How does repeating crossbow work

The trigger, as its lowest extremity is pressed against the surface of the stock by the action of the lever lifts the bow-string out of the notch. B, fig. The lever is here pulled back, with the result that the bow is bent and the bow-string stretched.

By pulling back the lever a little farther than shown in this sketch, the projecting end of the trigger will be pressed against the surface of the stock of the crossbow. This causes the upper end of the trigger to lift the bow-string out of the notch and set it free.

The arrow is then discharged and the crossbow returns to the position shown in fig. From this description, it will be understood how simple and rapid is the action of the crossbow. All that need be done to shoot off the arrows contained in its magazine, is to work the lever to and fro as slowly or as quickly as desired.

It is even possible to discharge a dozen arrows in fifteen seconds. By a slight alteration in the construction of the crossbow it was sometimes made to shoot two arrows, instead of one, every time its bow recoiled. The magazine had a thin partition down its centre which divided it into two compartments. On each side of the central partition a dozen arrows were laid, one over the other.

The bow-string passed over two parallel grooves instead of over a single one, each groove being, of course, exactly beneath a compartment in the magazine. As the lever was worked, two arrows dropped from the magazine and remained side-by-side, one in each groove, both arrows being propelled together when the bow-string was released.

By means of this arrangement one hundred men could discharge two thousand arrows in fifteen seconds, or double the number which one hundred men could shoot off in the same time with the ordinary repeating crossbow. The effective range of these Chinese weapons was about 80 yards; their extreme range from to yards.

As long as it holds bolts, you can reload it by pulling the reloading lever a free action. Loading a new case of 5 bolts is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. You can fire a repeating crossbow with one hand or fire a repeating crossbow in each hand in the same manner as you would a normal crossbow of the same size. However, you must fire the weapon with two hands in order to use the reloading lever, and you must use two hands to load a new case of bolts. When it says that you may reload the crossbow by pulling the reloading lever, it means that you can prepare the crossbow to fire again using the next bolt in the currently loaded case, as the crossbow cannot automatically load itself and draw its own string.

Think of it like a firearm with a manual action, like a pump-action shotgun. It might have several rounds in its magazine, but you have to manually cycle the action to chamber the next round and cock the firing hammer - which is effectively what the reloading lever does for the repeating crossbow, dropping the next bolt into the crossbow's groove and drawing back the bowstring.

Depending on the design of the crossbow it might or might not make sense to be able to load extra bolts by hand - if you could, loading an extra bolt that way should probably be a move action, as if you were loading a light crossbow by hand:. You draw a light crossbow back by pulling a lever.

Loading a light crossbow is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. A heavy crossbow nominally requires a full-round action to load, but even a heavy repeating crossbow can apparently be drawn using the reloading lever as a free action rather than requiring a winch, so I wouldn't rule it to be more difficult to load by hand than a light crossbow is.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Be sure that when you press it the pipe is rotated so that the part that was wider from being pressed between the 2x4s is the part that becomes flat. Heat the center 1.

File a notch into the limb tips for the string to catch on called knocks. Drill holes and screw the bow into the notch in the stock. For the string, just tie a loop in each end and make it so it looks just on the long side of the right length. Tie knots in the string to shorten it one at a time. Keep putting it on the bow to check if it's tight. Try to move the pipe around a lot in the heat to keep from scorching it.

It will become soft and flexible. This will help the string catch it. Then drill a hole in the other end of each one drill press is much nicer for this than a hand drill. The exact size of the hole will depend on your arrow points. The arrow point is suppose to glue in to this hole. After you have the holes drilled epoxy in the arrow points. You may want to sand the area where dowel and point meet after gluing depending on how well the sizes match up.

Assemble the completed parts and test it: Set the magazine on the stock, slip the lever over that and line up the holes, and put the bolts through you don't need to put on the nuts right now. Then string the bow and push the lever forward until it catches in the notch in the arrow trough. Pull the lever back.

You will immediately notice that it does NOT fire. Don't worry I haven't mislead you. Let the lever forward and push the string out of the notch with your thumbs. Now all you need to do to finish the mechanism is to sand the front edges of the notch the one the string catches in to smooth and round it off. Keep doing the test with the lever until you get it sanded smooth enough to where it does fire. Now it's done! At this point I chose to stain and clearcoat the wood parts and paint the bow brown.

Obviously you can decorate yours however you want. After you have done whatever surface treatments you are going to do, it is a good idea to put vegitable oil on the center of the bow string to help it slide easier and not wear through as fast.

Question 2 months ago on Introduction. Thanks for the detailed tutorial. I did everything according to your recommendations. Everything works perfectly. The only change I made was cuts at the bottom. This allows you to reduce weight and create the convenience of a crossbow. Sorry for my bad english. I just had a thought, it wouldnt be too hard to put a trigger mechanism that can be disabled with a switch, then you can have auto shot mode or a trigger mode for when you want to shoot with acuracy.

Reply 7 years ago on Introduction. There is a really cool commercially available one that re cocks itself with a CO2 paintball tank. It is expensive as hell but seems pretty wicked.

Reply 6 years ago.