I just have to share that I got a cheap toy crossbow the other day.  It's so weak, that the suction cup darts it shoots won't shoot flat more than about 5 feet.  But I love it for that reason because I can, within the confines of a room, practice gap shooting.  I have to increase my elevation and pick a point well above the target, and then I get to watch the little suction cup dart arc through the air and smack precisely what I wanted to hit.  So much fun!  It makes me want to get an Excalibur Apex and give the crossbow division a try in NFAA field archery.

I had one of the pistol crossbows with a 35 pound pull.  I shot at a slab of dense closed cell foam across a room, it was amazing how much the dart would drop.  Then I let a 9 year old cousin take it outside to my archery target.  I told him how much the dart drops and told him to start at four steps from the target or he would loose all my darts.  He went back to the 15 yard line, he lost 5 for 5.  Oh well, I'll find some more darts one of these days.

Yeah, this one is even worse - like a 3 pound pull.  It's just a toy, but good fun to assess range.

I think the bolts drop faster because they don't initially climb as much as an arrow does when leaving the string.  Plus, crossbows are less efficient because of their shorter power stroke, so a 35 pound crossbow has all the power of a 17 pound bow.

You could make your own bolts with carbon arrows cut down and a incert on both ends with two flechings 2inch could try diffrent sizes to see which ones fly better

I don't even think this one would equal a 17# bow.  It is basically for use at dart board ranges, in a pub, before you have had more than a couple of beers.

Ghost, then the darts would cost more than the crossbow pistol.  I'll find a package of darts at a flea market or some place like that, sooner or later.