The Firearm Blog

Albert A Rasch has written a review (Part 1 and Part 2) on SeigeWorks “American” Longbow. These beautiful traditional style bows, without all the ugly gears and pulley that modern compound bows feature, really appeals to me.

Words fail me. First there was the blackpowder AR, then the Chainsaw AR …

AR 15 lower receiver, 170lbs built in easy cocking mechanism 3 rails. 425 grain arrow 420 fps. TAC 15 Tactical Assault Crossbow

I think this finally ends the 5.56mm vs. 6.8mm vs. 7.62mm debate. Clearly a 425 grain bolt beats them all!

Actually “tactical” crossbows have been around for a long time. Special forces were known to use them as weapons or as zip line launchers. I would be surprised if they are still in use as weapons.

Indian Black Cat commando with crossbow.

Hat Tip: Shawn B for the info. Photos from erikbarnes25

The Twinbow II is an interesting, and beautifully designed, crossbow made by Swiss Crossbow.

Click to expand.

It can be cocked in three seconds and fire a bolt at a speed of 370 feet/sec [ I know nothing about crossbows so I am not sure how revolutionary a 3 second cocking action is].

This video demostrates how it works the action works.

Brenzovich are importing the Twinbow but I am not sure who is actually selling it in the US. Arrow In Apple are selling it in Europe for 1449 Euros.

UPDATE: James has written an interesting post on how this crossbow compares to regular crossbows. It is worth reading.

I came across a fascinating article discussing medieval archery, specifically the English victory over the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 which was won by the English longbow archers.

Henry had approximately 5,000 archers at Agincourt, and a stock of about 400,000 arrows. Each archer could shoot about ten arrows a minute, so the army only had enough ammunition for about eight minutes of shooting at maximum fire power. However, this fire power would have been devastating. Fifty thousand arrows a minute – over 800 a second – would have hissed down on the French cavalry, killing hundreds of men a minute and wounding many more. The function of a company of medieval archers seems to have been equivalent to that of a machine-gunner, so in modern terms we can imagine Agincourt as a battle between old-fashioned cavalry, supported by a few snipers (crossbow-men) on the French side, against a much smaller army equipped with machine guns. Perhaps from this point of view the most remarkable fact about the battle is that the French ignored the very great military advantages of the longbow.

Read the article here. Just ignore the math!