Quote Originally Posted by Avilan the Grey View Post
Edit: The only time the accuracy comes up in the sources I have read is when compared to bows for untrained or not-as-trained people. Basically a bow is a superior weapon, if you spent your childhood training for it. If you haven't, you can learn how to kill both prey and enemies after a 1 week crash course with a crossbow.
Thanks for the update. Much of the anecdotal evidence that I've heard would support this (I was recently reading Spanish accounts of Chichimecs use of the bow -- wow!). However, I'm going to briefly play devils advocate to the theory -- If one person has spent their entire life training with a weapon (a bow), wouldn't you expect them to be more proficient at it's use than someone who hadn't (a crossbow)? Regardless of the intrinsic capabilities of the weapon?

Also, even if (historical) crossbows are inherently less accurate than bows, there's a good argument to be made that they were *practically* more accurate than bows -- depending upon the circumstances.

Quote Originally Posted by Spiryt
I would suspect that simply no matter how trained bowman is, the very nature of bow shooting is somehow more erratic than situation where one doesn't need to hold that string.
I see what you are saying here, mainly, that the crossbow mechanism helps ensure a consistent amount of force is applied to the bolt each time it is shot (although in reality it would probably be effected by atmospheric conditions), but you should reread the quote from Guilmartin carefully. There are several other factors that would make it more erratic, and those would override the benefit conferred by a consistent amount of force.

I'm also not entirely certain, that a very experienced bowman, wouldn't be able to provide sufficiently consistent force either -- possibly even better than a crossbow, as he may be able to sense changes due to atmosphere (or at least be able to adjust elevation to compensate for a perceived change in force).

Something I forgot to mention earlier, is that I think crossbows are generally believed to "flatter" shooting, which most people would associate with greater accuracy -- it makes it easier to hit a vertical plane (like someone who is standing up).