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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 7200295" data-attributes="member: 13107">Some of us find math fun. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-)" title="Smile    :-)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":-)" />  There is some good history here to be discovered, too.I'm pretty sure medieval arrows didn't have metal shafts, but cross bolts did (or may have).  I'm thinking metal shafts would be too heavy.  And not really strong enough using medieval technology.  From the quoted text, below, modern shafts can use an aluminum core wrapped with carbon fiber, which sounds nice from the point of view of getting both good stiffness while keeping weight reasonable.The point was that in the demonstration, the arrow shaft was shown having been split, which means the penetration was limited by the material qualities of the arrow.From wikipedia:From the 3G book, penetration has to do with energy focused on a small area.  The example given is that you can't push your finger through wood, but you can easily push through a thumbtack.  Hence bodkin type arrow heads for penetration, and broadhead for higher damage.The wikipiedia article on Bodkin arrow points has a vague-ish discussion of armor penetration:[Quote="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodkin_point]Armour penetrationIt has been suggested that the bodkin came into its own as a means of penetrating armour, but research by the Royal Armouries[1] has found no hardened bodkin points, though only two bodkin points were actually tested, not a statistically relevant number. Bodkins did, however, have greater ability to pierce mail armour than broadheads, and historical accounts do speak of bodkin arrows shot from close range piercing plate armour[citation needed]. Broadheads were made from steel, sometimes with hardened edges, but were more often used against lightly armoured men or horses than against an armoured adversary.In a modern test, a direct hit from a steel bodkin point penetrated mail armour, although at point blank range.[2] However, the test was conducted without a padded jack or gambeson, which was layered cloth armour worn over heavier armour for protection against projectiles, as it was known to stop even heavy arrows.[3]Armour of the medieval era was not completely proof against arrows until the specialised armour of the Italian city-state mercenary companies.[4] Archery was thought not to be effective against plate armour in the Battle of Neville's Cross (1346), the siege of Bergerac (1345), and the Battle of Poitiers (1356); such armour became available to European knights of fairly modest means by the late 14th century, though never to all soldiers in any army.[5]Some recent tests have demonstrated that needle bodkins could penetrate all but heavy steel plate armour; one test used padded "jack" armour, coat of plates, iron and steel mail and steel plate. A needle bodkin penetrated every type, but may not have been able to inflict a lethal injury behind plate. As with all other tests, accuracy of these tests is called into question as the arrowheads were all high carbon steel and hardened, and the historical accuracy of the armour tested is unknown. In one test of historical arrows from the London Museum, a "type 16" barbed arrowhead was indeed found to be steel;[6] the composition of the other types of arrowheads (including bodkins) was not tested."</blockquote>From the 3G book, an average person can put about 150KJ into an arrow, while a legendary athlete could conceivably get that up to 1000KJ.  Those energy values correspond to .22's to .45's.Thx!TomB[/QUOTE]

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