Crossbow bolts or arrows??

[Timelord]

WHY is it that most modern commercial crossbow manufacturers produce machines that actually fire arrows? Whereas origianlly even high poundage crossbows fired Bolts, which are much shorter and heavier.

I do not have an issue with using arrows, I have just been wondering why for a long time..

I have been thinking 2 reasons
1) It is more coming from the American mass commercial marketing angle where they concentrate on hunting crossbows for shooting game. Arrows would be ideal for that.
2) The modern designs of bow use the scientific theory of greater acceleration of the projectile (pound weight of draw for pound weight of projectile) by using a longer time/distance of acceleration on the string. So as in having a prod that flexes much greater than the original medieval ones - even though the draw weights may be similar. This would lend itself to the use of arrows - but not necessarily so.

Also I wonder if it is something to do with governmental & maybe possible lawsuit pressure if bolts were used because bolts are much more suited to hunting large game, eg. 2 legged variety..

has anyone any knowledge on this?, Ta, TL.

(bolts are much stronger and less likely to be damaged during use. Unfortunately this is of limited practicality - as they are more often "Fire & Forget") lol.

[bigpaul]

i dont know anything about crossbows, i am a bit of a traditionalist and use a standard bow. there is also the question of if you get stopped by plod-with bow and arrows its"oh he's playing indians in the woods" but a crossbow may raise more than just a eyebrow- you may have a lot of explaning to do! just a thought.

[Tartar Horde]

I think it's a problem in terminology folks. Correctly speaking Crossbows use Bolts, even if some people call them arrows, they are still bolts. The old medieval crossbows could have huge draw-weights 200lbs plus, and because they didn't have modern materials like Aluminium and Carbon the bolts had to be sturdy enough to take the power surge of the string. Modern crossbows bolts are simlpy shorter length shafts, the same shafts can be used for bows as well but will be left loger for the Bow as a bow has a longer draw length. Some of the old medieval bolts have large diameters and substantial heads on them, this heavy weight ammunition stored a lot of energy and when shot from a crossbow had excellent penetrative qualities.
The crossbow does have a bad reputation for being a "poachers" weapon but I feel this is purely through the efforts of the government and the media who are in cohort with them. Any weapon system that is widely available without a "licence" that can be used silently, and with a degree of accuracy is bound to draw attention from a government that seeks to completely control every aspect of our lives.