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Machined front riser
vibration absorbing liner in
limb pockets
Limb pockets
Machined trigger box and ambidextrous safety |
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Quality
One of the many aspects where TenPoint crossbows
shine is quality, unfortunately quality comes at
a price but, believe me, TenPoint goes a great
length making you proud of owning one. The GT
Mag is built solid: most metal parts and pieces
are machined form solid billet (in some areas
you actually see the tool marks). Handling the
GT Mag you can feel that it is a solid product,
you get the impression it will last forever,
actually it is not just an impression: I can
personally attest that I still have my first
TenPoint Stealth X2 crossbow, bought in year
2000, that still works without a glitch with
little maintenance: just replaced the string
once and some oil every now and then.
Aluminum parts are fished in anodized black
while plastic parts (stock & foregrip ) as well
as the fiberglass limbs are dipped in camo. The
dipping, as from TenPoint tradition, is
painstakingly executed, in Mossy Oak Treestand,
even on smaller features or near undercuts and
difficult to reach areas. The plastic parts have
a soft touch finish that is very nice to feel
with bare hands while offering a good grip, both
of them do not show any parting line.
The trigger deserves its own chapter, being one
of the most critical component in a crossbow.
First I want you to note that the trigger the
same for both the Defender CLS and the GT Mag
but, while the Defender is a compound design,
thus at full draw applies a fraction of the peak
load onto the trigger, in the GT Mag
configuration there are 200 full pounds of
pressure on the trigger.
Despite the huge amount of pressure the trigger
mechanism not just work flawlessly but manages
to be one of the best in the industry. Short
travel and moderate activation force (TenPoint
says 3.5 Pounds) with virtually no creep. I also
liked a lot the anti slip grooved finish on the
trigger pull. The trigger housing is also fitted
with TenPoint’s patented anti dry fire mechanism
named DFI (dry fire inhibitor). This simple
mechanism is designed to catch and stop the
string , should you try to shoot without an
arrow. The safety is automatic, meaning it
engages automatically as you cock the crossbow,
and the safety lever is positioned on both sides
of the trigger box.
TenPoint offers the GT Mag with a selection of
optics that includes red dot, 3x Multi line
(multiple reticle) scope and Pro View: an
illuminated dot with multi line reticle scope.
We tested this latter configuration and found a
very good scope. The ProView offers moderate
magnification (3x) for an ample field of view,
the glass is sharp edge to edge and there are no
color dominants. The illuminated dots are very
sharp and even at higher illumination values
remain focused without any light bleed. This is
important as, at longer ranges, the dots do not
cover the target. I would rate the quality of
this scope as comparable to the Hawke we
reviewed here.
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