STEAMBOW M10 Crossbow Set

Now we have completed our tests with the Repeater Crossbow M10 from STEAMBOW, and today we are giving you our review. We were very surprised by the amount of power in this small crossbow, which can be underestimated at first glance.

Scope of delivery

The M10 Tactical Complete Set comes in a sturdy, padded case. In addition to the crossbow, you will receive a total of three magazines and 30 practice bolts.

The bolts, sometimes also called crossbow arrows, are the blue aluminum practice bolts. These are equipped with a twisted tip, but the steel was not hardened or sharpened to any great extent.

As for the limb, the small bow, it is the medium strength variant "Advanced" with 75 lbs draw weight. In metric units, that's around 34 kg.

We were also provided with the strongest limb "Hunting" with 150 lbs, around 68 kg. Let's just say, the difference is very noticeable. More on that later.

Also included is a steel wire bow stringer and a ghost ring sight, which is an alternative rear sight. This can be easily screwed on.

Features

The M10 has a lot to offer. It features an adjustable folding stock. At its core, an AR15 "Comm Spec" buffer tube. If desired, you can also screw on a "Mil Spec" buffer tube afterward. This has the advantage that you have an almost endless selection of stocks available.

The stock has two slots for QD-swivels. All common QD-swivels fit here.

Another QD mount can be found at the rear of the housing.

On the underside, the M10 offers you a long Picatinny rail. The included front grip is perfectly fine and fits well. We also tried shorter front grips and an angled fore grip (AFG), but these did not prove practical during cocking of the M10.

The M10 bolt action crossbow is also equipped with three additional short Picatinny rails. Two on the side and one on the top.

If you want and are allowed, you can attach lights and lasers of all kinds. An NGAL is probably a discreet overkill.

The top rail just cries out to be equipped with a Red Dot. Here we used the FALKE S D-POL Red Dot. As you can see, the offset is substantial though. The arrow and the Red Dot are very far apart, even with a lower mount.

If you look closely, you can see the cross-section of another Picatinny rail.

The part with the three rails can easily be unscrewed to reveal another Picatinny rail.

This is the perfect height to mount a Red Dot with a lower 1/3 mount. We did all of our shooting tests with this setup.

The carrying case for the M10 is already pre-cut for this Red Dot mount. Very well thought out.

Magazines

The special feature of the M10 are the magazines. They hold 10 rounds and are similar in size to AR magazines.

They fit perfectly in all standard magazine pouches designed for AR magazines.

Loading the magazines is easy. Just like rifle magazines. Just insert one bolt at a time from the top.

The magazine is also designed to accept hunting bolts. Of course, you can mix different bolts in the magazine if you wish.

Handling 

Handling the M10 is very simple. Firstly, you have to insert the bow. To do this, pull the bolt all the way out to the right.

Open the top completely.

Once done, the bow can be inserted into the appropriate recess. It is important here that the groove faces upwards. The bolt will then slide in here.

Fold the top back and push the bolt all the way in. This takes less than 10 seconds, allowing the bow arm to be changed very quickly.

Insert the magazine with the opening facing downwards from the top into the magazine slot.

Simply push it all the way in until the magazine lock clicks. To remove the magazine, the lever must be pressed first, and then the magazine pulled out.

This is what a correctly attached magazine should look like. It is almost flush with the top of the magazine slot. The first bolt is also released immediately.

Cocking the Bow Arm

If you want to shoot with the M10, you must first cock the bow. This is actually quite gentle and easy, due to the lever system. First, the locking lever at the base of the shaft must be pressed.

Now, hold the shaft with one hand, preferably, and the front grip with the other hand. Simply fold the shaft forward until the string hooks at the back. Then fold the shaft back to its original position.

If you're not ready to fire immediately, don't forget to engage the safety. This prevents the string from being pushed out of the notch. By the way, the M10 repeating crossbow does not have a dry-fire safety, something that prevents you from cocking it without a bolt in the magazine. Dry fires, without bolts, are very bad for the string and noticeably accelerate wear and tear. A dry fire is equivalent to about 20 normal shots. However, an upgrade for a dry fire safety is already being worked on by STEAMBOW.

The bolt is securely held by the pressure of the magazine. You can safely hold the M10 with the "muzzle" pointing down, and the bolt should stay in place. Occasionally, we have experienced the last bolt in the magazine slipping out towards the front.

Wear and Maintenance

Since the M10 delivers very tight groups, it may happen that the bolts come close together or even hit each other. Therefore, it's always better to aim at different spots. Here is a selection of our best bolt defects.

This bolt was involved in a rear-end collision. This resulted in two bolts becoming unusable.

The tip is damaged on the second bolt. In this case, we were able to salvage it with a file, as the bolt was otherwise straight. We also had one bolt where the tip came off and decided to stay in the target.

It also happens that one bolt tears off the "feathers" of the other. This bolt is slightly bent, probably because it missed the target once. This clearly shows that some forces are at work here.

Regarding maintenance: from time to time, you should lubricate the rail on which the bolt springs and the string slide. There are special lubricants for this purpose. If you don't have any on hand, a little gun oil can also be used. You should also regularly check the string to see if individual strands are broken. The string can be easily replaced with the included bow stringer. Otherwise, there is not much maintenance required for the M10.

150 Pound Bow Arm

How much of a difference does the double strength bow arm make? A lot, we can tell you.

Here is our target from about 15m shot with the 75 lbs bow arm. The bolt penetrates halfway. We replaced the end caps with 3D printed orange caps so we can easily see where we hit.

The 150 lbs bow arm, with the same bolts and the same distance. The bolts almost sank completely into the target. The ballistics of the bolts have also changed, as they are much faster now. The aiming point didn't need to be adjusted though.

In addition to practice bolts, there are also bodkin bolts with hardened tips and hunting bolts with blade tips. To prevent this review from getting any longer, there will be a second review where we shoot the different bolts with both bow arms at helmets and vests. Stay tuned.

Conclusion

The M10 repeating crossbow may look like a toy at first glance, but it definitely is not! With the included throwing arm, safe and powerful hits up to 20m are no problem at all. Even hitting groups with a 5cm diameter is no problem at all.

The handling of the M10 is extremely easy, especially if you are already experienced in handling firearms. Those who are not can handle it perfectly after just ten minutes. Only the 150 lbs throwing arm can be a challenge for some to cock.

The advantage of the M10 repeating crossbow is that you can shoot it in your living room thanks to the interchangeable throwing arm strengths. Those who want to be on the safe side, however, should go to the basement or the backyard. We definitely see the potential of the M10 as a weapon, not only because the legal restrictions are less than with firearms.

The M10 repeating crossbow set is available directly from STEAMBOW starting at €599. The M10 repeating crossbow individually starting at €369 and also as the M10 compact set for €319.