I live in an area where crossbows are still considered to be taboo. I only know of one archery shop that carries them and they carry Mission and Excalibur. I have handled models from both of those but those are the only ones. So with that said, if you had a budget of around $800 to spend, what would you recommend without being able to handle or shoot?
I will only be whitetail hunting with it. Maybe an occasional 3D shoot...no ASAs or anything like that. Our whitetails are notoriously jumpy and flinch and duck at the least bit of sound. So having a quiet bow is more of a Priority than the overall speed of the bolt. My range will be inside of 40 yards. Accurate and quiet are what I'm after most. I don't want something that the best anyone can shoot with it is 6 inch groups at 40 yards.
For what I have saw and heard, the Excaliburs are some of the loudest crossbows I have been around. The first time I was in a shop when someone fired one, I thought they had dry fired a bow or shot a small rimfire gun. The Mission Sub1s are nice...and are very quiet to my ears. I couldn't believe how quiet they are. They are extremely popular on the 3D archery courses but that could just be because they pay out more than the others in contingency for winning. They are a bit out of my price range too unless buying used. Speaking of which...the 2018s can be bought considerably cheaper. The speed rating is different between the 2018 and 2019 Sub 1s...(non XR or Lite models). Is that because they did something different with the bows (diff cams, etc) or just a difference in arrow weight? If that's all they did, I may spring for a leftover 2018 or used one. 300+ fps with a hunting arrow is still fast to me, and 330-350 is smoking. When I shot compounds, my shorter draw length kept me at around 270 fps with a 400-420 grain arrow.
You guys are the Xperts. Help a man out and point me in the right direction with some brands and models to look i to more. Been checking out everything I can on YouTube too as far as listening to the sound of the bows being shot, etc.
I will only be whitetail hunting with it. Maybe an occasional 3D shoot...no ASAs or anything like that. Our whitetails are notoriously jumpy and flinch and duck at the least bit of sound. So having a quiet bow is more of a Priority than the overall speed of the bolt. My range will be inside of 40 yards. Accurate and quiet are what I'm after most. I don't want something that the best anyone can shoot with it is 6 inch groups at 40 yards.
For what I have saw and heard, the Excaliburs are some of the loudest crossbows I have been around. The first time I was in a shop when someone fired one, I thought they had dry fired a bow or shot a small rimfire gun. The Mission Sub1s are nice...and are very quiet to my ears. I couldn't believe how quiet they are. They are extremely popular on the 3D archery courses but that could just be because they pay out more than the others in contingency for winning. They are a bit out of my price range too unless buying used. Speaking of which...the 2018s can be bought considerably cheaper. The speed rating is different between the 2018 and 2019 Sub 1s...(non XR or Lite models). Is that because they did something different with the bows (diff cams, etc) or just a difference in arrow weight? If that's all they did, I may spring for a leftover 2018 or used one. 300+ fps with a hunting arrow is still fast to me, and 330-350 is smoking. When I shot compounds, my shorter draw length kept me at around 270 fps with a 400-420 grain arrow.
You guys are the Xperts. Help a man out and point me in the right direction with some brands and models to look i to more. Been checking out everything I can on YouTube too as far as listening to the sound of the bows being shot, etc.
