96 replies to this topic

[Sagittarius]

Talked with a guy who is thinking of building a reverse limb crossbow with a 24" power stroke with speeds up to 600 fps.
It will have all the very best of components, type III finish, and Barnsdale limbs.
Just curious, how many guys on this site would be willing to buy a 600 fps crossbow, if it were built ?
I would be lying, if I said I wasn't interested.

[BigBowMan]

OMG! 600 fps! Not me! Man, I am nervous enough cocking my Titan that's only 300 fps, can't imagine twice that ... scarey. That would be quite the accomplishment if you guys succeed. Good Luck!

[ezmoover]

Three things come to mind.

1) It's gonna be expensive.

2) How often will the string have to be reserved? 24" stroke? wow.

3) The obvious issue, ammo for the antis.

[Buzzard Bait]

Sagittarius, on 24 August 2010 - 03:44 AM, said:

Talked with a guy who is thinking of building a reverse limb crossbow with a 24" power stroke with speeds up to 600 fps.
It will have all the very best of components, type III finish, and Barnsdale limbs.
Just curious, how many guys on this site would be willing to buy a 600 fps crossbow, if it were built ?
I would be lying, if I said I wasn't interested.

I saw a guy on one of the outdoor shows the other night with a prototype reverse limb bow with several pulleys that made the limb travel very short. It was speed adjustable. He broke eggs with a broadhead out to 50 yards with it and cocked it by hand saying it was about 80 pounds at the high point, then it dropped off. I think the speed he mentioned was around 300 fps??? I believe the name of the company he represented was Gearhead Archery, was/is that the same fellow? I'd be lying too, if I said I wasn't interested.

[Sagittarius]

It might be Gearhead but it might be someone else.
I've known for awhile that Gearhead can build them up to 500 fps with ease, should they choose to do so.

[beervo2]

I would have no interest what so ever...But to each his own..And yes, the antis would drool over something like that..

Mike

[eddie-shakem]

it would make me nerves. the damage it would do if the limbs fail.

[buckeye dan]

I find it difficult to believe accuracy can be maintained for an arrow traveling 600fps. The problem is the flexing and torque on the arrow material. The second it leaves the rail it would flex under the extreme acceleration. The initial flex isn't much of a concern as it's bounce back when the arrow straightens itself. The more you flex an arrow the less predictable it becomes when it snaps straight again. You start to test the manufacturing and material process after a certain point.

The only way I see to overcome this is to get medieval. A specially made reinforced arrow or a bolt. Either way you slice it the separation will be called a bolt. If you revert crossbows to launching special arrows that will be called bolts or will actually be bolts...Well we all know how that turns out. The added weight of these new bolts will throw the KE off the charts too.

Do we really need 600fps bows while the 400 fps bows sound like a hammer and cost more than a custom rifle? The technology we have is fine for now. So lets make one that is silent and affordable with what we already have. When crossbows start costing about $1 per fps with no noise then we can look at the next level of technology. By then everyone will have one and be more receptive to the extremes.

[Raleigh Archer]

FWIW, there are several 500fps+ designs out there right now, and they are shooting arrows accurately and without exploding them. I don't think this speed is "necessary," but it is being done by several designers with current technology and arrows.

Oh, and maybe other 400fps bows sound like a hammer, but my RDT165 sounds just slightly louder than a compound and is quieter than most crossbows, so speed does not necessarily require noise.

[vixenmaster]

I can't afford to buy the RDT125, so a 600 fps Bow is something i would just read about.

[XBOWMAN]

If they make it feel as comfortable as the Tornado, and under $1000 dollars they will sell a lot of them.

[StoredEnergy]

PHS1990, on 24 August 2010 - 11:36 AM, said:

If they make it feel as comfortable as the Tornado, and under $1000 dollars they will sell a lot of them.

If they want to sell lots of them they need to be priced at $349-399. If you hear all the buzz it is bows in that price range. Bowtech makes arguably the best bow available and at $900 they just don't sell many (and no, a few thousand a year is not many).

I for one would like to see a 500 fps bow shot. Lots of people talk about being able to do it but you know ... talk is cheap. A broken string from a 350+ fps bow HAS taken pieces off an ear and destroyed an eye (don't ask). A broken string at 600 fps could be lethal.

If I need 340+ ft lbs of energy to take down game I am going to use a gun.

[Moon]

Well said SE.

I owned a 40K bass boat not too long ago. It could exceed 80 mph. I thought that was cool at the time. Now I look back on it knowing it was only for bragging rights and an ego thing. Certainly had nothing to do with catching fish.

IMO, there will always be a segment of people that are convinced that fast is never fast enough for no other reason than that.

From a crossbow hunting standpoint, anyone that thinks he "needs" a crossbow that shoots faster than the mid 300 fps to successfuly take deer IMO is kidding himself or really should hunt with a rifle.

[quadkiller]

i think it would be cool, but it isn't worth the backlash from the anti's. you have to weigh the positives against the negatives and i believe the negatives would win. but i own a tac that shoots almost 400 fps. so am i just kidding myself. guess i don't really know.

[Sagittarius]

Guys,

Who cares what the anti-hunters think ?
I don't give a single damn and never have.
They would like to ban hunting, no matter what the speeds are !
Gearhead could probably design a crossbow with a 30" power stroke with the way their pully system and rollers work.
Their bow is kind of a reverse of the reversed.
As far as price, there's no way in hell to sell a bow for 3 to 4 hundred bucks and keep the doors open.
It would have to be made of crap materials !
Come on, get real on that !
Stewart Bowman built and sold his custom Accu-Riser compound bows for $1,200.00 and only made a $200.00 profit per bow.
Some guys would not believe that but that's what he told me and I believe it.
He had to pay a hell of a lot of money for each 73 pound block of aluminum used to build one ,plus all his other expenses.
He stopped building them because they got too expensive to make.
The higher quality a product is, the less profit there is in general.

[Raleigh Archer]

I think considering the effect of a 600fps crossbow on the political obstacles already faced by those fighting for inclusion is understandable. I was worried about this myself when posted the video of me shooting my RDT165 at 30yds. The two-camera setup shows how insanely quick the arrow covers that distance, and I could see the video used against inclusion very easily.

In any case, speed is going to happen. Verticals are only 50fps behind, and getting faster every year because people will pay a premium for it. That industry can't fight it, and neither can the crossbow industry.

[BigBowMan]

Maybe this is why states are setting limits on arrow speed for crossbows???

[Spirithawk]

I hunt with modern rifles, handguns, muzzleloaders and bows. The reason I bow hunt is the challenge, period, with no room for argument. If a person is trying to make a bow perform like a rifle then what's the point? There goes the challenge right out the window! Why not just go ahead and use a rifle? Newer, fancier, and more exspensive does not always mean better either. When I kill a deer with my Horton Legend XL175 316fps it doesn't know nor care that it's an older bow and that it's not the newest state of art bow on the market shooting at outrageous speeds and costing a small fortune. It is just dead and on it's way to my freezer and won't taste one bit differant. My Legend XL cost $600 new, scope package, and I could never have afforded it on a VA Pension as a disabled Vietnam Vet. I was extremely lucky and got it, like new, for $200. My son and I were recently looking at new bows at our local archery shop and sticker shock was intense. Sorry, but paying the price of a good used car for a bow just doesn't compute!

[hunterfisher]

Crossbows are just now starting to get exceptance in most states. I say lets, NOT, push it.We would only be hurting ourselves. The anti's are watching and waiting. JMO.

[hunter770]

Why all the concern about the AntiS They dont care about velocities or arrow speeds they want hunting shut down period I say to #ell with them as technology advances so should we 600 fps Like to see it would never shoot it