Crossbow Bolts: Reviews & Rankings
Hunting-carbon 6-packs scored on printed 6-pack street price, finished grain weight, and FOC.
A $50 house-carbon 6-pack and a $140 Ravin XK5 are not the same bolt. Put them on one price board and the house pack wins. That is a merge, not a ranking. This page is hunting-carbon 6-packs only. Frozen at $65–$140. We score three printed numbers: the maker 6-pack street, finished grain when the PDP prints a finished weight, and FOC when the PDP prints a percent. Lighted 3-packs wait. Sub-$65 house carbon waits. Length and nock type are compatibility. They are not quality. A 16-inch CenterPunch is not a worse bolt on paper. An Alpha-Nock is not a better one. Missing grain and FOC drop. We never add a 100-grain point the maker did not write, and we never invent GPI.
How to read this: Hunting-carbon 6-pack freeze. Wave 6 street-price bounds are frozen at $65–$140 — maker PDP 6-pack base. Pro Elite 400 encode $84.99 (same URL also sells a $49.99 3-pack — do not use $49.99). Lighted 3-packs and sub-$65 house carbon wait as later siblings. Length and nock type are compatibility, not quality. Unpublished specs DROP and weights renormalise. Never add a 100-gr point the maker did not write. Do not merge into Arrows, Crossbows, or Broadheads. Do not ship nock kits. Do not invent GPI.
Crossbow Bolts CareScore Leaderboard
All 11 products ranked by overall CareScore™. See the full best-of breakdown →
| # | Product | Use | Price | CareScore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Excalibur FireBolt 20" (22CAV-6) | EXO-Traditional 20-inch hunting 6-pack | $66.99 | 97 |
| 2 | Excalibur ProFlight 20" (22EXP20-6) | Match-grade 20-inch hunting 6-pack | $87.99 | 69 |
| 3 | Wicked Ridge Match 400 Alpha-Nock HP | Wicked Ridge Alpha-Nock hunting 6-pack | $69.99 | 49 |
| 4 | TenPoint ACU-X 20 | Rail-less forward-draw hunting 6-pack | $119.99 | 45 |
| 5 | TenPoint CenterPunch HPX | Heavy railed hunting 6-pack | $119.99 | 42 |
| 6 | TenPoint Pro Elite 400 | Railed TenPoint hunting 6-pack | $84.99 | 41 |
| 7 | TenPoint EVO-X CenterPunch 16 | 16-inch EVO-X hunting 6-pack | $119.99 | 40 |
| 8 | Ravin .003 (R138) | Ravin clip-on hunting 6-pack | $94.99 | 39 |
| 9 | Ravin .001 XK5 (R149) | Ravin 500-grain hunting 6-pack | $139.99 | 39 |
| 10 | TenPoint Pro Elite 400 Select | Spine-indexed railed hunting 6-pack | $99.99 | 33 |
| 11 | Ravin .001 Premium (R139) | Ravin match-grade hunting 6-pack | $129.99 | 14 |
Best Crossbow Bolts for…
The same data, re-weighted for how you shoot.
Head-to-head comparisons
All 55 comparisonsWe auto-generate a spec-by-spec breakdown for every possible matchup.
Crossbow Bolt buying guide
- Why isn't a lighted 3-pack on this list?
- Same sticker, half the arrows. TenPoint ACU-X / Pro Elite lighted 3-packs and the Ravin / Excalibur lighted packs street at or near a 6-pack dollar. Drop one here and the price rank inverts. They wait for a lighted sibling. This board is non-lighted 6-packs only.
- Why isn't CenterPoint, Black Eagle, or Barnett here?
- CenterPoint house 6-packs street $40–$60 — under the $65 freeze. Black Eagle Executioner is $49.99. Barnett Headhunter is a 5-pack. Aluminum XX75 waits. Easton and Victory print no maker price, and we do not invent dealer dollars. They are real bolts. They wait for a cheap / aluminum / dealer-priced sibling.
- Why isn't this just a section under Arrows, Crossbows, or Broadheads?
- Arrows score GPI, spine, and straightness as quality, per dozen. Crossbows score speed and cocked width. Broadheads score cut and steel. A hunting bolt scores a 6-pack street, a printed finished grain, and a printed FOC. Those numbers do not live on an arrow page or a bow page. Folding them together would make a $67 FireBolt look like a cheap dozen, which tells you nothing useful about either purchase. Nock kits stay off this sheet.
- Why are Excalibur grain and FOC blank — and why didn't you add 100?
- Excalibur prints 250 Grain arrow weight with no with-point clause. That is not a finished weight we will turn into 350. FOC is silent. Both specs drop and the other weights renormalise. Ravin prints 400 or 500 with a 100-grain field tip not included — we use 400 and 500 as written. We never add a 100-grain point the maker did not write, and we never invent GPI.
- Why is there no 16-inch list?
- Only CenterPunch 16 is 16 inches. A one-row list is a product page. Length is compatibility, not quality, so it stays off the overall board. The 20-inch list takes every bolt the maker prints at 20 inches. Ravin prints no length, so it sits that list out.
What the CareScore measures
The complete formula, bounds and data rules are published on the methodology page.
Street Price (6-pack)
40% weightMaker PDP 6-pack base. Frozen at $65–$140 so a $50 house pack cannot steal the rank from a $67 FireBolt, and a lighted 3-pack at the same sticker cannot invert it. Pro Elite 400 stays $84.99 — not the $49.99 3-pack on the same URL.
Finished Grain Weight
33% weightPDP finished weight only. TenPoint prints 410 / 440 / 445. Ravin prints 400 / 500 with a 100-grain field tip not included — we use 400 and 500 as written. Excalibur prints 250 Grain arrow weight with no with-point clause, so the spec is blank. We do not add 100. We do not invent GPI.
Forward of Center
27% weightPercent as printed: 13 / 15.5 / 16.5 / 17. Ravin and Excalibur are silent, so FOC drops. We do not calculate FOC from insert math.
Length
0% weightPrinted inches. Compatibility, not quality. Avatar-only. Weight 0. No 16-inch list — only CenterPunch 16 is 16 inches. Ravin prints no length, so the cell stays blank.
Nock Type
0% weightWhat the PDP names. Compatibility, not quality. Avatar-only. Weight 0. A Rhino flat nock is not a worse nock on paper.