Anyone into Crossbows?

Hey, I just bought myself a crossbow (should arrive in a couple of days) It's a 80lb self cocking pistol crossbow. Does anyone know the distance I get get with it? I know a 80 lb crossbow is powerful enough to go straight through a 1cm thick piece of alloy when standing 20 yards away. But anyone got any idea of actual distance. I've searched the internet feverishly for the past hour and a half but still no luck.

This is a link for the crossbow incase anyone is interested: Crossbow

It's the top crossbow

I saw one of these in a shop locally for £30. I want it!! Heh. That said, I think it was 60lb rather than 80. Also, are dartboards a viable target for pistol crossbows? It's either that or I'm going to have to find a real target from somewhere...

Why buy one of those?

They look useful for one thing only, and that's killing...:(

I would've thought archery type use would be more skilled and fun with a proper bow...

I wanted to get a bow, but i can't afford the cost of a mildly decent one. Besides I am majorly paranoid, i believe that "Dawn of the dead" and "28 Days later" will come true one day. That or there will be perminant social riots perminantly within 10 years. So this makes me feel that little bit safer. Reason why i'm collecting a small arsonal of swords and ranged weapons.

Oh and the dartboard i have doesn't have the metal lining on it. It's just a cork board which i'll make slightly stronger by getting a back board on it.

i would still suggest a bail of straw or hey as it's marginally thicker and a bit more robust than any dart board.

What bolts do you have? I've only ever used a 250lb one with half inch wooded bolts. They would go about 150 yards wen shot at 45 degrees, but it's hard to hit anything like that. You really want to find the blank point - this is where the term 'point blank' comes from. When a bolt is shot it will rase above the leval of the bow in an arc, then it will lower until it hits something. the point where it is the same height as the bow is the blank point.

After that, you will have to get to know the bow, I'd say you could hit something about 50 yards away quite well.

Let us know when you get it! Don't use cardboard as it will rip the flights off - you'd be best off going to a archery suppliers and getting a bound straw 'boss'. A bail might do, but I think the bolds will get lost within it.

If you can't find a boss, get some turf and make a small mound out of it. You must not have any stones in it at all! they will shatter your bolds, but it does work well if you take them out.

I have been shooting with Engligh long bows, cross bows and stown bows for over 10 years. Please remember that whatever you do it is very very dangerous. Never break the saftey rules; Don't point it at anyone ever - loaded or not, don't shoot when someone is a head of the line and don't let anyone else use it without tuition from you - and only teach when you're good enough to do it!

Sorry for the slight rant, but I have see things go wrong too often for my not to say it - I'd rather you think I'm a bit up tight than have you (or the person you hit!) get hurt.

Play safe and have fun!

PS, have a look at http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/ - it's the site of a friend of mine, the one who made the 250lb cross bow

Ravehead has the right Idea.

However, Recovering your bolts could be like looking for a needle in a haystack...

That's your reason for collecting weapons?! Oh dear...

EDIT: just seen Sym's post... Even better! A man that knows what he's doing!!

This is what i'm talking about:

i've dabbled with archery for a few years, nothing serious. i was into rifle shooting for a while and was on the county team (all be it for one weekend)


weapons i've fired, handled, stripped and cleaned are :-

L98-A1 ( the kiddy version of the british armys SA80)
SA80
L.S.W. ( the support version of the SA80)
the bren gun
enfield 303
various shot guns ( the "jackhammer" is my favorite, it's a 12 guage 12 round combat shot gun)
various hand guns (one day i hope to fire a 357 magnum)

unfortunatly...............NEVER come accross a sten gun (it's a bugger to clean )

as for bows............hmmmmm....... the typical begginers bow on archery open days and a friend of mine has a 120Lb compound bow (i think thats what it is..i'm more into guns)

So you like to clean things, if I paint a menecing pictue on our dishes will you come over and do those? Taa very much

yeah with a tactical nuke warhead

old phone books (soft cover, lots of really thin pages) worked well when i was doing archery. I think they had them stacked on top of each other, with the spine facing the same direction as the line.

Memory's a little fuzzy, though, it's been about 3 years and it was only for about a week.

my grandpa made me one for my birthday... maby moons ago but alas, my shot with it was horrible, and no matter how much i practiced i still sucked hardcore, that leading to me not touching the damd thing for 4 years now

I thought you needed a licence for crossbows in the UK. I never knew you could buy them over the counter.

I used to do archery, and got quite good at it (before one disasterous day when someone trod on my arrows when I was very poor), but at least with a recurve or a compound, there's skill involved. I really can't see the point in crossbows.

My card details we refused, no crossbow for me but instead I found this half decent bow in E-bay, yeah it look's kinda a noobish but anyway Clickiness

Thats realy not worth it...25lb is a joke.

You should invenst in a good bow, I wouldn't pay less than £60 for a bow, and then the arrows are about £3 each. But then I do use traditional equipment

I won't turn my nose up on the bow just yet. This will be the first time i've picked up a bow. So even if it's crap I can practise the basics. What kind of FPS can I get with 25lb?

I have a 150lb. crossbow, and the only bolts I had were lightweights, for target shooting. But they went a good 150 yards. I imagine sturdier ones would reach well over 200. I'm actually in the process of selling off my archery equipment, as I have no place to shoot it anymore. (Darned apartment rules...)

The only real use for them in hunting. I knew some bowhunters who went out with a disabled man. He had only 1 hand, but he could use the crossbow quite well.

I wouldn't use a crossbow for self-defense, it's a bit awkward for that. And I don't worry so much about social riots anymore, Tasers are legal here in Virginia

i'm fairly certain crossbows are illegal in australia, fairly certain