Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Standarts of accuracy
sagitarius boemoru:
This is something Rod brought up while ago.
Altough I think a sporting bow accuracy should not be used as comparative discipline a heavy bow shooter, apart of being able to pull his bow should be able to comand his bow safely, he also should be able to actually hit something.
Too often we see a big boy with 120# bow annoying other archers whillst hes got something like 40 degrees wide spread.
A medieval standard would be something like shooting a single man between 70-100 yards or less and a group of men or a horses at your maximum range, means 200-240 and more.
Now Assuming our man is in armour hell be like 70 cm wide and lets say 180 cm high.
I m proposing a 3X as wide target for maximum distance shooting. Or a target which will eqal fromt profile of a single mid sized horse.
Now this would be probably absolute minimum required to shoot with any reasonable repeatability, though there is enough sniper shots in the record from which we might assume that some medieval archer were much better shot.
Also you are likelly to have succes on low edge of warbow spectrum and in the case you understand how to make an excellent arrow.
(Again I think that some of medieval archers understood well how to sellect components for arrows and how to tune their bows to perform well, whillst others have been handling just military issue equipment.)
Anybody can say "I sho this and that", but unless we set a benchmark target and distance and record accuracy, we cant tell how this side of heavy bow shooting really looks like.
Jaro
duffontap:
Very interesting Jaro. It is easy to concentrate only on gaining poundage and distance but the accuracy side is important as well. With the time, materials, and care that go into creating a good war arrow (felling a tree, splitting, milling by hand, planing and tapering, splining and shaping nocks, fletching, wrapping, gluing, sealing, and smithing a bodkin) it seems unlikely that archers would just shoot at random unless they were firing into a mass of people.
I'll post a little more when I have a chance to shoot a few arrows at those ranges for accuracy.
J. D. Duff
D. Tiller:
Wish I could find somewhere to shoot that far. My accuracy at 50 yards still sucks so I would be one of those guys that would not be able to hit the broad side of the barn at 200 yards. Any of you ever notice how hard it is to hit something close to the ground as apposed to man height? Trying to get ready to hunt with my bow for wild hogs sometime in the future but have a hard time hitting anything lower than man height. I'm putting out some old stuffed burlap bags and shooting at them. Its tough!
I have heard the old story of archers putting arrows througn visor slits at 200 yards but thing this might be an exageration. How about you guys, you getting this type of accuracy? ;D
David T
Stonedog:
I could not agree more. What use is being able to pull a big bow if you cannot hit anything with it? My area of interest it way before the the golden age of the Warbow....meaning the 100 Years War and the War of the Roses.....my interests lie with the hunting applications, pre-Conquest.
As I am a hunter, not a target (although I do shoot target, just not in competition) shooter, I have no interest in pulling anything over 60#.....with this weight I can pull it back at a deer after sitting for 3 hours in 30 degree weather....or make a snap shot at a rabbit or hare as well....
As far as military archery and pulling the "big bows".....archers in the army of Edward III for example.....it was mass fire power.....putting as much steel into the air as possible......and shooting at a huge mass of men, horse and armor.....
Now I am not saying that these yeomen could not hit a small target...they could....they shot at a bracelet size target at varying distances....upward sto 100 yards (I believe).....but archers then were started out young.....until it became second nature....
sagitarius boemoru:
It is obvious that they were reasonable shot. It was certainly not "mass firepower" only. There is plenty of record of decent sniper shot.
This is warbow forum, so we speak warbows. I m not interested in hersay or "who shot what where".
My intention is to set a benchmark for accuracy very much like english "Standart arrow" is a benchmark for judgement of bow´s cast.
If youre heavy bow archer first thing you get asked is "how far you shoot standart".
I want a set of target within military requirements and also a chart in which the results be ready availble.
I think that most so said "heavy bow archers" wont be able to get any decent success.
J.
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