When I was 15 I made a cross bow from a three and a half ton truck spring, it was so heavy i had to fire it from the workshop vice, I used a piece of torsion bar from an old Ford car for the bolt. To draw the bow required a hydraulic ram. I only ever fired it the once as my parents put a stop to my experiments because on the first test fire it put the bolt right through the nine inch thick brick wall of the workshop.

There is an anecdote in Poland about a medieval reconstruction group who tried to make a siege crossbow out of a leaf spring and ended up overpenetrating through their target into some dude's car outside the grounds

My wife bought me a t-shirt that reads, "Crossbows don't kill people; Quarrels kill people". Very nice gift for a history buff!

The primary battlefield advantage of the crossbow is that it doesn't require very much training to use. An individual longbowman would be many times more lethal than an individual arbelast under identical conditions. Becoming a longbowman, however, required unusual talent and years of intense training. On the other hand, you could take some young man off the street, give him a crossbow and put him through about a month's worth of basic training, and you'd have a reasonably effective soldier. And if you do this with 1,000 young men, all taking cover behind battlements or covering each other as they reloaded, you could field a formidable fighting force in a very short amount of time.

I thought this was going to be the medieval equivalent to a .50 BMG exploding in your face.

That's why this is my favourite history channel. The most unapologetic historical tests and experiences shining light on history.

45° is optimal range in a vacuum, or no drag. The more drag there is, the lower the angle is for optimal range. A baseball is at about 35° and with the size of the fletching, I wouldn't be surprised if your bolt has more drag than a baseball. Finally, the angle of attack the bolt has through the air due to the balance (or lack of) has a large effect too.

LOTR would have been a lot funnier if Legolas has a 1000 lb crossbow.

I'm so glad you didn't scrap the video. You're right, things do go wrong. And it was nice to see the accuracy including all that could have gone into these breaking down. Besides, it was a lovely video to look at. Gorgeous countryside, attractive choice of cloths, well spoken, very nice cinematography, and cool looking weapon. Overall a very nice video. 👍

We've all heard the medieval battlefield wisdom of the crossbowman: "never let your windlass fall funnily".

10 days after this video was uploaded, Tod's workshop did a nearly identical test, but using more rigorous measuring (constant 45° angle and using a range finder) and using bolts of different weight. The 93g bolt went 219 yards and the 60g bolt went 238 yards. So, yeah, the 200-250m range is absolutely on point. Specially since 45° angle isn't nearly optimal for maximum range.

It "feels" like these would be used more like a gun, more like a snipers weapon in a direct, fairly close range. The showering down attack from above in a full on blitz fashion, is obviously far better suited to arrows in terms of efficiency - and cost! But the deadly affect of the bolt and set up time required feels like it would be way better suited for picking people off in closer ranges. Great vid!

Okay, the crossbow was cool and the "what could go wrong" discussion was informative, but I want that leather vest, cause that looks great.

*marksman trying to wind up his crossbow* -the enemy soldier: "dude are you done? the battle is over i wanna go home"

For how many shots you're getting, I think you have to take the name as a cue: It's a siege crossbow. It's a thing you take pot-shots with while you're waiting for days, trying to starve the opponent into submission. That's why the refire rate is so thoroughly sacrificed. You're hanging out in a trench, keeping your eye open for one of the enemy to poke their heads out from behind cover. Just one of these moving in the trenches around a castle under siege and the defenders have to be careful about showing themselves. Or for the folks on the castle wall, likewise, this is another weapon that's more nimble than a ballista, that you can sneak around to different positions around the ramparts and give attackers a reason to stay further back. That's my guess: A device like this isn't so much ABOUT the open battlefield. It's about making your opponent make hard choices or take stupid risks during the long weeks of a siege. Hence the name, "siege crossbow". That's why the slow, finicky reload time is an acceptable trade-off.

I absolutely loved this episode. I’m a novice Archer who’s been getting more and more into archery and being able to see this type of medieval crossbow was very cool.

Perhaps the reason for historical documents giving a range as high as 250 yards could be because they assumed they were being shot from a battlement (ie, from a great height), which would greatly extend the range.

Tod from Tod's workshop tested his heavy crossbow some years ago and he actually got around 200 meters when shooting for range

Unquestionably this is an outstanding living history channel. A presentation such as this, showing things as they are (were), warts and all, is a great pleasure to view.

Hi Jason. Great video but I think the 45° angle you were using is the reason why the bolts weren't going very far. Shooting at that steep an angle not only slows the bolts down rapidly due to the increase in felt gravity on them, they're also using twice the amount of energy to travel the same distance as if they were shot at a flatter trajectory. They're moving diagonally at that angle and then falling out of the sky. I have studied ballistics and hold firearms. Try shooting at a 15 or 20° angle and I'm certain the effective range will increase.

I suppose another reason why this is a "siege" crossbow then is that if you're in a castle, or indeed attacking one, you are probably not doing it from the open. You'll be hiding behind a merlon or in a tower or behind a palisade to load and if something does break you'd want to have a few spare crossbows on hand just in case.

A group of my friends did some similar tests about 4 years ago. Your results seem to be a little low but not that far off. We were getting maximum ranges of about 150 yards with most being about 140 and after a day we were reliably getting 4 shots in a minute, just under 20 seconds to reload. We also had 2 major malfuntions from 10 bows and at least twice as many minor issues over the day.

Typically around 60 paces = 100m, so 120-130 paces is about 200-220m. It depends a little on your height and gait, but in the infantry we spent a day during map-reading to get our pace, and it was pretty close to 60 for almost all of us (55-70) per 100m. If you mean 'steps' rather than 'paces' (a pace is two steps, every time your right foot hits the ground), 130steps is only 100 m or so, but 130 paces is probably a little over 200 m more if you have a long stride.

I made a target crossbow using a prod made from Noral 75, an alloy used in aircraft manufacture-I found in practice that a shallower angle gave a better range, I suspect that there was less friction on a more horizontal bolt in flight. Cocking the bow was hard work after a while. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise. Greetings from Tasmania Australia. 👍😁🇦🇺🦘

4:19 He's winding in the wrong direction because the draw rope is rubbing on the metal bar. If he simply winds in the opposite direction it will wind easier.

Looks like you are dragging the bow string over an already set nut for the trigger, that may be what is destroying your string. Tod from Tod Workshop is adamant about not doing it that way which makes sense that you are dragging a rope under 1k pressure over a metal nut. Been watching both of you guys for a long time, keep up the great content.

I used a selfmade crossbow for larp (which has far less power), but I can recommend waxing the part where the bolt and string move and the string as well. I reduces friction a lot and protects from moisture.

My favourite channel! Glad to see you back. Have missed you during the pandemic!

Could it also be the 200+yard/meter expected range could be from a high battlement? I'm no rocket doctor but shooting 40ish feet above the ground could add a lot of distance?

I can visualize horrible accidents, so glad no one got hurt.

This channel is something special, it truly is. Can’t believe I’ve only just found it. Thanks for all of this amazing content 👍

Love your insights into our history, Sir Jason! I have had bandwidth fiascoes going on for a bit but now I'm back. Love your sincere exams of our predesessors!!! Real refreshing! 🌹

Well, the underperformance is interesting as in of itself. Things in wartimes were messy, nothing was in tip top condition when going to the battlefield, and considering that in historical testing is a thought provoking exercise.

Looks like you're shooting with a fairly strong head-wind; that almost certainly makes a fairly significant difference with such a large projectile (as compared to a modern bullet). I think with a head-wind you want to shoot lower than 45 degrees. The optimistic 200 to 250 yards could be with a tail-wind, or there could be other factors. Hard to be sure what power level of crossbow, what angle they were shooting, and what conditions would be like.

Thank you for posting this! Its massively interesting! Would love to see more weapon experiments

I am watching this video for the 3rd time now. I must say to you that I absolutely enjoy your content. It is very much appreciated that upload videos like that and let the people draw their own conclusions. It is the details like what a knight does once he broke his lance or what happens when a novice handles a siege crossbow in battle that interests me. there are too many archeologists, books and documentaries that are far too sure about what happened without trying it out. I am looking forward to see all of your videos.

This was a very enlightening demonstration of the potential reliability shortfalls of an otherwise potentially devastating weapon. I appreciate your taking the time to pivot the direction of the piece when it became apparent that things were not going to plan, and then sit down and reason out some of the implications of what you'd experienced. Thank you very much for your time and another piece of quality content. If it's not too forward of me to ask, would you be willing to revisit this at a later date once your crossbow has been repaired? I would be most curious to see the extent to which shooting from an elevated position would influence the potential range of such a crossbow, particularly considering that it is typically referred to as a "siege crossbow", as you pointed out. Of course, there are a number of practical limitations on such an undertaking-- expense, time, and effort required to set up such a demonstration, all come to mind and each of those considerations individually (let alone collectively) might certainly represent significant barriers. It would, of course, be totally understandable if you felt that it wouldn't be as worthwhile as something else altogether.

Very happy you uploaded this even though it didn't perform as expected. I think it teaches another very interesting part of crossbows that people rarely mention

Thank you a very informative clip. Love finding out how their siege weapons worked. When I watch historical films it adds to the story when you understand the weaponry they were using at that time!

I have to say, that the crossbow you're using looks very "small and weak" compared to what i was shown as an example of a "siege crossbow" in a museum. It used a heavier bolt with a longer bow and longer draw. Maybe 25-40% larger in both dimensions compared to what you're using? I vaguely seem to recall something about 15kg weight(and that it (normally) needs a support while shooting)... What you're using is what i've been shown to be a "normal windlass crossbow". And 130 paces is definitely not long enough to stand up to ranges we historically KNOW that crossbows have been used at. So yeah, definitely something is not working as it should. Due to the fraying, my first guess would be that the string might be too short? So that there's too high tension on it while unloaded. Check if it can be redone so that the string in unloaded position is, maybe an inch, maybe even two, further forward. The string also seem to scrape against the wood far too much. And while things break, crossbows are very much not supposed to break THAT easily. Getting 10-ish shots off during a battle without it breaking for at least 90% should be realistic. Otherwise realworld accounts of battles using crossbows just cannot make sense, they literally become impossible. And they were definitely high on maintenance, but well maintained, getting several shots off without issue SHOULD be normal. So again, yeah, you're definitely doing something wrong. Also, maintenance includes DAILY or at minimum weekly stuff, keeping both wood, metal and string treated properly. How likely is it that your crossbow has been maintained at least on a weekly basis? My guess is, not even close. Oh, and BTW, 45 degrees angle is for theoretical optimal range, for actual optimal range you need to aim slightly lower, the lighter the projectile is compared to its air resistance, the lower you need to adjust. Otherwise, you're spending more energy on having the bolt moving vertically than horizontally. And now i notice that several others have commented on this as well. And of course you should post a video even if it is a "failure", because that's part of learning what does NOT work, meaning that you can hopefully use it to figure out what DOES work in the future.

When range testing, I would recommend lowering the shot angle a bit. Ideal firing angle with air resistance is actually around 38 degrees, and you are shooting into the wind so you actually need to go even lower to max out your range.

Rate of fire: slow Chances of surviving getting shot with it: Extremely low

These video’s go in the high quality section of historical videos, clear and precise and very entertaining

Thank you Sir for posting this. I appreciate your efforts to illuminate and instruct. Well done, Sir Knight.

So glad you didn't scrap this one! I'd love to see a follow-up video focusing on how reliable (or not) these things really were and especially how that reliability would compare to early firearms. The unreliability of early firearms gets discussed a lot, I think with the implication that alternatives like the crossbow were much more reliable. After watching this I can't help but wonder if perhaps the difference is significantly smaller than commonly believed, or if firearms were actually MORE reliable than a monster crossbow like this (the only comparable infantry weapon in terms of range, power, and ease of use that I can think of) over the course of a long battle. I don't think I've ever actually seen an in-depth look at this reliability angle and if/how it affected the adoption of firearms.

As the banner behind you clearly showed, there was a stong wind against you while you were shooting. That also might effect the distance.

Fascinating and eye-opening information! Now when I recall descriptions of battles (from fiction books, that is) involving crossbows, I cannot help to think that many an author has not only never handled an authentic crossbow in the field, but has not even seen this video😊 Some of them have probably handled a modern crossbow… but the difference, as we can see, is night and day.

I own two crossbows that I use during hunting bow season. One is a recurve bow at 150lbs draw weight and the other is a compound bow at 180lbs draw weight. I can just about cock the recurve by hand but have to use a simple string pulley for the compound, I think it gives a 2:1 advantage. I find I'm almost there by hand but as you get closer to your body your arms are no longer straight and you lose leverage. I usually find myself an inch short but it may as well be a mile. The extra 30lbs is just enough to stop me. Anyway, I carry a spare string when I'm out with the recurve and can re-string it myself. The compound bow I would have no chance with due to the cam system employed, if the bowstring breaks then I'm done and taking it to an archery shop. That's why if I'm away for a few days I always take both.

No wonder they were fighting for decades during these times :D

Best medieval channel out there! I hope Jason makes a game about knights with his gaming company. Who's better to provide wealth of knowledge for that kind of endeavor!

Absolutely fascinating 👍 Looking at the flag and the trees, it appeared there was a bit of a headwind situation going on which may have disadvantaged your distance achieved. Am so pleased you did go ahead with this video, thank you.

Man's upgrading a crossbow straight into a ballista.

As Tod would say, "it's a data point." Great video!

@8:30 "slow firing". It's a difficult habit to lose. : ) In our reenacted French compagnie d’arbalètes, we say "Lâche! - Loose!". If you say "Fire" you have to do push-ups until you can hand-span the crossbow. ;D Btw, Video Génial !

never seen anyone pull a trigger in a more respectful manner.

What a brilliant and honest video. I love the straight forward and frankness your account is of the crossbow. It's funny really. I have always preferred the look of a crossbow compared to the longbow, and I have had both in the past. But as you have shown, the longbow is so much better in every way.

It's really informative to see all the different problems that cropped up. Often people don't include that because they feel it may detract from the story they are trying to tell. So kudos on including the whole story warts and all.

He was also firing into the wind, which would affect the overall range of the shots! Great video thanks!!

Thanks for the field test!

I'm Very glad you put this one out! Good job! Great points. A thought occurs to me, if that is an real left over weapon, maybe it was left over because it was a faulty one? The good ones would have used to death, rather then preserved?

If you fired from a castle wall, perhaps you could obtain 200 yards given the the elevation gain you fire from.

Have you discussed this with Tod Cutler of Tod’s Workshops? He has done a great deal of work on this sort of weapon system although I have not seen him use one as powerful as 1 000lb draw weight.

I have been watching your videos for about a year now - and I have only just discovered that you are an actual knight of the british crown. I have even played a few of your previous undertakings. Thank you for quality content!

I appreciate a person who is so thorough and authentic with their analysis and not wanting to misinform people.

Imaging spending forever to reload your crossbow in a giant castle siege... and then someone else steals your kill right after you released your shot.

Please don't tell me something bad happens... After watching what happened with Kentucky ballistics.. I can't take that kind of thing right now

Reload time is like..."You're not in a rush are you?"

what i like about this man is - he is honest . "might be crossbow , might be me , might be both" in modern day , thats an impresive amount of honesty.

Absolutely appreciate you presenting this video, with all the considerations about circumstances and conditions, rather than you not doing so because of the 'failures'. In experiments, 'successful' or not, one learns something. In this case, that means we all had this chance to learn this stuff too. Cheers!

Glad you weren't hurt!

More, more! Really like the channel mate.

I really like how much you seem to know what you are doing and if you don't know you either investigate it or try it until you manage to do it, you are what a noble man should be because even tho you have basically everything you have than honest ambition which is the seek for knowledge and self reliant. Like, you could pay for all of this but you do it yourself.

Great video! It really shows why good crossbowmen were so highly regarded and sought after as mercenaries. These great crossbows are far from simple weapons, and it probably took a well-trained and experienced professional to get the most out of them.

One of my favorite youtube channels for sure!

Your videos are always to me very interesting and informative. Thank you

Fascinating video. Good to show the failures and the successes. The edges of that release nut look sharp enough to cause damage to the string under that tension.

This weapon requires quite a lot of work. Very cumbersome to use. This is enlightening.

wouldn't want to be on the other end of that sort of weapon in the medieval times. The more i watch this channel the more interested in history i become i'm already is.

Fantastic and interesting crossbow video - thank you very much for making it!

Try 30-35 degrees elevation for maximum range. That’s a very heavy draw weight but a very short draw.

I CAN'T thank you enough for this channel and for Rebellion Developments. I just made the connection recently, AvP was one of my favorite all time games and I watch this channel whenever I play something of the relevant historical time period. You guys have done such an incredible job at everything you've touched and again I cannot thank you enough for what you've helped bring into the world!

Not gonna lie, thought that title was gonna have this video going in a whole different direction after Scott from Kentucky Ballistics accident. Glad to see it didn't though, crossbows may be easier to work with but comes at such a trade off for that lower skill bracket. War always has those trade offs though.

I went to a flea market here in the States several years ago and some guy was selling a homemade crossbow that used an eighteen-wheeler leaf spring set for the bow! It had all of its leaves... The frame was a smallish I-beam and it used a windlass from a speed boat trailer to arm it. It looked like it pulled back about a foot and a half or so. He claimed that it could shoot a length of rebar about a thousand yards! I doubt it could do that, but I don't really know. After seeing your video, I really doubt it now! Still, it was pretty cool and funny to see!

Screaming to the opponents in the field of battle: "C'm on... HOLD IT, foh Chroist sake, cann ye? The bloodey thing has slipp'd off again - ow, bugger..."

**Kentucky Ballistics fans sweating profusely** Don't worry it's not that bad, but man the timing of this video couldn't be worse hahaha

If you look at the flag and which way the wind is blowing, you might see why it didn't perform quite as expected. :))))

Interesting that a modern, 80 lb, compound bow can be effective out to similar distances if the shooter is excellent. But the weight of the arrow is generally about 30 grams. I would think the difference between a 30 and 190-gram projectile would become very apparent with armor involved.

I'd think range can be extended with HEAVIER bolts. Abundance of draw weight with short power stroke means that you can get more usable energy with heavier projectile. And heavier bolt = better ballistic coefficient, i.e. the air slows it less than a lighter bolt. At least that's my basic physics understanding :D

I love how this is treat like a business. With a longbow, the longbow is the tool, and the archer is the skilled user, they are a package. You can make the longbow easily, but the bowman is the real investment as it took years to develop strength and skill to be really effective, you couldn't just give the bow to a non-archer and expect results. With a crossbow, the bow itself is complex to build, but it is so easy to use that the archer is essentially replaceable and the actual investment is the bow. The bow doesn't get old and weak, or out of practice. If the man holding it dies, you can give the same bow to another man and train him very quickly. Because it was so easy to learn how to use, you could store the crossbows until they were needed and even possibly not even have to keep as many trained men on hand during peace time (as longbows took more skills to use and more muscle needed to draw, you would presumably need to keep people in practice all the time to make sure you had a capable number of archers on hand incase war does break out). It is sad but I bet this also devalued life a bit as the individual bowman was now not as much of a loss as they used to be right? You lose a longbowman, you lose the only person capable of firing that longbow. You lose a crossbowman and you only lose the man, the bow will be used again. At the risk of debunking my own assumptions, I do have a question though. If the crossbow was easier to use than a longbow, why was being a crossbowman an actual career? If a skill can be simplified, or automated as is happening these days. This usually results in the operators of that skill being devalued. Was being a crossbowman only a valuable skill when crossbows were new and their operation not widely known? Or was there more to their operation than is widely believed? Thus having a skilled operator would be a valuable enough skill as to be a 'career'.

Goodness! My heart almost stopped beating when I saw that windlass rope snap... 😱 For an archer/crossbowman one of the most horrifying thoughts is dry firing due to breaking of the string or windlass. Very nice demo showing that the relative ease of use and lower training requirements of the crossbow comes at the cost of very high technological complexity and susceptibility to failure. What will serve you best for your campaigns only history will tell you. 😁

What an interesting video and also what a brilliant bloke to present it. You would think crossbowmen would be better suited within castle walls firing down to the enemy due to that long reload time at 100m. Keep up the work

I never knew about the windlass before, and a crossbow seemed like such a faff even without one - but i guess it shows JUST how deadly it really was, when successful, that it was still used despite all these drawbacks. Love these videos; brings the people before us back to life ❤️

It looks like you’re cranking in the wrong direction while cocking as the line is rubbing on the lower frame member of the windlass. (Ah yes, the windlass rope frayed and broke after I posted. Perhaps I should wait till the end before commenting.)

I remember Mike Loades talking about a 1000lb crossbow and that even though the bow itself is 1000lb, it wouldn’t achieve that power because the actual length of the draw was very short so because of that you lose a lot of the potential of the bow

I was afraid the damn thing was going to break while you drew the string back and hurt you. Looks damn dangerous. I wouldn't go near the damn thing without safety glasses on.

If you're up on a wall, you can probably shoot it at a lower angle so more of the energy is going towards the distance rather than being lost to gravity

Guillaume du Bellay (1491 - 1543) in Discipline Militaire (edition of 1592) : "Amongst other less common weapons are bow and crossbow, two weapons that can do great damage against unarmoured (lit. "naked") or poorly armed people. And just as in rainy weather the arquebusier wastes its season (literal translation of idiom, sense here "turns useless"), and if it wasn't that the archers and crossbowmen cannot carry as many ammunitions for their bows and crossbows as the arquebusiers can for their arquebuses ; I would laud the archers and crossbowmen both for their quickness to shoot - which is much more sudden - and the sureness of their shot, which is not useless. I admit the arquebusier can shoot from further away, nevertheless the archer and the crossbowman will kill a naked man at 100 or 200 steps just as well as the best arquebusier ; and some times so well that the harness if it's not of the strongest will not resist it. *Else the solution is that they will shoot from as close as they can* : and if it happens we will find more people injured or killed by them than by twice as many arquebusiers."

Thank you for sharing these! I'm always glad when you come out with a new video. You're living something of a dream of mine.

Anyone else watch his videos, already knowing the subject of the video...just as a means to escape and live vicariously through him? I understand completely lol

If you have any Tywin Lannisters lying around, maybe next time you should test the crossbow on those