Hand Powered Weapon Power:

I've long been interested in the various hand powered weapons .. I suppose it's a "man-thing" but I remember being fascinated by the skill of throwing knives as a kid right after reading a Simon Templar "The Saint" book - The Spanish War by Leslie Charteris -1937.

- a novel that included their use in civil war Spain.

 I also recall making a steel-bow crossbow from a kit when around 17-18 y.o. (and using 'whale oil' to quench and black the trigger components and sights)(using a kerosene/paraffin blowlamp - now regarded as antique?).

The power levels produced by blunt impact, hand propelled missiles, bow-spring discharge or edged weapons - despite the Hollywood screen exsanguinations - are quiet puny when calculated and compared to our later heat-engine tools motivated by gunpowder & the nitro-based 'smokeless' fuels .. Guns and bullets

 .. BUT those hand driven tools certainly worked back then for meat hunting on the full range of game (including elephant) .. and sadly - they worked when used to maim and slaughter the competition at the whim of their nobility.

There's a pommie joker 'Tod's Workshop' who likes and builds these arrow and bolt launchers .. but he also makes very good YouTube videos about them.

In this video he uses a chronograph to compare bows & crossbows for velocity - & records the facts. Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdB470lo6nM

- Then he introduces firearms energy levels into the picture and raises the old issue of "stopping power'.
Well done mate. - as if there's not enough heat in those discussions already 😁😁
- The comments section after the video are worth reading.

"Tod" notes that even the lowly .22" rim-fire is around two-three times more powerful (or energetic) than the best crossbow's energy output - but I'd say an iron clad crossbow bolt through the skull is likely to be just as deadly as a 40 grain slug ?

Very interesting eh .. but something about the energy levels of projectiles doesn't directly compute or to match the expected or perceived result .. Is that the effect of a large mass or sharp but slow moving impact?

Marty K.
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

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