Hi. I'm a vigin......TO THE FORUM, TO THE FORUM!!!

Hello everyone. I go by crippleshot and I am new. In fact this is my first post. This is directed mostly at bunnyrabbit, since he seems to know his stuff when it comes to crossbows. And I'm NOT being sarcastic! You really DO seem to know a whole lot. If you're NOT a mechanical engineer, you missed your true calling. But, please, anyone and everyone, join in if you want. First, my goodness, there seems to be a lot of Barnett haters out there. But I guess you'll find that out with any brand. I, for one, am not a big fan of Ten-Point. I think they are ridiculously overpriced and have a lot of engineering flaws. I used to own a Stealth. Granted, it was an older model but I spent WAY to much for it, new. For starters, I think it weighed fifty pounds!! I had a llama to pack it around in the woods. After hoisting it up to my treestand, using a block and tackle.....and the llama, he would lay at the bottom of my tree. Motionless and silent. Except I DID teach it to blow-snort-wheeze, grunt and bleat at the appropriate times by dropping the correct number of frozen peas on his head. Then he could chew on the peas. His name was Pajama. And then there was the trigger. At LEAST, one, full, inch of travel! No joke, here. And LOUD?!! True story. During youth firearms season in Missouri, my hunting partner had his son in the woods, hunting. I was in my treestand with my Ten-Point. A buck, mistakenly, got too close and I assassinated him. From three hundred yards away, my buddy heard the shot and told his son, "Did you hear that? Bill just got one"! Then there was a safety on the forearm that had to be depressed during firing. It, supposedly, kept you from putting your fingers on the rail during the shot. Just my opinion but if you're dumb enough to lay your fingers on the rail during the shot, you deserve to have your fingers sliced off. One thing's for sure. You won't make that mistake twice. Won't be able to. Won't have any fingers!! And I've read where some of the people were worried about how much downward pressure the string was putting on the rail of their Barnett. Wondering if it contributed to early string and cable wear. After bolting the riser to the stock of my Stealth, I had to lift the string up 3/8 to a 1/2" to get it over the rail. It rode the rail so hard it took two people to get wax on the bottom of the serving and oil on the rail where the two met. One to hold the string up and one to apply the lubricants!! And, yes. The string and cables did wear out too early. Now, for just a couple of complaints against Barnett. And believe me. I'm NOT trying to debate ANYONE! There are some on here, bunnyrabbit for instance, that already know more about crossbows than I ever will. Just thinking out loud. But like the string not lining up, perfectly, with the string stops. Could it be the string stops are angled toward the center, on top and bottom for just such an incident? If the string is a smidge too high or low it will hit the angles of the stop, thus directing the string toward the center where the full force will be absorbed? If it was a flat faced stop, then I could see the stop breaking off a whole lot more than it does. And all the complaints about limbs, braces, etc. breaking or shattering. If I was a betting man I would bet the vast majority of such incidents are due to shooting bolts that are too light. Trying to keep their crossbows as close to that advertised 400 fps. as they can. Ha! In case you haven't figured out by now, I am the owner of a brand-new Raptor Pro STR!! Haven't even put it together yet. But, even with all the complaints, I'm going in with a positive attitude and keeping it. Except for replacing the string and cable for 60x, I plan (or maybe it's hope) to get years of enjoyment out of it.