Barnett Razr Review – Compound Crossbow

Model	Draw Weight	Stroke	Velocity	Suggested Arrow Length	Crossbow Length / Weight
Barnett Razr Check price on Amazon.com	185 lbs.	16"	400 FPS Crossbow Academy: ballistics, sighting, tuning	22"	34.75" / 6.5 lbs.

What’s in the Box

Welcome to our Crossbow Review of the new Barnett Razr. Each package delivered by Barnett includes the following items:

• The Barnett Razr Crossbow
• Premium illuminated scope
• 3 22” Headhunter Arrows
• 3-arrow Quiver
• Rope cocking device
• 3.5” skinning knife
• Assembly hardware and tools
• Owner’s manual
• Warranty card

Assembling Your New Razr

Putting the Razr together is pretty fast and easy. You attach the shoot-through riser to the stock, mount the quiver and scope, and you’re almost ready to go. The next step, of course, will be adjusting the retractable underarm support to suit your preferences. I had my Razr unpacked, assembled, and ready to sight in within 10 minutes of getting the box in the door.

Hard-hitting and Accurate?

The premium illuminated scope was sighted in straight out of the box, so I didn’t have to do much before I was hitting bull’s-eyes with every shot. The Barnett Razr cranks arrows out at 400 fps, and those 400-grain arrows hit the target with a punishing 142 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. This is so powerful, you’ll need to have your target block right up against your backstop or something else to hold it in place and keep it from toppling over. There aren’t many crossbows as powerful as this one.

The accuracy of this crossbow is nearly second to none. I was hitting groupings of around half an inch clear out to 50 yards, and 1” groupings from 60 yards. This crossbow, with its fantastic scope, hits where you want it to hit every time. This is a real tack driver!

Use our arrow ballistics calculator for more valuable information.

Ballistic Data For The Barnett Razr

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.

The Hunter’s Perspective

This is an extremely accurate and powerful crossbow, capable of taking out any legal North American game. It’s brand new for 2014, so I haven’t had too many opportunities to use it in the hunting field yet, but archery season starts early enough in Ohio that I’ve been able to take it out once already. This is definitely a bone crushing, deer-slaying crossbow, and I’ve already filled my freezer with meat from the Razr. My next trip is for Cape buffalo, and I plan on taking the Razr out to take down a nice-sized buffalo. I have no doubts at all that it will perform wonderfully.

This x-bow is lightweight and easy to handle, and it’s narrow enough that it does not get snagged on brush or limbs as you make your way through the woods. The blackout design of the crossbow means it is equally suitable for ground blind or stand hunting.

The Razr includes a skinning knife stored in the butt stock, which is a very nice feature. Unfortunately, there is a major problem with the compartment where the skinning knife is stored—you need a knife or some other tool just to get the compartment open! Luckily for me, I’m an everyday knife carrier, but it still seems counter-intuitive to need a knife in order to access your…knife.

Cocking The Barnett Razr

The Barnett Razr cocks easily, nice and smooth. The draw weight is 185 pounds, and the included rope cocking device makes it easy to cock. Unfortunately, removing the rope cocking device after cocking the crossbow has a tendency to disengage the safety. Other than that, the safety and anti-dry fire mechanisms work flawlessly.

The Crossbow Scope

One of the nicest things about this crossbow is the included scope. It’s a premium illuminated scope, with multiple reticles and a red or green 3 dot sight. You can’t find a much better included scope than this one, and it sights in very easily. Once sighted in (really, it was already sighted in, but I toyed with the windage and elevation dials just to say I did something), the thing holds zero for months.

The scope is fogproof and the battery seems to last forever, from my experience so far.

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

Bolts

Barnett includes 3 Headhunter 22” arrows with the Razr, but you can use any 22” arrows at 400 grain or higher. The included arrows are nice quality, and shoot straight. They’re also durable, which is a necessity for a crossbow this powerful.

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

Safety and Design

The Barnett Razr is a slick-looking crossbow, but it has a major design flaw. When you disengage the rope cocking device after cocking the crossbow, it has a tendency to move the safety to the Fire position. This is something I’ve never experienced on a crossbow before, and it makes for a genuinely unsafe crossbow. Of course, I’m in the practice of checking the safety every time I pick up any weapon, firearm or crossbow, but there are some shooters I know of (I won’t name names) who rely on the safety being automatically engaged, and expect it to stay that way.

The anti-dry fire mechanism works flawlessly, and the trigger pull is nice and light. The use of CarbonLite for the riser means a crossbow that is not nearly as front-heavy as other crossbows, making for a x-bow that is perfectly balanced for accurate shooting.

Warranty

Barnett provides a 3-year warranty on all of their crossbows. Typically, I’ve found Barnett’s support team to be knowledgeable and friendly, quickly responding to problems with their products.

What Crossbow Case Fits the Barnett Razr?

A first choice of Barnett fans is almost always the Barnett Case (Model 17083). It is a soft case which runs around the 50 dollar mark. The Carbon Express Deluxe Case may work a little better because the Razr is on the smaller side. It is also a soft case, but is closer to the 70 dollar mark.

Crossbow Review – Summary

Thanks for reading our crossbow review. The Barnett Razr is a powerful, accurate crossbow that just flat-out looks wickedly mean. Unfortunately, it has a serious safety flaw, since the safety gets switched from Safe to Fire when you disengage the rope cocking device. If you can work around this, the crossbow is fantastic for target shooting and hunting, but this sort of a safety flaw should not show up in such an expensive crossbow. Take a look at today's amazon.com price on this crossbow and check out our top 10 crossbows rankings for more.