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Review of Medieval Crossbow...

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vietkiter
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Review of Medieval Crossbow...

Postby vietkiter » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:39 pm

In honor of gonewiththefart... I decided to review Crossbows...

Uses: War, Sport, Sinister... not recommended for kitesurfing unless you plan to shoot plate armour chrome kites

MSRP: Very expensive... only the wealthy can afford them

Pro: Easily operated by untrained operators with girly upper body; Hands free operation; short throw/compact

Con: Particularly inefficient due flat lathe arc; inaccurate; expensive; very heavy draw; lack of safety lock switch;

Materials: .. often made of horn... and/or sinew(tendon) and/or wood... crossbows usually employed a bridle made of rope or sinew

Competition Performance: Last tested at Agincourt against "obsolete" English Long Bows... mixed performance at best... but it did provide profits for distributor and local French iron smiths

Condition: Off and on internet connection; Google up 200% since IPO

Specs/Ranges:

Type of Weapon / Draw weight / Bolt weight / Speed of bolt /Difference
HF Longbow /68 lbs. /2.5 oz /133.7 fps /Not much!!
Cab Crossbow /740 lbs /1.25 oz. /138.7 fps /Not much!!

My Current Kit: H&K PSG-1

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A BRIEF WORD ABOUT CROSSBOWS The crossbow played an important role in the late Medieval period. The crossbow was really the first hand-held weapon that could be used by an untrained soldier to injure or kill a knight in plate armour. The most powerful crossbows could penetrate armour and kill at 200 yards. Crossbows are easier to aim than longbows because the crossbowman doesn't have to use a hand to hold the string back while aiming. (For more information on crossbows versus longbows, go HERE.) On a similar note, a crossbow can be loaded long before the bowman might need to shoot. In this way, the bowman would be able to shoot immediately if surprised. Crossbows require less upper body strength to operate as well. One can use both arms to span (draw back) a crossbow. Crossbows do, of course, come with a price. That price is in efficiency and in the firing rate. Efficiency is a more technical problem.

No bow is perfectly efficient, but Medieval crossbows were particularly inefficient. The reason for this is that the draw length and the lathe (also called a prod) of crossbows are short. So even though a crossbow may have a great deal of stored energy when spanned, the tips of the lathe do not have enough time to reach the maximum velocity, so the amount of stored energy is not transferred fully to the bolt. It is the lathe tip velocity that determines the speed of the bolt that is loosed. (For a more detailed comparison on crossbow power versus longbow power, go HERE.)

This problem could have been alleviated with a longer draw length or a longer lath, but that would increase the weight and bulkiness of the crossbow, which are already two distinct disadvantages of the Medieval crossbow.

CROSSBOW USES (War, Sport and the Sinister)

Crossbows were mainly either weapons of war or sport (hunting and target shooting). Of these, most were probably weapons of war. The larger war crossbows were used to defend fortifications. Smaller crossbows (~4 ft.) could be quite effective in open battle when used correctly though. Since a crossbowman is particularly vulnerable while reloading the crossbow, he requires some sort of defense (a wall or a shield) to be effective in battle.

Though popular sporting items, crossbows were very expensive, and only the wealthy could afford them. Crossbows were often highly prized by assasins. There are a number of laws that address this problem in particular. Assasins would be the main users of the smallest crossbows, as they are more easily hidden and transported.

WORKING MEDIEVAL CROSSBOWS (what they tell us)

There are working examples of Medieval crossbows, and from them we can get a good feel for the range and power they had. Throughout the Medieval Period though, crossbows became more powerful. Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey loosed a bolt from an actual Medieval crossbow spanned with a cranequin and achieve a cast of 490 yards. The ordinary 15th. century crossbow would likely cast a bolt 370-380 yards. These crossbows would surely outperform almost any longbow in terms of distance, but the accuracy of the crossbow at those ranges would likely be poor at best. At point blank range, the crossbow almost certainly had very high penetrating power.

MATERIALS

The crossbow was probably introduced into Europe circa 900 CE, and possibly a couple of hundred years earlier. From this time until the 12th. century, the prods of crossbows were self-bows, or made out of one piece of wood. Composite prods, made out of horn and/or sinew(tendon) and/or wood were introduced to Europe in the 12th. century. The composite bow was the technology of the Saracens, and was a marked improvement over the wood bow. Steel prods were made and used after 1350 CE. The tiller of each type crossbow was usually wood, though was sometimes also composite. Self and composite crossbows usually employed a bridle made of rope or sinew to attach the prod to the tiller. With this type of method, the prod is essentially just tied onto the tiller. This method was occasionally used for steel prods, though they were more often held within the tiller itself, rather than lashed to the end of it.

The nut of almost all types of crossbows was often made of horn.

DRAZ
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Postby DRAZ » Sun Jul 03, 2005 8:34 pm

Dude you need to go kiting.

Jokes are supposed to be funny!

gonewiththewind
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Postby gonewiththewind » Sun Jul 03, 2005 9:37 pm

I concur. Vietkiter, you seem to have a lack of ability to draw meaningful connections. It's one thing when you post within a thread, but you have started half a dozen threads in the last week that quickly slip to the back pages because they just leave us speechless - and not in a good way.

vietkiter
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Postby vietkiter » Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:04 pm

DRAZ wrote:Jokes are supposed to be funny!
It's a satirical yet serious review... kinda like @gone HF = Edsel... but apparently the latter is "more meaningful connection" :roll:

@gone... when moral grandstanding closet brand pimps are exposed... they are usually "left speechless, and not in a good way"... that is more than I could hope for...

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72kiteboarder
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Postby 72kiteboarder » Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:42 pm

favete linguis

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sq225917
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Postby sq225917 » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:58 pm

nah, that was just shit.......


you seem more uptight than me viet....

ryansurf1
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Postby ryansurf1 » Mon Jul 04, 2005 12:16 am

I liked the old viet better.....

you used to post with some good insight into marketing and business....sounded intuitively solid....

about 4 months ago you took a turn for the worse...

really you did.....viet....yes you did.....

check yourself...take a step back.....

all your "quoting" of people and commenting off of their every word.....the silly posts....teh chip on the shoulder.....

The assholes are obvious to everyone.....

but your almost incoherent banter.....uhm.....not ANY better.....

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bondo
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Postby bondo » Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:13 am

you dont frequent medieval fares by any chance???


dont you just hate it when they clash with star trek conventions :wink:

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ASNewsForumFuzz
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Postby ASNewsForumFuzz » Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:59 am

bondo wrote:you dont frequent medieval fares by any chance???


dont you just hate it when they clash with star trek conventions :wink:
:o

Dude, I wonder if you could get a Star Trek, and a Star wars conventions to start fighting each other? Throw in a Lord of the Rings convention, grab a beer and you can have a GREAT show.

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bondo
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Postby bondo » Mon Jul 04, 2005 9:25 am

TheCrew wrote:
Dude, I wonder if you could get a Star Trek, and a Star wars conventions to start fighting each other? Throw in a Lord of the Rings convention, grab a beer and you can have a GREAT show.
bring it on!

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