Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeavenShallBurn" data-source="post: 3243907" data-attributes="member: 39593">1.)  Arbalest-  The wikpedia entry you found seems pretty accurate, I just never considered them a separate weapon.  They were essentially just a military crossbow that used steel instead of wood in their prod to take advantage of the greater force it offered.  And 500m sound about right for them.2.)  Medieval Crossbows actually had a greater range than the modern counterparts in most cases.  The 150-180 meter figure for a heavy military crossbow would be about right for the lighter medieval crossbows.  The heavier ones that were in widespread use by mercenaries of the period were accurate to somewhere around 250-300 meters.  The difference is in two places.  First, medieval crossbows were using much higher draw weights than you commonly see today.  Second, the projectiles were different.  A modern crossbow bolt looks almost identical to an arrow just shorter, medieval and rennaisance bolts were shorter but much thicker and heavier with a cross-section and density that allowed them to carry further before wind-drift and air currents spoiled aim.3.)  Against a target the size of a single man standing upright all bows are limited to about 50-60m, the very best archers in the world today say that under ideal conditions with an archer of the highest skill that can be pushed up to nearly 80 meters at times but nor reliably.  The limitation is not in the bow it's in the projectile, arrows are designed in such a way that they are just too succeptible to drift.  Once you don't have to be so precise and can fire at a massed target ranges begin to depend more on the bow.  A self bow just doesn't have that much oomph to drive with and the force is exerted in the first part of the shot.  A recurve can get more power but suffers from the same drawback because all the impetus is in the first part of the release.  A longbow actually flexes much more in the release and drives all the way to the end of the release with significant force even in the tips.</blockquote>

Verification