I have an old Barnett RC-150, which is a very entry level crossbow. It's small, almost like a kid's crossbow. It's a compound style with wheels, has a 150 pound draw, and I can pull and lock the string back on it with my hands fairly easily. It shoots 16" arrows/bolts, and it came with 2216 aluminum arrows when I first got it about 20+ years ago. It's been in the box, untouched, for almost all of that time. Only started shooting it a couple years ago, so it's probably only seen <100 shots lifetime. With 100 grain bullet points, it shoots just over 250 fps as per my Pact 1 chronograph.
I recently noticed that the serving on the middle of the string is getting loose, so I bought a replacement string for it, and planned to switch them out myself, how hard could it be?
Well, long story short, I swapped out the strings by using a length of para-cord to draw and lock the bow. I made loops in the para-cord that went over the ends of the limbs, and would let me bring the bow to about half of what full draw would be normally. I just wanted enough play or slack to get the old string off, and the new one on. It's done, and I shot it a few times to make sure everything is back to normal.
So all that said, I'll probably not do that again. I'll just bring it someplace and let that job get done on a fixture, or on a press that is better suited for the job. The para-cord held fine, but didn't really provide much slack for getting the old string off, and the new one on. The loops of the para-cord on the ends of the limbs made it difficult getting the string past where the wheels touched the para-cord. And it creeped the hell out of me the whole time, with me using different tools to get the old string off, and the new one positioned correctly. I didn't want any fingers in harms way if something let go.
Much as I like to be self sufficient, and this was a kind of a puzzle that I wanted to figure out how to do myself, I would encourage anyone that needs a new string on their compound crossbow to just let the pro shop do it. It'll be safer, and take way less time in the long run.
