This is a review for the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD Crossbow. I obtained the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD only recently. I decided to try out the new Excalibur Assassin 420 TD because the 400 TD has been a very nice crossbow to use as well.
For anyone that doesn’t know; Excalibur is a Canadian brand. They started in 1983 and have a highly respected name in the crossbow industry. They produce high quality, long lasting and very sturdy crossbows. One of our latest reviews on an Excalibur crossbow was the Bulldog 440.
They’re a crossbow company started by hunters that want to deliver the best, most accurate and reliable crossbow on the market for the best price you can get. “At Excalibur, we aren’t big business cashing in on crossbow hunting, we’re crossbow hunters who build crossbows.”
It looks like Excalibur upgraded the Assassin 400 TD, made it shoot faster and named it the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD. It’s not the case though. There are a couple of big differences in the 400 TD vs the 420 TD.
Unfortunately, a lot of crossbow manufacturers these days just offer a slightly lighter arrow with a crossbow and call it an “upgrade” from their previous version. Excalibur didn’t just change the arrows with the Assassin 420 TD, they also made it slightly bigger and it’s not listed in their “Micro” section but “Matrix” section.
So, what actually differentiates the Excalibur Assassin 400 TD from the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD?
Here’s our review on the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD Crossbow and comparison with the Assassin 400 TD.
Table of Contents
Excalibur Assassin 420 TD Crossbow Features
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The Assassin 420 TD is a recurve crossbow by Excalibur Crossbows. It’s not just any recurve crossbow! Excalibur built the Assassin 420 TD with speed, accuracy, stealth and performance in mind.
The Excalibur Assassin 420 TD shows that and that’s just the beginning! The Excalibur comes loaded with premium features that you can usually only find on $2000+ compound crossbows.
While compound crossbows are a fragile ecosystem of links, cams, pins, and different moving parts, an Excalibur crossbow is a Recurve crossbow and only has two limbs and a string. It will consistently shoot arrows at high speeds and never let you down.
Size and Weight
The Excalibur comes in at 8 pounds, 33-36 inches in length, 30 inches wide uncocked, and 23.25 inches wide when cocked. It’s actually quite a lightweight and compact recurve crossbow for the amount of power and force it generates!
Because this crossbow is 30 inches wide when uncocked, it’s not an ideal bow to hunt in blinds, treestands or tight spaces.
The Excalibur Assassin 420 TD also features a fully adjustable Tru-Fit Stock that gives you the ability to adjust the length of pull from 12″-15″ and the cheek-piece also adjusts 2” horizontally.
Speed and Arrows
With Excalibur, accuracy is something beyond a word, it’s an assurance! They make sure that each bow they produce is equipped for shooting groups of 3inches and below. After buying this crossbow, you’ll be buying more bolts in no time!
We were actually able to get 422 FPS and a group of sub 2-inches with the included bolts!
Excalibur offers four 18-inch Proflight Premium crossbow arrows with the standard package and they come in at 355 grains. For Excalibur to get 420 FPS out of the Assassin 420 TD, they had to use lightweight arrows.
Does this reduce the accuracy and amount of kinetic energy it can generate? A bit. We highly recommend using bolts that are a bit heavier. Once more, we recommend Borkholder Archery for your custom bolts, they’re specialized in creating custom bolts for high-performance crossbows.
Borkholder Archery created custom bolts for the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD and they weigh 415 grains. This will give the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD better accuracy and a bigger amount of kinetic energy.
See the video below from Borkholder Archery with the Premium Custom bolts they produced. They cost $199.99 for a pack of 6 or $389.99 for a pack of 12 bolts.
Scope
The Excalibur Assassin 420 TD comes with a Tact-100 Illuminated Crossbow Scope. It’s the same scope that comes with the Excalibur Assassin 400 TD, but as we said with the 400 TD, it’s a great scope and you can fully utilize the 420 FPS this crossbow has to offer.
A skilled crossbow shooter can shoot a target at 80 yards with the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD easily. The power, accuracy, scope and arrows are all perfect for shooting targets at 60+ yards, even for a beginner hunter.
Assembling and Disassembling
Excalibur designed the Assassin 420 TD to be easily assembled and disassembled. That’s why they called it a Take-Down version.
Included with the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD crossbow is an Explore Case. This crossbow perfectly fits in the case and it has a load of extra pockets and compartments to store other accessories you might want to bring with you.
Push Button Take Down
Quick Loc™ Technology permits the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD crossbows to be disassembled and reassembled in seconds by a pull of a button with no adjustment in point of effect. “That means rock solid accuracy, every time. Just imagine the possibilities of being able to take a blistering 420fps of raw power with you virtually anywhere.”
Cocking
The new Charger Crank System is the world’s first dead-silent integrated crank cocking device, allowing you to cock the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD with only 12 pounds of force. With no clicking or sounds at all.
This crossbow has the most secure methods for de-cocking available as well! It’s a very safe crossbow for the youth to use.
Shooting and Trigger
This crossbow comes with a Pro-Shot ACP Trigger. “This new two-stage trigger system mirrors the performance and feel of today’s best match-grade rifle triggers. Its light pull weight combined with its crisp, clean and consistent break simply make you more accurate.”
When shooting this Excalibur crossbow, it actually feels like a rifle trigger. No creep and a clean break. This makes the crossbow automatically more accurate. Getting those sub 3-inch groups is now easier than ever!
Extra Features
- QUICKLOC TECHNOLOGY™
- CHARGER CRANKING SYSTEM™
- TRU-FIT STOCK™
- PRO-SHOT TRIGGER™
- Take Down
Package Contents
- TACT-100 Illuminated Scope
- Pro-Shot Trigger
- 4 Arrow Quiver
- 4 PROFLIGHT premium arrows
- 4 100gr Field points
- 30mm scope rings
- Anti-Dry Fire System
- Fair safe strap
- R.E.D.S. Suppressors
- Ambidextrous Cheekpiece
Excalibur Assassin 400 TD vs Excalibur Assassin 420 TD
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Verdict
Our Rating of the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD
Summary
The Excalibur Assassin 420 TD is a really fast, powerful, and accurate shooting crossbow. Quick to take apart and shoots at 420 FPS! What more do you want? Anyone who wants to shoot an amazing crossbow and feel the kick when you pull the trigger will love to shoot the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD!
Pros
- 420 FPS
- Recurve Crossbows are easy to maintain
- Take-Down Model
- Pro-Shot Trigger
Cons
- Bit expensive, totally worth it though!
Excalibur just keeps building amazingly high-quality crossbows. They’re always faster and more powerful than what they advertise it with. You just can’t go wrong with an Excalibur crossbow.
The Excalibur Assassin 420 TD is a really fast, powerful, and accurate shooting crossbow. Quick to take apart and shoots at 420 FPS! What more do you want?
Anyone who wants to shoot an amazing crossbow and feel the kick when you pull the trigger will love to shoot the Excalibur Assassin 420 TD!
