Native Rampage Review – Compound Crossbow

Model	Draw Weight	Stroke	Velocity	Suggested Arrow Length	Crossbow Length / Weight
Native Rampage Check price on Amazon.com	175 lbs.	11.5"	340 FPS Crossbow Academy: ballistics, sighting, tuning	20"	35" / 8 lbs.

What Comes With This Crossbow?

Welcome to our review of the Native Rampage Crossbow. Each package delivered by Native includes the following items:

• The Native Rampage crossbow
• Hawke 1.5-5X32 VS Scope
• Assembly hardware and tools
• 4-arrow quiver
• 6 arrows
• Owner’s manual
• Warranty card

Assembly of Your New Crossbow

Putting this x-bow together is very simple and easy. You attach the cable slide, then mount the riser to the stock. Attach the foot stirrup, mount the quiver, and mount the scope, then you’re good to go. It took me no more than 20 minutes to have the crossbow decked out and ready to test.

Hard-hitting and Accurate

To give you an idea of how accurate this crossbow is, the Mayor of the City of Alexandria, Indiana, wrote about his very first experience shooting a crossbow. They positioned him at the 40 yard line, and advised him to hit a 4” piece of black tape on the target. Mayor Woods was able to hit the tape with every shot that he fired, and he had never fired a bow or a crossbow in the past.

Now, on to my own testing. The scope for this crossbow was sighted in straight out of the box, so I was able to move quickly to testing the accuracy. I was able to maintain 1” groupings from 40 yards out, and 2” groupings from 60 yards. I found the Native Rampage to be more than accurate enough for any hunting or target shooting uses, and was quite pleased with how quietly the crossbow shot.

The Native Rampage fires arrows at 340 fps, with 102.5 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. This is more than enough power to shove your target block either over or back by several feet, so make sure you have your target block properly secured in place. I tend to put mine up against a tree trunk or my backstop, just to be safe. Either way, you’ll find your arrows go completely through most target blocks, so an arrow removal tool will be your new best friend.

Hunting Native Rampage-style

At 102.5 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy, the Rampage is more than powerful enough to take on any legal game in North America. It is also accurate enough to safely and ethically take on the smallest game or the largest game, so I decided to take the Rampage on a couple of different hunts.

My first hunting trip with the Rampage was for rabbit, hunting in northeast Ohio. The Rampage fared well in the cold, and I was able to take my limit of rabbit during my hunting trip. This quiet crossbow barely startled the rabbits at all, and every shot resulted in a skewered rabbit. Of course, the crossbow is so powerful that the arrows ripped completely through the rabbits, but you get my point.

For my second hunting trip, I went out for moose. Hunting from a tree stand, I waited patiently until I was rewarded with the sight of a large bull moose ambling down the trail next to my stand. I carefully aimed at the bull’s chest, and took my shot from about 35 yards. A clean hit, the moose had both of his lungs pierced by my arrow, and ran no more than 20 yards before he dropped from blood loss and asphyxiation.

Cocking The Native Rampage

The Rampage has a draw weight of 175 pounds, which is a bit much for most people to draw by hand. Unfortunately, Native does not include a rope cocking device with the Rampage (EDIT: I have just been informed that a cocking aid is included with every Rampage package; me not receiving it with the crossbow was an oversight by the private seller from whom I bought it), but I have several of them. This is something that even the most inexpensive crossbows often include, so I’m not sure why Native doesn’t include one. Drawing the crossbow is smooth and easy, and the anti-dry fire mechanism and safety engage each and every time.

The Crossbow Scope

A very nice feature of this crossbow is the scope, a variable magnification scope capable of 1.5 to 5X magnification. The scope has very excellent coated optics, provided a clear and crisp target image with plenty of contrast. Unfortunately, it’s not an illuminated scope. It does come sighted in right out of the box (for me, at least), and holds true for months on end.

UPDATE: as of 2015, the Native Rampage comes with a beast of a scope, namely the HAWKE 1.5-5×32 – a $200 value in itself. This is one of the very few scopes on the market specifically designed for extreme-long-range crossbow shooting, with enough reticles to allow for accurate shooting at up to 100 yards. Since the optics are fully multi-coated, light transmittance is maximized and only a minimum of light is reflected, giving an extremely crisp view of the target even in low-light conditions. Reticles can be set to either green or red, depending on the time of day and background.

What Arrows Come With The Rampage Crossbow?

The Native Rampage x-bow comes with six 400-grain Victory arrows, but these arrows aren’t really the best quality. Native is good at making crossbows, but their accessories like arrows don’t really get much quality. The included arrows were garbage within a few shots, snapping or splitting from the force of the crossbow. I quickly switched to Firebolt 20” arrows with field tips, weighted to 400 grain. That’s my recommendation for you, dear reader!

UPDATE: seems that Native Crossbows has taken customer feedback to hear. As of 2015, the Rampage package no longer includes the low-quality Victory arrows, but rather comes with the much more durable 20″ Black Eagle Executioners, which are among the finest fletched carbon arrows you can get. They come with 3″ vanes and fly as true as they come. Ideally you will use 100 grain tips / broadheads. These are among the few arrows that allow you to actually achieve the speeds advertised by crossbow manufacturers, as opposed to being 10-15 FPS lower.

Safety and Design

One nifty feature of the Native Rampage is its folding stock, which allows you to fold it up for storage and transport. The crossbow is well constructed, and has the perfect balance front to back that is crucial in reducing frontal heaviness. The anti-dry fire mechanism and safety engage reliably for every shot, making you sure of a safe experience with the crossbow.

The Rampage features an interesting stock design with a pistol grip and partially open trigger guard. It works well with bulky gloves, and the trigger pull is a very light 3.5 lbs. with an even and consistent break point. For the price, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a better quality crossbow.

Warranty

It is not often that you come across a crossbow with a lifetime warranty, let alone one that is transferrable. You get both of those benefits with the Native Rampage crossbow, though, so even if you decide to sell or otherwise pass on your crossbow to another shooter, it will still retain a lifetime warranty. Make sure you send in the warranty card to register your warranty, though, or you’ll be left out in the rain. I’ve found the folks at Native Crossbows to be very easy to work with, and since Native focuses on just two models of crossbows, they know each of those models inside and out.

What Crossbow Case Fits the Native Rampage?

A great companion for the Native Rampage is the Carbon Express Deluxe Case. It is a soft carrycase for about $70. A less expensive soft carrycase is the Allen Company case which runs close to the $30 mark. An alternate hard carrycase is the SKB Hunter Series Crossbow Case which runs closer to the $300 mark.

Crossbow Review – Summary

Thanks for reading our crossbow review. The Native Rampage is an excellent value, since it is well-built, very accurate, and very powerful. It’s an excellent choice for hunting or target shooting, and the transferrable lifetime warranty makes it a fantastic investment in your hunting future as well as your children’s. Take a look at today's amazon.com price on this crossbow and check out our top 10 crossbows rankings for more.