crossbow - Writers Forum

saeferth · 03-22-2006, 03:49 PM

a few questions on crossbows

1) i need to know if you could get a repeating pistol crossbow, ive seen pictures of the chinese repeating crossbows, but those have a big bolt box on top, so do you think there could be one that feeds from two storage bits next to where it fires?

something that looks like that (yes i know those ones are for storage)

2)how stable would it be when its loaded? in the way that the bolt can just fall out if you move around to much.

3) how far could a crossbow fire? i understand that it would depend on the bow and the bolts, so something like the picture above with bolts that have good armour penetration, but it doesnt need to have a rapid fire function, something for assassinations

Adept · 03-23-2006, 07:53 AM

1) Yes I believe this is entirely possible - effective range however would be sorely limited, you're probably looking at something like 30 yards (regarding it as a pistol-type crossbow), and that's stretching it purely because I imagine this is going to be some sort of up-market military design (or equivalent) from what you've said. In theory you could have a rack of bolts under pressure from a spring that would push them into the vacant space (after it was vacated by the previous bolt), I can't see any reason why that wouldn't be possible but I'm not an expert on this subject, I only know a little.

2) Cant' really help you on this one I'm afraid, although I'm nigh on certain that devices are available/types of crossbow are available that will not just ditch shaft if you wave it around like a loony. I never got to find out as the police dragged me to the floor fairly swiftly.

3) Hmmm... well it all depends on the size of the crossbow, if it was a pre-fabricated hand-held jobby then you're probably looking at 100 yards effective range, although you can increase this significantly by having a huge one you have to build out of a case or something like that. I believe the biggest range on a one-man crossbow is something like half a mile and that's one hell of a weapon. Also if assassin is your case it may be worth noting that you can get silencing kits for your crossbow, although god only knows how to use them/what they look like so I'm afraid you might have to google that one.

Hope some of this has been helpful, none of it is hard and fast, it's a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of internet research - if I'm wrong on anything and there's someone more knowledgable on the subject then feel free to shoot me down, I'd be quite interested to know anyway.

RussellN · 03-23-2006, 09:04 PM

You would need a rapid cocking mechanism, and there is no reason why it couldn't load a new bolt from a storage container, although probably from above or below rather than from the side.

K-P · 03-23-2006, 11:09 PM

I really doubt anyone who reads a story about a bolt action, rapid fire, sniper crossbow is going to dust off their old Popular Mechanics and see if it would really work or not. You're probably pretty safe with the idea.

RussellN · 03-24-2006, 07:11 AM

A normal crossbow is cocked by either a wind-up ratchet mechanism or by standing the front on the ground and pulling the string back by hand. You could give it a big lever system so it breaks like a shotgun.

But as K-P says - use your imaginative licence and just say they can do it.

Janeka · 03-24-2006, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RussellN

A normal crossbow is cocked by either a wind-up ratchet mechanism or by standing the front on the ground and pulling the string back by hand. You could give it a big lever system so it breaks like a shotgun.

Didn't the old Barnett Commando crossbow do something like this?

mammamaia · 03-25-2006, 02:36 AM

i believe leonardo designed one... check out his armament inventions...

Hodge · 03-25-2006, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saeferth

3) how far could a crossbow fire? i understand that it would depend on the bow and the bolts, so something like the picture above with bolts that have good armour penetration, but it doesnt need to have a rapid fire function, something for assassinations

It depends how big a crossbow it is. English longbowmen had an accurate range up to 80 yards and an effective range up to some 330 yards, so a crossbow probably has ranges of about 40 and 100 yards respectively, depending on how big it is.

Beardedtroll · 03-25-2006, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saeferth

3) how far could a crossbow fire?

Britannica gives a range of 300 meter for crossbows, but of course this is a generalisation for a wide range of types and sizes. This site, describing the Chinese repeating crossbow, gives its efficent range at 80 yards and its extreme range to 200 yards.