The Practical Guide to Man-Powered Weapons and Ammunition: Experiments with Catapults, Musketballs, Stonebows, Blowpipes, Big Airguns, and Bullet Bows

by Richard Middleton

Overview

David slew Goliath with his slingshot: for millennia that was the norm, as men used a variety of non-explosive weapons to fire small stones and carefully rounded bullets of clay, glass, and even steel and lead. This unusual study explores in practical detail the many ways, old and new, in which man shot projectiles without recourse to gunpowder. They include the bow and arrow, a favorite for the last 10,000 years; pump-up air guns; blowpipes; catapults; and homemade lead musketballs. There's information on ammunition and velocity, as well as a lively personal narrative filled with humor and the spirit of experimentation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628731989
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	10/17/2007
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	6 MB

Table of Contents

Introduction     viii
Ammunition     1
The fibreglass bullet-shooting crossbow     15
Yew-wood bullet crossbow     31
Catapults     53
The hand stonebow     83
Blowpipes     95
Low-pressure airguns: the theory     105
Low-pressure airguns: the practical     125
High-pressure airguns: the theory     142
High-pressure airguns: the practical     161
Compounding and complexity     180
Velocity measurements     189
Notes and references     207