How we got here:
With more and more states legalizing crossbow hunting, the Bowcountry.com team felt this would be a good time to take a closer look at this rapidly increasing sport.

Pick up any hunting catalog and you'll find several makes and models to choose from. First, you have to decide what you're going to use it for. We wanted a hunting crossbow, since we felt this is what the majority of our visitors would be using it for. When we started our search, we knew what we wanted in a hunting crossbow. It would have to be dependable, accurate, fairly light, and powerful.

While flipping through my Basspro catalog searching for my perfect hunting crossbow, I spotted the Excalibur line. The simplicity of the recurve style crossbow just screamed dependability. There's just less that can go wrong with it. The weights were some of the lightest in the field; at just over 6lbs. With Excalibur's "most accurate hunting crossbow guarantee" I expected accuracy to be high. My only concern left was performance.

Wanting to most bang for my buck, I settled in on the Exomax. A 225lb powerhouse with an advertised speed of 350 fps, the Exomax would be more than enough for hunting any big game animal. After several conversations with president Bill Troubridge at Excalibur Crossbows about his products and exactly what we do here at Bowcountry, he decided to send us an Exomax for review.

What we learned:
Excalibur is a Canadian based company. Owners Bill and Kath Troubridge have been building and improving crossbows for over 2 decades now. Literally starting out in an old "pig barn", they have grown into a world-class operation and now manufacturer all their components in house at their facility located in Kitchener Ontario. When most manufacturers went the compound route, Excalibur has steadily been improving the recurve crossbow design and the Exomax is the latest result of those efforts. This drive for constant improvement is how Excalibur can claim the world's most accurate hunting crossbow. Excalibur guarantees 3" groups at 25 yards with supplied broadheads. While pretty lofty claims considering the amount of competition nowadays, when you look at all the tournaments Excalibur has won in the past 2 decades... it's hard to argue.

Specifications
Specs	Advertised	Actual
Draw Weight	225	N/A
Mass Weight	6.5lbs	6.5lbs
Power Stroke	16.5”	16.5”
Velocity 350gr Bolt	350fps	348fps
Energy	97.97	94.14

Our Exomax came disassembled, but don't let this discourage you. With our kit came all the necessary tools and instructions to assemble the crossbow in minutes. Instead of traditional paper instructions, we received an instructional DVD starring Bill Troubridge himself. He takes you through the assembly process step by step and shows you just how simple it is to assemble your bow. Our kit also included the "Excalibur Right Stuff" kit. This kit included a multi range scope, mount, rings, bolts, broadheads, cocking aid, two strings, a 4 bolt detachable quiver and a stringing/de-stringing tool. Excalibur took the time to research the most accurate and dependable components and put it into their Right Stuff package, thus taking all the guesswork out of it for the customer.

Fit & Finish:
The Fit and finish of the Exomax is outstanding. The recurve limbs and stock are finished in Realtree Hardwoods insuring the Exomax will blend in in just about any hunting situation. All aluminum components are anodized in a satin grey finish for non-glare except the quiver bracket, which is anodized flat black. The mating of the riser to the barrel or "Rail" is very solid giving consistency shot after shot. All the accessories (scope, quiver, limb dissipaters, etc.) mount precisely and solidly.

Engineering:
The engineering that's gone into the Exomax has clearly been a labor of love. The limbs produce 225lbs of pull and when combined with a 16.5 power stroke, produce bolt speeds of 348fps translating into 94.14ft lbs of energy. That's more then enough energy for any big animal. However, energy is useless without accuracy and this is where the Exomax excels. The repeatability of the recurve limbs combined with an industry leading 3 lb trigger pull and overall solid construction of the Exomax, make it extremely accurate. From a steady rest you'll easily hold better than a 3" group at 25 yards. You can frequently destroy arrows at that range unless you shoot at multiple targets.

When we tested the Exomax we lacked much challenge shooting at closer ranges. It was just way too easy. We moved back several times and the results were pretty much the same. With a steady rest, grouping was a cinch even out to 50 yards. Not that I'm recommending anyone shoot at game that far, but it shows that the crossbow is very capable of grouping at those ranges.

Hype to Reality:
"Guaranteed to be the world's most accurate hunting crossbow" ... I personally haven't tested all the world's crossbows so I can't honestly say that the Exomax is the most accurate crossbow made. But I will say the Exomax is extremely accurate, and well worth the claims.

Pros:
1) Light weight.
2) Very accurate
3) Simplicity and dependability of a recurve
4) Power of a compound

Cons:
1) Little loud, but all crossbows are.

Conclusion:
The Excalibur Exomax exceeded our expectations in every single way. From the smooth trigger pull to the awesome accuracy everything about the Exomax was superb. If you're looking for an extremely accurate, dependable, rock solid performer, then the Excalibur Exomax might just be the crossbow for you. The only thing we would change about the Exomax is the scope. The multiple range reticle is unnecessary in our opinion due to the flat trajectory of the bolt. We felt a red dot would better suited for most hunting conditions especially during first and last half hour of the day. But if your hunting out west for antelope or elk where shots tend to be longer then this scope would be perfect for you.

Special thanks to Bill and Kath Troubridge for not giving up so many years ago when others may have packed it in.

If you would like the whole story on how Excalibur Crossbows came to be visit them online.