My daughter is getting in to archery with her school. We went and got her a school approved Genesis Bow and it got me thinking about crossbows.

Id like to venture in to it and did a little looking so far and have learned one thing so far in my short searching...

Holy fuck sticks!! Those damn things cost just as much as a typical gun with only a quarter of the range!

So can anyone recommend a decent crossbow for a beginner that could perhaps be sub $500? Im thinking for the time being I might wanna do a recurve for ease of maintenance and what not.

Check out Natchez Shooting Supplies. They sometimes have discontinued cross bows at 50% of suggested retail.

Why do you want a crossbow? They're good for folks with disabilities to use during archery season but shooting a bow is WAY more fun.  I'd highly recommend getting a decent recurve and building a skill set of learning to shoot instinctively.  Once you master that you could literally be able to build a bow and arrows during the zombie apocalypse and have a weapon to survive with.  After you master the recurve you will be able to quickly learn to shoot a compound well.  

I think crossbows are cool but using a bow is so much more fun and challenging.  There's no real skill required to use a crossbow, it's not "archery", it's basically a rifle that shoots arrow like projectiles.

Because I want one. This is fuckin 'Murica!



But seriously, I just want one. I've discovered it's simple enough to shoot a bow. I just WA.tt a crossbow one day. While it may be an arrow shooting rifle, it still shoots arrows therefore would fall under archery.

I will suggest that if you wish to get into archery that you buy a bow. You will most certainly find one in the sub $500 range. I have owned a Barnett crossbow in the past and can tell you from experience that they are a pain in the ass. You have to lube the rail every three shots, you have to wax the string every 15 shots, and the first time you leave your thumb wrapped around the frame you get "crossbow thumb".  Not to mention that every time you shoot it, you have to restring the cocking rope, and then pull the limbs back.  My honest opinion is that if you want to enjoy archery with your daughter, shoot a compound bow.

Just wanting one is always a good enough reason.

You'll find that the price on a good crossbow is as high as buying a good rifle though, it's gonna hurt the wallet.  I'd go to the archery section of this website and ask around there, you'll get the best info there.  Buying used will probably be your best best but make sure you know you are buying something modern and worth the money.  Older crossbows are a headache and PIA that will leave you with a permanent twitch as Higgi mentioned.

as a aside, my 9th Grade Jr. High School woodshop project WAS a crossbow!
$15 bought walnut, aluminum bow and a cable for a string.
the arrows (bolts?) were considered one use, cause there  was NO finding them.
and talk about flinch, wait till you're aiming it and hear the bowstring (cable, remember?) parting a strand at a time.

you get expelled for aiming a index finger now.

wait till next month,pawnshops will be filled with them