I was reading a rather old self sufficiency book recently, when I saw plans for a homemade crossbow. It wasnt explained very well and there were no diagrams and I was wondering if anyone could tell me or direct me to a site that tells one how to make a crossbow and what would the price be?
Homemade Crossbows
- Thread starter sharp88
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
sharp88 said:
Nothing illegal about making and trying out your own crossbow matey, just don't hunt with it or have it in a pulic place without very very good reason. Stick to playing with it in your back garden and you'll not fall foul of the law
Good luck with making it
Bam.
i made one using bungee cord instead of flexing arms.
more like a spear gun really.
effective though.
it had roughly a 30m effective range. accurate too.
more like a spear gun really.
effective though.
it had roughly a 30m effective range. accurate too.
Yup - leaf spring from a Landy would work - you might need a winch to cock it though - and a heck of a backstop!
Red
PS if you make one like this can I play too?
Red
PS if you make one like this can I play too?
You could get an old leaf spring from a local scrap yard...
My own Xbow is a 150lb compound with a range of over 200mtrs, an I need a volunteer to hold an apple! any takers, the shakes stop after some of Reds homemade wine, well almost rock steady!!!
LS
My own Xbow is a 150lb compound with a range of over 200mtrs, an I need a volunteer to hold an apple! any takers, the shakes stop after some of Reds homemade wine, well almost rock steady!!!
LS
Depends on the draw you want. I can (just) draw 200lb to the lock. 150 is more comfortable on a recurve. A whole leaf spring will need a winch and turn into a ballista. Bit of trial and error needed I think
Red
Red
Type "Chinese repeating crossbow" into google
Looks simple enough, I've been wanting to try making one of these for ages, you can even make em double barrelled
Won't be too accurate due to there being no fletchings on the bolts , kind of a medieval 'spray and pray' weapon
Andy
Looks simple enough, I've been wanting to try making one of these for ages, you can even make em double barrelled
Won't be too accurate due to there being no fletchings on the bolts , kind of a medieval 'spray and pray' weapon
Andy
Sharp,
You can cock 150lb easy enough if theres a stirrup to put your foot in whilst you haul with both hands. Its not like having to "hold a bow at full draw"
Red
You can cock 150lb easy enough if theres a stirrup to put your foot in whilst you haul with both hands. Its not like having to "hold a bow at full draw"
Red
Sort of. Like the clean in a clean and jerk. one foot in the stirrup and a long, smooth pull. If you think about it, a 100lb pull is lifting a 5 gallon jerry can in each hand. But only lifting 18" and only for a second or two.
A compound is easier than a recurve I find (but a lot harder to make)
A stirrup is just a big D ring though
Hang on...time for a picture of mine
See what I mean about the stirrup?
A compound is easier than a recurve I find (but a lot harder to make)
A stirrup is just a big D ring though
Hang on...time for a picture of mine
See what I mean about the stirrup?
When you go to the scrapy look for older cars such as MK 1-2 or 3 escorts they had much lighter leaf springs. I used to make knives out of them whenever one came my way. Not that hard to anneal so you can work it but I would suggest you gat it heat treated professionally if you have never done any yourself .
Chris
Chris
torjusg said:
I made a mini one of those a couple of years ago, the bow was just made out of bamboo. It shot little 10cm bolts a good 20m, although because they were so light they didn't have much power.
I'll see if I can dig it out and get a picture.
looking forward to seeing how you get on
.Edit: Here we are. Its a bit scruffy, it was just bodged together out of what I had in the shed at the time, but it does work. The bow is about 30cm across.
