Tent pole crossbow bolts

[Timelord]

(27 May 2012, 01:42)Tonka Wrote: "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."

I am sorry Tonka, but this statement is incorrect. Do not confuse modern firearms supersonic ballistics lore with subsonic ballistics as used in most firearms up until the advent of nitrocellulose powders.

It is fact that a subsonic projectile delivers more energy dump into its target the heavier the projectile is. That is the main reason why we used lead in firearms projectiles.

The confusion comes with supersonic higher speed projectiles which impart a shock wave into the target and this is why they are so devastating for their smaller size. Still, there is a modern ideology still reoccurring in military & related civilian thinking that larger calibre could still be better than high speed smaller in some circumstances.

A crossbow is in no way even near a black powder firearm in FPS (foot per second) velocity. Thus a heavier more robust bolt, fired from a crossbow capable of handling the forces required is the formula suitable for those who wish to go the power route.

An alternative is to have a longer launching run as velocity is the square of the distance or something like that. The velocity can be significantly increased this way. Also & but, a light bolt/arrow will still not maintain the (low) velocity very well and again will not have great energy to impart into the target.

If you are only hunting and therefore only require to pierce the target for it to bleed out or hopefully to hit a vital organ, then a light bolt/arrow is probably ok. The quest for higher power crossbows is not really about hunting for the pot, the only reason these type of crossbows are perceived to be useful is for hunting larger 2 legged predators.

Otherwise the quest for high poundage is leading the design requirements off down a different track. Prospective owners really need to think about what it is they want the crossbow for. Big poundages is for war, which is a different design consideration to the other choice, which is a hunting type crossbow.

Those crossbows you see on the usual merchandisers sites are hunting crossbows and some are just pseudo toys. Regards, TL

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Press the reply button on my previous post to see the message. Why foes this forum software still do this??

Fixed WnC.