Crossbow VS Compound Bow Accuracy?

[floppychicken]

I'm sure it's a thread that's been answered (not that I could find it with the search function however), but thought I would ask based on an observation over the last year...
I don't own a X-bow, but have seen many at the ranges and wonder why they seem to always be somewhat 'less accurate' than a steady hand and a good bow with open sights. It seems even some of the Techs have a 'very' hard time getting many X-bows to hit consistent Ten ring's and X's and most owners score lower from what I can see... So, is this just an indoor 20 - 30m issue or something? To be clear, most of my experience with X-bows is watching guys Indoors (and 2 guys outdoors with a Spyder 380 and a very new Tenpoint..) and I was just curious as to what I was seeing... Bad marksmanship or perhaps something else?

Cheers,

[IR_mike]

Bad technique.........X bows are futuristic death rays.

Ask the ABA.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Can you hold a bow indefinitely at full draw and then point and shoot?

There was a guy at Jimbows who brought a crossbow in for his first try at it and shot a Robin Hood at 20yards after 30mins.....beginners luck







No I am not saying everyone who picks up a xbow will shoot a Robin Hood in 30 mins....just saying it was truly beginners luck...what amazed me was how loud that thing was...

LC

[RayM77]

Originally Posted by IR_mike

Bad technique.........X bows are futuristic death rays.

Ask the ABA.

Ask all of Alberta more like. It was a provincial vote.

I would bet it was just the shooter and not the tool.

[thrude1]

comparing the two is like comparing a x-bow to a rifle because they both have a trigger or a scope. A bow is a bow a x-bow is a x-bow and a rifle is a rifle each in the properly trained hands is a very accurate and leathal weapon at given ranges. I know you are just asking but this topic every timeits brought up does nothing but divided the community that needs to band together with a common voice to protect our hunting heritage and weapons ownership

[3blade]

Originally Posted by IR_mike

Bad technique.........X bows are futuristic death rays.

Ask the ABA.

....invented by satan. And should you miss, the bolt will automatically home in on the nearest innocent person.

I think it the accuracy issue has something to do with brace height (width?) and vibration, but I'm no expert on those evil things. The whole bunch of em would make a very nice artificial reef though

[58thecat]

Accuracy is in the hand/eye/experience of the one shooting the bow or Xbow. Both can be very accurate.

[CNP]

I am more accurate with a compound bow at short distance than I am with a rifle OFFHAND. The same would apply to a crossbow. Put the rifle or the crossbow on a bench rest and the opposite would be true. 300X with a crossbow from a bench rest easy.

[craig82]

I think it was the operator not the machine. I have a excalaber and at 40 yards kneeling you can nail three in ten ring really consistent. Off hand is a bit harder cuz it has a lot of weight up front . I think you should try one lots of fun for sure.

[HunterDave]

A lot of myths out there about crossbows. If I could find 3 perfect bolts and have a rock steady aim I bet that I could get 1/2" groups at 30 yds......I haven't done that yet but I can put 3 bolts in less than a pie plate at 30 yds.

A fella out at the lake consistently out shoots my crossbow with his compound bow but that's him and me. I'm sure that there'd be differing results with different people. A crossbow isn't going to make you a marksman.

[floppychicken]

Hmmm, very interesting views regarding the Crossbow! Thanks for all of the input...

I think that I'm getting that they seem to be more accurate than bows (without their own scopes) at longer distances and that they of course 'should' have more 'consistent accuracy' since they always load and cock the same and their is little to no deviation in that regard (no anchor points like a bow/archer). I'm of course not discounting the more proficient people who shoot bows since I've seen that first hand and they truly are the most accurate shooters that i have ever seen (295-300 every round!)... Crazy stuff.

It certainly seems that X-bows have 'matured' over the last few years and from what I see on YouTube and other videos, they have become quite the SERIOUS hunting weapon and more widely used now than ever before, especially in the USA. Because of the way they function, I can also see why they are also put into the 'Gun Category' and thus, the reason why they should likely follow the same in terms of seasonal hunting times as a Gun. That is of course just my opinion..

As was stated by another poster, I think I should shoot one or two myself and will definitely try to find a couple of people with decent Crossbow's and make the comparison over a few days or a week of shooting. Using my rangefinder and a chrony, I think it would be interesting to shoot both inside and out when making the comparisons between arrow and bolt flight (speed, drop, accuracy, etc..) and record those findings. Now I just need to find the time...

Cheers,

[floppychicken]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Can you hold a bow indefinitely at full draw and then point and shoot?

There was a guy at Jimbows who brought a crossbow in for his first try at it and shot a Robin Hood at 20yards after 30mins.....beginners luck



No I am not saying everyone who picks up a xbow will shoot a Robin Hood in 30 mins....just saying it was truly beginners luck...what amazed me was how loud that thing was...

LC

LOL... I wonder, was it the guy who was shooting the Black Stryker 380?? That thing was UNBELIEVABLY loud when compared to a few of the recurve X-Bows... People were actually moving over to the other lanes on the other side because of the noise! Some of those 'Tenpoints' were actually pretty darn loud as well.. Last time I was there, a guy was using a Barnett recurve and it was surprisingly quiet when compared to the former...

[J D]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

A lot of myths out there about crossbows. If I could find 3 perfect bolts and have a rock steady aim I bet that I could get 1/2" groups at 30 yds......I haven't done that yet but I can put 3 bolts in less than a pie plate at 30 yds.

A fella out at the lake consistently out shoots my crossbow with his compound bow but that's him and me. I'm sure that there'd be differing results with different people. A crossbow isn't going to make you a marksman.

I would disagree to a point.

I hunted with a crossbow for 2 seasons do to injury and have buddies who still do. We all found them extremely easy to be accurate with. Off hand yes there is issues do to the weight but from a knee or rest they are deadly. We all believe from our experience they are easier to shoot then a bow.

This said we are a group that is accurate with bow(in the past for some) and rifle as well. My buddies who still use a crossbow have injuries where they can no longer use a bow.

From my experience there are positives and negatives to both bows and crossbows but crossbows are definitely easier to become accurate with. What you loose with a crossbow is penetration at longer range do to the weight of the bolt, slower to achieve a second shot, and I found them cumbersome.

Accuracy comes down to who is behind either weapon really. In experienced hands both weapons are deadly. Personally with proper instruction it does not take long to teach someone to be accurate with a compound. A crossbow if you have firearm experience the learning curve is even shorter and takes very little practice to keep accurate.

I went back to my bow as soon as I could because of the few disadvantages of a crossbow but accuracy was not an issue. The crossbow is the laser guided missile some make it out to be

[nekred]

The learning curve with a x-bow is not as steep fpr beginners, because many of the insconsistencies through form and release involved with a compound bow are removed, however because of the difference in balance it is hard to shoot off hand....

Go take a bow and a 22 rifle offhand and shoot at 20 yards and compare the difference both immediately and with experience....

If you want to see true comparisons go look at the results of the vegas shoot which has a crossbow division and the scores are nowhere near the compund shooters....

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by nekred

If you want to see true comparisons go look at the results of the vegas shoot which has a crossbow division and the scores are nowhere near the compund shooters....

At a glance, it looks to me like the compound bows consistently scored higher than the crossbows but the crossbows scored higher than the recurve bows. I'm not familiar with the different categories though. The crossbow results are at the very bottom of the page:

http://www.ianseo.net/TourData/2014/569/IC.php

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by floppychicken

LOL... I wonder, was it the guy who was shooting the Black Stryker 380?? That thing was UNBELIEVABLY loud when compared to a few of the recurve X-Bows... People were actually moving over to the other lanes on the other side because of the noise! Some of those 'Tenpoints' were actually pretty darn loud as well.. Last time I was there, a guy was using a Barnett recurve and it was surprisingly quiet when compared to the former...

I was on the other side....and it startled me every time it went off!

LC

[Zuludog]

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Can you hold a bow indefinitely at full draw and then point and shoot?

There was a guy at Jimbows who brought a crossbow in for his first try at it and shot a Robin Hood at 20yards after 30mins.....beginners luck







No I am not saying everyone who picks up a xbow will shoot a Robin Hood in 30 mins....just saying it was truly beginners luck...what amazed me was how loud that thing was...

LC

My friend bought a Prime Impact last year and after 30 mins (first time shooting a bow) he Robin Hooded at 40 yards. Took me quite awhile longer than that for my first Robin Hood. lol

[SportHuntingHelp]

Originally Posted by Zuludog

My friend bought a Prime Impact last year and after 30 mins (first time shooting a bow) he Robin Hooded at 40 yards. Took me quite awhile longer than that for my first Robin Hood. lol

That is because he was shooting an Impact

[calgarychef]

I saw a girl about 6 years old at the most who was shooting a crossbow and she got a Robin Hood. That tells me that crossbows are indeed accurate even in the hands of a child.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

I saw a girl about 6 years old at the most who was shooting a crossbow and she got a Robin Hood. That tells me that crossbows are indeed accurate even in the hands of a child.

...Or that even a drunk blind squirrel will trip over the ole acorn once in a while...lol

[nekred]

Crossbows are accurate and I have no doubt that people just starting out can be more accurate with them at first which I meant in my other post by easier learning curve....

But did the 6 year old draw it?