Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow

The Barnett Recruit Recurve crossbow that I ordered from Amazon came today. Intended quarry include deer, feral cats, and zombies.

Just kidding about the cats.

I went with a recurve crossbow because I wanted a simpler, more user-serviceable design.

The kit included the bow, 3 hex wrenches, red/green dot sight, quiver, 3 Easton XX75 bolts with 100 grain field points, a spare bolt retaining spring, and a tube of string wax the size of a Chapstick. I also ordered 2 x 5 packs of carbon bolts w/100 grain field tips, along with a rope cocking device (RCD) and extra string wax. The RCD and extra wax were shipped separately and got delayed. (I think they are using USPS for the second package. Grrrrr.)

The draw weight is 150 lbs. with a 12.5" power stroke and I'm just able to cock it without the RCD as long as I wear gloves, so I took 3 shots after I put it together. Point of aim was the bullseye on the deer's chest in the pic below. The trigger isn't bad; Barnett advertises it at 3.5 pounds. The distance to target was ~10 yards. I'll zero the sight after I get the RCD. There's a fair amount of vibration when it's shot so I'm glad that I used blue Loctite on the screws when I assembled it.

"Muzzle" velocity is supposed to be ~245 FPS. The minimum weight bolt you can shoot is 340 grains but Barnett recommends a 400 grain bolt (including the point). The fiberglass prod came strung, which greatly eased assembly. I need to pick up a stringer and a spare string.

The crossbow only weighs about 5 pounds as you see it above, a lot less than the compound xbows I've held. The width is around 27" so it doesn't feel cumbersome. It has studs for QD sling swivels and the LOP is adjustable. It has an "anti dryfire" safety. Unless there's a bolt loaded you cannot disengage the safety. I need to figure out a way to make the safety quieter because it's kind of screechy (metal rubbing on metal).

Barnett recommends that you wax the string serving and flight rails every 5 or 6 shots to reduce wear, and to wax the whole string when white fuzz appears.

My initial impressions of this crossbow are good. We'll really see how it shoots once I get the cocking device and get the chance to wring it out.

Edit 4/22/15 to add:

The package with my extra string wax and rope cocking device arrived this evening and I was able to take a few more shots with the crossbow. The RCD makes a huge difference in cocking the bow. I will probably shorten the RCD a little, to make it a little easier to use with this setup.

One more accessory I'm going to see if I can find is a small stock pack that I can strap to the buttstock. I'd use it to store the RCD, a tube of wax, and hex wrenches on the bow.