NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 2303607" data-attributes="member: 6957">FALSE! Good armor stopped a bullet at least as well as it stopped a crossbow bolt, and a steel bodkin or awl point on a crossbow bolt actually did better at penetrating armor than a soft lead bullet.TRUE! There was an old saying that if you wanted to train a longbowman you start with his grandfather. In my estimation longbow fits the definition of Exotic Weapon much better than a gun.TRUE! Silly, but true. And as you might expect nobody paid a whole lot of attention to the Pope on this one. William Tell by the way was a crossbowman, not an archer.In addition to the above guns and bullets were not expensive, but CHEAP! it was easier to make a matchlock gun than it was to build a crossbow. Wheellocks, with their ability to be kept ready until you pull the trigger (the match on a matchlock continues to burn whether or not you pull the trigger) were complex and expensive, the snapaunce and flintlock, once they are invented, make the wheel lock obsolete, being both more reliable and easier (cheaper) to make. Bullets were easier to make than either arrows or bolts, and powder was easy to make in large quantities, so the ammunition was also cheaper for the gun than either the crossbow or the bow. A soldier generally had his own bullet molds, and cast his own - because there were no standardized calibers it was a requirement - you couldn't just buy premade bullets. On the other hand lead ingots are cheap. The inaccuracy of matchlocks was due in part to the fact that you closed your eyes while pulling the lever - the charge vented out the touch hole as well as the muzzle, many gunners lost eyes if they had them open.Guns were also faster to load than a heavy crossbow. While a goatsfoot could be used relatively quickly on a light crossbow a cranquin for an arbalest or heavy crossbow took over a minute to use.One of the other factors, and why the gun did start ending the age of the mounted knight - a horse is a whole lot easier to hit than the rider is.The Auld Grump</blockquote>

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