CROSSBOW?

sub1 is a lil slow for me but otherwise its one of the best bows ive ever held, feels so nicely put together, good balance, plus u can de-cock it!
Excalibur has had a decocking system for a while now. Excalibur is the best crossbow IMO, except for the width,I've had several windows broken by guys shooting my Excalibur's out of my hexagon blinds. Thanks for the input, I'll take a look at the new ten point.
 
Well i wont decide till i can hold either one this spring but generally the reverse draw bows like the nitro put the weight farther back torwards your shoulder making them balance much better, plus its faster and 6" shorter but we shall see.
 
Well i wont decide till i can hold either one this spring but generally the reverse draw bows like the nitro put the weight farther back torwards your shoulder making them balance much better, plus its faster and 6" shorter but we shall see.
According to Ten Point's website the reverse draw Nitro is 2.9" shorter, 30 fps faster, 1" wider, 8 oz. heavier, and $550 more than the Stealth. The narrower conventional draw stealth would work better for shooting out of a blind, and with the cams being further back they just might balance about the same? I'd also like to handle them, maybe at the upcoming Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. Both of these are advertised as new models, which is a concern, I always like to buy the second version of a model, where the bugs have been worked out of it.
 
I think that stealth length is without the stirrup, i could be wrong, either one looks great and for the price difference I may well get the stealth nxt instead but in my mind the nitro will be better for me. You get the accudraw pro upgrade with the nitro and if you buy it online from wyverncreations you get lots of extra arrows and cases and all that good stuff for the price. Like I said i gotta hold each one before I'd make my final decision cause its a lot of money no matter what.
 
I handled the Mission Sub1 at the NRA show in Harrisburg Friday and it's got a bulky look and feel to it, and the camo paint job looks terrible. It took me about ten seconds to cross it off my list. In Tenpoint, the Nitro X at 7.8lbs, 440fps, 159lb energy, 30.7" long, 12.5" wide, is impressive and handled well, with a lighter front end for offhand shooting, but heavier in the stock. The Stealth 410fps is 8oz lighter and has a good feel to it for stand hunting. But my pick was the Shadow 380fps at 12oz lighter and 1.2" narrower, and 1.5" longer than the Nitro. I also really like the Ravin 10, 400fps, 16oz lighter, 2" narrower, 2.3" longer, and 17lb less energy than the Nitro. So my new crossbow choice for this summer seems to be shaping up to be Tenpoint Stealth vs Ravin 10? TenPoint has a good engineering department, great CS, the best reputation as a company, Ravin has some nice features and innovations that TenPoint doesn't have, and I have a great dealer nearby. Price is in the same ballpark. Any comments? What's your vote?
 
Tenpoint without a doubt in my mind, the floating arrow design of the ravin, the floating trigger box, ect ect is a big turn off for me personally. I'm dead set on gettin a tenpoint this yr, not sure on model yet but still leaning towards nitro.
 
Ravin all day. Ten point is playing catch up after Ravin came out last year. The crank/cocking system on the Ravin is by far superior to what Ten Point has. Ravin has excellent customer service also. You don't have to use rail lube on Ravin. The Ravin is a very very accurate crossbow. Also if you check the arrow weights that Ten Point is using for the advertised speed, it is lighter than what Ravin uses for their speeds but then the kenetic energy that Ten Point brags about is from a heavier arrow. All Ravins are shipped with 400 grain arrows so speeds and kinetic energy are what they advertised. In fact all Ravins come thru at advertised speed and most are above the advertised speed. When target shooting it is really fun to be able to punch bullseyes at 80 yards. I would not trade my Ravin R9 for any other crossbow. Now if I could convince my wife to let me buy another it would be the R10.
 
See now to add my opinion to what tom said, tenpoint isnt playing catch up, ravin actually used tepoints patent to design their bows, the question is wether they did it legally or not. A railess design like a ravin will never be as accurate consistently as a railed bow like the tenpoint. Tenpoints new accudraw pro is far far superior and doesnt need a ribbon like the ravin. Their customer service is horrible from what i've seen, even after all the injuries from ravin they insisted it was a nock problem not the trigger and refused to correct it properly plus people are still waiting for the nocks to "fix" the problem. As far as speed goes, tenpoint does use a 370 grain for their highest speed rating but that would only be 10fps off from a 400 grain plus tenpoint lists all kinds of speeds for various weights on their site unlike ravin. Also for what its worth ravin requires you to use their arrows, if u use any other brand arrow they void the warranty and have also threatened lawsuits against customers for such things. Just throwin some more info out there.
 
See now to add my opinion to what tom said, tenpoint isnt playing catch up, ravin actually used tepoints patent to design their bows, the question is wether they did it legally or not. A railess design like a ravin will never be as accurate consistently as a railed bow like the tenpoint. Tenpoints new accudraw pro is far far superior and doesnt need a ribbon like the ravin. Their customer service is horrible from what i've seen, even after all the injuries from ravin they insisted it was a nock problem not the trigger and refused to correct it properly plus people are still waiting for the nocks to "fix" the problem. As far as speed goes, tenpoint does use a 370 grain for their highest speed rating but that would only be 10fps off from a 400 grain plus tenpoint lists all kinds of speeds for various weights on their site unlike ravin. Also for what its worth ravin requires you to use their arrows, if u use any other brand arrow they void the warranty and have also threatened lawsuits against customers for such things. Just throwin some more info out there.
Do you own a Ravin? Or is this stuff that you read on the internet, probably on Crossbow Talk or Crossbow Nation where a few guys have it in for Ravin and bad mouth them when ever they can. As far as the new nocks not solving the problem, have you heard of any problems after the new nocks came out. Most of the problems came from people not using correct nocks by their own admission to start with even though Ravin stated in instructions to only use their nocks and arrows. As far as patent Ravin has a license from Ten Point to use their narrow crossbow license which any crossbow manufacturer has to get a license if their crossbow is under a certain amount of inches just as Ten Point uses a license from another manufacturer for their reverse draw crossbows. Licensing agreements are something that many manufacturers use. As far as people not getting the nock replacements if they called or emailed and had their crossbows registered Ravin sent the nocks out. Ten point would never have made their new crossbows as narrow as they did if Ravin hadn't came out with last years model. It was only a few years ago Ten Point had problem with their trigger/safety which they denied saying it was user error at first and then had to do a recall on their triggers on certain models or did you forget to mention that. As far as rail vs railess, 3 of my brothers have Ten Point Venoms, not one of them match the accuracy of my Ravin. As far as the guy asking my suggestion is try shooting them both and buy what feels best for you.
 
Nope dont own a ravin, never would, held and shot them though and know many people that do own them. Not knocking those that do, just saying I never would. I have heard of problems after the nocks and the problems occured with people using their nocks. Again you said tenpoint was catching up to ravin yet ravin used tenpoints patent for their product and tenpoint had the design/patent registered years ago so your point is pretty invalid. I know many many people that contacted ravin and are stilllllllllll waiting on nocks. Atleast tenpoint recalled theirs unlike ravin even after major major injuries to people. Physics proves the railess design and roller on the front will not allow for the consistency a rail will......... I can go on but to each their own, I agree hold and shoot all the bows before buying. Just simply stating facts and giving opinions. I'm not a fanboy ill simply buy what works and for me its 100% not a ravin. Dont get me started on scorpyd lol
 
Good input, guys, that's the stuff I wanted to hear. And, although each of you have different viewpoints, I'm glad we can all discuss it without getting personal. And hopefully someone else has some experience to add since I'm still weighing the balance between these two.
 
I totally agree with you on spending so much money on something and not being able to hold it. Make sure you know there return policy inside and out before you purchase it. Some companies hide return fees in the fine print when you make a purchase.
http://huntingscopespro.com
 
This is an example of..."If I have to explain it to you, then you won't understand".
It's BOW season, or at least it used to be. Now it's "any season" that we can convince the legislators to legalize.
I have nothing against kids. I drive a school bus and there are 14 year old girls on my bus that can easily draw and accurately shoot 80% let-off compounds that will kill anything on the continent. But they don't hunt with their compounds... they shoot their compounds for competition and do just fine (they drill bullseyes at hunting distances), but then they feel the need to hunt with a crossbow? 'Splain that to me without using the phrase "It's legal". But "The legislators have declared it legal, so It's legal"... so that's the mindset. Anything legal, right?
I prefer the mindset of being a bow hunter means using a bow during bow season.
But, if I gotta explain it...
 
This is an example of..."If I have to explain it to you, then you won't understand".
It's BOW season, or at least it used to be. Now it's "any season" that we can convince the legislators to legalize.
I have nothing against kids. I drive a school bus and there are 14 year old girls on my bus that can easily draw and accurately shoot 80% let-off compounds that will kill anything on the continent. But they don't hunt with their compounds... they shoot their compounds for competition and do just fine (they drill bullseyes at hunting distances), but then they feel the need to hunt with a crossbow? 'Splain that to me without using the phrase "It's legal". But "The legislators have declared it legal, so It's legal"... so that's the mindset. Anything legal, right?
I prefer the mindset of being a bow hunter means using a bow during bow season.
But, if I gotta explain it...

Bow season ought to be bow season and of course a crossbow is not a bow just as a rifle is not a muzzle loader no matter how accurate the muzzle loaders have become. Catching trout fly fishing is a great pleasure that I relate to bow shooting. They both require a significant practiced skill and the thrill of fly caught fish or true bow taken deer is very special indeed. Sometimes I think well, I'm older now so why shouldn't I use a crossbow during bow season as it is hard for me to pull the bow back; recently though I have come to solidly think to leave the bow season to bow hunters just as we leave the fly fishing only areas to fly fisherman. This of course is not main stream thinking any longer but it is just the right way to do things. In reality I still can shoot my bow accurately with practice;not as easily as I once did and maybe not as far but thankfully I can still do it so true bow hunting is still an option for me.

The perfect scenario would of course be a season for each type of hunting giving the most difficult types first shot while the deer are more plentiful. In this era of do everything the easy way it is also easy to understand the popularity of using the crossbow during bow season which seemingly requires little practice and extends the ethical shootable range by about twenty yards from thirty to maybe fifty yards. Sometimes I feel that way too. Still a crossbow is not a bow, yet not a rifle so it is due a respectable season sometime after bow season and before rifle and muzzleloader season. Does this mean that bow only season or rifle/muzzleloader season may need to be shortened to ideally squeeze in the crossbow season? Probably yes.

Back to the original subject of this thread--which crossbow to buy, this is a great thread with good solid info on it that will help us new guys to crossbows make a wise decision. I'm not in the market yet but it is nice to follow what the best crossbows are. Until they make a crossbow only season here in New York and as long as I'm able, the compound will work for me during bow season if I want it to.
 
Last edited:
The bow vs crossbow thing isn't important to me either way because choice of weapon is too far down the list of my hunting priorities if I had a list. So I'll make a list and see what it looks like;
#1 The thrill of the chase.
#2 Camaraderie with hunting buddies.
#3 Time of year when it's nice to be outdoors.
#4 Observing plenty of wildlife (thanks to nice plots)
#5 Making a clean one shot kill.
#6 Filling out a tag.
#7 Type of weapon used.
Probably any of these could move up or down one. And of course, being safe and legal is more important than all of these together. Isn't it interesting that the hunting laws made by our government influence our choice of weapons more than anything else? In Saskatchewan on the reservations they don't have special seasons for archery and nobody knows anything about bow hunting for deer there. If we didn't have early archery only seasons bow hunting would probably die out in one generation.
 
The bow vs crossbow thing isn't important to me either way because choice of weapon is too far down the list of my hunting priorities if I had a list. So I'll make a list and see what it looks like;
#1 The thrill of the chase.
#2 Camaraderie with hunting buddies.
#3 Time of year when it's nice to be outdoors.
#4 Observing plenty of wildlife (thanks to nice plots)
#5 Making a clean one shot kill.
#6 Filling out a tag.
#7 Type of weapon used.
Probably any of these could move up or down one. And of course, being safe and legal is more important than all of these together. Isn't it interesting that the hunting laws made by our government influence our choice of weapons more than anything else? In Saskatchewan on the reservations they don't have special seasons for archery and nobody knows anything about bow hunting for deer there. If we didn't have early archery only seasons bow hunting would probably die out in one generation.

I'm with you 98% Mennoniteman and I like your list of priorities except that each one to me is equal. The two percent I disagree with is that just like fly fisherman who are happy fishing whether or not they catch a single fish there are many people that enjoy the thrill of bow hunting whether they shoot a deer or not. There are landowners not too far from me that ONLY hunt with a bow whether it be rifle season, Muzzleloader or bow. So without a special season I agree that some bow hunters might fade away but many would just keep on bow hunting. And here in New York, the best big buck hunting is during rifle season so while bow hunters get to hunt before rifle guys they do not in any way have the advantage here when it comes to hunting older age bucks.
 
I bought a Tenpoint last year and I think it's a great crossbow, love shooting it, but I still prefer to hunt with my Elite compound. Why? No clue. It just feels better, and I'm more comfortable with it. I've got no beef with crossbows, but I do think that the ability to nail a bullseye from 50 yards your first time shooting breeds a certain mindset and encourages folks to treat it like a gun when hunting. Accuracy does not equate to the ability to kill an animal cleanly! Crossbows are loud. Animals move. Unfortunately, I've observed an indifference to this fact in some new hunters who's sole reason for getting into the woods is to shoot at a deer.
 
Back
Top