How Much Steel can a Longbow Pierce?

[Tewligan]

Well, an ARROW shot from a longbow won't stop a tank. However, if you use a longbow to fire a katana, the tank will immediately explode. Additionally, the family members of the crew, even if they're thousands of miles away, will immediately die. Katanas are super-badass.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Even old, WWII tank armor can stop small arms fire and most low explosives- and modern reactive stuff is even tougher.

All that an arrow will do to a tank is make a *tink* sound.

 

[Fenris]

How much steel could a longbow pierce if a longbow could pierce steel?

 

[DarkSoldier]

Thanks, guys. It's going to be fun writing about those poor fools lobbing arrows at the MBTs, and then freaking out when their attack doesn't faze them.

 

[Jesus_marley]

I once had an english professor who made a crossbow from the leaf spring of a 1/2 ton pick up truck. He was able to fire a pointed steel shaft through an engine block.

Granted, the Xbow was mounted on a stand, was totally immobile, and took about an hour to nock, but it could theoretically penetrate armor.

as for a longbow, I believe the thickest armor that can be pierced by a traditional english longbow was approximately3/4 inches.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

You had a cool English professor

 

[Umbran]

Granted, the Xbow was mounted on a stand, was totally immobile, and took about an hour to nock, but it could theoretically penetrate armor.

It was mounted on a stand, was totally immobile, took forever to load, used a spring steel bow, and fired a steel shaft. Standard medieval x-bow and longbow shafts are wood. Big difference in mass.

[quyote]as for a longbow, I believe the thickest armor that can be pierced by a traditional english longbow was approximately3/4 inches.[/QUOTE]

Do you have any idea how heavy a 3/4" steel plate the size of a breastplate would be? A plate 2 ft by 2 ft by 0.75" (a quick guesstimate for a breastplate) would weigh in the neighborhood of 100 lbs!

Given that folks wore armor of reasonable weight, and said armor did often (but not always) protect them from longbow arrows, it is reasonable to guess that it doesn't need to be that thick to protect from arrows, and that plate much thinner than that would be effective.

 

[Jesus_marley]

By penetration I am not speaking of effective kill power but rather that an arrow can pierce that thickness. With regard to plate armour, it was generally much thinner than 3/4 inch but it's ability to withstand an arrow attack was mostly due to deflection. the breastplate was generally curved which redirected the arrow rather than relying on pure strength to withstand the force of the arrow.

So you indeed correct in that thinner armour was quite effective in protecting the wearer from arrows but it was mostly the armours' design and shape which granted the protection.

 

[replicant2]

Can anybody answer this question? I need to know for a story I'm writing if a traditional English longbow can penetrate or otherwise inconvenience the armour of a main battle tank or armoured personnel carrier.

If such a feat is impossible for a longbow, I'd still like to know.

I'm late on this thread, but if you have bow-wielding characters going toe-to-toe with tanks, what you have is dead characters.

Tanks are designed to withstand all small-arms fire and most low-grade explosives. Old tanks too.

In WWII, U.S. footsoldiers had no hope of damaging a German Tiger with a bazooka. The shells made about a half-inch hole, not nearly enough to penetrate. Heavy machine guns were a mere annoyance, and these hit far harder than any longbow.

 

[A Crazy Fool]

enlglish longbows are a lot bigger than normal "longbows" in D&D terms i would call the greatbows not longbows. I might venture 1 inch as a maximum as opposed to 3/4s of an inch, but it depends on the bow and the archer