u/War_Hymn

Image 1 — 125 lb crossbow build
Image 2 — 125 lb crossbow build
Image 3 — 125 lb crossbow build

125 lb crossbow build

This was a spur of the moment project that got out of hand. Originally suppose to be a simple medieval style crossbow made out from a scrap piece of 2x6 SPF and some hardware from another older build. By the end of it, I probably dumped enough money to have gotten a cheap compound with twice the performance.

But she shoots, and with some attitude. Pushing a 440 grain bolt at 172 fps. With a 350 gr bolt she'll hit 189 fps. Every shot feels like getting slap in the jaw, probably because the whole thing only weighs 3 pounds and the heavy glass limbs make up a good chunk of it. Adding an old UTG red dot helped with not just accuracy but recoil by bringing the weight up to 4 pounds.

The loose laminate style prod is cut from a pair of cheap replacement fiberglass limbs from Amazon originally meant for a #40 recurve bow. Because each od rhe limbs were only 23" long and I wanted a 10"-12" draw, I had to make a riser to utilize two piece prod which I never done before. According to my bathroom scale, the limbs are pulling at about 125 lbs at full draw, though a lot of stacking through the last two inches.

Trigger and release system is a roller nut with double axle action like from a 15th century hunting crossbow to minimize trigger weight. I might had made it work too well, because it only takes about 2-3 lbs of pressure to release the nut as of now.

Stock still needs contouring and sanding and I need to work on the trigger, but as of now she is functional.

u/War_Hymn — 4 days ago
▲ 38 r/Bowyer

This started out as a project to make use of a piece of scrap 2x6. Ended up working on it on and off over 6 months and dumping a few hundred dollars on material and tools on it.

Finally got it to a "shootable" state tonight along with a whippe lever to span her, though I'm going to make and install a bolt clip before I try her out in earnest for safety reasons. Also need to round and sand the stock to final shape.

It's got a double axle release, for a lighter trigger than the traditional single lever release while maintaining a comfortable length of pull. Limbs are made from a pair of fiberglass replacement limbs for a 40lb bow that I cut into pieces and bolted together for a loose laminate prod (thanks to kenh at arbalistguild for his expertise in this). I made the prod modular so I can just add more limbs on to increase the poundage. As far as I can tell shes pulling at least 100 lbs at 9.5" powerstroke with the current configuration. End goal is to get a KE good enough for hunting medium game.

u/War_Hymn — 18 days ago