Effectivness of European plate armour vs Asian bow

And that's why I said you're not providing very many details. When you say you have a horsebow made by a man of Hungarian lineage (who?) and nothing else, readers have to fill in the blanks or play a guessing game. Everyone knows what an English longbow is. When you say "horsebow", that could mean a wide variety of bows with a wide variety of performance characteristics. I assumed maybe it is a Hungarian horsebow because, what else? The maker is of Hungarian lineage. How is a reader supposed to know it is made after a Tartar bow?

More interesting is who this bowmaker is because someone whose family has handed down such knowledge would be of value to Hungarian scholars. But also, if by chance some native Hungarian traditions of composite bowmaking were preserved by this family, how can a bow made in this way be held up as an example of a historic Tartar horse bow?

if you're friend is making millennia old bows, i'd assume he is making them for more people than just you, so how's 'privacy' going to help his sales?

besides, the argument (as of now) isn't as much about penetration or not, but what's the basis for your assumption that, in your words: longbow = machinegun, bodkin arrow = .50cal and "horsebow" (wtf?) = .308?

since you brought up a documentary, i've seen one too where the had a Mughal composite bow against a longbow vs Mughal armour, and the Mughal one indeed somewhat penetrated the armour whereas the longbow/bodkin didn't.

Correct yes European bow making has influenced Hungarian Bowyers and yes not until the 1920s were there actual burial sites being found which revealed deteriorated bows. One of my friends told me that my arrow shafts I used from my horsebow were of a softer wood thus not as reliable to use against heavy targets, from the way they flex leaving the bow to the way they impact the target, I will have to investigate this he could very well have a valid point I dont know. My friend Creshmir's father has been making bows since 1979-80 of that particular style. that being a reflex Asiatic style bow. And Creshmir has only made two of these versions. One of which I own. Hes not as into it as his father. I tried to contact him but hes visiting his inlaws out of country. I checked out the sites you recomended! Thank you! Very interesting. One of the bowyers I know of who has made numerous English warbows is Pip Bickerstaffe. He has in best effort replicated some of the largest examples of bows brought up from the Mary Rose. www.primitivearcher.com From what I know the archeologist who discovered the grave finds in Hungary Laszlo I believe was his name re created a bow using maple horn deer sinew and horn. Not sure what the draw was on it though. Thanks again for the info you sent. I intend to spend more time looking into that

Why is it laughable to think a asian compisite bow could be made in the same draw weight as a english longbow??? Its laughable to me to read your post. You think the mongols came riding with 45-70 pounds bows?
Grozer makes hornbows just over a meter long in 120 pounds today. He probably can make heavier horn bows but there is really not many that can pull them.
You think the lenght has anything to do with the power? The only reason the longbow was so long was that it had to be, to get a reasonable drawlenght, It was not as flexible. It lasted very short. It got weaker very fast. It really cant compare to a hornbow at all. You get the same drawlenght from a short compositebow as its flexible and it also gives u a more even drawweight during the pull that adds a little to the power.

I have seen that before. The longbow hes shooting isnt a very powerful one I can tell by the way hes able to draw it back. Pohjanpoika, you're right yew doesnt last really long periods of time but you get a self wood bow that is pretty resistant to the elements because of the natural sap in yew. The English used bows that had a tillered 150 to 180 lb draw if you are going by modern standards of measurement based upon the thickness of the bowstaves recovered from the Mary Rose. It was a massive bow and it took a very strong man indeed to pull it back, so much so that archers had deformations to their skeletal structure as a result. Horn bows deteriorate with time as well and because of the fish or hide glues used in them they're prone to damage from moisture. In dry aired environments the cultures tend to prefer composite bows. I wet or humid ones self bows. Once again I think I was misunderstood in that I was stating that really neither bow would do too well against a suit of tempered high carbon steel Gothic plate, unless you got lucky enough to hit an area inside an elbow or in a vision slit. The Lombards proved this when they were pelted with Longbow fire and much to the archers' dismay were still sitting "high in the saddle" as the host of weapons at war put it. Remember knights fought one another on horseback with wooden lances tipped with a spear point designed specifically to pierce armor. The weight of the horse and rider both in armor behind this point as well as weapons like spiked war hammers, maces, and pole hammers were what it took to damage them, or as many ww2 tank crews discovered you dont have to pierce the armor you can kill them with overshock with a sound enough hit, same was true for being slammed in the chest with a pole hammer.

I wouldnt dream of using mine in damp conditions at all. Even though it has a laquered painted finish to help seal out moisture, as the bow is used over time small splits in that protective finish can cause moisture to deteriorate the bow and in time it will fail. Unfortunately clear sunny days are the only times I will hunt with it. Other than that, I simply use my compound bow or longbow. I will say though I have NEVER missed a shot with my composite due to its direct flat fast trajectory. I would say it even rivals that of my compound bow. My longbow is noisy and lobs arrows, although its penetration is by far the greatest, but even when I put string whiskers on it to silence it, theres still a noise issue. The composite bow makes a bit of a kathwap noise, however at less than 30 yards distance, the arrow has already hit the deer.