Barnett Jackal Crossbow

[TSYORK]

I am thinking about expanding my collection to include a crossbow this year, so I could cover bow and rifle season here in NC. Is a Barnett Jackal a decent crossbow to use for deer hunting? I am not looking to invest a fortune in it, but I thought if I could get one at a decent price, I would take the leap, so I could hunt two legs of deer season instead of just the one.

[daddus1]

TS
Welcome to the site. I can't answer your question but am in the same boat. Whether or not to jump in? I will follow this thread to see how it goes!
daddus

[Hunting Man]

Here in my neck of the woods, Barnett products were considered the lower end market. They may have improved their product a lot in the last few years probably to stay in the market. This could be a regional thing too. The serious crossbow hunters I know are all using Excalibur bows and Ten Points. However, I would take a look at the Wicked ridge line made by Ten Point, Excalibur Axiom only 6 lb. Couple of things I would look for are the lightest trigger pull, some are 8lbs, Horton had some of the worse trigger pulls, overall weight of the bow, and of course the bolt fps rating. The advertised fps is under perfect conditions so I wouldn't expect to get those speeds. Barnett has been around a long time and most likely have raised their quality, I just remember for so many years Sportsman supply always sold Barnett crossbows like 1/2 of what other bows were running. That makes me stop and think why? Long winded, sorry. I had a Horton Supreme years ago and just got out of the crossbow hunting. With surgery in my recent past I too am thinking of the crossbow to extend my hunting. My pick right now, Excalibur Equinox. Middle of the high end price range. No wheels, light weight, high speed and pretty quiet for a crossbow.

[delbert]

If you go low price it might not hit the deer
I have had Hortons and they shot well, if the trigger was hard i didn't know any different. I just pull it
I won a Barnett once and it blew apart when my wife was taking a practise shot...makes a guy not think so good about them
I won a PSE awhile back and i like it a lot ,Its fast & accurate

I have a Barnett Quad. Let me tell you it is great. It is lightning FAST and dead ACCURATE. I have a very nice and expensive compound bow but wanted to try crossbow hunting too. I have so much money tied up in archery equipment already, so I wanted to take it easy on the wallet. I chose Barnett, knowing that it wasn't going to offer all the greatness of an $800 crossbow. It does however shoot hard and straight. It is also reliable. I have no regrets and would certainly recommend their products to anyone.

[Hellbilly]

I use a Horton,Barnett makes some good xbows.The only thing is I think the jaykal is a 125# bow.Not 100% sure,But in NC a legal xbow has to be 150# min. Just check on the poundage of it.Use good sharp BH. I use 3 blade muzzys with carbon fiber 20" shaft and have a 100% pass thru rate on 10-12 deer. Just remember NEVER DRY FIRE very dangours. Good luck and lets see pics when you put one on the ground with it.What area in NC you hunt? Im in the Banner Elk area 30min out of Boone

Just read your post and I thought that I'd give you some words of encouragement. I don't have any other crossbows to compare the Jackal to but I bought one (b/c of the price & ratings) & put it together on 9/14/11. I ended up getting a new scope and siting it in on 9/16 (the mounting bolts on the one that came w/ it stripped out). I took it into the woods on 9/17 & ate grilled backstrap that night for dinner. It's a little louder than what I expected (compared to my Compound), but all in all, I am very pleased w/ this crossbow.

Jackal Is a 150 # crossbow...

[Crawdaddy]

In my opinion this bow lacks necessary safe guards. I own one. I spent 5 hours in the hospital and 5 grand to have my thumb reattached.

If you have big hands it is very easy to get your thumb in front of the string. A simple guard would prevent this from happening. I even designed one form them, tried to tell them my story. It seems they don't even want to return my phone call.

I did a google search and found others this has happened to.

Barnett has no credibility in my mind.

[Hunting Man]

That has pain written all over it. Sorry to hear of the accident. I will admit the new Excalibur vortex has a pretty loud release noise to it, but it is fast with the 200 lb draw. The string dampners sell for 40.00, probably should invest in them and see how they work.