Armex Tomcat MKII 80lb crossbow pistol review

[Tartar Horde]

I bought one of these yesterday on a whim after seeing it in a shooting stall on a Market

http://www.bladesandbows.co.uk/armex-tom...2143-p.asp

After shooting it today for a little while I must say I am very impressed with this little crossbow. The assembly could not be easier and took less than ten minutes. The hardest part is stringing the crossbow, and for one person not used to doing so could be a little tricky, my suggestion would be to wait till you have someone else available to slip the string into the nocks while you compress the limb enough.
After making sure everything was tight and safe, which it was I gave it a quick lube up on all linkages and moving parts. The string that came with the crossbow was of pretty good quality to be honest and was in tip top condition and well made for such a cheap weapon. I gave the string a good waxing with beeswax supplied by a friend and made sure the string was twisted a few turns evenly on each side.
The open sights are pretty rudimentary the rear being a V notch and front post. Elevation is taken care of by simply releasing the tension on the sight which is spring loaded by turning a knurled nut, allowing the sight to rise. Adjusting the sight for lateral movement is done by the nut on the right of the sight, turn clockwise to adjust Right. The rear sights can be taken off, as can the front post and sight and a red dot fitted etc. I intended to fit a red dot sight immediately, but after testing today I'm not sure you would need to.
The bolts that I got with the crossbow are 6.5 inches long and Gold coloured alloy with two rubber fletchings. To be honest when I saw these they looked pants, but after testing I am quite surprised, and seriously under estimated them.
I tested the crossbow at a measured ten yards on a 3.5 inch target in blustery conditions (in my garden not as bad though). The first 10 shots went high and to the Right. After a few minutes adjusting the sights I was shooting 3inch groups, and those little bolts just bury themselves into the target. The trigger is quite good with a little bit of creep towards the end, but nothing bad. I tested these bolts for penetration on a number of things including big Potato's plastic buckets of different thickness, and an old rotisserie oven. On the Plastic buckets, Compost bin and Potato's it just went straight through them, I was gobsmacked. When I shot the steel oven it penetrated and then bounced, leaving a hole in the steel. I honestly have no idea what footpounds of energy these little bows are producing, but I am confident at ten yards these are very capable of taking small birds and game (only in SHTF folks as it is very naughty to hunt with bows in UK tut tut)
All in all I can't recommend these enough great fun