How to Decock a Barnett Crossbow

A cocked crossbow is a loaded spring. The limbs are flexed and the string is held back by the trigger latch, and that energy has to go somewhere before you can safely put the bow away. On most Barnett models there is no anti-dry-fire catch and no decocking lever, so the only ways to release it are to send it into an arrow or to walk the string back down by hand with a cocking rope.

This is also why the crank cocking device does not solve the problem on its own. A crank pulls the string back to cock the bow, it does not let it forward, so cranking gives you no decock button. You still choose one of the two methods below at the end of the session.

Barnett's own answer is the Evac decocking bolt - a dedicated discharge arrow that releases the stored energy without sacrificing one of your hunting shafts. The standard Evac is made for non-Hyper bows, while Hyper-series crossbows use the Hyper Evac version matched to the narrow Hyperflite shaft. Using the right one matters for the same reason bolt fit always matters on these bows.

1. Remove your hunting arrow and load the Evac bolt, green fletch down as marked.
2. Find soft dirt clear of rocks, roots and frozen ground, so the bolt buries instead of skipping.
3. Aim down at about 45 degrees into that ground, with nothing and no one downrange.
4. Take the safety off and fire. The shot releases the full draw-weight energy into the dirt.

A plain field-point practice arrow fired into a proper target block does the same job if you have one set up. The point is to discharge into something that will stop the bolt, never into the air and never with a broadhead.

If you would rather not spend an arrow, a rope cocking device can walk the string back down. Because Barnett bows have no anti-dry-fire block, the string can be eased forward under control rather than fired.

1. Attach the rope cocker to the string exactly as you did to cock it, hooks seated evenly on each side.
2. Pull one handle until the other is flush with the cocking finger and you are holding the full weight on the rope.
3. Keep tension on the long end, reach down and pull the trigger to release the latch.
4. Ease the string forward slowly, letting the rope take the load all the way down. Do not let it snap forward.

This takes a steady hand and full attention. If the rope slips the bow dry-fires, which is exactly what you are trying to avoid, so beginners are usually safer with the Evac-bolt method until the rope technique is second nature.

A few habits turn a routine decock into a repair bill or an injury:

• Never dry-fire to decock. Pulling the trigger on an empty bow sends the energy into the limbs, cams and rail instead of a bolt and can crack any of them - see what that stresses on the parts page.
• Never fire a broadhead to decock. Use a field point or a dedicated decocking bolt; a broadhead buries deep and is dangerous to retrieve.
• Never try to lift the string off the latch by hand. There is no safe way to do it without a rope cocker taking the load.
• Never discharge into hard or unknown ground. A bolt that hits rock or frozen soil can shatter or ricochet back at you.

Match the method to what you are carrying:

Whichever you use, store the bow uncocked. Leaving the limbs flexed between outings is hard on the string and cables and is the slow way to shorten their life. Decock, wipe the rail, and put it away relaxed.