Please tell me all about crossbows?

Question

How they worked; how to use them; what they were used for; when they were used; how many shots could you have, and how many you could shoot a minute; would an assassin use them; would they be good for anything else besides sniping?

Answer 1

They work by cauking the bowstring, usually with a crank on the side if there's a lot of tension in the string, and then placing a crossbow bolt (arrow) and nocking it onto the loaded string. A lever on the bottom (essentially acting a large trigger) will release the string and the bolt (arrow) will fly at your target. It is bascially a short bow placed horizonatally on a rifle stock, so it is aimed like a rifle.

They were used in medeival Europe for penetrating heavy plate armor, because they can get some crazy tension on those bowstrings with the assistance of the hand-crank--much more than ever possible with a conventional bow. It's a single-shot weapon, and is slow to reload. A proffessional crossbowman can only fire 3 rounds a minute as opposed to the 20 rounds a minute an archer can with a longbow.

Crossbows were frequently used by assassins because they were relatively cheap and could punch through even the heaviest-armored knights and nobles. For a while, the Pope even called for a ban on crossbows! As for a modern day assassin using a crossbow as opposed to a rifle, it would be quieter and can penetrate kevlar, but rifles have multipe rounds that be fired before reloading and generally have longer range.

Because it's a single-shot, powerful weapon, a crossbow can be great when precision marksmanship is required, but wouldn't do so well in an intense gunfight.

Answer 2

the other Guy gave a "fairly"good discription of the mideval day cross bows but as for todays crossbows they are more powerfull , faster , flatter shooting and accurate than anything they had back then . they are now "Compound Crossbows" that, like the compound bow ,have cams to give it even greater velocity and range than they had even ten years ago. this makes them a very excellent hunting weapon as well as a good tacticle weapon when put in the hands of someone who knows what he is about . I ,Myself can load and fire 4-5 rounds in one minute with good to excellent accuracy at standing or moving targets at anywhere from 10 to 75-80 yards . I do not need a crank or anything to cock the bow I just put it on the ground nose first and pull the string back with my hands and I am pulling a 150# bow that puts the arrow off the rails at 345 fps. as for how many arrows or "Bolts" you can carry..............as many as you feel you will need !