What's a good crossbow and good draw length for an average woman? My girlfriend is looking for one for target practice

draw length for a crossbow is usually not an issue

Crossbows don't have a draw length, they have a length of pull like a rifle/shotgun. As for which is good for a female, as long as she can cock the string she is good to go. They are all fairly easy to cock without much effort. I know Parker makes one in a pink camo if that is her thing, if not anyone she feels comfortable with is good to go. There is zero recoil with a crossbow and most are scoped so they are just like shooting a rifle.

 

http://www.parkerbows.com/crossbows.html?action=detail&detailsku=1126

Yea she's not into pink camo. The pull back isn't bad? I figured they'd be a pain. I've read that the Barnets have issues with string wear.

Any other help?

pull back is horrible unless you use a cocking device/system.There are numerous types of devices, the simplest is something like below which uses a simple single pulley system to reduce effort in half Remember high-school physics? ha!. It still requires non-trivial strength though. My (then) 11 year-old could not cock my crossbow with the pulley, but by the time he was 13 (and 6" taller) he was able to do it.

 

 

http://www.bowviper.com/images/Product/medium/455.jpg

 

Can anyone recommend a solid cross bow in the $200-300 range? Trying to help out as much as possible just to get her into shooting something lol. She's Afraid of my handguns

At that price range you'll probably have to look at used ones. Jump up to the $300-400 range and you can get the Parker Bushwacker. It is a really reliable crossbow.

 

http://www.parkerbows.com/crossbows.html?action=detail&detailsku=1099

She settled on a Barnet Wildcat. $400 and some change and it came with all the bells and whistles. The crank was a great addition. I can't even pull the string back. She loves it. Now if only she wasn't afraid to fire my guns.

The strings aren't meant to be pulled back by hand, that is what the rope cocker pictured above is for. Trying to pull them back by hand can put uneven pressure on the limbs.

 

Glad you got her one, she will really like shooting it. Two things I cannot stress enough when shooting a crossbow: 1) Always make sure the arrow knock is seated securely against the string before firing and 2) Always keep your forward hand out of the path of the string, it has enough force behind it to sever a finger.

 

Let her shoot the crossbow for a while and slowly ease her into firearms.

It actually has a hand guard so we can't put our hand in front of the string. I thought people pulled the string back by hand. I tried for a second and thought its gotta take one hell of a man to do this lol.