Double Shot Chinese Crossbow?
I'm sure I've read that Zhuge style crossbows were apparently capable of being chambered for double shot capacity - and thus, there must have been non-repeating crossbows that shot two bolts at the same time, in theory. Are there any references to such crossbows? I think they would make excellent self-, or home-defence weapons, or even good fowling weapons, in the same way that birdshot maximises the amount of chances of hitting.
I wrote an article on a Chu repeating crossbow that shot two bolts at a time in the Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries many years ago. It predated Zhuge by several centuuries and used a mechanism that worked best with two arrows.
It was simple to operate, used a shaped hand grip at the front of the stock and a sliding bar holding the lock and automatic trigger. The original article was in Wenwu and detailed the measurements, length and construction of the arrows.
It was simple to operate, used a shaped hand grip at the front of the stock and a sliding bar holding the lock and automatic trigger. The original article was in Wenwu and detailed the measurements, length and construction of the arrows.
Yes, the only double-shot repeating crossbow in the literature is the Chu crossbow that Bede wrote about. There were multiple-bolt artillery crossbows in the Song and Ming Dynasties. They were shot from stands, not carried.
Thank you. They can't have been particularly powerful, if the man in the illustration can just draw the bow with his hand alone...?
Yeah, that occurred to me, too. And if the picture's accurate, he's planning to realease the string and knock the bolts off the forward end of the stock. But with a two-arm draw (and maybe pushing against his feet) he could probasbly draw 90#, and the things were on top of ramparts. They could have been quite effective.
So it seems really just to be just a longbow on a plank with a few grooves in it? With each quarrel (the term arrow seems a bit more appropriate, I suppose) receiving a fraction of the power of the weapon, even a powerful prod/bow would probably only be capable of killing unarmoured men.
I think you got it right. This was a weapon of mass harassment. 8)
There was a tendency in some of the multiply copied wood-block prints to lose details over the editions. The difficult of drawing one of these bows without a mechanical device probably rules out light bows because any one light enough to be drawn by hand would be too light to be effective.
Rather than a weapon of mass harassment, it would just be a way to throw away lots of arrows (and not very far at that!).
This type of weapon is old and was known in the Middle East from Hellenistic times I think. It had a limited usefulness unless some way was developed to spread the arrows out. Also there must have been problems with the string squeezing the arrows together after release.
Altogether, it a good thing to experiment with and document its performance, if it is legal in your local area.
Rather than a weapon of mass harassment, it would just be a way to throw away lots of arrows (and not very far at that!).
This type of weapon is old and was known in the Middle East from Hellenistic times I think. It had a limited usefulness unless some way was developed to spread the arrows out. Also there must have been problems with the string squeezing the arrows together after release.
Altogether, it a good thing to experiment with and document its performance, if it is legal in your local area.
A weapon of mass distraction, maybe. :lol:
Divergent grooves and a wide mechanism might help to spread the arrows out further than their natural inclination. And assuming (or knowing) that a fairly light arrow will not take up all the power of the prod or bow, each light arrow could actually receive the power necessary to make this multiple shot weapon quite effective. I think I will experiment, actually, but with a much smaller, hand-held 2 or 3 shot weapon.
I also wonder if this might be case where artistic impression is missing some critical details. What bothers me is that the string seems to travel over half its distance before hitting the bolts. T
If the string was pulled back to some trigger mechanism like a notchlock and the bolts were also pulled backed so that the string hit just after being released, the weapon would become somewhat more efficient. But it would still make more sense to concentrate on the force on a single bolt.
If I was wanting to make something of mass harassment, then I think a stonebow shooting mass shot might make more sense.
Jim
If the string was pulled back to some trigger mechanism like a notchlock and the bolts were also pulled backed so that the string hit just after being released, the weapon would become somewhat more efficient. But it would still make more sense to concentrate on the force on a single bolt.
If I was wanting to make something of mass harassment, then I think a stonebow shooting mass shot might make more sense.
Jim
If you shoot five light arrows, together they will have the equivalent energy of one arrow of their combined weight. There are inescapable limitations to multiple-arrow bows. However, on a winch-drawn crossbow, you could increase the strength to give each arrow more energy. This would be an effective solution. Your weapon would shoot as many arrows as five crossbowmen, but it would need only one operator.
The string hitting the arrows half way down the trough may just be artistic licence. However, there have been discussions regarding the use of pellet-shooting arrow guides where some authors thought that a final whack from a fast moving string would give a better shot. It does not stand up to analysis though.
The string hitting the arrows half way down the trough may just be artistic licence. However, there have been discussions regarding the use of pellet-shooting arrow guides where some authors thought that a final whack from a fast moving string would give a better shot. It does not stand up to analysis though.