To Bow or to Crossbow.... that is the question

[Bournemouthprepper]

In Switzerland their 'army' keep their weapons at home, if we cant trust our armed forces there is something seriosly wrong :O

Have you seen some of the people we put in uniform these days

Watch it you

[coulesy]

Technik ur right on so many levels one place i would wanna be is over the pond in the US its one thing to have a bigger stick but sod everyone have a stick if you get my drift . I am not a great lover of violence even tho i work in the indusrty but there is always a time and place.

BP there is nout wrong with that

[diamond lil]

BP, I would trust anything in a uniform as far as I could throw it!

[Bournemouthprepper]

LIL, I'm quite small, how strong are you

And you havent seen my adorable smile yet

[coulesy]

And you havent seen my adorable smile yet

lol no comment

[Bournemouthprepper]

cute as a button? why not!?

[Carrot Cruncher]

One thing to bear in mind is that you will be more accurate more quickly with a xbow if learning from scratch. With a Bow there are a lot more variables when taking a shot meaning that screw up any one of them and you will probably miss. Thats not to say Bows aren't as good, just that you will need more practice to be able to shoot accurately.

I prefer Bows to xbows myself as there is generally less to go wrong (mechanically), and for the same reason I would prefer a recurve bow over a compound bow. At the club I used to belong to the joke was you could always tell who the compound archers were as they spent half the time at a table making adjustments to the cams etc

On Bows, purely from an accuracy point of view (going on competition scores) The compound is the most accurate, followed by recurve, followed by Longbow, AFB etc

Having a Bow and a Xbow would be ideal though

[coulesy]

Thanks CC i have been doin a spot of research and think that im gunna go for a recurve bow for the simplicity and use in defence (in ref to my B.O.L). although some more reading and certainly a try before you buy session is in order before i part with my dosh, i like the idea of having and using both but i think practically its not an option for me.

[Carrot Cruncher]

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record I really would recommend doing a beginners course at an Archery club before you buy a Bow. They will show you the correct technique, you can work out what sort of draw weight you are comfortable with, and with a bit of luck you will be able to try out lots of different types of Bow. The courses cost around £40 and last 6 weeks. At the end of the course you will also get a Certificate which will allow you to shoot at any club.

Before I did the course I was convinced that I wanted to buy a Longbow, after the course I had changed my mind.

[SW_pheonix]

Oh im late to this thread. So not much to add.
If you want somthing that looks scary and will have bags of power and can be very accurate with little or no training then Xbow. A red dot sight is pretty idiot proof rather than open sights or a scope. But it will need a stock of batteries (CR132).

If you wan't something simple, light & reliable and for the long haul, then a recurve is better. But far less accurate without loads of practice.
A compond has much more power and once drawn doesn't need as much force to hold ready as a recurve bow. But more to go wrong with it and harder to maintain.

So its horses for courses. If in doubt and money allows. Go for all of them!

The only other thing I can think of is the arrow heads. If you are thinking of hunting with a bow it is illegal in the uk. But would be essential after TSHTF, so this refers to the future and there is nothing to stop you practicing archery now with targets.
Arrows come with field points which are not suitable for hunting anything except small game (squirells, bunnies etc). A moderate power xbow with a 'field point' bolt will put a nice neat hole all the way through a deer, but it will run away and won't die unless you hit it in a vital organ like the heart.
It is very inhumane and even if it does eventually drop dead, that will be miles away after a lot of suffering. So you have more than likely lost your lunch and probably the bolt as well for nothing.
Broad heads will bring down an animal much quicker, but I believe they are illegal in the uk (although you can still buy them!).
So if you get broad heads (recomended for the equipment stockpile) don't fit them to any bolts or arrows until you actually need them.

P.S as a xbow bolt will go through a deer, it will definatley go through something smaller. So if you hunt something like bunnies, use a lower power xbow or the bolt will go stright through and end up burried under ground, or bounce off a fly into oblivion. If a bolt hits the ground or somthing hard they often bend or the tip splits. So you need A lot of bolts or need to know how to make them.
Plastic pistol bolts snap very easily and the heads also tend to fall off or get stuck. So again you will need lots.

All in all, if small game is the thing. An air rifle is a much better Idea.