The six accessories at a glance
Every figure in this table is read from the listing or the maker’s own page, and a blank is recorded as “Not published” rather than filled in.
| Accessory | The specification that matters | Why you need it |
|---|
| Rope cocking device | Ambidextrous; effort reduction not published; cannot de-cock | Centers the string identically on every shot |
| Bolts | 20 in carbon, Alpha-Nock HP, 6 per pack | Nock style must match what your crossbow specifies |
| Broadhead | Mechanical front-deploy, 3 blades, 1-1/2 in cut, 100 gr | No crossbow package ships hunting heads |
| Target | 520 FPS rating, 16 x 16 x 16 in, 6 shootable sides | A compound-rated target buries crossbow bolts |
| Rail lube and wax | 1 rail lube + 2 lubewax; volume and interval not published | The rail is the only part the string drags across |
| Rangefinder | 6x, 1,400 yd reflective, TBR/W angle compensation | From a stand the bolt follows the horizontal distance |
Why the cocking device comes before anything else
Crossbow draw weights run from roughly 150 to over 200 pounds, which is a lot to pull by hand even for someone strong enough to do it. But strength is not the argument. The argument is repeatability: a rope cocker has a center mark that you line up with the rail’s center groove, and pulling against two handles seats the string in the same place every single time. Hand-cocking does not, and a string latched a few millimeters off-center sends the bolt somewhere slightly different.
Be clear about what a rope cannot do. Neither the rope on this page nor any other rope cocker can let a cocked bolt back down — the only safe way off a rope-cocked crossbow is to shoot it into a target or the ground. If that is a problem for how you hunt, the answer is a crank, or a crossbow with a built-in de-cocking mechanism. Our cocking device picks compare all four options and our guide to cocking a crossbow walks the sequence step by step.
Bolts: the one place where “universal” is a dangerous word
Crossbow bolts are not interchangeable in the way arrows mostly are, and the part that matters is the smallest: the nock. A crossbow specified for a half-moon nock expects the string to sit in a groove cut across the back of the bolt. Put a flat-nocked bolt in that crossbow and the string can slip past the bolt entirely on release — a dry fire, which is the fastest way to destroy a crossbow and the most likely way to hurt yourself with one.
So the rule is: buy the nock your manual names, every time, and check the nock on any bolt that has been shot a lot. Aluminum half-moon bushings, which the bolts on this page use, exist because repeat shots batter a bare carbon nock. Weight and length then set how the bolt flies and how much energy it carries, which is the subject of our guide to choosing crossbow bolts and our full crossbow bolt picks.
The broadhead question, and the one case for a fixed head
A crossbow has energy to spare on a whitetail, which is exactly why a mechanical head works well on one. Wasp Archery’s published kinetic-energy formula — arrow weight in grains multiplied by velocity squared, divided by 450,240 — puts a 400-grain bolt at 400 feet per second at roughly 142 foot-pounds, far above the roughly 25 foot-pounds commonly cited as an ethical minimum for deer. A mechanical spends some of that opening its blades, and buys a wider wound channel in return.
The honest caveat is that mechanical heads ask more of your tune and your target. Blades that open on a foam face wear a target faster, and a bent blade is a flier. If you want the simpler life, a fixed head gives up cut diameter for penetration and durability; our fixed versus mechanical comparison lays out that trade in full, and our broadhead picks cover both camps.
The target is a speed specification, not a size one
This is the accessory people get wrong most often, because targets are shopped on dimensions and price. The number that decides whether a target works for you is its FPS rating. The pick here is rated to 520 feet per second, which covers every crossbow on this site with a wide margin; a target rated for 300 fps, which is normal for compound archery, will take a crossbow bolt so deep that you damage the bolt getting it out.
Six shootable sides is the other specification worth paying for, because crossbow practice concentrates shots in a very small group and a single face blows out quickly. Our archery target picks compare ratings, faces and broadhead compatibility across the whole category.
Lube and wax: a cheap habit that decides when you buy strings
A crossbow is the only bow where the string physically drags across a rail on every shot, and that friction is what wears strings out. TenPoint’s own maintenance guidance is specific about the routine: check every nut, bolt and screw for tightness, inspect the string and cables each session and condition them when they look dry, oil the trigger, dry-fire inhibitor, axles and cam bearings one drop at a time, and change strings and cables at least every two years — or every 1,000 shots if you shoot often.
Rail lube goes on the rail only, in a thin film, roughly every five to ten shots. More is not better: excess lube collects grit and turns the rail into an abrasive. Our crossbow maintenance guide covers the whole interval schedule, including what to do at the end of the season.
The rangefinder is an accessory for the stand, not for the crossbow
A crossbow shoots flat enough that hunters routinely over-trust their range estimate, and the error that costs deer is not horizontal — it is vertical. From an elevated stand, the bolt follows the true horizontal distance to the deer, not the longer line-of-sight distance your eye measures. Range 30 yards of slope at a steep angle, hold for 30, and you shoot high. An angle-compensating rangefinder does that trigonometry for you and reports the number the bolt will actually fly.
That is why a rangefinder earns a place on a crossbow accessory list ahead of a sling, a case or a replacement scope. Our rangefinder buying guide explains the angle-compensation modes, our rangefinder picks rank the category, and our crossbow effective range guide sets the distance you should actually be shooting at a deer.
What to buy in what order
If you bought a crossbow this week: cocker, bolts, broadheads, target. That is the set that takes you from “I own a crossbow” to “I can hunt with it,” and four of the five cheapest items on this page are in it.
Add the lube kit before your first season ends, because it protects the most expensive consumable on the bow. Add the rangefinder when you start hunting from height, which for most whitetail hunters is immediately. Our beginner crossbow guide covers the bow itself, and our full deer hunting gear list shows where this sits in the wider kit.
