300FPS Egyptian Bows History Channel ?

[ferg620]

HOW POWERFUL WERE THE MEDIEVAL LONGBOWS?
Unfortunately, virtually no bowstaves from the medieval period have survived. So how do we know how powerful the bows would have been? Some evidence can be obtained from the arrows, which have survived. Because the 'archer's paradox' demands that a particular bow needs an arrow of suitable spine (stiffness) then by measuring the properties of a medieval arrow we can estimate the strength of the bow for which it was designed. When these calculations were done, the answers were almost unbelievable. They suggested that the force needed to draw a medieval longbow could have been in the range 110 to 180 pounds (500 to 800 Newtons). Although these figures are astonishing, they have been confirmed by calculations based on the bows found in the wreck of Henry VIII's ship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545. It seems likely that in 1415, when archery was at its peak in England as a technique of warfare, bows would have been no less powerful than in 1545, when archery was already beginning to lose ground to firearms

Reproduced from Physics Review January 1995 by kind permission of the author and publisher and republished in InSight, the Stortford Archery Club Newsletter, Issues 5 & 6, Summer and Autumn 1995

[poekoelan]

On the same token....

I saw a show on the history channel called "Barbarian Tech". They were comparing the composite Hun bow against a longbow with a chronograph. The recurved composite shot at 107 fps and the longbow at 99fps. Both speeds are way way low.

They never mentioned draw weight or arrow weight. Nothing. They just shot them both through the chrony one time each and concluded that the recurved composite was faster. That particular recurved composite may well be faster than that particular longbow, but that was a piss poor test at best.

Then as mentioned, they claim 300fps on another show. I laughed out loud. Now we know how cops feel when they watch some dramatic shoot em up crime drama.

I don't doubt that the Hun bow design is faster in general. But I think that much more extensive, accurate tests have been done with the English longbow. Its time they put the Asiatic recurve under the same microscope.

I don't see 300fps though. Not with arrows heavy enough to do real damage against armored men.

BUT...maybe real damage wasn't the idea. Maybe psychological intimadation from very long distances was the main goal. And since they were horse mounted, maybe they used different weight arrows...some very light ones fired from extreme distances to get the enemy ducking and disoriented and wondering how they could shoot that far, while they charged in on their horses quickly to fire heavy damaging ones on the next volley. Then they run away on their horses.  Who really knows?? 300fps is possible with very light arrows. And while very light arrows don't do well against armor, they would do well against the psyche. Especially when you could charge in on a horse and take advantage of the disorientation.

The tatics they used could very well have given an illusion to the real world speed of their bows.

At any rate, I think when you couple powerful short bows with horses, it can become very dazzling. Thier bows COULD have even been slower than the English longbow but their tactics COULD have made it seem otherwise.

Thier bows were made for horses. That's why they were short and recurved. I don't really think they set out to defeat the straight limbed bow in terms of power, they set out to defeat it in terms of military tactics. And they in so doing, they just might have beat the straight bow in terms of power, but not by as much as some of the tv shows would lead us to believe.  

Just some other things to think about.

[mmgrode]

Hey Todd,
   I don't know how reliable that article is either. It claims Hill "has, on oc-casion, driven such an arrow entirely through the body of an infuri-ated 1,000-pound black bear as it lunged straight for him." 1000 pound black bears     I've never heard of them that big. It was a good read though and thanks for sharing it. Matt

[bjk]

Hey Matt...come out to PA or NJ and we'll be glad to show you some 800lb plus'rs...where I live, they are the norm,200's/300's but in those states, they kill em that big every year...several...     you ain't kidding        

I agree with ya on the article and with others regarding the lack of science, understanding, whatever that some of these shows use.

[Molson]

Whether 300 fps is a real figure or not, who knows.  I don't believe for a minute it isn't or wasn't possible. Glass backed bows have been around for about 70 years and can easily obtain speeds over 200 fps. Those folks were building bows and arrows for thousands of years and had to rely on them for their survival. You can bet they learned a little something over all that time.