Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Standarts of accuracy
outcaste:
Hi,
The Longbow should be seen as the 'machine gun' of its age. With maximum effectiveness when used with massed ranks against massed ranks. It is impossible to hit an individual at its max range of 200-300 yards (unless you are very lucky!). It is my understanding and please someone correct me if I am mistaken that training to meet the statutory 220 yards would also involve placing ones arrows on a target 20 yards wide. This is very achievable. When a target is at say point blank (20/50 yards) its not that hard to hit a man-sized target.
Back in England I have 'roved' with archers with 'heavy' and other types of bows that involed reaching marks over varing distances/terrain and I would certainly not want to take my chances by standing too close to these marks!
There are also guys out there who can hit a squirrels 'nuts' off at 30 yards with 120lb+ bows!
Cheers, Outcaste
Lloyd:
OK, here's my take. While it's true that there are records of sniper style shooting with a warbow I think the major application of the warbow is to delivery a heavy arrow at long ranges mostly via plunging fire. Especially if we are talking 14-15 century standards. As Jaro says the first question for a heavy bow shooter is how far can you shoot a standard arrow? In the same vein I think the measure of accuracy should not be measured in terms of target archery but in terms of clout shooting. How close can you regularly come to the flag at a distance of at least 150 yards, and if you can throw a standard arrow over 200 yards then 200 should be the distance. Once you master that then start working on target or hunting type shooting. Just my opinion. So now get the flame throwers out;-)...
Lloyd
D. Tiller:
One other thing I think is that there was a steady increase in the draw weight over time. I bet early warbows where only pulling in the 80 - 90 pound range or less and steadly increased in weight as armor improved over time. I believe, and someone correct me here if I'm wrong, that at the battle of Crecy that the standard armor of knights was still chain mail. A bow in the 80 - 90 pound range or a bit less can easily punch through this with bodkin points as test have proven. Arrows might also have been in the 3/8ths inch thick range then also instead of the 1/2 inch range. This is just speculation on my part but seems logical. Now to build my next warbow at 80#'s!!! ;D
David T
perry:
I agree with Lloyd and David T . The romance and and legend surrounding the warbows of medievil england do tend to cloud peoples expectations of what is acheivable accuracy wise . There will always be exceptional individuals that are capable of truely incredible feats of accuracy -masters of the warbow , as there will always be incredibly lucky shots , we all have them occasionally . As a medievil knight or soldier I would be very nervous inside 250 yards , just the thought of one ,hundreds or thousands of arrows dropping around me would tend to make one question there mortality .
duffontap:
A 1000 grain arrow can hit maximum range in a couple seconds. Imagine how poorly you would fight if you had to visually scan the sky every three seconds. :P
J. D. Duff
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