Old Chinese repeating action pellet crossbow
Was I lucky today in Panjiayuan ! I found this beauty !
The other side...
working
detail of the metal switch that lets one bullet fall in the chamber when the side axle brushes past
detail of the bow : two unglued lams of bamboo
Last, a view from the front... impressive, isn't it ?
Up is the magazine to load pellets, down is the "barrel" that guide them during launch.
Only the magazine cover and the string are missing.
I heard that the regular arrow launching repeating chinese crossbow was throwing poisoned tip bolts, due to their weak energy, to make them lethal somewhat.
What could be the use of a weak repeating pellet crossbow ? Hunting flocks of birds that would happen to be in your home corridors ?
Up is the magazine to load pellets, down is the "barrel" that guide them during launch.
Only the magazine cover and the string are missing.
I heard that the regular arrow launching repeating chinese crossbow was throwing poisoned tip bolts, due to their weak energy, to make them lethal somewhat.
What could be the use of a weak repeating pellet crossbow ? Hunting flocks of birds that would happen to be in your home corridors ?
What use? Target / technique practice rather like a modern BB gun? Also looks bloody good fun!
Just had another thought. I remember reading somewhere that in China pigeons were caught by shooting with a hollow clay pellet from a bow - to stun, not kill.
This weapon would be good for that - non-lethal power and with rapid, repeating action - a scatter-gun effect. Let this off into a flock pigeons and you are more likely to get one - or more.
This weapon would be good for that - non-lethal power and with rapid, repeating action - a scatter-gun effect. Let this off into a flock pigeons and you are more likely to get one - or more.
I have one of these shaped as a gun. I'll post a picture of it. They were just made as toys for kids (and grown-up kids :) )
That's why it's not too dangerous... I guess its value is then decreased compared to a weapon...
The strange thing is that I could not find any picture of a pellet repeating crossbow on google, trying many different keywords.
They are either very rare or on the contrary so common that nobody before me bothered to post a picture...
The strange thing is that I could not find any picture of a pellet repeating crossbow on google, trying many different keywords.
They are either very rare or on the contrary so common that nobody before me bothered to post a picture...
They are quite unusual. In the 1960s, Ju Yuan Hao said, there was a 'destroy all pests' campaign, where people bashed kettles continuously untill sparrows got tired and dropped to the ground exhausted. (Nothing said about what happened to the pot-bashers.) At that time, there was a huge demand for repeating crossbows and pellet corssbows to shoot rats. It is probably possible to find them in villages.
Interesting. Do you think my crossbow could be that recent ? The woodwork is quite good, I would have thought it was an older production.
It could be older. Ju Yuan Hao will tell you.
I know how a normal repeating crossbow works, but how does the mechanism that stops the pellets from all falling in at once work? Do you know where I could find a diagram, or an explanation? It does look good fun.
It's not very clear to me either, despite I have the artifact here.
Anyway, we tried with some clay bullets to see if this mechanism worked, but it did not at the time.
Maybe our bullets were of a too small caliber. I'll have to make proper ones and try again and then report here.
Anyway, we tried with some clay bullets to see if this mechanism worked, but it did not at the time.
Maybe our bullets were of a too small caliber. I'll have to make proper ones and try again and then report here.