#10 point crossbow lighted nocks how to#

I asked the manufacturers for their input regarding a change in the point of impact with lit versus non-lit bolts. Eric Price, right, and his brother, Curt, started manufacturing Lumenok lighted nocks after Curtis missed a buck and spent an hour looking for the arrow. So were subsequent shots, which led me to the conclusion that lots of practice is needed to ensure the lit bolts are on target if you are practicing with non-lit bolts. My next shot was nearer to the non-lit arrow it was just an arrow’s width away. Looking closely, there was no chance I pulled the shot as both went through exactly the same hole. My first two shots with the illuminated bolt ended up at the same height, but two inches to the left. Excalibur puts the weight at 250 and 263 grains for non-lit and lit, respectively. The non-lit one weighed only 257.5 grains.

I tested the weight theory with an Excalibur Firebolt and put it on my Hornady reloading scale. The LED, battery and circuit add a small amount of weight to the illuminated nock. Thinking about the issue, it makes sense that there is some difference. The ultimate was with new bolts, illuminated and non-illuminated, that were the same in hand. I later found out the bolts I purchased weren’t the same models as the non-illuminated ones, which could have explained the difference. I did some test firing and found that there were some ballistic differences. The next season, I set out with my new Excalibur lighted nock bolts. I thought how much easier it would have been with lighted nocks, especially since I had made this shot with only one minute of legal shooting time left. I walked all through the area, and that spooked any remaining deer there. I missed a buck and spent about an hour looking around before finding the bolt, which also did not have blood on it. My interest in lighted nocks started the same way that Curtis’s did. It is turned off by pulling back on the nock. The light activates when the string presses the nock forward. TenPoint’s Alpha-Blaze nock was designed to work with the company’s crossbows. The latest models of Excalibur crossbows have a small switch to turn off the light and a collar to lock into the new anti-dry fire system. More recently, they developed their own Beacon nocks. Jeff Baker, product manager for Excalibur, explained that the company originally used Lumenock lighted nocks. These work in TenPoint, Wicked Ridge and Horton Crossbow Innovations crossbows. The company uses a proprietary lighted nock, the Alpha-Blaze, in its bolts. TenPoint Crossbows has been offering lighted nocks for 10 years. He claims, “This is the only system of its kind on the market today.” A more recent innovation from FeraDyne was the Shift, which makes it easier to turn the light off without tools. “Nockturnal lighted nocks use a patented linear switch to actuate the circuit that connects a battery to a circuit and lights the LED inside the nock,” says Tim Kent of Phenix Branding for FeraDyne. For crossbows, the company’s adjustable barrel end allows a performance fit. There are many options for lighted nocks in today’s marketplace.įeraDyne Outdoors began manufacturing its Nockturnal lighted nocks in 2013. Excalibur’s new in-house-designed lighted nocks have a small switch to turn off the light. “Our offerings in the crossbow market are a big part of our business today,” Curtis says. Lumenok also manufactures products for Ravin, Barnett, Excalibur and TenPoint. They also offer an option to design your own bolt using several different options for shafts, vanes and colors. The company builds products under the Lumenok name, including crossbow bolts and nocks for those who want to replace the nocks in existing bolts. Today, both brothers still work with the company and have about 30 employees in their plant in Yates City, Illinois. They started the Burt Coyote Company in 1998 to manufacture the nocks and other products. It took many prototypes and three years before the brothers patented their lighted nock. Wiggling the nock backward breaks the circuit again. When the arrow is fired, it closes the circuit and the light comes on. The resulting Lumenok unit is assembled into an incomplete circuit. (This is a semiconductor diode that glows when voltage is applied.) The solution was to develop a pressure-sensitive switch, a watch battery and an LED. Then they landed on the idea of using an LED, a light-emitting diode. Initially, they discussed chemical reactions as a way to create light.

#10 point crossbow lighted nocks how to#

Curtis and his brother, Eric, then hashed out several ideas about how to light up an arrow.