# Crossbows and AR-15s



## QuackAddict (Jun 20, 2016)

Two things that I said I never would own and then I had kids. I was shooting my brothers AR-15 one day and realized just how little recoil it had and thought man my five year old could shoot thing!  So I bought one and I am also going to get the 22lr conversion kit to get him started. 

Then I started seeing some of these young folks on here laying the law down with their crossbows and thought my boy will be six this fall and could definitely handle a crossbow with some assistance. 

So my question is what crossbow setup do you guys recommend for kids?  And if you do not recommend a crossbow for kids I would love to hear that side of it too. 

My little man loves shooting his cheap Bear youth bow but he is definitely not ready for a compound that is capable of killing a deer. But a crossbow with a good rest is a different story.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated as it is time to hang up the Red Ryder.


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## turkeyhunter835 (Jun 20, 2016)

If u look online there is a bunch of youth models that would be more then capable of killing a deer.
http://m.gandermountain.com/modperl...esc=Barnett-Recruit-Crossbow-Package&i=718939


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## Beagler282 (Jun 20, 2016)

You will certainly need a good rest for it for him. Most have some weight to them. I like using my Primos adjustable stick for mine in the ground blind. Not sure which would be good for little JR but I would recommend going to a place that sells many xbows and has a range set up to try them out.


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## QuackAddict (Jun 20, 2016)

I've seen lots of models online. Just curious if anyone on here has any experience with them to help narrow down the options.


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## Gerrik (Jun 20, 2016)

My niece & nephew( ages 7 & 8), both shoot my barnett recruit( compound, not the recurve version) just fine. Adjustable stock, short length of pull, and it's quite lethal out to 35yds. I'm sure it'll kill farther than that, but my longest shot so far has been 36yds. Mine is rated @305fps, think the newest version is 285fps. It's put 5 deer on the ground so far, and a couple hogs. Think ducks has them on clearance right now.


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## turkeyhunter835 (Jun 20, 2016)

Gerrik said:


> My niece & nephew( ages 7 & 8), both shoot my barnett recruit( compound, not the recurve version) just fine. Adjustable stock, short length of pull, and it's quite lethal out to 35yds. I'm sure it'll kill farther than that, but my longest shot so far has been 36yds. Mine is rated @305fps, think the newest version is 285fps. It's put 5 deer on the ground so far, and a couple hogs. Think ducks has them on clearance right now.



That's the one i posted the link for.


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## Gerrik (Jun 20, 2016)

*And Amazon*

currently has it on sale for $245. At that price I may get a second one for guests to hunt with.


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## QuackAddict (Jun 20, 2016)

Gerrik said:


> currently has it on sale for $245. At that price I may get a second one for guests to hunt with.



Do you have the red dot or the 4x scope on yours?


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## turkeyhunter835 (Jun 20, 2016)

I ust to have a xbow and i didnt care for the red dot at all.... The scope barnett makes is a decent scope. Always seemed to hold pattern really well


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## turkeyhunter835 (Jun 20, 2016)

Gerrik said:


> currently has it on sale for $245. At that price I may get a second one for guests to hunt with.



Ya that's a good price. May get my daughter one.


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## buckchaser3 (Jun 20, 2016)

Make sure they keep fingers down on crossbow stock. My thumb took a nasty beatin one time when crossbows string hit it.


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## turkeyhunter835 (Jun 20, 2016)

buckchaser3 said:


> make sure they keep fingers down on crossbow stock. My thumb took a nasty beatin one time when crossbows string hit it.



x2.


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## Gerrik (Jun 21, 2016)

I killed 2 deer with the red dot, then out a scope on it. 

With the grip under the rail, my thumb never gets anywhere near the string. And after upwards of 50 people shooting mine, no one has injured themselves. But, I always stress to keep your fingers UNDER the rail.


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## Soybean (Jun 22, 2016)

combine both and get the PSE TAC 15, a crossbow upper that will fit on an AR lower.  I have no experience with this setup but thought it was a neat idea.


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## spurrs and racks (Jun 22, 2016)

I said the same thing when I shot both weapons for the first time....

"where has this thing been and why did it take me so long to own one?"

love both

s&r


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## satchmo (Jun 22, 2016)

*I do*



Soybean said:


> combine both and get the PSE TAC 15, a crossbow upper that will fit on an AR lower.  I have no experience with this setup but thought it was a neat idea.



The first year we shot Ramcats at the ATA show we used one of these in 95 pounds and it is a gun!!! I think a deer at 200 yards not be safe at all with this set up. That's a lot to say about any kind of arrow, but it's something you'd have to see to believe .


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## Miguel Cervantes (Jun 22, 2016)

Soybean said:


> combine both and get the PSE TAC 15, a crossbow upper that will fit on an AR lower.  I have no experience with this setup but thought it was a neat idea.



Very cool setup.


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## chefrific (Jun 23, 2016)

My soon to be 12 year old loves to shoot my Excalibur Micro.  The micros are MUCH smaller than the old clunker excalibur bows.  Built like a tank and great shooters, but just as someone else mentioned, you will want to make sure he has a rest.  When we hunt out of the ground blind we use the primos trigger stick tripod with the add on two point gun rest.  Rock solid.  
I still cock the bow for him. But he can definitely handle it.
We shoot Ramcats out of ours.


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## QuackAddict (Jul 12, 2016)

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I ended up going with the Barnett Recruit bc of the adjustable stock, good reviews for the most part, and the price. I still have to purchase a good rest to use in our popup blind.  The primos tripod stick with attachment looks good and I've also heard good things about the Caldwell dead shot fieldpod.  Any experience with the primos vs Caldwell? 

Going to put it together this afternoon and will try post our results.


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## QuackAddict (Jul 21, 2016)

The deer in Monroe better hide this fall!  This boy is a shooter!

I couldn't believe how accurate and easy to shoot it was. I put it together with no problems and then decided to use the rope cocking device without reading the instructions. Tried to cock it and broke the plastic arrow retainer. Doh!  Called Barnett and they sent me two more free of charge and the nice lady gave me a quick tutorial on using the rope cocking device.

I took the first shot to make sure all was well and safe. Then I adjusted the stock as short as it would go and then it was my boys turn. I don't have a rest for him yet so we used a garbage can with the lid on as a shooting rest.  He is pretty small and around 43 inches tall but he was still able to shoulder it correctly and still reach the trigger. The forearm grip makes it pretty much impossible for anyone to get their fingers near the track which I was relieved to see. I told him to aim for my arrow and thwack- he hit right beside it!  Loaded it again and he stacked another on in there. I looked at the target and thought maybe I should pull them before the next shot but then told myself there's no way I have to worry about him hitting another arrow. Wrong!  Shot number three broke one of the other nocks!  Granted this was only from 10 yards away but I was very impressed with both the crossbow and my son.

I am very happy with my purchase and the customer service at Barnett. We will begin practicing at 20 yards this afternoon and I hope to get him shooting out to 30 before the season. I'm hoping my next post will be this boy holding his first kill.


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## QuackAddict (Jul 21, 2016)

Using photobucket for the first time in a while. Are u guys seeing the pics as a slide show?  Not sure what I did to make that happen.


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## QuackAddict (Jan 12, 2017)

Im a little late with the update but better late than never I guess. We ended up not using the AR but we put the crossbow to work right away. My little man got it done with the crossbow back on October 8 and was able to take this 8 point all by himself with a little help from his Bog Pod bipod shooting stick. The full story is in the deer hunting forum under My 4 Year Olds Walton Co Monster if you want to check it out. 

Thanks again for the input guys.


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