The TAC 15/15i Review Article is here

[Len Backus]

TAC 15/15i Review

[jon.henry755]

Hi Len,
In one of your threads where you speak about a 1.8" grouping at 100 yards some of your readers were asking about chrono speeds and kinetic energy at the 100 yard distance.

Here are some pictures and the chrono evidence that will answer their questions. I suggest that you post this information in the thread so it leaves nobody wondering just how much speed and energy this crossbow is actually packing when it's being shot.

Once you do the work on these TAC's, they just plain shoot.

100 yards. Sorta windy. Can do better...

Resized to 59% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge


Moved up to 90 yards......wind calmed down and gave a short window to shoot.

Resized to 59% (was 1024 x 768) - Click image to enlarge


Shot over the chrono at the bow. 433 grain arrow at 394 fps. I moved the chrono to 99 yards and shot over it there. Same arrow 333 fps. That is only a 61 fps loss over 98 yards. 106.7 foot pounds of energy at 100 yards. Impressive! 149 foot pounds at point blank range. Unreal.

These arrows have firenock lighted circuit packs and batteries in them, so they are fully loaded to achieve the 433 grain arrow weight.

[Len Backus]

Jon, thanks. Great groups!

Imagine even being able to shoot through a chronograph without wrecking it at that range. I was able to shoot through mine at that distance but for some reason could not get a reading so i'm glad to see your results number.

Thanks again.

[jon.henry755]

Hi Len,
Believe it or not these are not the results of my shooting. My results very closely match these numbers in grouping performance by my velocity is just a tiny bit better because my arrows weigh slightly less without the circuit and battery packs in them.

This is the Chrono work and shooting that Super 91 had achieved with his TAC15i after completing the arrow sorting and tuning work this past fall. It had been posted in a thread on Xbow Nation and I wanted to get it on your website so our members could actually see what you were talking about and answer the questions about speed and performance at these distances.

It struck me that some of them are not TAC owners, so they may think we're lobbing arrows with little energy behind them at these distances. They don't understand that there is way more energy at 100 yards from these crossbows than they can ever develop with the fastest compound bows at point blank distances. !06.7 foot pounds of energy means a complete pass threw of just about anything on the North American continent.

Even the fastest compound bows can't deliver this type of energy because in order to achieve 333 fps they would have to be shooting IBO specs which means their arrows are much to light in weight to achieve the 106.7 foot pounds of energy!

I hope this helps our readers with some perspective on just how devastating these crossbows can be with the proper tuning and set up.

Regards,

Jon

[Dieselsite]

Reading this right? At 100 yards, they are still producing more CE than any other crossbow at point black range?

Bob

[Len Backus]

That is right. EDIT, thought you meant compound bow, missed that, sorry.

[jon.henry755]

Hi Len,
My comment, which is easily verifiable fact, was that these crossbows produce more KE (Kinetic Energy) at 100 yards than any Compound Bow shot at point blank range on the market.

This is very easy to calculate based on a compound bows "Power Stroke" vs. that of the TAC15 crossbows "Power Stroke".

When people see any given compound bows speed rating advertised they seem to forget that the rating is almost always given in IBO ratings. IBO is a rating system that is based upon 70 lbs of draw weight at 30" of draw length, using an arrow that is weighing between 5 and 6 grains per inch.

How many people do you know that are shooting anything even close to this?

Although the biggest selling bow size by far industry wide is the 29" at 70lbs., the fact is that few archers can actually draw this length correctly and maintain good archery form. A 29" draw statistically would be for a man of about 6 feet tall and over 185 pounds.

For every 1" below thirty inches of draw weight you would need to subtract 10 fps. of velocity. For every 5 pounds of bow weight below 70 lbs. you can subtract another 10 fps., so without me doing any additional subtractions for arrow weights above 5.5 grains per inch (which affect velocity), it becomes very easy to see why none of today's compound bows can get even close to these numbers.

Different shooters may have different configurations and different styles of shooting, but the laws of physics and mathematics are constant and never lie!

Regards,

Jon