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As a crossbow enthusiast
you are well aware of the advantages of a crank
type cocking device: you can easily load your
crossbow with minimal effort and (sometimes
overlooked) you can cock your crossbow
precisely. The latter meaning that the string ,
tanks to the balanced load is drawn back
straight
with very equal load on both limbs. This allows
you to exploit the grouping precision potential
of your crossbow. There is also a safety factor,
with a crank device you can pause the cocking
action at any moment and the string will remain
still , try to do the same with bare hands….
Barnett has two types of crank coking devices in
its catalog: one I designed to fit adjustable
stocks( Predator, quad AVI etc) and one to sit
concealed in the stock that will fit the Wildcat
C5, Quad 400 AVI etc. we tested this latter one.
Mounting the crank device is pretty easy, I
would say anyone with minimal mechanical skills
could do it but as there are some tiny pieces to
position if you fell not comfortable to handle
such small mechanical parts let your pro shop do
the work.
We installed our sample onto our Wildcat C5 in
just under 5 minutes, so it is a pretty easy
task. We have to note however ( at least on our
sample) that the draft angle of the pocket that
houses the mechanism prevented the correct
mounting, we had to do some little adjustment.
Nothing important but some more work to do.
Once installed the device is almost invisible,
differently from other implementations that add
some bulk to the end of the stock this concealed
inside, just the cable indicate that the device
is there.
Device operation is pretty straightforward: just
pull the sled over the string and rotate the
handle, an anti reverse safety device prevents
the handle to rotate back and you can simply let
go the handle at any time, it won’t move.
Once the string is cocked you can rest the
cocking sled and remove the cocking handle
simply removing a screw.
We found this device online at just under
US$125. The price is aligned to similar devices
but tends to add some mean expense to the
crossbow package especially on entry level
models. It is however a suggested investment as
it will help you cocking precisely and with
little effort, just have you pro shop install
it.
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