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Super short Recurve crossbows

473K views 7K replies 208 participants last post by  warp speed 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm having fun building this little 90 lb draw crossbow. I shot it through the chrono and it shoots a 410 grain arrow 250 fps. I can kill the crap out of deer with that......but I won't be hunting around fields with it.:wink: It's going to be interesting to see how much it's slowed down with a 550 grain arrow. I will be using a riser from another brand crossbow, a modified barrel and an Excal conventional stock.

A small amount of machining of the riser will be necessary so it will be the same height as the barrel's deck. I'm sending the barrel and limbs off to Tarjac for coating once I decide what color to coat them. I'm leaving the stock and machined riser black so I may go for a dark grey carbon look on the barrel and limbs. This thing is QUIET!!... but it should be at these slow speeds. I'm going to use a discontinued Ten Point 3 dot reflex sight on it and l goal is to have the dots sighted in at 20, 25 and 30 yards. I'll have to play with different arrow weights to get that but that is my goal.

I have an Excal crank cocker to use with it until my shoulder therapy is completed, sometimes around June. I'm not installing a Ten Point ACUdraw on this crossbow to keep the overall weight to a minimum. I'll be able to throw this super light weight crossbow over my old shoulder and walk all day......if I ever decide to do that:wink:
 

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#3 ·
Good and slow but you know the old saying, even a very slow heavy arrow.......doesn't want to stop:wink: The buck I shot 2 years ago with the Medieval crossbow (608 grain arrow at 139 fps) was knocked on his butt:)
 
#5 ·
I have limits...well short of spear hunting:) I like the challenge. Minimum effort anything, IMO, isn't worth doing in the first place.
 
#7 ·
I'm getting the riser machined Monday, I hope. I'm going to make sure I have it all setup exactly the way I want it, including the sight-in and arrow weight finalization, before sending the limbs and barrel off for coating. It could be mid to late February before I get it completed.
 
#19 ·
I am also having a riser machined to fit excal(s) Vixen or Ibex (if I can find a metal rail one) or possibly a Phoenix. If you weigh the limbs and risers from each, Im pretty sure you will find a nice little weight savings as well. That will be a very sweet little bow - Good luck.

W.
 
#12 ·
Super Short;

Moon;

Hope your recovery is going well; looks like a great crossbow you are building there, of course I wouldn't expect anything less from a man of your ability;

You already know this but Ten makes a dandy crossbow that I am using right now, the GT Flex in which it is a recurve xbow that has 3 adjustments to it just by moving the limbs; 180 125 and 90 lb pull; will wait and see what arrow combo you use for the 90 lbs as I will try it for the Tenpoint for the grandkids; please keep me posted on what you find to be the best;

Thanks and wish ya well.
 
#13 ·
Seeya, I owned 2 of them a while back:) They are great little crossbows and I've recommended them to lots of folks.

I was given some Excal and other crossbow parts so I thought I'd make something using them. The machined riser I have is slightly too tall for the barrel I'm putting it on. It's replacing a cast riser.

I'll post arrow info when I get it finalized.

Thanks:)
 
#14 ·
The riser is being machined today and tomorrow I'm getting the barrel powder coated. Hard to explain but I'm excited about putting this 250 fps crossbow together and it will be in the woods with me, at least part of the time, next hunting season. I'm going to use a black/grey flemish string on it. I have parts lying on the workbench for the parallel quiver mounting. I'm going to work up 2 different arrows for it, 1 being Easton Full metal Jackets and the other will be Sky Art shafts from Europe..They are the heaviest carbon arrows per inch that I have. I could very well be down to about 200 fps with the heavier arrows. Can't wait to get it finished:) I'll admit to being a crossbow fanatic:wink:
 
#15 ·
Sounds like you like to experiment and play a good bit with the crossbows. It's a great feeling taking animals with new weapons and seeing how they perform under hunting conditions. Keep us posted with some pics when you get it finished.
 
#17 ·
just for grins I decided to try out my factory excel string in my vortex and wow did it make a difference in noise and vibration. I can only imagine how quiet this one is. If I get one of the new, faster excals I will use the heavier string for sure!
 
#18 ·
I've built a few Frankenbows (vertical) myself but my goal was always to go up in speed, not down ;)
 
#20 ·
Thanks :) I just couldn't stand it so I went out to put it together temporarily just to see how it feels and looks:) I layed it down on the floor with the Vortex. they are not lined up prefectly but you can get the general idea on savings in length. This crossbow trigger is OLD but it's the the sweetest factory Excal trigger I've ever seen. I'm not touching it........other than to shoot it. I vented the barrel today too...tiny vents but I think it's cool. Just had to put some personal touches on it. Oh, and it's as light as a feather:)

I'm pulling it back apart in the morning and headed for my friend's coating shop. I hope to have the barrel back tomorrow evening in a powder coated black satin finish.:tongue::)

I wonder if my old buddy Boo would make one of his awesome flemish strings in gray/black for this little jewel? I'll ask.:) Boo was really ticked off at me one time and he had reasons to be. I've had his string on my Ibex since the bow was new. I've shot the you know what out of it and it's still like new and the string quietens the bow and lessons vibration.

I hope to have the bow at least finished to the point I'll know how it looks tomorrow night and then the fine tuning will start:wink:
 

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#22 ·
I did something today I have not done in a long time. I stayed out of the woods to work on the shorty Excal:) and between fabricating an adaptor plate for a parallel to barrel quiver mount for a friend and working on this little crossbow, I did not get out of the shop until 7:30 tonight:)

I installed a scope rail after cutting a big chunk of it off that will not be needed with the Zeiss Z-Point reflex sight that I've decided to use with this setup. I installed a new Flemish grey/black string, installed Cat whiskers on it, Installed a Bowjax arrow retention spring dampener, drilled the riser for installation of a shorty parallel quiver bracket, flat black coated the new Kwikee 3 arrow quiver, installed the Z-Point sight, put a second coat of matt black on the limbs (whew!!!!:)

I just had to shoot it a couple times..... in the dark:) The Flemish string with Cat Whiskers made this the quietest crossbow I've ever shot. I guess it helps to be drawing only around 90 lbs:) It's sweet. Instead of sweet and low......it's sweet and slow:wink:

I chose 555 grain Easton Full Metal Jacket arrows with brass inserts and 125 grain heads. Man!.... those things pull easily out of the Rinehart rubber 3D targets. I'm going to chrono them in the morning before pulling the crossbow back apart to have the barrel coated. As soon as I get the barrel back I'm going to start shooting broadheads out of it. I'm planning on using the new 125 grain Exodus full fixed 3 blade heads.

The trigger is lighter than my 350's and it has no creep:thumbs_up

I'm hoping I can keep this fully set up crossbow in the low to mid 7 lb range. Its short length makes the bow look even wider:) I'm having fun building this crossbow which should be even more fun hunting with it.
 

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#24 ·
That heavy Flemish string, Cat whiskers and 555 grain FMJ slowed her down to 210 fps. That's ok, I've killed lots of deer with slower arrows than that. Speed is obiously not what I'm after with this crossbow:wink: It's such a pleasure carrying and shooting a bow like this, it's super quiet with virtually no vibration, pulling arrows from rubber targets is a breeze and it's as simple as dirt:)

Bad news today though, the coating guy can't get the barrel finished until the week after Christmas. I can't wait to get it all put back together. I drilled the stock and mounted the swivel stud and swivels today. Picked up a feather light sling and a new rope cocker for it. Now its just waiting around. Back to the woods with only a couple weeks remaining of hunting season.
 
#26 ·
It's funny how quickly we can get accustomed to things being a certain way. I picked up my Vortex last night. It has a a Hawke XB30, string stops, 3 arrow quiver and a Ten Point ACUdraw crank cocker. Man! that bow is heavy:wink: but that's the price to be paid for all those goodies on the bow.
 
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