IIRC, the last "world championship" (held in the usa) in archery where the yew
bow was used was in the early 1930's, the winner (World Champion) missed the
entire target something like 20 times out of 100. I am reciting that from
memory, but someone somewhere check the specifics and report back.


Jim, your example points out the differences between types of weapons.
There were many variations of bows and and many crossbows used during
the height of bows (e.g., 12th and 13th century). But, my son and I
just got back from the West Point Museum.

According to the military's researchers, long bows made of yew had a
draw pull of about 150 pounds (6 times the pull of my son's tournament
olympic style bow) and archers could get 6 arrows off per minute and
shoot about 300 - 450 feet and pierce a metal helmet with an arrow and
archers "sighted" by feel, much like the Japanese horse archers.

The cross bows they had were operated by one person, had an opening by
the front to put ones feet so both hands could be used on the crank, had
a much farther range and draw pull (I don't remember the exact amount
but I am pretty sure both were more than five times that of a long bow)
and did take 2 minutes between shots to operate. According to the Point,
the difference was that a lot more folks could operate a cross bow than
could pull a long bow.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?