. They are not very good at all. If the Chinese wanted to copy something they could have found a better crossbow to copy. The Chinese can make some good stuff some of their guns are excellent. On the other hand their tools are noted as being cheap for the most part and their crossbows are no exception. There is no way the way they are made now as cheap Barnett clones that the chinese crossbows are in any way shape or form as good as any good brand of crossbow wether that be a Horton or a Ten Point or a Excaliber, Parker ect ect. Just is not going to happen. Having owned said cheap crossbows in the past I know I am qualified to give my opinion. They are just not a good crossbow period nor are the cheap Barnetts. Barnett is having problems in General as some of their better crossbows have been reported to "blow up" on their users. By that term I mean come apart which is not a good thing considering the pressure these bows have while being used.

[awshucks]

well put, one small correction.  You can currently get a bare bow Vixen for $249 and ditto on the Phoenix at $349.  New V-zones as low as $85 and Lumizones for $119 shipped.  Ching Gow!!

[jh45gun]

well put, one small correction.  You can currently get a bare bow Vixen for $249 and ditto on the Phoenix at $349.  New V-zones as low as $85 and Lumizones for $119 shipped.  Ching Gow!!

Wow that is reasonable. Where is that at? Last fall when I priced Vixens for a friend they were 350 bucks and that was just the bow.

[mountainman_66]

ive got one of those chicom crossbows. it is set up for 17" arrows...not 20", so that lowers your energy right away.
it is nowhere near as fast as my 'slow' 240 fps Horton yukon SL.
it is a 15 yard weapon under PERFECT conditions.


that said, i might try to get a doe with it this year with Ohio's new, less restrictive doe permits.

[jh45gun]

ive got one of those chicom crossbows. it is set up for 17" arrows...not 20", so that lowers your energy right away.
it is nowhere near as fast as my 'slow' 240 fps Horton yukon SL.
it is a 15 yard weapon under PERFECT conditions.


that said, i might try to get a doe with it this year with Ohio's new, less restrictive doe permits.

I noticed that with my Barnett Ranger which bascally is what the Chinese copied they copied that one and the wildcat. 20 yards and under it was ok but over that it suffered in accuracy and speed. I shot 16 inch arrows.  My two deer I shot were about 15 yard shots. Anything past that it had a rainbow trajectory. Your right about being slow as Barnett i am sure used a arrow for the speed numbers a lot lighter than what I was shooting. But then all the bow and xbow folks do that for their advertised speed so the numbers appear faster. Of course if you use that light of a arrow you can get them speeds but I find a heavier arrow shoots better and penitrates better too.