[tawood]

Hi all,
I just bought a PSE tac 15 and Scorpyd slp 165, then today I put a deposit down on a Strykezone 380 for my son...
I have a chronograph, trigger pull gauge, AND access to a decibel meter, (plus I have a ten acre yard with shooting range) so this should be fun!
I'm still working the bugs out of the new PSE and Scorpyd, so adding the third bow, and getting ready for the up-coming bow season, should be a challenge, but after Labor Day my work load slows greatly, so I'll have more time to mess with them (plus my kids are back in school, giving me even more time).
So besides checking the arrow speed, trigger pull, shot noise, accuracy, and overall weight/dimensions, etc, anything else I should compare?

Tim

 

[Doeslayer13]

sweet!

 

[tawood]

Oh, and I just thought of something....

Anyone know if there is an "industry standard" for distance of decibel readings???

 

[Iron Duke]

Should be ... quite informative. I'm looking forward to your findings ... and opinions. :thumbs_up

 

[wapster]

I would be very interested in how the tac shoots a fixed blade broad head...actually how all 3 bows shoot fixed blades,,,

 

[Raleigh Archer]

There's a lot about sound testing on the suppressor forums, and from what the pros say, unless you have professional equipment, you aren't going to be able to get valid results. They usually test with a microphone at the shooter's ear and another 1m in front of the muzzle, covering the sound that the shooter hears as well as the sound that the "target" hears.

Just as with suppressed firearms, the trigger mechanism of crossbows contributes to a varied amount of the noise a shooter hears. So, a crossbow that might sound noisy to the shooter, whose head is right next to the trigger mechanism, might not sound that noisy to an observer a few feet away.

Anyway, it is a tricky thing to measure because dBs are additive, meaning if you pick up a 5dB mouse fart at the time you pull the trigger, that will be added to the sound of the shot. So, you need to take many readings, throw out the outliers, and average the rest.

As far as wapster's idea of testing fixed blades, that would be very expensive, I think. I know the SLP/RDT165 shoots RamCats great, but will the same broad head shoot well in the other bows? If not, that doesn't mean they don't shoot fixed blades well. It just means that they don't shoot RamCats well (or maybe they do- this is just a hypothetical).

Anyway, I think this is a great idea, and I look forward to the fruits of your labor.

 

[tawood]

I've got the professional sound equipment...

and I've "played" with it a few times before (plus I'm an amateur radio license holder, so I have some understanding of db's)....the sound meter I'll be using is actually used for checking legal standards with a police department, so it should do the job.

 

[Raleigh Archer]

That's great. Be forewarned that some might argue that you're wasting your time testing for sound- the idea being that the noisiest of crossbows kill deer just fine. However, I think it will be an interesting exercise for those of us who wear camo even though Chuck Adams killed everything on the planet wearing jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt. Somehow, it is hard not to feel that quieter is better, not matter what the real world says about that.

If possible, I think it would also be neat to test the sound at 20yds to see what a deer might hear. That might be enlightening to us all, considering how well deer can hear.

 

[tawood]

I considered measuring the sound at some typical shooting distances (I was thinking 30 yards), but I don't think it would work very well, at least not for comparisons, and here is why:....first of all, the farther you get from the source, the less likely the differences in sound levels will stand out. Secondly, the farther you get, the quieter they will all get, and then the greater chance of interference from the normal background noise.
So, I was going to measure somewhat close just to compare "a" to "b" to "c", not to actually measure with some sort of finding that "a" is loud and "b" is quiet. Instead, it will be maybe "a" is louder than "b" which is louder than "c" or something.
I was interested in the industry standard not to compare to others findings directly, but just as a check that my sound measuring is coming up close to what others are getting.
Tim

 

[brad k]

cant wait.....sounds like some good fun.....

 

[no1huntmaster]

i will look forward to following the post

 

[wapster]

My thot on the fixed blade test is geared a little more toward the tac and the 165 because of the extra horsepower. Also the claim I have heard from a pro-shop owner that the tac is the only x-bow out there capable of paper tuning (whisker bisket instead of rail launcher). I have had a summer full of fun with a SZ 380 here in my backyard. Its hard for me to imagine a more accurate x-bow made......but by all the posts I read on AT Im sure ALLLLLLLLLL the brands shoot just fine. On another note,,,does anyone besides me notice the vapor trail and faint smell in the air after firing the 380 down a rail covered with fresh coating of jigaloo? i love that smell......

 

[Moon]

It will also do it on a dry barrel. A little too much down pressure, string to deck.