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Hickory Creek Koolaid

I have a Mission Sub 1 and a Mini. The Mission is quieter than the mini and dead nuts accurate on a bench. I smoked a doe with it a couple years ago at about 10 yards. The mini is much lighter and far easier to hunt with. I shot a doe with it last year at about 10 yards from the ground in a hammock seat. The arrow deflected slightly off a tiny branch of a sapling but still hit the lungs and did it’s job. As a shooting weapon to impress your friends with stacking bolts on top of each other the Mission wins. For an accurate, hunting and killing machine the Mini wins. It just flat out works. It’s some of the best money I have spent on a hunting weapon.
Cheers to that
 
For those looking for a sling for their hickory creek, i rummaged through the drawer and found a magpul ms1 and it works fairly well. Slung completely over the back, the butt stock hits on my leg, but maybe I need to tighten it up some. It works great to hold it in front of me for stalking and such. Over one one shoulder it also works well. I wrapped one end on the butt stock, the other on the foregrip base. Just thought I'd share.
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Ok, so here's another mod I made to the safety mech.

I like being able to engage/disengage/rengage/etc with my index finger. Taking the safety off is no problem. Putting it back on not as easy. To solve this I added a small bump on the end of the safety lever - in this case I cut a very small piece of a felt furniture pad and stuck it. It provides just enough of a bump for the tip of my finger to push the safety back on. Surprisingly enough it hasn't come off despite my best efforts. In time I'm sure the glue will dry out, and then if I still like it I might superglue it on. Hopefully the pics illustrate what I'm trying to describe. Oh and I added a piece of wrap over the edge of the trigger guard. Was a little too sharp for my tender fingers...

ETA.. I think I might try to make a short piece of sheet metal to glue on that will extend past the safety lever, and will get my finger farther away from the safety.
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Chose to go with a small piece of wood. Easier to make and glue on. Gorilla wood glue for bonding. Works great. I took the safety lever off to give clamping pressure. We'll see how it holds up.
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So I just got my Hickory Creek and sighted it in today. It shot great but I have one question and one problem. How do I tighten the limb bolts to 150lbs. Do I just tighten them as tight as they go, I don't want to break anything?
My problem is while shooting, I reached up and made sure the take down knob was tight between shots and I must have stripped the set screw hole, and can't use the plastic take down knob anymore. Should I contact Hickory creek or is there another way to fix it.
 
So I just got my Hickory Creek and sighted it in today. It shot great but I have one question and one problem. How do I tighten the limb bolts to 150lbs. Do I just tighten them as tight as they go, I don't want to break anything?
My problem is while shooting, I reached up and made sure the take down knob was tight between shots and I must have stripped the set screw hole, and can't use the plastic take down knob anymore. Should I contact Hickory creek or is there another way to fix it.
Just tighten the limb bolts equal turns until they won't tighten any more. that will be the max 150 poundage. you won't hurt it. I also stripped my take down knob nearly immediately because I am OCD and all things must be overtightened and then tightened again. Most of us go out and buy a lock nut and tighten it down on the end that sticks out anyway. It stays way tighter than with just the take down knob
 
So I just got my Hickory Creek and sighted it in today. It shot great but I have one question and one problem. How do I tighten the limb bolts to 150lbs. Do I just tighten them as tight as they go, I don't want to break anything?
My problem is while shooting, I reached up and made sure the take down knob was tight between shots and I must have stripped the set screw hole, and can't use the plastic take down knob anymore. Should I contact Hickory creek or is there another way to fix it.

Well the saga continues with the Hickory Creek. I got it sighted in and was shooting it today after I tightened the limbs to 150lbs. I was on my 10th shot today and the trigger felt really stiff and after I shot it is stuck and will not move. Not sure what is wrong, I will call Jerry tomorrow. Really frustrated in my first two days with stuff breaking on the HC. I was really wanting something simple and able to be really reliable for hunting. I am sure he will take care of me, but hunting season will be here quickly.
 
Well the saga continues with the Hickory Creek. I got it sighted in and was shooting it today after I tightened the limbs to 150lbs. I was on my 10th shot today and the trigger felt really stiff and after I shot it is stuck and will not move. Not sure what is wrong, I will call Jerry tomorrow. Really frustrated in my first two days with stuff breaking on the HC. I was really wanting something simple and able to be really reliable for hunting. I am sure he will take care of me, but hunting season will be here quickly.
Sounds like maybe the threaded rod that connects the trigger assembly to the release may have come unscrewed enough where its now in the wrong position. This also happened to me but it was after a year of ownership and use. I just kept turning that long threaded rod until the trigger was back into position. Then I lock tite it. Oh yeah, you may want to lock tite pretty much every screw on these things. There is some definite fiddle factor on these until you get everything locked down. Trust me you won't regret it.
 
Sounds like maybe the threaded rod that connects the trigger assembly to the release may have come unscrewed enough where its now in the wrong position. This also happened to me but it was after a year of ownership and use. I just kept turning that long threaded rod until the trigger was back into position. Then I lock tite it. Oh yeah, you may want to lock tite pretty much every screw on these things. There is some definite fiddle factor on these until you get everything locked down. Trust me you won't regret it.

I talked to Jerry yesterday he is sending me a new trigger assembly. Great customer service and awesome to be able to talk to the owner when you have issues. Can't wait to get it dialed in and ready to go.
 
I have a Mission Sub 1 and a Mini. The Mission is quieter than the mini and dead nuts accurate on a bench. I smoked a doe with it a couple years ago at about 10 yards. The mini is much lighter and far easier to hunt with. I shot a doe with it last year at about 10 yards from the ground in a hammock seat. The arrow deflected slightly off a tiny branch of a sapling but still hit the lungs and did it’s job. As a shooting weapon to impress your friends with stacking bolts on top of each other the Mission wins. For an accurate, hunting and killing machine the Mini wins. It just flat out works. It’s some of the best money I have spent on a hunting weapon.

Bravo! I’m not a crossbow guy, but that’s how you review a product. Well done.
 
Bravo! I’m not a crossbow guy, but that’s how you review a product. Well done.

At one time I was anti-crossbow. My views changed over time when I started caring less about what other people hunted with. Then I broke my left shoulder in a motorcycle accident (hit a deer!) and it hindered me shooting my longbow, especially in cold weather. I still hunt with my sticks when I can. When I can’t I take the crossbow out.
 
I wanted to shoot a 175gr. head with the 300 spine DCA arrows with the 50gr. insets. Was concerned if the 300's would work. Problem is with a brand new Block target, bow set at 120lbs. the Wensel Woodsman broadheads want to go all the through. And they don't group well, 3 shots at 20yrds, and I am not a good shot, LOL.

Screenshot_20220906-134129_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20220906-134050_Gallery.jpg
 
I wanted to shoot a 175gr. head with the 300 spine DCA arrows with the 50gr. insets. Was concerned if the 300's would work. Problem is with a brand new Block target, bow set at 120lbs. the Wensel Woodsman broadheads want to go all the through. And they don't group well, 3 shots at 20yrds, and I am not a good shot, LOL.

View attachment 70728View attachment 70729
Looking good. What's your 30 yard group look like? What broadheads are you using?
 
Looking good. What's your 30 yard group look like? What broadheads are you using?
Broadheads are Woodsman's sold by 3 Rivers Archery. Designed and first manufactured by Gene Wensel.
Haven't got to 30 yet been adjusting that dang scope. Also making sure my field tips and brosdheads group together.
 
Have lurked here intermittently for a while but first time posting. I appreciate all of the things I’ve learned on here and hopefully this will be helpful to someone. Largely due to this thread I recently bought a hickory creek mini inline. Fun to shoot but my accuracy was not the best with it. I shoot guns regularly and I was hopeful that it would transfer to shooting this well enough for me to hunt with it soon. I put loctite on the bow as suggested by many even though it was not really loose. The owner of HC had mentioned to me that you need to hold it more like a bow (loosely) and not torque it and it made me think about it differently. My groups were mostly grouping vertically poorly (maybe a spread of 4-5 inches at 20 yards) and so maybe it just needed to be tuned and something wasn’t lined up vertically?

It turned out that the whisker biscuit was not EXACTLY centered (it was close) and that the string loop was centered on the whisker biscuit but they were both a little lower than the latch in the back for the string (which was perfectly centered). It took a little while for me to figure out but I found that if I left the bow uncocked, put the arrow in the whisker biscuit, wove the arrow through the string loop and then put it on the anti dry fire that I could slide the cheek rest over it and it kept it there. This gave me a straight line all the way between the 3 points where I could adjust the whisker biscuit. (having trouble uploading a pic but will try harder if helpful to anyone). Once you start to get it tight turning the screw moves the whisker biscuit a little so you have to take that into account. Once it was perfectly centered on the main body (I drew marks with pencil as well on center of body and center of whisker biscuit) I adjusted the string loop by tightening/loosening the limbs until it was perfectly centered as well.

Since doing this the bow has shot awesome. It is dead on now every time and I can see that the arrows are hitting straight on whereas before they would be a little tilted in the target. My horizontal was fine but I imagine that the same thing could happen and you could have to adjust that if there is variability in that plane where your arrows hit.

The other great thing too is now I have not really had to worry about how I hold it. I just treat it like I would a gun and it still shoots exactly where I aim it. Just like with a gun the follow through is important.

Like I said this may be obvious to many but as a person new to archery it wasn’t to me and made a huge difference in how the bow shot. Maybe it will the solution for someone else as well. Will update if any changes.

Also thank you to the person that thought of forming a piece of leather to help with cocking the bow - that is a game changer as I don’t like to wear gloves.
 
Have lurked here intermittently for a while but first time posting. I appreciate all of the things I’ve learned on here and hopefully this will be helpful to someone. Largely due to this thread I recently bought a hickory creek mini inline. Fun to shoot but my accuracy was not the best with it. I shoot guns regularly and I was hopeful that it would transfer to shooting this well enough for me to hunt with it soon. I put loctite on the bow as suggested by many even though it was not really loose. The owner of HC had mentioned to me that you need to hold it more like a bow (loosely) and not torque it and it made me think about it differently. My groups were mostly grouping vertically poorly (maybe a spread of 4-5 inches at 20 yards) and so maybe it just needed to be tuned and something wasn’t lined up vertically?

It turned out that the whisker biscuit was not EXACTLY centered (it was close) and that the string loop was centered on the whisker biscuit but they were both a little lower than the latch in the back for the string (which was perfectly centered). It took a little while for me to figure out but I found that if I left the bow uncocked, put the arrow in the whisker biscuit, wove the arrow through the string loop and then put it on the anti dry fire that I could slide the cheek rest over it and it kept it there. This gave me a straight line all the way between the 3 points where I could adjust the whisker biscuit. (having trouble uploading a pic but will try harder if helpful to anyone). Once you start to get it tight turning the screw moves the whisker biscuit a little so you have to take that into account. Once it was perfectly centered on the main body (I drew marks with pencil as well on center of body and center of whisker biscuit) I adjusted the string loop by tightening/loosening the limbs until it was perfectly centered as well.

Since doing this the bow has shot awesome. It is dead on now every time and I can see that the arrows are hitting straight on whereas before they would be a little tilted in the target. My horizontal was fine but I imagine that the same thing could happen and you could have to adjust that if there is variability in that plane where your arrows hit.

The other great thing too is now I have not really had to worry about how I hold it. I just treat it like I would a gun and it still shoots exactly where I aim it. Just like with a gun the follow through is important.

Like I said this may be obvious to many but as a person new to archery it wasn’t to me and made a huge difference in how the bow shot. Maybe it will the solution for someone else as well. Will update if any changes.

Also thank you to the person that thought of forming a piece of leather to help with cocking the bow - that is a game changer as I don’t like to wear gloves.

I had the same issues when I first got mine. (I think I mentioned it all in a previous post)

I added the lock nut, tightened and glued everything. I started to get frustrated until I noticed the rest was off by a little bit. Once I rectified that issue, my groups tightened up big time.

I got it out the other day for the first time since last season and shot 3 groups of 3. Here was my final group at 20 yards offhand:

Screenshot_20220915-135518.png
 
I had the same issues when I first got mine. (I think I mentioned it all in a previous post)

I added the lock nut, tightened and glued everything. I started to get frustrated until I noticed the rest was off by a little bit. Once I rectified that issue, my groups tightened up big time.

I got it out the other day for the first time since last season and shot 3 groups of 3. Here was my final group at 20 yards offhand:

View attachment 71333
FYI.
Nice group but you may have a problem. Someone on this site shot a group of field points. One of the arrows got damaged without his knowledge. When he shot the damaged arrow it came apart putting splinters in his hand.
 
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