Daryl's Crossbow: A terrible SHTF weapon

Crossbows are actually pretty bad for target rich environment. The reload time is slow and while most assume bolts are reusable after a couple impacts with zombie skulls and what ever is behind them they wont be. You throw a wooden bolt in a modern compound crossbow(or compound bow for that matter) and it will more likely than not destroy the bow because its not stiff enough and heavy enough and miss your target unless you are a experienced at making bolts. They also have many small parts, less than a rifle sure but to many for comfort as a main combat weapon.
Now for simple wilderness survival in a SHTF situation they are much better. Rate of fire would be low so strings wouldn't go ka put. The xbow would just last longer. Bolts would last longer. Silence is golden in either situation but maybe even more so when trying not to draw the attention of living people. Easier to learn than a simple bow or compound.
So basically good for the some but pretty much the bottom of my list for zeds.
 
I have 20 bolts for my Xbow, and it would be part of my SHTF kit IF it wasn't the shtf that is likely to see people shooting back. For woods survival, a crossbow is great. Suitable for everything from squirrel to cows, and the bolts will survive a good number of shots if you choose your shots carefully.

For Zday, i'm sticking to my AUG, and my AK47... bullets might get hard to come by but i can't think of anything more capable of chopping of fictional monster heads than INFI
 
TheDandyLion said:
I guess a compound bow is decant weapon but plain and simple I don't like them. Other peoples opinions will vary and I understand that but really for me and only me I would prefer a crossbow or recurve for a couple of reasons; First like many have said a crossbows main weakness is the reload time but that can be overcome buy a string crank making reloads only a couple seconds with practice. Second I have found that crossbow has much more range than a recurve (cant speak for compound as I have not owned one but have done small time competition and Most of the time on range and accuracy crossbow came out on top) and with easier to use sights and scary accuracy it does seem like a good option to me. As far as the recurve goes the rate of fir is much higher but not as long range or as accurate as a crossbow.
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All this is true. While I am a compound shooter my reload time for aimed shot is around 4 seconds. I imagine crossbows are around the same. I can keep em in about a 2' group out to 100 yards but 40 is about the most for hunting. I practice at long range often not cause I plan to shoot that far but because it amplifies the errors from form. I imagine you could do better across the range with a well set up xbow.
 
Wow man 100 yards? thats damn impressive.

I just started shooting my recurve, I live in the middle of Philly so actually i have only taken it outside once so far, but i set up a 10 yard "range" in my basement. I got to where i can keep them grouped nicely at 10 yards, but the one time i got to take it outside i backed up to about 60 yards and out of 8 arrows i only hit the 2 foot by 1 foot target 3 times... and they were all over the target. but at 40 yards i could keep them on the target just not grouped very well. At 20 yards i do pretty well though. Granted im just starting out and need a lot more practice..... but 100 yards... i cant even imagine. Nice shooting man.
 
Have you guys seen the BOW-MAG arrow tips yet?

They screw onto the end of your arrows instead of a target or hunting point and take either a .38 SPL or a .357 Mag Cartridge that detonates on impact.

Google search BOW-MAG - They sell for about 6 of them for $29.00
 
I read about them in one of the outdoors magazines; I guess it gives you a better chance at a clean quick kill.
 
Id hate to have to stop, take out my cocking rope,, plant the crossbow in the ground with my foot, yank the bowstring to the top, load a bolt, and and fire every time I wanted to kill one zombie.
 
[video=youtube;n9NstGe4y8c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=n9NstGe4y8c[/video]
 
And here I am just relying upon harsh language and being fleet of foot come the rise of the dead and collapse of society.... ;) :D
 
Im going to use my imaginary solar powered fighter jet to take out the imaginary zombies.
 
worldwood said:
Wow man 100 yards? thats damn impressive.

I just started shooting my recurve, I live in the middle of Philly so actually i have only taken it outside once so far, but i set up a 10 yard "range" in my basement. I got to where i can keep them grouped nicely at 10 yards, but the one time i got to take it outside i backed up to about 60 yards and out of 8 arrows i only hit the 2 foot by 1 foot target 3 times... and they were all over the target. but at 40 yards i could keep them on the target just not grouped very well. At 20 yards i do pretty well though. Granted im just starting out and need a lot more practice..... but 100 yards... i cant even imagine. Nice shooting man.
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At 100 yards I can stay on paper, ussually a little better. At 20 yards I shoot bottle caps. Like poweraid caps. But ive been shooting a bow for 23 years. All compound. And trust me im just ok to pretty good. Ive never won a 3d match or a 5 spot league. Supposedly there are hunters out west that shoot game at 75 to 100 yards. Thats not for me. If I can keep em all in a 6" circle at 40 yards thats the most ill hunt to. Keep at that recurve. Much more difficult than a compound for me.
 
Used to be really good at the recurve in grade 12 high school gym and was able to shoot a water balloon being thrown at 40 yards. Haven't shot one since... Gotta pick it up again soon.

But a 2" group at 100 yards is mighty impressive
 
As soon as I heard a 2 inch group at 100 yds I realized this was a thread about a fictitious topic :)

This is Reo Wilde he is the best compound shooter on the planet right now and he can't do that

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He said 2' group, not 2" so i think he means 2 feet. I think anyway. Which is still pretty damn impressive in my opinion from 100 yards.


Hey JP im in Philly, looks like you are not too far from me, do you know any good places to shoot a bow thats NOT indoors? I dont mind traveling a little bit as long as i can shoot for more than 2 hours. here all i find is indoor ranges and i hear they get busy and only let you shoot for an hour or 2. But hell it takes me an hour or so to get somewhere so its not really worth it to travel an hour, just to shoot for an hour...
 
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