Crossbows
I am a firearms enthusiast. I load and fire everything I can lay paws on, whether it's old Eastern Bloc machine guns, flintlocks from the world over, modern military weapons, or anything in between.
But that's as far back as my firearms history goes. My own "oldest piece" are a pair of smoothbore muskets. Sometimes, I want to pull a trigger without thinking to myself, "Well, there goes fifty cents down range." So, I've been thinking for a couple of years now that I might want a crossbow. But not just any crossbow. I want something that will be historically accurate and appropriate to a period.
So, the Myth-Weavers crowd tends to be pretty diverse, and I suspect many of you have experience in various Medieval hobbies. What sort of experience do you have, what sort of knowledge? I'm not looking for anything wild and crazy, but an "appropriate" draw (for a six foot guy in reasonably good shape), something that's not going to break bolts, and something that will be "reasonably" accurate for popping targets (read: Hay bales). My tastes tend to lean towards the Germanic (I love my flintlock Jägers and my Mausers), but I don't discriminate.
So if anyone has any thoughts or advice, I'd love to hear it!
But that's as far back as my firearms history goes. My own "oldest piece" are a pair of smoothbore muskets. Sometimes, I want to pull a trigger without thinking to myself, "Well, there goes fifty cents down range." So, I've been thinking for a couple of years now that I might want a crossbow. But not just any crossbow. I want something that will be historically accurate and appropriate to a period.
So, the Myth-Weavers crowd tends to be pretty diverse, and I suspect many of you have experience in various Medieval hobbies. What sort of experience do you have, what sort of knowledge? I'm not looking for anything wild and crazy, but an "appropriate" draw (for a six foot guy in reasonably good shape), something that's not going to break bolts, and something that will be "reasonably" accurate for popping targets (read: Hay bales). My tastes tend to lean towards the Germanic (I love my flintlock Jägers and my Mausers), but I don't discriminate.
So if anyone has any thoughts or advice, I'd love to hear it!