Got a Real World Weapons or Armour Question? Mk XII

[Brother Oni]

In China, you have crossbows as the most common infantry weapon for certain periods.

I know that during the Three Kingdoms era (~3rd century AD), ability to shoot a bow was so important that there was a rank of horse archer (albeit a low one).

Speaking of China, Chinese crossbow designs had the best names. Who doesn't want to shoot a divine-armed or enemy-vanquishing crossbow?

Yeah, most traditional Chinese names tend to be rather flowery and grandiose. I just wished they kept the tradition up - driving the All Under Heaven Conquering War Vehicle sounds better than Type-99 MBT.

It has to do with the "release" (or so the theory goes): On a bow, the bowstring is in contact with the arrow, and the manner in which the archer releases the string is more smoothly controlled by the archers fingers (not necessarily more consistent).

Oh yes.
Spent an hour yesterday trying to stop myself torquing the string on release, still doing it.

I guess I've heard it both ways. In wind tunnel tests published in Scientific American 252:1 (January 1985), the tested crossbow bolt experienced lower drag than the tested longbow arrow. If bolts really are less aerodynamic, I want to know, because that would make the crossbow Payne-Gallwey used to shoot a bolt approximately 450 yards even more powerful.

The article is archived, but subscription only - do you remember whether they used a traditional crossbow or a modern pulley one, and what the draw weight was?