The three sub-$50 packs, and the number that is not on any box
We looked for the four figures that should decide a bolt purchase: length, shaft material, total weight and nock type — plus pack size, because pack size is what turns a price into a cost per bolt. One of those columns has a hole in it that matters.
| Bolt | Length | Shaft | Published total weight | Nock | Pack |
|---|
| Easton XX75 Magnum 2219 | 20 in | 2219 aluminium (7075-T9) | Not published | Half-moon, installed | 6 (inserts in, 4 in vanes) |
| ASODROCK 400-grain carbon | 20 in | Carbon | 400 grain | Moon | 6 |
| Victory XBolt Sport Lighted | 20 in | 0.300 in carbon | Not published | Lighted | 3 |
Two things to read off that. Only one of the three publishes a total bolt weight, and total weight is the spec your crossbow’s manual actually specifies a minimum for — so on two of these three you are buying without the number you were told to check. That is a disclosure gap worth naming, and the reason we put the one bolt that does publish 400 grain forward as the budget pick rather than simply as the cheap one.
And pack size changes the ranking completely. A 3-pack and a 6-pack at similar sticker prices are not similar purchases: the lighted bolts cost roughly twice per arrow what the other two do, which is exactly what you would expect for a nock with a battery and an LED in it. That is not a criticism — it is the reason to buy three lighted bolts for hunting and six cheap ones for practice, rather than one set for both.
Aluminium or carbon, which is the real choice in this bracket
Aluminium— which in this bracket means the Easton 2219 — is heavier for a given length and has thicker walls. Heavier means more momentum at close range, which is what penetration on a broadside whitetail is actually made of. It also means a bolt that bends rather than splinters: an aluminium shaft that has been hit by a following arrow is visibly crooked and obviously finished, which is safer than a carbon shaft with a hairline crack you cannot see.
Carbon is lighter, stiffer for its weight, and recovers from flex faster, which is why it dominates the premium end. The failure mode is the problem: a cracked carbon shaft can come apart on the shot. Flex every carbon bolt with your hands and listen for it before every use, and throw away anything that creaks or shows a white line.
For a hunter under fifty dollars a pack, the honest ranking is aluminium for hunting close whitetails and carbon for volume practice. Our how to choose crossbow bolts page covers spine, insert weight and the broadhead-matching question in full, and our full bolt roundup adds the two packs above this bracket.
What the energy argument actually says about a cheap bolt
Kinetic energy for an arrow is a function of total weight and speed, and the formula is published. The thing hunters get backwards is which way the trade runs: a heavier bolt leaves the rail slower and retains more of its energy downrange, and a lighter one leaves faster and sheds energy quicker. For whitetail distances the heavier bolt is almost always the better hunting choice, which is why a thick-walled aluminium shaft is the pick here and not a compromise.
Energy also falls away faster than most crossbow marketing implies. Bowhunting.com’s write-up on crossbow range is blunt about this: the speed figure on the box is a muzzle number, and the ethical limit on a deer is set by what is left at the target rather than by what left the rail. Our effective range for deer page does that arithmetic properly, and it is more useful than any bolt upgrade.
One more practical point. All three of these ship with vanes and two of them with inserts installed, which means they are ready to shoot out of the pack. Changing the insert weight changes the balance and the total weight, so if you intend to run heavy inserts for front-of-centre, buy bare shafts rather than finished bolts — Easton’s own front-of-centre guidance recommends 10 to 15% for hunting and warns that past about 20% the arrow destabilises, which is the ceiling on that experiment.
Lighted nocks: who they are actually for, and the two catches
A lighted nock lights up on the shot and stays lit, so you can see the flight, see where the bolt entered, and find the bolt afterwards. For a crossbow hunter that is worth real money for one reason: the arrow is your best evidence about the hit, and the National Deer Association’s blood-trailing guidance is built around using exactly that evidence to decide how long to wait — about an hour on an arrow lung shot, a minimum of two on liver, four to six on a paunch hit.
Two catches. First, a lighted nock adds weight at the back of the bolt, which shifts the balance slightly rearward — shoot them before the season rather than discovering the point of impact has moved in the stand. Second, check your state’s regulations: lighted nocks are legal in most places and specifically prohibited in a few, and the rules change. The National Crossbow Association’s state overview is a starting point and your own agency’s digest is the authority — our crossbow laws by state page covers the broader picture.
What to buy with them
A target that will take a crossbow bolt, which is not the same thing as an archery target. Crossbow bolts arrive with far more energy than a compound arrow and will bury themselves to the vanes in foam that was never designed for them — our target picks flag which ones are rated for crossbows.
And rail lube, because the rail is what your string slides across and a dry rail destroys strings. It is a five-dollar consumable that prevents a hundred-dollar failure, and our crossbow maintenance page covers the schedule. If you are also replacing the string or the whole cocking setup, our crossbow accessory picks cover what is worth buying and what is not.
