jim a crossbow of long ago would so easily go through metal armor of the time
at a distance of up to 30 feet, that a pope outlawed the use of crossbows
except against the infidels. the pope did not outlaw longbows.

Last time I used a crossbow,

the kiddie toys sold as crossbows today have draws similar to less
than kiddie longbows sold today. The weapons of war crossbows of old
were something else.

it took maybe 10 seconds to load
and shoot. Maybe he was thinking of a catapault :




Actually, a modern crossbow, with the fiberglas or composite prod,
compares rather favourably with the medieval type. The higher grade
metals used on the trigger system allow a higher pull weight, and the
draw is longer also, increasing the energy imparted to the projectile.
While many of the medieval style crossbows had pulls in excess of
200lbs, they also had short draws, often as little as 6 inches, due to
the nature of the prod (whalebone, horn, sometimes metal, although
good spring steel was not easy to make with the techniques known at the
time)

A modern hunting crossbow, with a draw weight of 150-175lbs, and a draw
of 12-14 inches, is actually more powerful than the older style.

--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
RFC 882 put the dot in .com.