Tent pole crossbow bolts

[Tonka]

I'm not sure I wan t to go back to medieval tech, but I do prefer the simplicity of a recurved to a compound bow. The main drawback is the, urm, draw back... a 200lb recurve is an angry bitch to draw. The performance from fibreglass limbs seems pretty good, its not just about the poundage, but the rate at which the energy is transferred to the bolt. The tips of the prod, and therefore the string, on a lower power crossbow don't necessarily move faster, but they can move faster with a heavier bolt. Energy delivered to a target comes more from velocity that from weight of the projectile, so heavier is not always better. There is a balance for the optimum weight bolt for a given bow. And it does seem like the bolts available are usually on the lighter end of the scale. anyway back to my point, the main disadvantage I see of a fibreglass prod in a survival situation is how easily they fracture. I'm far from a crossbow expert though... more a dabbler.

I have a homemade (not made by me) crossbow with an aluminium prod. It looks a cross between a historical crossbow and the ones made and used by the IRA. I never really put it through it's paces. It doesn't feel as powerful as my old 180lb Barnett re-curve though. The string I use is a bit long for it, so in effect it is never fully drawn. But it just seems to have a lot less resistance in general. The RoyalyMarines museum has a captured IRA crossbow in there, and the prod materials, size and draw length are about the same, so they must have thought it enough for nefarious usage. Aluminium seems an odd choice for a prod... I never thought of that as good spring material?

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Forgot to say, I'm interested to see how the gaffa tape bolt flys.