Quote:
Originally Posted by English Bowman  That distance is in my opinion impossible with a longbow that is light enough to be drawn by a human being. The problem is that the heavier that the bow is, the heavier the arrow has to be, so you get less distance per pound from a heavy bow than a lighter one, if each is shooting a matched arrow. If you try to get around this by shooting a light arrow from a heavy bow it won't fly straight, so you won't get the distance anyway.
The GNAS record for a longbow of unlimited weight is 341 yds. For a bow of 50lbs it's 315, and for 35lbs it's 239.
So you get about an extra 85yds by going up the 15lbs from 35lbs to 50lbs but only another 25yds by going up higher than that, I don't know what weight was shot there, but 100lbs is not an unreasonable guess as I know GNAS archers who can shoot that weight.
Daniel |
Daniel is right that distance cannot have been made even with a 200lb longbow, which is feasible and has been done (Mark Stretton world record with 200lb drawn 32" and shot accuratley) and I have footage of Joe Gibb drawing up a 202lb bow to 29". But even with these bows that distance could not be achieved, the reason is simple and as stated only a heavy arrow will stand in high draw weight bows. Warbows shoot heavy arrows complete with armour piercing heads that was there intendend purpose, the distances achievable are considerable though. I have personally seen on many occasions half inch shafts with the correct fletchings, weight and heads to be called war arrows shot to distances approaching 300yds, that been said they are not flight bows. Most heavy archers flight shoot and they use bows designed for the purpose, in my experience flight arrows can be shot out of a warbow but the increase in distance is not worth the risk to your bow or yourself. I doubt the 600m distance is achievable to any longbow type, certainly to any availalbe to Robin Hood!