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120 lb draw weight I could see, even 150 for a test or a little more. That still leaves us 100 lb short of whats being said here so I still think the 300 lb fig

by neaden 2y ago

120 lb draw weight I could see, even 150 for a test or a little more. That still leaves us 100 lb short of whats being said here so I still think the 300 lb figure is either an exaggeration or a translation/conversion issue. I did some googling and indeed I cannot find any example of a 300 lb bow being made ever, let alone before modern materials science and I am skeptical that anyone short of an Olympic athlete would be able to draw it.

LarsDu88 2y ago
From the same source above professor Mark Elliot writes: "In regularly held contests, expertness might be demonstrated by accuracy of aim, length of shot, or strength in drawing. It was the last of these that occasioned the most detailed comments by supervising officers. Bows were graded by "strength" from three [40 pounds] to as high as eighteen [240 pounds], according to their stiffness. Ability at strength of six (probably a pull of about 80 pounds) was considered minimal for a grown man, and strength of ten (about 133 pounds) was required for participation in hunts. A 1736 report found that of 3,200 troops at the Hangzhou garrison about 2,200 were able to draw bows of strengths six to ten [80-133], and 80 could handle bow strengths of eleven to thirteen [147-173 pounds]… …In comparison, the 500 troops at the small Dezhou garrison acquitted themselves with honor, all of them being able to take a five-strength bow [67 pounds], 203 a six-strength [80 pounds], 137 a seven strength [93 pounds], and 85 a ten-strength bow [133 pounds]. And: "The champion in a 1728 contest between the one hundred top bowmen in the empire won one hundred taels when he hit the bull's-eye using an eighteen-strength bow an estimated drawing weight of almost 240 pounds!" So in 1728, the draw weight topped out at 240 lbs which only one guy in the entire empire could draw. I've attempted to pull an 80 lb longbow once with no training, and I'm pretty sure I risked tearing a shoulder. It takes a lifetime of training to get into military bow pull strength
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  It also seems that the 80-110 numbers for the English longbow may be a low estimates. Bows and skeletons were recovered from Henry VIII's flagship, which sank in 1545. Mary Rose longbows had draw weights estimated between 110 to 180 lb. Similarly, it has been estimated that to penetrate an armour from the first half of the sixteenth century, a draw weight of about 110 to 130 lb was needed. This makes anecdotal sense to me. 70-80 lbs is a common draw weighed for modern compound hunting bows routinely used by people with comparatively little training. I shoot about 75 lbs with no more training than going to a range once a month and am a 6ft male with no weight training. Given the historical accounts of the required training and dedication required for the English longbow, I expect 110 could be on the lower end. Guinness world records has contemporary archers shooting longbows up to 200lbs, although without precision.
  - LarsDu88 2y ago
    80lbs is fine for deer. Gotta go higher for armored deer

by neaden 2y ago

LarsDu88 2y ago

From the same source above professor Mark Elliot writes: "In regularly held contests, expertness might be demonstrated by accuracy of aim, length of shot, or strength in drawing. It was the last of these that occasioned the most detailed comments by supervising officers. Bows were graded by "strength" from three [40 pounds] to as high as eighteen [240 pounds], according to their stiffness. Ability at strength of six (probably a pull of about 80 pounds) was considered minimal for a grown man, and strength of ten (about 133 pounds) was required for participation in hunts. A 1736 report found that of 3,200 troops at the Hangzhou garrison about 2,200 were able to draw bows of strengths six to ten [80-133], and 80 could handle bow strengths of eleven to thirteen [147-173 pounds]… …In comparison, the 500 troops at the small Dezhou garrison acquitted themselves with honor, all of them being able to take a five-strength bow [67 pounds], 203 a six-strength [80 pounds], 137 a seven strength [93 pounds], and 85 a ten-strength bow [133 pounds]. And: "The champion in a 1728 contest between the one hundred top bowmen in the empire won one hundred taels when he hit the bull's-eye using an eighteen-strength bow an estimated drawing weight of almost 240 pounds!" So in 1728, the draw weight topped out at 240 lbs which only one guy in the entire empire could draw. I've attempted to pull an 80 lb longbow once with no training, and I'm pretty sure I risked tearing a shoulder. It takes a lifetime of training to get into military bow pull strength

s1artibartfast 2y ago
It also seems that the 80-110 numbers for the English longbow may be a low estimates. Bows and skeletons were recovered from Henry VIII's flagship, which sank in 1545. Mary Rose longbows had draw weights estimated between 110 to 180 lb. Similarly, it has been estimated that to penetrate an armour from the first half of the sixteenth century, a draw weight of about 110 to 130 lb was needed. This makes anecdotal sense to me. 70-80 lbs is a common draw weighed for modern compound hunting bows routinely used by people with comparatively little training. I shoot about 75 lbs with no more training than going to a range once a month and am a 6ft male with no weight training. Given the historical accounts of the required training and dedication required for the English longbow, I expect 110 could be on the lower end. Guinness world records has contemporary archers shooting longbows up to 200lbs, although without precision.
- LarsDu88 2y ago
  80lbs is fine for deer. Gotta go higher for armored deer