Which bow is the best?

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

(Originially posted by BK at September 28, 2004)
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Which bow is the best , I don't know much about the bows but the compostie bow of the steppes is considered to by the best , is it true, or was the english longbow equielnt to the cmposite bow,


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(Originially posted by me at September 28, 2004)
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I think we need a bow expert in our forum

I think it's rather useless to compare composite bows and longbows. They got their advantages and disadvantages while both served well at the hands of it's users most of the time. I also heard many different claims about the ranges of both types, so I can't say much.

But also keep the fact in your mind that "composite bows" got many different types. I shall make a separate thread about them, with pictures.


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(Originially posted by warhead at October 7, 2004)
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I actually like to hear which steppe bow before firearm time is the best. ALso, is there any xiongnu bow found? Are they the same as the hunnish bow or more similar to the skythian bow, I've read that the xiongnu bow has changed some time before 200 a.d. by stiffening of the sides and center for greater power and the bow had a different design from the scythian types from then on.


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(Originially posted by me at October 8, 2004)
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I don't recall seeing any Xiongnu bows.

[needles]

Comparing the English long bow to the Mongols' composite bow really is a case of comparing apples and oranges. The long bow was five and a half to six feet in length; its pull was between 90 and 120 pounds. Because of its size, its forte was distance; the trajectory was usually 45 to 60 degrees, resulting in distances of between two hundred and three hundred yards. The effect of hundreds of 3-feet long arrows raining down on foot soldiers was nothing short of devastating. As the distance between the archers and their targets decreased, the bow lost its effectiveness.
The composite bow of the Mongols, however, was utilized as a short-range weapon, being specially adapted to mounted warfare. The effective accuracy of the composite maxes out at about 150 yards. However, with pulls measuring in excess of 150 pounds, and occasionally as high as 180, nothing in history approaches this weapon for sheer power and velocity; if fired in a high trajectory like the English bow, the range of the Mongol arrows (about 12 inches in length) easily exceeded 350 yards. As the Mongols entered Western Europe, the power of this bow was more than enough to penetrate the chain mail armor of the European troops. In one campaign (I don't recall which) 20,000 Mongols easily defeated 60,000 Polish soldiers in a matter of a few days, one deciding factor, of course, being the vast superiority of their weapon.

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

Hi needles welcome to the forum

You must be talking about the Battle of Liegnitz/Legnica... However there were also some Germans and Teutonic Knights there too

[erkut]

English long bows has high range.But it's hard to use it. Long bow trainings could take realy long time. Cross bows(arbalest) are easy to use. Thats why it's fast and cheap to creat an cross bow batillion. And cross bows are realy powerfull in short range. And cross bows could be used on horse which makes them mobil-power.

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

However, it takes a much longer time to reload a crossbow (note that arbalest is a type of crossbow made from steel).

[tengrikut]

So its not usefull for attacker

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

Not very much.

[Bor Chono]

I heard that japanese claimed that their long bows were better than invading Mongol`s bow.

[Nomad (Daz)]

It could be true as most of invading mongols army was destroyed by nature and what was left was too weak to fight back so let them say what ever they like.

More intresting to me. How many bows did mongol soldier carried.
Mamluk carried 3 bows. Big one for long range. (Wonder the size of an arrow?). Medium for combat. and small one for shooting from the horse back.

[Bor Chono]

Actually I don`t know. Maybe 2. One for extra, if another one will broke.
Mongols also had Axe, Mace & Short sword or big knife -I mean something to throw or use in combats.
And we know that there was 2 kind of bows :

(Look at the helmet! I thought it was strange. looks like the man`s eyes too close to each other.)

[Atabeg]

I heard that the composite bow the ottoman akincis and sipahis used were the best of the composite bows


how much of this is true?

[perszeusz]

The composuite bow was constantly "upgraded" so I'm not sure. Those Japanese bows look too asymmetrical to be better than the mongol bows, I'm sure they weren't very accurate. The issue is that foot archers are usuallly able to hold their own against horse archers, even surpass them, if I'm right. But no bow is more effective than the composite, by its size, manoeuvrability, accuracy and strenght made it feared throughout the world.

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

ahiskali said:

I heard that the composite bow the ottoman akincis and sipahis used were the best of the composite bows


how much of this is true?

I also heard so too. Probably because that was the latest upgraded version.

[Temüjin]

i heard the Hun bow is the best, but only modern reconstructed versions. the Hun bow is also slightly asymetrical btw.

[perszeusz]

Slightly assymetrical, not to a high degree as the Japanese bow, and this affected overall accuracy. The Hun bow was, arguably, the best bow by their time, but it developed throughout the ages, first the Sassanid bow, then the Turkic, the Hungarian, etc... Maybe reached perfection by the time of the Ottomans, that wouldn't be rare...