Excalibur released the Micro Mag 340 for crossbow hunters that were looking for a reliable, durable, accurate, and powerful crossbow and not having to pay top dollar for it. Excalibur’s Mag 340 is a crossbow from their micro-series lineup. This means that it’s smaller and not as powerful as other Excalibur crossbows like the Bulldog 440 or the Assassin 420 TD.
Excalibur previously released the Mag 340 under the name Axe 340. Due to conflicts with another brand/manufacturer, Excalibur made the decision to just change the name to Mag 340. It’s exactly the same crossbow, just sold under a different name now.
The Excalibur Micro Mag 340 includes a Dead Zone Scope, Rope Cocking Aid, Air Brakes, Sound Deadening System, R.E.D. Suppressors, 1-Inch Scope Rings, 4-Arrow Quiver, 3 Quill Arrows w. 100-Grains Field Points, and an Instruction/Owner’s Manual
Table of Contents
Excalibur Micro Mag 340 (Axe 340) Crossbow Features
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First Impressions / Size and Weight
The Excalibur Mag 340 is a recurve crossbow from the Micro lineup from Excalibur. Its total length is 31.71 inches and measures 25 inches uncocked and 22 inches cocked.
Excalibur also kept the Mag 340 really lightweight at just 5.5 pounds including accessories. It’s built with an aluminum frame and Gen II recurve limbs. These limbs are shorter than usual but still manages to launch arrows at 340 feet per second with a 270-pound draw-weight!
As recurve crossbows tend to be quite noisy, Excalibur included a complete silencing kit for the Mag 340. This kit contains of R.E.D. Suppressors, a Sound Deadening System and Air Brakes.
Holding the Mag 340 is as comfortable as almost all other Excalibur crossbows I’ve owned or tested. The ergonomic and rubberized grips make it a really comfortable crossbow to hold.
It’s very compact, lightweight and extremely silent for a recurve crossbow.
Arrows and Speed
Shooting arrows at 340 feet per second, the Excalibur Micro Mag 340 is able to take out any big-game animal. Included with this package are 3 Quill arrows from Excalibur. These arrows have a length of 16.5 inches, have a total weight of around 350 grains including the 100-grain field points.
It’s highly recommended to just use the Excalibur Quill arrows (or lighted nocks) with field points for target practice and use Excalibur’s Boltcutter 150 Grain 3-Blade Broadheads for hunting.
Also included is a 4-arrow quiver. Usually included with a crossbow is a 3-arrow quiver and it’s always useful to bring an extra arrow with you on your hunting trip!
Optics
Mounted on the Mag 340 you’ll find a Dead Zone Scope. This is a lightweight and non-illuminated scope. Ideal for beginners and very easy to sight it in!
This scope is not the best scope you can get and it’s definitely worth upgrading it in the future. It’s ideal for beginners or if you’re on a low budget.
Cocking
Excalibur included a rope cocker with the Excalibur Micro Mag 340. Trying to cock a 270-pound crossbow with your bare hands is just not an option.
This rope cocking aid with T-handles reduces the draw weight by 50%. This means that you’ll only need about 135 pounds of effort to rope-cock this crossbow. This is absolutely doable and the Excalibur rope cocker is made from high-quality materials for durability and comfortability.
Excalibur also made this crossbows compatible with the Charger EXT Crank. This crank-cocking device from Excalibur reduces the effort needed to cock this crossbow to less than 12 pounds. It’s also one of the more silent crank-cocking devices available right now. This crank competes with TenPoint’s ACU crank-cocking devices.
As Excalibur built the Mag 340 for beginner and crossbow hunters on a budget, the basic package does not include a crank-cocking device like the Bulldog 440. You can however buy the Charger EXT Crank separately on Amazon.
Trigger and Safety Features
The Excalibur Micro Mag 340 has a premium trigger that features a “Guardian Anti-Dry Fire System.” It’s a very smooth trigger that breaks at about 3.5 pounds.
The forehand grip is really comfortable to hold as well and features safety wings to keep your fingers away from the strings.
Assembly and Sighting-In
Recurve crossbows are known for their easy assembly and maintenance. The Excalibur Micro Mag 340 is also very easy to assemble. The total time it took for me to assemble the crossbow including getting everything out of the box was less than 15 minutes.
The 4-arrow quiver can be mounted to the stock several different ways, read the manual for instructions on each mounting position available.
Excalibur’s Dead Zone Scope is very easy to sight in. To fully zero in the scope it only took me 3 shots.
Range Test
Holding and handling the Excalibur Micro Mag 340 is very comfortable. It has an ergonomic and rubberized grip and foregrip. It’s also pretty short and very lightweight.
Even for a cheaper scope, the Dead Zone Scope is pretty easy to sight in. Getting very tight groups at short distances is pretty easy, once you’re trying for distances past 50 yards then you’ll have a harder time getting those same tight groups.
Speed testing Excalibur crossbows is always fun. They’re always over delivering on their advertised crossbow speeds. The Excalibur Bulldog 440 and Excalibur Assassin 420 TD both shot almost 10 feet per second more than what Excalibur advertised them as.
I’ve only speed tested this crossbow with the recommended Excalibur Quill arrows. Once again, it’s faster than what Excalibur advertised it as. The chronograph gave speeds of 344, 344 and 345 feet per second.
Not only is this a very accurate and fast crossbow, it’s also very quiet because of the R.E.D. Suppressors, a Sound Deadening System and Air Brakes. All these parts work together and all you’ll hear when firing the Mag 340 is a very low noised thud.
Storage
Getting an Excalibur crossbow and not storing it away for the off-season properly is a real shame. These are high-quality and very reliable crossbows that can last you ages when taken care of properly.
Excalibur doesn’t include a case with this crossbow. They do have a case that fits the Excalibur Micro Mag 340 and its the Excalibur Octane Crypt Crossbow Case. This case also includes a handle on the side for easy transportation!
Final Rating
Quick Overview of the Excalibur Micro Mag 340 (Previously Axe 340)
Summary
The Excalibur Mag 340 is a high-quality, reliable, compact, lightweight, accurate, quiet, and easy to maintain crossbow. Excalibur perfected the Recurve technology and their crossbows will last you for ages. Excalibur may have made the Mag 340 for beginner crossbow hunters, but with a small upgrade will also be perfect for an experienced crossbow hunter. Upgrading the scope will probably extend the range to up to 100 yards!
What we like
- Recurve Technology
- Accurate
- Silent
- High-Quality
What we don’t like
- FPS is a bit low for a modern crossbow
