5 Simple Steps to Safely Load a Crossbow

Safety, then Fun

You bought a crossbow, you’re excited to get out and shoot, and believe me, it’s going to be a great time; Before then, however, you’ve got to learn how to safely load a crossbow.

If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place!

General Guidelines

The points below can be used for all crossbow and are written as general guidelines to follow.

The videos at the bottom will also help you properly load your bow, so you can get out for shooting!

Go to the place you plan to shoot before loading an arrow into your crossbow
Do no load the bow and start walking around, and definitely do not climb a tree with a loaded bow
Only the person shooting the crossbow should be the one loading it. If you can’t load a crossbow, you shouldn’t shoot a crossbow
If you need to pass a crossbow to a person, only do so if it is unloaded. If the bow is loaded, unload the crossbow before handing it over
If hunting with broadheads, wear safety gloves, and do not handle broadhead arrows with your bare hands
When loading the arrow, do not put your hands inside the release path of the bowstring
Wear safety goggles when handling your bow
Make sure the safety switch is turned onto safety mode before loading an arrow
Make sure you put the arrow in correctly – many crossbow brands make their arrows with one vane (fletching) colored a different color, which indicates that fletching is pointed down when loading your bow
Point your crossbow in a safe direction when loading your crossbow
Never dry-fire your crossbow (firing it cocked, but unloaded)

5 Simple Steps to safely Loading a crossbow

Hold the arrow between your index, middle finger and your thumb just behind the broadhead
Insert (the correct) fletching into the flight groove
Take the end of the arrow (the nock) and slide it under the arrow retention spring
Lower the front of the arrow to go smoothly into the barrel’s flight groove
Continue sliding the arrow into the string slot until the retention spring stops against the bowstring

Steps 1 -2

Steps 3 – 5

3 Simple Steps to safely UnLoading a crossbow

Make sure your finger is off the trigger and your safety is on
Hold the arrow between your index and middle finger and thumb just behind the broadhead or field point, and slide it out underneath the arrow retention spring
Safely put the arrow in the quiver