On 13 Oct 2004 11:12:22 GMT,
JAXAshby wrote:
I was just repeating what I read in the Museum that had the extensive
display of crossbows.


Repeating it doesn't make it true.

btw, IIRC it took two men most of two minutes to load and fire a
crossbow, while a longbowman could pump out three shafts a minute.
That made the lowbow the artillery of its time and the crossbow the
armor-busting handgranade.



I don't know where you get this kind of missinformation. While an archer
can far exceed the rate of fire of most crossbows. Crossbows do not
require 2 people, and 2 minutes to reload. A medieval type crossbow, of
some 150-200lb draw weight, can be cocked and loaded in about 30-45sec
using a goat's foot lever (google for details, it's a compound lever
that allows you to cock the relatively short, but strong draw on the
prod, relatively easily.

For some of the siege crossbows, large frame mounted devices, they were
often crew served, but those are a different kettle of fish.




--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
"If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and
visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and
quiet it would be until the looting started."