Barnett Crossbow Cases

Measure your bow set up the way you actually carry it, with scope and quiver fitted:

• Uncocked width, limb tip to limb tip. This is the number that matters, because a crossbow travels uncocked and a bow that is narrow when cocked can be considerably wider at rest.
• Overall length, stirrup to stock. Cases commonly run 36 to 38 inches internally.
• Height with the scope fitted. The forgotten one. A case that closes over a bare bow may not close over a scope in high rings.

Compare those against the case's stated internal dimensions, not against the phrase fits most crossbows, which means nothing.

Barnett's own range spans some wide older bows and some narrow modern ones, so the model name genuinely does not tell you whether a case fits. The Quad 400, for instance, is a different proposition from a compact modern Hyper.

Soft cases are padded fabric with a zip and usually a shoulder or backpack strap. Lighter, cheaper, easier to store, and what most hunters actually carry to a stand. They protect against rain, scratches and knocks, not against being sat on or thrown into a truck bed.

Hard cases are moulded shells, often foam-lined. Heavier and bulkier, and what you want for air travel, for a bow riding loose with other gear, or for long storage. The trade-off is that a hard case is genuinely awkward to carry any distance.

Most owners end up with a soft case and, if they travel, a hard one as well. Buying a good soft case first is the sensible order.

Not the same job, and worth being clear about. A case protects the bow in transit and in storage. A sling carries the bow ready to use while your hands are free - climbing into a stand, crossing ground, dragging a deer.

Barnett sells a quick-detach sling sized to fit any Barnett crossbow, which removes the fit question entirely. Quick-detach matters more than it sounds: a sling you cannot get off the bow quickly is a sling that gets in the way at the moment you need to shoot.

Most people who hunt seriously carry both. The case gets the bow to the truck and the sling gets it to the stand.

A case with internal pockets pays for itself, because the small items are what go missing:

• Spare bolts, in a bolt tube or dedicated bolt case rather than loose - loose bolts get their vanes crushed
• Rail lube and string wax
• The rope cocker or crank
• Spare scope batteries
• A spare bolt retention spring

A separate hard bolt case is worth having if you carry more than a handful. Bolts are cheap individually and expensive in aggregate, and a crushed vane ruins a bolt as completely as a cracked shaft.

Never store a crossbow cocked. It holds continuous load on limbs, cams and string, and the string takes a set that waxing will not undo.

Never store one damp either. A soft case that went into the truck wet and came out into a warm garage is a humidity chamber, and what corrodes is the trigger mechanism and the rail - the two things you cannot inspect without disassembly. Open the case, let the bow dry, then store it somewhere with a stable temperature rather than an unheated shed that swings thirty degrees a day.