“The United States experiences 4,500 home burglaries and break-ins each day...” – From the United States Department of Justice
Guns, daggers, pepper sprays, and bats — these are common defensive weapons people often use to defend themselves against home intrusions. What people don’t often think about as a home defense weapon is a crossbow. Crossbows have been used for hundreds of years, yet it is still one of the most reliable weapons ever created. It’s compact, easy-to-use, and powerful.
Are Crossbows Good for Home Defense? The main uses of Crossbows are for hunting and recreation. All states, with the exception of Oregon, allow the ownership of crossbows but with some restrictions. The crossbow may, therefore, be an ideal weapon for home defense and security. For more information regarding your state’s regulation on crossbows, click here to proceed.
Among the hundreds of choices of crossbows you can buy online. We summarized the 4 best crossbows you can purchase.
CenterPoint Sniper 370 Crossbow Package
CenterPoint Archery, founded in 2016, is currently a market leader at the forefront of crossbow performance, innovation, and design. The company already became renowned for providing products that are both easy-to-use but complex looking even though it’s only new to the market.
The CenterPoint Sniper 370 is a popular product of CenterPoint Archery. This crossbow is known for its cheap price and compound system. The crossbow also offers a fully adjustable stock and foregrip, customized to fit the shoulder. It also includes a fully integrated string suppressor perfect for a quiet vibration-free shot.
The Sniper 370 offers carbon bolts, a 4×32 mm scope and rope cocker, a quiver, three 20-inch carbon arrows, and a 5-year warranty. Most reviews of this crossbow indicated that its pros are its exceptional accuracy, superior speed, and accessories needed for a better quality shoot. All crossbows’ recommended use is for the wilderness and hunting animals. But rest assured that this crossbow can protect you and your family in case of a home break-in.
Children and women oftentimes have a hard time handling the complexity of a crossbow. This Sniper 370 was designed to be used by individuals who don’t have the necessary knowledge.
This may not be the cheapest crossbow out there. But because of its durability and lightweight design, this particular crossbow is a tough one to beat. It has a current rating of 4.4/5.0 in Amazon and is the #19 in the Archery Crossbows category. Check it out here.
BARNETT WhiteTail Hunter
The CenterPoint Archery may be the new kid on the block, but one can never go wrong with Barnett. Barnett Crossbows is a company that has been making crossbows for about 57 years now. Barnett is dedicated to making crossbows that are durable, dependable, and high in performance. Their most famous product is the WhiteTail Hunter, a part of the WhiteTail Hunter series of crossbows.
The WhiteTail Hunter has a lightweight fiberglass composite and a compound system capable of shooting an arrow at a speed of 375 fps, 5fps faster compared to the CenterPoint Sniper 370. The famous feature of this crossbow is the Barnett Trigger Technology. It is capable of shooting through a smoother and lighter trigger. Perfect for individuals who have a hard time using a crossbow. This series of BARNETT crossbows come with the Mossy Oak Bottomland pattern, ideal for hunting.
This particular crossbow includes a 4x32mm multi-reticle scope, two 22-inch headhunter arrows, a lightweight quiver, a rope cocking device, and lube wax. Whitetail Hunter garnered a 4.7/5.0 rating (219 reviews) in Amazon and tagged the #2 in the category of Archery Crossbows.
This certain crossbow only weighs about 6lbs. It is lighter than the usual crossbows being sold online. It more expensive than the first in the list but lighter in terms of weight.
If you are looking for a product that is way more advanced than the WhiteTail Hunter, I suggest you go for the WhiteTail Pro. The Pro is the more enhanced version of the WhiteTail Hunter that is designed to use for hunting. It has features such as lengthened stock and a fiberglass composite step-through riser. If you are only looking for a crossbow that fits your common crossbow recreation activity, the Whitetail Hunter is what I suggest, especially in terms of price and durability. Click here for more information on the BARNETT Whitetail Hunter.
CenterPoint Tyro
The third crossbow on this list is from CenterPoint Archery, the CenterPoint Tyro. Consumers carefully look for durability and simplicity in the crossbows that they purchase. What’s amazing about this crossbow is that it’s a little smaller than the other two that are on this list. It only weighs about 5lbs, but can shoot an arrow at a speed of 245 fps and has a power stroke of 10.50.
The CenterPoint Tyro is lightweight compared to the CenterPoint Sniper 370. It comes with easy to assemble limbs and string with an aluminum rail, three 16-inch aluminum arrows, a quiver, a 4×32 mm scope, a rope cocker, a rail lube, and a 5-year warranty. Another feature this crossbow has is the small compartment under the forearm, perfect for storing lube rail and other small accessories of the crossbow.
The Tyro is the perfect crossbow that is often used by beginners of the sport. That means this crossbow can be handled by any individual in the household with little to no knowledge of crossbows in case of emergencies.
One recurring review of this product on Amazon is that it is very durable despite its shape and length.
The CenterPoint Tyro gained a 4.0/5.0 in Amazon. The Tyro is being sold at the official CenterPoint Archery website for a low price. This crossbow may be simple looking in terms of its design and features, but I can assure you that this crossbow is a hard competitor in the market because of that simplicity. Crossbow consumers look for balance in power, durability, reliability, and usability when buying their crossbows, and the CenterPoint Tyro has all of that. To find out more about the Tyro, click here.
Prophecy 80 Cobra Crossbow
The last crossbow on this list is the Prophecy 80 Cobra Crossbow. This crossbow is known for being a one-hand crossbow. It has a self-cocking system that can fire an arrow for up to 150 feet per second. It has a power stroke of 6 and it is easy to set up.
This pistol version is based on the BARNETT Commando Pistol back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The Prophecy 80 may be small in size, but its shooting power does all the talking for it. It comes with three aluminum arrows, aluminum crossbow bolts, and two end caps.
Compared to the full-sized crossbows, the Prophecy 80 does not require a lot of energy to cock because it has its own system which can save you a lot of time firing for a short period. This product has a rating of 4.1/5.0 at Amazon. What most consumers love about this crossbow is the simplistic, yet badass look of the crossbow. The only problem with this crossbow is the built-in sight. Consumers pointed out that the sight is not as accurate as other brands of crossbows.
If you want a crossbow that is easy enough to use and if you’re starting out with the sports of crossbow, the Prophecy 80 Cobra crossbow is the perfect fit for you.
Final Thoughts
Home intrusions and break-ins happen almost every single day. We have to prepare ourselves and our families for anything that might occur. Baseball bats and pepper sprays would be enough for home defense. The use of Guns are understandably regulated by the law and daggers too. Owning a crossbow would be difficult because of its strict state regulations. Crossbows are proficient enough to be a weapon for home defense when the event of an intrusion happens and you have no other choice.
I can personally vouch for the CenterPoint Tyro. As a person who has no experience in handling crossbows as a defensive, recreation, or hunting weapon I believe it’s better to start with the beginner’s level. The Tyro would surely come in handy in terms of my zero experience. Not only that it’s simple but also because of its lightweight which means I can easily bring it with me anywhere I go and easily use it in case of a break-in.
To find out more vital information about crossbows (how to use them, law restrictions and regulations, crossbow ownership, etc.), click here to proceed to the official website of the North American Crossbow Federation.
Crossbows are a combination of stealth and lethality, imagine the advantages one may have in using crossbows as a form of defense. If you are planning to use this type of weapon as a form of home defense. Check out laws in your state regarding crossbow self-defense first. We still need to have our hopes high that this type of traumatic event may not happen in your family soon. Just in case it does happen to you and your family, you are aware of the advantages of coincidentally having a crossbow or any type of defensive weapon at home.