BALLISTA BAT Reverse Draw Compound Mini Crossbow - Crossbow for Hunting, Fishing and Target - Fast 340 fps, Powerful 150lbs, Lightweight 3lbs

Some online claims can be a little questionable, but this company delivers. Assembly was very simple, requiring only a few allen head screws (they provide an appropriate wrench). My big concern was the strength required to cock the crossbow. Once again they told the truth. I could easily pull the draw. My wife needed to place the crossbow nose down and place her foot on the fishing reel bracket in order to pull it, but she did it easily using that method. The six bolts (arrows) provided are target practice only, but hunting bolts are available. The speed is astounding! It is almost as fast as my full size crossbow. The drawbacks are 1.) the price of the extra bolts - $40 for 6 bolts and 2.) you need to buy the initial wax for the strings and bolt carrier as none is provided. Neither are significant drawbacks. TAKE SERIOUSLY THEIR WARNING AND DO NOT FIRE THE CROSSBOW WITHOUT A BOLT.

This product was only shot 8 times. There was a nick in the string so being brand new I wanted to exchange it due to the string looking kinda frayed and didn't look new. I did try their method of cocking and slowly releasing the string back, during that process I noticed one of the strings came off the pully, trying to put it back was impossible, I did cock it to see if the string would position better. The bow dryfired on its own about 2 seconds later almost taking off a few fingers. Bottom line be careful this is not a toy. It's more powerful than you may think.

This is a handy small crossbow and has a lot of power

After two weeks of shooting my cable screws came loose! I ordered the press from Balista's website along with new limbs trigger box replacement string and cables for almost $300! They sent that package via ground advantage It has been almost two weeks since I ordered from them and still nothing has arrived. Who in the world sends a $300 package via snail mail!!!!! Not to mention, I have purchased the folding stock as well. So I hope you're starting to get the picture you're gonna spend at least a $1000 or more, to make this thing usable and 4, the absolute upkeep it's going to need. Honestly, I would just buy an air gun if you're looking for something that can do what this can do.

Day one, while zeroing in the scope I got for it, the cable jumped off the pulley as shown. Apparently this can happen when the cable isn't twisted properly during manufacturing/assembly. Fixing it requires you to buy the restringing tool which costs a surprising amount. Still, if you enjoy it you'll need to restring it eventually, so it isn't really a waste. Just be prepared to spend the extra early on. Overall a pretty solid little tool. I can't vouch for its accuracy since I was zeroing it in at close range when it fouled, but it's lightweight, seems well made, and the drawing mechanism is fantastic.

Best beginner friendly crossbow make sure you buy extra strings and the tool for changing the strings novices will dry fire and explode the strings even though you tell them not too the crossbow is very durable and well built to survive misuse by people just learning how to use a crossbow. I highly recommend it as a 1st crossbow because all the things it survived but it is still accurate and works well even with bad operators

Good quality

As other reviewers have mentioned and are spot on about is that this thing eats cables. I got about 75 shots out of my first set and 60ish out of my 2nd set so purchasing the replacement cables and press is a good idea. You can use a ratchet strap as a press but the press ballista offers makes it so much easier to do. I found the reverse bat to be surprisingly light and accurate out to 30 yards especially for what it is. I’ve had mine a little over a year and it’s been a lot of fun as a backyard toy and bow fishing crossbow. For reference I use a raven R500 for deer and this thing is a toy compared to that so if you’re looking for distance and knock down power this isn’t what you want, that said the reverse bat is a fun but activity specific crossbow. Like I said, I use mine primarily for bow fishing, I’d be comfortable using it for small game and if I’d be in a real pinch and with the right broadheads i’d be comfortable using it for deer out to 15-20 yards. The bow fishing kit they make for it also works really well. Along with extra cables I’d order their hunting arrows right away because the arrows it comes with are junk. I 3-D printed a stock for it which worked ok but ended up buying their upgraded AR style stock which works real well especially in conjunction with their Picatinny rail and a after market foregrip with integrated flashlight. I’ve played around with a couple different scopes on it, I started out with the same type of crossbow scope that’s on my R 500 which turned out to be a giant overkill and not real practical for bow fishing so I put on a vortex viper red dot which is just a holographic quick point handgun sight but works great on it for bow fishing and general shooting out to 30 yards. So to sum it up in order to get the most out of it there are about $200 in upgrades that should be done and about $200 in supplies you should have on hand for it. Would I buy it again? Yes! Hope this helps.