Crossbow Archery: Ancient Weaponry in a Modern Sport

Crossbow archery is one very different type of archery. What makes it quite dissimilar is the bow used. In crossbow archery, the bow is designed to be shot in a horizontal manner. This makes for a better balance but creates a heavier weight for the archer.

The Bow

The bow sits atop a stock that fires projectiles. In crossbow archery, these projectiles are called bolts instead of the usual term "arrow." The one great advantage of crossbows is that the bow can be kept strung without constant pull from the archer because of a retention mechanism in the bow. The release of the bolt is done by pressing a trigger or a tickler.

The composition of the bow of the old was either yew or ash but over time the crossbow began evolving into composite bows. This means that the bows were usually made by gluing different types of materials together. The commonly used items were wood, sinew, and horn. The composition of this type of crossbow meant that the bolts could be released more efficiently from the bow. In around the fourteenth century, steel prods were developed.

One main difference that a first time crossbow archer would notice is that unlike ordinary bows, the crossbow has a very short draw length. One would tend to wonder whether draw strength and stored potential energy are compromised because it is well known that the greater the length of the bow, the greater the draw strength, thus, equating to stronger releases. To balance this need, the typical crossbow uses very strong cording. One of the most common strings used is the whipcord.

Modern crossbows are classified by their size and energy, their acceleration system or mechanism of projectile release. Some of the types of crossbows are:

 The recurve crossbow. Just like the ordinary recurve bow, the recurve crossbow has tips that curve away from the archer. This results to a longer draw length than that in an ordinary crossbow.

 The compound crossbow. This crossbow is similar to the ordinary compound bow. The limbs are more rigid than the limbs of other types of crossbows. As a result, pulleys, and cables are used to draw the string.

The Bolt

The projectile fired from a crossbow is called a bolt. These are heavier than ordinary arrows but are shorter in length. The weight is engineered to be more than the ordinary arrow to allow greater energy to be stored immediately before the release. Modern crossbow archery enthusiasts choose a well balanced bolt. A good bolt should have consistent weight from tip to tip so as to fly better when released from a crossbow.

The Competition

The International Crossbow-Shooting Union provides the rules for crossbow archery competitions.

The three main categories of crossbow archery are:

 30 meter Match Crossbow,
 10 meter Match Crossbow, and
 Field Crossbow Archery

The three major events are:

 The IAU World Championships,
 The Continental Championships, and
 The International IAU Cups

The most popular of the three kinds of crossbow archery is the field crossbow archery. But each of the three categories has a different scoring system.

Since the ancient times, crossbow archery has come a long way. And since then, its followers have doubled exponentially. The draw of using some type of ancient weaponry in modern competition grounds is too strong to resist.