Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Six weeks. That’s the amount of time in my state between the start of bow hunting season and the start of firearms season. Being able to hunt six weeks earlier than usual is a pretty compelling reason to take up archery, right? And as if that isn’t enough, technological advances in crossbows, combined with the effectiveness of the weapon, makes entry into this sport pretty darned simple. Take, for instance, this Crosman Sniper 370. Oh, sorry, I meant to say the *CenterPoint* Sniper 370. Sorry. The brand is owned by Crosman...that’s right, the BB gun people. But this isn’t a BB gun and at the end of the day compares favorably with models costing hundreds more, and in some cases even surpasses them. Before I begin, let me get a disclaimer out of the way, namely that of nomenclature. For me this is a crossbow, not an arbalest. It shoots arrows, not bolts or quarrels. I realize there’s an argument akin to the clip =/= magazine thing with rifles, so I beg your forgiveness if my terminology sounds different. Now then, this is a quality crossbow. Really. The conventional wisdom has always been to buy as much crossbow as you can afford, because there has always been a definite correlation between price and quality/functionality. Well, along comes CenterPoint to smash that convention. Especially when compared to older CenterPoint crossbows from five or so years ago (I’m thinking the Bristol and/or Teton), it’s clear that there has been a lot of work at CenterPoint to raise their game. And they’ve succeeded. From unboxing to assembly this thing just screams quality. For example, when you’re putting it together, the screws are metal-on-metal, not metal-on-plastic like the trend has been lately. Further, the metal is very well finished and very well done. That isn’t to say there isn’t plastic – there is – but it’s very good quality. The Sniper features that tacti-cool AR handgrip and adjustable M4-style stock which, in conjunction with Weaver rails on the foregrip and sight bridge, means this thing is very nearly infinitely adjustable. It’s a fairly compact crossbow, moreso than I’m used to...only ~17" cocked (21” uncocked - these are my measurements...). Like all crossbows, it’s front-heavy. However, you can dispense with the foregrip if you’d prefer, and instead mount a bipod or something on that lower weaver rail – or, for that matter, go belt and suspenders and do both, as the rail is plenty long. Because of the many options you have for adjusting this thing along with the narrow width, it makes for an ideal blind or tree stand crossbow. Further, because it is short, cocking this thing is a trivial exercise. I don’t have to reach around the bow to set the rope cocker. Heck, I even managed cocking it while sitting down. In sort, you can adjust this thing to a wide variety of applications. It shoulders easily and points naturally. But what about performance? You look at the dimensions and you can’t believe it’s capable of 370 fps. It is though. CenterPoint specs out a 20” 400 gr arrow. The included arrows are 275 gr carbon fiber with 100 gr field tips. With those arrows I wasn’t getting quite 370 fps, but when I switched to a lighter 290 gr arrow I got a bit over 370. That said, when I tested this rig out with PileDriver arrows tipped with Rage X broadheads, I was getting 345-347 fps on a 467ish gr arrow. Not bad, not bad at all. Further, with my heavy PileDrivers the Sniper 370 is damned near silent. The fact that this crossbow has string suppressors (yes, that’s right!) certainly didn’t hurt, but it’s clear a lot of good engineering work went into the build here. The possibility of your target jumping the string is minimized. The trigger is, well, very nice. It has a very minor takeup, a quarter inch tops, and then a nice sharp window-glass-break. It’s probably the best trigger I’ve felt on a crossbow. All of this adds up to really great accuracy – at 30 yards with the PileDrivers I was getting GREAT groupings. Simply put, this crossbow will let you take any big game animal in North America. In terms of features, this is where I start to love the industry – because we are seeing features that used to only be found on crossbows that cost twice or three times more. It has the aforementioned string suppressors. It has an anti-dry-fire mechanism, which is HIGHLY appreciated. Consequently the arrow clip design is a ball bearing/spring instead of a tension clip, which to me speaks to long term reliability. It has an automatic safety (though there is a specific cocking procedure to follow, namely turning the safety off and engaging the cocking lever FIRST - I forgot to do this a couple of times and wondered why the string wouldn’t engage…). It has a sling. It includes a rope cocker and 4 arrow quiver. In short, it hits all the check boxes for features. This package also includes a 4x32 scope and it’s this scope which does bear some mention. First, the sight rail is adjustable. It’s a very solid mount and I had no issues whatsoever with holding zero. The scope itself is a four-ring Hawke SR multi reticle design, with illumination of the rings in either red or green, five levels of brightness each. It’s not the best scope in the world, but neither is it a cheap POS (the instructions for the scope are worthless, though). As I said, it held zero well enough and I didn’t have issues adjusting for elevation or windage. So bottom line – this is a quality build that offers a ton of value for the money. As I said, it compares extremely well with crossbows costing lots more. This is something that is going to serve the bow hunter very well over the years. An outstanding crossbow.