Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow Review [March 2023]

Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow​

  • Excellent build quality.
  • Compact and easy to handle.
  • Lightweight design.
  • Pass-through grip and auto-safety.
  • 5 years limited warranty.
  • Feature anti-vibration isolation.

This model has been discontinued. For the latest Barnett Crossbows, click here and find the best for you.


With a Compact form factor and a lightweight simple to use design, the Recruit Crossbow is a great pick for both newbies and small shooters.

If you’re searching for your first crossbow, then Recruit is a perfect choice. This Recurve crossbow is the best crossbow for deer hunting. It is easy to use, with built-in features that help keep the archers and hunters safe. It is affordable, and hence, has excellent quality within this price range and great features.

This Recurve crossbow is Fun to Shoot. It cocks quickly, whether as officially instructed with a cocking-string or manually in the field. The crossbow has a great feel, being easy to operate and yet powerful enough for a 50-yard target. It is suitable for hunting small game, deer hunting, and target shooting.

Below are the brief description and specifications of Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow Review. In this Bow review, we covered up features, pros, and cons, and build quality.


Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow Review: First Impressions​

Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow Review

Barnett Recurve Specifications
Speed245 FPS
Draw Weight150 lbs
Width27.5″
Kinetic Energy65 ft. lbs.
Length37.5″
Bow Weight4.5 lbs
Power Stroke12.5″

Reasons To Buy

  • Excellent build-up quality at an affordable price.
  • Simple, lightweight design that is durable too.
  • Powerful enough to shoot down most North American game.
  • Easy to assemble.
  • Crisp and smooth trigger pull.
  • The integrated-crank is available.
  • Comes with custom composite laminated limbs.
  • Equipped with finger reminders and pass-through grip.

Reasons To Avoid

  • The package doesn’t include a rope cocking device.
  • It isn’t meant for serious hunting.

Barnett Recruit Recurve Crossbow: Detailed Specifications

Build Quality and Design

The body and the rail of the crossbow are made of high-quality composite resin that provides a sturdy frame. This super light crossbow weighs only 4.5 pounds and comes with an adjustable stock. It is designed for small frame archers.

Power and Accuracy

Kinetic energy and draw weight are the two main factors of Power. It has 130 lbs draw weight and delivers the arrows at 245 fps with 54 ft lbs of K.E. This feature makes it pretty lightweight for target shooting and hunting small to medium sized game.

With this recurve crossbow, you can easily maintain a 1-inch pattern from 25 yards and 2-inch pattern from a 50-yard distance.

Safety and Comfort

This Recruit crossbow is very easy to handle and accurately powerful enough for hunting whitetail. It features an automatic safety and anti-dry fire system that both work reliably for every shot.

Underneath the rail, there are finger reminders and a pass-through foregrip that help you to grip comfortably and safely control the crossbow. It also offers an adjustable butt pad and has patented quick-detach limb assembly that enables you to remove the limb easily from the stock for transport and storage.

Assembly

Assembling the Recruit recurve crossbow is very easy as it just takes 20 minutes. Its limbs are pre-strung, all you’ve to do is just remove the nose bolt, remove the safety tag, and then reinstall the nose bolt loosely.

Now, insert the limb into the nose and follow the instructions to install the pressure pad and the rest of the retaining bolts and the screws. The last step is to install the foot stirrup onto the crossbow and then mount the quiver and the scope.


Accessories​

This crossbow package is sold in a ready to shoot package. The kit includes the following accessories:

  • Premium Red Dot Scope
  • Assembly Hardware and Tools
  • 3-Arrow Quiver
  • 3 18″ Arrows
  • Owner’s Manual
  • Warranty Card

Scope

This crossbow is equipped with a red dot sight that allows you to keep both eyes open when aiming. Its lighted reticle is easier to see and offers an upgrade to regular open scope. This sight is perfectly sized and illuminated to see in low light conditions.

This red dot scope offers a large field of view since there is no magnification to obstruct the field of vision.

Quiver and Bolts

The package includes the three 18 inches arrows of 400 grains weight. The arrows are good enough for target shooting for a few shots, but these arrows may not be suitable for hunting. This high-performance crossbow does slightly better with better quality arrows.

It also includes a quick detach three arrow quiver.

Cocking Device

Cocking the Recruit Recurve with a draw-weight of just 150 pounds makes it easy for younger hunters and experienced hunters to pull back. It is one of the lightest draws. This crossbow draws smoothly and can even be drawn without a rope cocking device.

Unfortunately, the package doesn’t include rope cocker, so make sure you pick one up. This crossbow is also compatible with an integrated crank cocking device.

Warranty

It comes with a 5-year warranty. Barnett offers excellent customer service, and they’ll gladly help you with any queries or problems that you’ve with the crossbow.


Final Verdict​

This Recruit Recurve is a pretty decent crossbow for both beginners and experienced hunters. At 200$, the recurve crossbow comes in at a price comparable to most budget crossbows. It is a complete package, with features typically found in much more expensive crossbows.


Frequently Asked Questions​

1. Will a Barnett Recruit Kill a Deer?

It shoots with a speed of 245 feet per second and 65 lbs of K.E that is enough to kill a deer. However, it isn’t recommended for shooting anything bigger than a whitetail deer.

2. How Recruit Terrain differs from Recruit Recurve?

The Terrain is the compound crossbow whereas Recruit has a recurved system. The benefit of the recurve crossbow is that it is easy to replace the bowstring yourself when it breaks and prices are usually even lower. Barnett Recruit Terrain is more powerful at 330 fps and heavier to hold by just over 2 lbs. Both come with pass-through foregrip and red dot sight.

Aksroop Kaur

About the author

Aksroop Kaur is a senior staff writer for Best Crossbow Guide, where she covers outdoor gears and hunting tools. Aks began her career in blogging as an outdoor writer at the AnG Eesti Technologies. She keeps a beady eye on all the latest comings and goings in the crossbow world. She believes in writing creative articles & blogs on travel, adventure, and health. She has a keen interest in learning new things and sharing her knowledge with others. Exploring various platforms for blog writing is one of her passion. She also loves to design indoor and outdoor spaces. In her free time when she’s not writing, she enjoys watching movies, exploring different places with her friends. Also, she is very into fitness activity. She believes in staying fit is the root of good health.