CenterPoint Crank Cocking Devices

If the string is drawn even slightly off-centre, it sits marginally differently in the latch, and the bolt leaves with a marginally different amount of energy on each side. At 20 yards you will not notice. At 40 yards it shows up as vertical spread that no amount of scope adjustment will fix, because the problem is not where the bow is pointed - it is what the bow is doing at release.

This is why hand-cocking a 185 pound crossbow is a bad idea even for people strong enough to do it. It is not the weight, it is that no two hand-pulls are identical. A rope cocker halves the felt weight and pulls both sides together. A crank does the same thing and removes the strength element entirely.

CenterPoint sells two cocking devices on Amazon under its own brand:

• Power Draw Crossbow Crank. The general-purpose CenterPoint crank and by a wide margin the most-reviewed CenterPoint accessory available. This is the default answer for most of the line.
• Wrath 430 Silent Cranking Device. Model-specific to the Wrath 430, and built around being quiet rather than merely mechanical. Worth the premium if you cock in a treestand with animals nearby, which is exactly the moment a ratcheting crank announces you.

Some CenterPoint packages ship with a crank already fitted - the AT400 crank-assist package is one - so check what your bow came with before buying. A second crank is not useful.

The CP400 is another that shipped with a silent crank as standard, given its 200 pound draw. CenterPoint also still lists a model-specific rope cocking sled for it, worth checking if the original rope is what actually needs replacing rather than the crank itself.

A rope cocker is a simple pulley: two hooks, a cord and two handles. It roughly halves the felt draw weight and, critically, pulls both sides of the string evenly. For a lot of owners that is genuinely all that is needed.

The case for staying with a rope:

• It weighs almost nothing and lives in a pocket
• There is nothing to break or jam
• It is a fraction of the price of a crank
• It is fast - a crank takes noticeably longer to wind

The case for upgrading to a crank: shoulder or back problems, a draw weight at the top of the range, cocking in a confined treestand where you cannot get the leverage a rope needs, or simply wanting the cocking stroke taken out of the equation entirely.

Draw weight is usually what tips the decision. On the heavier discontinued bows - the Patriot 425 at 200 pounds or the Amped 425 at 190 - a crank moves from convenience to close to essential for most shooters.

The Heat 415 draws the same 200 pounds as the Patriot, and some packages shipped with CenterPoint's own crank already bundled - check what came in the box before buying a second one.

Cranks are not universal. They mount to the stock, so fit depends on your stock design rather than on the bow's speed rating, and a crank sold as compatible with one CenterPoint may not mount to another. Check the listing against your specific model, and check whether your stock has the mounting provision at all - some do not.

Also worth knowing before the first use: a crank has to be wound fully until the string latches, and then wound back out. Stopping partway and letting go is how people damage both the crank and themselves. Read the instructions once before you are standing in the dark with cold hands.

The part people forget. A cocked crossbow has to be un-cocked at the end of the day, and on most CenterPoint models the answer is to shoot a bolt into a target rather than to attempt to release the string by hand. Carry a de-cocking bolt for exactly that purpose and shoot it into something safe.

Some cranks support controlled de-cocking by winding backwards - check whether yours does before assuming it. Attempting to hand-release a latched 185 pound crossbow is one of the genuinely dangerous things you can do with one.

CenterPoint's two newest additions handle this differently. The Hellion 400 ships with a rope cocking sled at a 185 lb draw - manageable, and in line with the rest of the range. The Sinister 430D, at a 225 lb draw, ships with the crank and de-cocking built into the stock rather than sold separately, which is the heaviest draw on this site and the clearest case yet for skipping the rope entirely.

The entry-price AT400 takes a middle path at its 200 lb draw: a detachable silent crank is part of the standard package rather than a separate purchase, but unlike the Sinister 430D's built-in unit it comes off the bow rather than staying fixed to the stock.

The two newest de-cocking flagships take yet another approach. The Sniper G4D includes a detachable silent crank like the AT400, while the Amped G2D builds the silent cocking sled into the bow with an auto-retracting mechanism, closer to the Sinister 430D. On both, de-cocking is standard and no separate crank purchase is needed.

At the opposite end of the draw-weight range, the Tyro and XR175 are not crank-compatible at all. Their recurve limb geometry is built around the rope cocking device they ship with, and no crank is listed to fit either one - the lightest draw on this site is also the one option that rules a crank out entirely rather than making it optional.