Quote Originally Posted by Spiryt View Post
Well, I would have to read, sounds interesting.

Anyway, bolts can easily have pretty nice parabolic arc, Payne Gallaway was sending bolts at well over 400m.

Theoretically, they will tend to 'dive' faster and more abruptly, because they center of gravity will tend naturally tend to be closer to the head, I believe (?).

Kinda like with olympic javelin redesign.
It was only something that I vaguely remember reading -- I was hoping that someone else would remember it better than me. :-)

Anyway, Payne-Gallaway was using a heavy siege style crossbow for those tests.

For comparison, the maximum range of longbows has been estimated at 400 yards (a reproduction of one from the Mary Rose reached about 360 yards), and for a turkish bow, I've heard estimates of a range of about 500 yards. That's absolute maximum -- NOT effective range. [W.F. Paterson believes that a turkish bow, with an experience archer on a good day, could hit a target the size of a man on horseback about 1 in 4 times at 280 yards]

Given the differences in force applied (although, there are probably some other factors involved too), the ranges of arrows launched from bows seem pretty impressive compared to crossbows. Which implies, to me, that arrows were more aerodynamic than bolts (and probably more stable in flight).