whats the best bow ?

Originally posted by xtrembowhntr
i never seen LOTR but i am a bow nut. i used to shoot a recurve many years ago till i bought a compound, now i probibly will never go back. i love all the the hi_tech bows and equipment that goes with it. i dig the explosive tips in rambo (trying to figure out how to make those). my next toy is a crossbow (though i don't concider this a bow) something top of the line.

You can only use a cross bow if you are handycapped ,these things are insane they have like up to 175pds of pull back ,to much power,it blows right thru any animal.

[Edited on 30-11-2003 by seznam]

i think this one is 200# but we can use them during rifle season here in PA. in OH you can use them during bow season (i think)

I like the old bows the indians use. I believe it takes more skill and practice to be an expert with an old bow they use, rather then the high-tech ones of today.

i would like to some day make my own bow(since i am into woodworking as a profession) but just havn't had the time to do it. just to make one and to be able to kill something with it would be cool.

xtrembow,

that crossbow that you posted a graphic for,

how does one load this one?

is it a separate device? winch or crank etc.

is there a motorized one?

just asking dumb questions.

you can pull it back by hand(don't know how hard that would be) but there is cocking devises. one is like a crank that you wind back. but i think if your in good fit you put your foot in the hoop in the front and pull the string back.

and at a distance a bow shot is silent so you won't know what hit you untill its too late

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Please let's try to get along within the hallowed ground of these pages.

If you are really interested in finding out which is the best bow - Recurve Longbow or that modern wussie alu crap, then ask the French. We absolutely slaughtered the French knights at Crecy and Agincourt from about 500 yards!

The English bowman armed with Welsh Yew tree bows, were the scourge of Europe for a couple of hundred years, before the powder long gun came in to being.

Because these weapons killed more users, the English still prefered the Longbow to them.

Crossbows were, as far as I can ascertain, deployed by castle defenders in an attempt to keep the Longbows at extreme range, thus reducing their accuracy! (Can't work that out because crossbows, although more powerful, had a reduced range)

In medieval times, it was so easy to pick up a peasant from some hovel, throw him (or her) in to the local militia and train him or her to use a Longbow.

Crossbows by their very nature are more complex and require the user to have a higher degree of skill and education. When wheel-lock/screw crossbows came into being, the used also had to be mechanically minded. Missfires were a bugger!

As for the Compound Bow made famous by John Rambow in the First Blood series, they are excellant for a long range, silent kill but with range comes inaccuracy.

If you want accuracy from a compount bow you must, by nature, have either a bigger bow, or a bow with loads of pulleys.

To my mind, these are hunting bows that in all reality, have no place on a battlefield.

Originally posted by fritz
If you are really interested in finding out which is the best bow - Recurve Longbow or that modern wussie alu crap, then ask the French. We absolutely slaughtered the French knights at Crecy and Agincourt from about 500 yards!

The effective longbow range was only 250-300 yards. And it is possible that the bows were not too effective at Agincourt against the steel palte armour and that the longbomans caused most of the loses as infantry (with their knives).
BTW Mongolian composite recurve bows were probably BETTER than longbows.

Crossbows were, as far as I can ascertain, deployed by castle defenders in an attempt to keep the Longbows at extreme range, thus reducing their accuracy! (Can't work that out because crossbows, although more powerful, had a reduced range)

In medieval times, it was so easy to pick up a peasant from some hovel, throw him (or her) in to the local militia and train him or her to use a Longbow.

Crossbows by their very nature are more complex and require the user to have a higher degree of skill and education. When wheel-lock/screw crossbows came into being, the used also had to be mechanically minded. Missfires were a bugger!

In fact it was quite difficult to train a longbowman - that was the main reason that only English used them. On th other side the crosbow is much easier to use, man needs only 1 week training to handle crosbow, but YEARS of praktice with longbow. The main crosbow disadvantage was not the range, but the rate of fire every 12-15 secs compared to every 4-5 with longow.

Originally posted by jozuph
Iam wondering, what is the best bow ever designed ? Is it the old indian bow or the bows nowdays being used in competition ? and what about the arrows, the old ones made out of wood or the new alu ones ?
I personally wouldnt now the answer..................

lightweight alum compound bow with a 65 lb draw. With one of those, i can hit anything.