Barnett Jackal Crossbow Review

Model	Draw Weight	Stroke	Velocity	Suggested Arrow Length	Crossbow Length / Weight
Barnett Jackal Crossbow Package Check price on Amazon.com	150 lbs.	12"	315 FPS Crossbow Academy: ballistics, sighting, tuning	20"	35.5" / 7.7 lbs.

Package Contents & Assembly

Welcome to our Barnett Jackal Crossbow review. After ordering this model online, I waited 2 days before I received my package. Inside it I found the following parts:

• The Jackal compound crossbow (stock + bow)
• Three 20″ arrows with attachable field points
• red-dot sight
• Detachable quiver for your arrows
• Quiver attachment platform
• All the hex keys, bolts and screws required for assembly
• Instruction & Safety manual
• Warranty card (5 year, limited)

Note: Barnett Jackal was ranked as our top best crossbow on a budget for over 4 years. Unfortunately, the crossbow is difficult is very difficult to buy nowadays so we had to take it off our list. Still, it’s a very good crossbow for the money if you can get it.

Assembling the Barnett Jackal took me around 10 minutes, which is pretty fast considering it’s a compound crossbow. I followed the installation instructions and attached the quiver bracket to the bottom of the stock with the provided screws. Afterwards I inserted cable slide and then the string and cables into the cams/limbs as specified on one of the pictures in the manual, and then pushed the riser into the stock until it “clicked,” signifying a successful attachment, which I later reinforced with the hex bolt included in the package.

Now came the time to install the foot stirrup; I simply had to insert it into the opening at the front of the crossbow and then secure it with the included screws. All that was left now is attaching the red-dot sight; I placed it onto the mount and moved it around a bit until it was around 3-4″ inches away from my eye (when in shooting position), which is standard practice for red-dot sights. I then tightened the mounting side plates so the sight would not fall off, and was ready for some serious shooting.

Preparing To Shoot & Specs

First thing I did was lubricate the string and cables on the Jackal; it is advised to do so every 5 arrows fired at the most – it’s much easier to do than you could imagine.  I personally prefer using flat nocks on my crossbow arrows, however Barnett recommends using half-moon nocks in their manual, which I can live with 🙂

I placed my foot in the stirrup and cocked it it easily by hand, without using a rope. This crossbow has 150 lbs. of draw weight, however don’t let that fool you – it fires 20″ carbon arrows with a speed of 315 feet per second, more than enough to kill pretty much anything you’ll come across, and definitely more than enough for target practice. As soon as the Jackal is cocked, the anti-dry-firing mechanism is activated, which automatically places the crossbow into “safety-lock” mode. If dead-lifting 150 pounds each time you need to cock the crossbow sounds like a chore, then I recommend getting a rope cocking device to make the job much easier.

Accuracy & Power

I lined up for the shot, with my target being a home-made “penguin” (basically a nylon bag filled with lots of cardboard). I was roughly 60 yards away from the target. The trigger pull is roughly 3.5 lbs., which felt perfect to me – just enough to prevent accidental firing, and just enough that you can push the trigger without struggling.

The crossbow was pretty loud, but that is to be expected from such a powerful weapon. My arrow landed around 1″ away from the bulls-eye, and that’s despite me not having even sighted the red-dot sight that came with the Jackal. The arrow went so deep in that I literally had to use my whole body weight to get it out from the bag, and I’m now considering getting something new to use as a target as I don’t think my current “penguin” will survive long enough while being under fire from this weapon.

Where hunting is concerned, you can take out pretty much anything with the Barnett Jackal. On my first attempt from a 40 yard distance I took down an Elk with no trouble at all, and I expect it could be done from much, much further than that (maybe even 50+ yards), though I would not attempt it as I do not trust my aim to be as accurate as needed at such a distance. But if you can land the arrow properly, I’m sure it will kill it.

The Jackal is a surprisingly powerful crossbow, and it’s much more accurate than I expected it to be, considering the price.

Ballistic Data For The Barnett Jackal

Your actual results will vary slightly depending on weather, and significantly with arrow weight change. See our Crossbow Ballistics Guides section for a complete understanding of how we conducted our tests and why this data matters.

Kinetic Energy Of The Barnett Jackal

Of course, what you really want to know is how much hitting power the Barnett Jackal punches with. This crossbow will hit your target at around 315 FPS, assuming you’re shooting at point blank range. That translates out to around 90 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy from point blank range with 400-grain arrows. Bear in mind, you’ll see some drop-off of your kinetic energy (approximately 3% per 10 yards) from longer ranges, so a 30-yard shot would net you around 82 ft. lbs. of stopping power. This is still more than enough to take down even the toughest North American game, including Cape Buffalo and grizzly bears.
Use our arrow ballistics calculator for more valuable information.

The Barnett Jackal Sight

As I already mentioned, the package came with a red dot sight (although I did mount my scope onto it later, hence the scope in the pictures). The name “red” in this case is a little misleading, as you can choose between both red and green, and pick from among five different brightness settings, depending on your preference. The sight is fairly accurate out of the box, and you’ll need minimal effort to zero it – 5 to 10 arrows shot is all it will take. I recommend that you always carry a spare battery with you, in case the one that comes with the sight were to run out of juice in the field – not fun at all!

See our detailed guide on how to sight-in your crossbow

The Arrows In The Box

My Barnett Jackal came with 3x Easton, 20 inch carbon arrows. Included with the arrows were three attachable field points, which I was happy about – some crossbows, particularly the cheaper models, come with arrows which have glued-in field points, so if you want to go hunting you’ll need to get completely new arrows that can accept broad-heads. In this case however, and if you want to hunt, just buy a set of 3 high quality broad-heads from Barnett (amazon.com link).

As for the arrows, they are very durable – definitely more so than the arrows that come with the Arrow Precision Inferno Fury. They can take a beating and will last you a long time, unless you are constantly shooting from short ranges such as 10 yards or less.

Barnett recommends using either 18″ or 20″ arrows with the Jackal, though I prefer sticking with the 20 inchers as they seem to fit just right onto the rail of the crossbow. I’m sure the 18″ will work just fine too, otherwise Barnett wouldn’t be recommending them; it’s just a matter of preference. You can obviously store the three arrows in the quiver, which you can easily detach when marching through the woods.

You can also learn more about crossbow arrows and take a look at our broadhead recommendations

Durability & Construction

Just a few quick words here. I really enjoyed the stock on the Barnett Jackal; it holds EXACTLY like a regular military rifle. The grooves in the grip make it exceptionally comfortable to hold, kind of like those old gaming joysticks on gaming consoles. Recoil is minimal despite the high FPS, though it is a bit loud, as already mentioned.

As for durability — Barnett would never release a crossbow made of anything less than perfect materials, so I’m not even going to bore you with the details. In short: it’s as durable as a crossbow can get. What you should be worrying about is the durability of your target, and whether it will be able to handle the devastating force that the Jackal will unleash upon it 🙂

What Crossbow Case Fits The Barnett Jackal?

This is a fairly small crossbow, so it will fit into most cases. As far as recommendations go, a very cheap and affordable one is the Barnett Case (Model 17083) – it will fit the Jackal perfectly even with the sight on. A comparably good but somewhat cheaper alternative is the Allen Company case.

Barnett Jackal Crossbow Review – Summary

This is the finest low budget compound crossbow you can buy. It also happens to be the model that we would recommend to absolutely any beginner, regardless of whether they want to hunt or shoot just for fun. You should not take this to mean that this is a crossbow for beginners only, however; it’s just as good a choice for intermediate and advanced crossbow-shooters, basically for everyone looking for great power, accuracy, and safety, at an affordable price. Make sure to check Amazon.com price Crossbow if you’re interested.