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Location: miami, fla. enjoying the relative cool, for now ;)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irishtom29
I dunno about that Dutchie. I haven't worked out the physics but at first glance (pun intended) it's hard to believe an arrow would strike with more force than a 9mm or .45 pistol bullet.
And the Spanish in the New World were quite well protected by their helmets from Indian darts, arrows and slingstones.
well the amerind bows were nowhere near as potent as the longbows but that fact remains that unless you are getting pinged under fifty yards arrows are ineffective against plate armor. if one understands that the man at arms had plate mail and leather on the combination twarted arrows bodkin or otherwise.
it's a myth that the english archers were anything other than an annoyance at agincourt.
Location: West Los Angeles and Rancho Palos Verdes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irishtom29
I dunno about that Dutchie. I haven't worked out the physics but at first glance (pun intended) it's hard to believe an arrow would strike with more force than a 9mm or .45 pistol bullet.
It's a matter of momentum. A 1000+ grain war arrow has quite a bit of mass.
well the amerind bows were nowhere near as potent as the longbows but that fact remains that unless you are getting pinged under fifty yards arrows are ineffective against plate armor.
Indeed. But I meant to refute Dutchie's assertion that an arrow strike on a helmeted head would break the neck. I wonder which strikes with more force, a war arrow or a sling stone? Or an atlatl dart?
It's a matter of momentum. A 1000+ grain war arrow has quite a bit of mass.
But low velocity, about 150 feet per second for a 60 gram bodkin arrow according to Hardy's book. In any event numerous players have been struck on their helmeted heads with baseballs thown at 80 mph (and higher) without suffering broken necks, that would be a 145 gram object travelling at 117 feet per second.
Location: miami, fla. enjoying the relative cool, for now ;)
1,085 posts, read 2,537,052 times
Reputation: 1063
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irishtom29
Indeed. But I meant to refute Dutchie's assertion that an arrow strike on a helmeted head would break the neck. I wonder which strikes with more force, a war arrow or a sling stone? Or an atlatl dart?
I completely agree. we tried to determine the velocity of an arrow down range some years back but no one could get the arrows through the chrony at more than 60 yards. indeed arrows are very low velocity so if utilizing the formula for determining power, accelleration x mass then the arrow as a weapon for defeating armor is an epic fail.
better to do as the english archers did at agincourt, put down the bow pick up the dagger wade into the mud and stab the wallowing frenchies.
This thread seems to have become rather dismissive of the power and effectiveness of the bow.Perhaps we should go back to the beginning;an arrow from an English longbow of the 13th-15th centuries could and did pierce armor,and most surely it could kill.English archers were feared and their opponents learned to never,ever attack massed bowman with a frontal charge.The fine breastplate that an earl or duke was wearing might turn an arrow,but not so the ordinary mail birnie that his men at arms and crossbowmen were wearing.While horses could also be armored,they could not be as well protected as their rider.A horse with an arrow in it was uncontrolable,and they were often killed outright by a hit in a vital spot that was unarmored.
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