Why China’s Troops Still Use Crossbows

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The modern day Chinese People’s Liberation Army, still uses crossbows and they’re not the only force still using them either. Take a look at this Russian soldier in Ukraine using a bow to shoot an arrow with a grenade strapped to the tip.
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Or what about this U.S infantryman in the vietnam war who was snapped in the middle of using flaming arrows, or this one!? These are fully cursed times we live in. But Why is it that in the age of drones and laser-guided missiles, some of the largest militaries in the world still uses cold weapons like crossbows?
Written by: Chris Cappy & Armando Duarte Galán
China's People's Liberation Army has kept crossbows in its arsenal for a few very specific operational roles. I think some of their justifications are more reasonable than others. There are several publicly available images of their security forces using crossbows during civilian riots, such as the massive Xinjiang riots of July 2009. The advantage in this situation is that Crossbows can be fitted with non-lethal bolts when you need to capture people instead of immediately sending them to meet their ancestors. It has a far longer range than other non lethal options like tasers and net catchers. But options like rubber bullets are likely just as safe and offer far greater rate of fire so that doesn’t fully explain what’s going on here.
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[@Taskandpurpose]

Get Entered to WIN this awesome TenPoint Siege 425 Crossbow! go.getenteredtowin.com/taskandpurpose DEADLINE to ENTER is 06/25/24 @ 11:59pm (PST)

[@Taskandpurpose]

@@V.B.Squireso far that’s the first one blocked in 2 years , i might be able to re publish it soon

[@Rvbcaboose714]

​​@@Taskandpurpose if you haven't seen the actual story this won't sound real (it is), but the IDF was using flaming arrows and flaming trebuchets over Northern Boarder just few days ago, should cover that it was epic 🤣 might make for a cool side: ancient weapons in modern warfare type of content haha

[@Rvbcaboose714]

​@@Taskandpurpose jk, you're on it 🤣🤣🤣

[@ProAvgeek6328]

legal in ontario, canada?

[@Taskandpurpose]

@@Rvbcaboose714 yeah crazy timing I was like oh I definitely need to put that in here haha

[@BirdDogey1]

About 30 years ago, a murder was done in SoCal of someone who was killed with an arrow in their home. It remains unsolved.

[@bryan6090]

truly a good stealth weapon

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

​@@bryan6090 And an untraceable one. I doubt crossbows have the same sort of profiling guns have...

[@kent4975]

Ain't no way

[@ShireLeaf]

​@kent4975 your comment could mean so many things

[@Taskandpurpose]

that's a good point ! the'yre untraceable so you can't really prove where they come from. not sure if that's something military use would really care about , they likely have other untraceable ways but yeah that's an interesting aspect for clandestine use

[@VentiVonOsterreich]

Bakhmut and Donbass: **guns, grenades and giant artillery** India-China border: **Medieval II Total War**

[@Finngolian]

and Israel-Lebanon border: Trebuchets

[@buwanbuwaya6927]

Who would win 5 Units of Welsh longbowmen or 5 Fatimid Mamluks

[@mostlychimp5715]

@@buwanbuwaya6927 Do the longbowmen get to deploy stakes?

[@buwanbuwaya6927]

@@mostlychimp5715 on first fight, they can, but the second is in desert and cannot deploy stakes

[@HellsCourtesy]

good game

[@nrauhauser]

My uncle, Donald Rauhauser, was an advisor for the 7th ARVN Regiment, then later the whole Corps for the Saigon region. The last two years of his Army career he never said where he was or what he did, so we assume Cambodia. He wasn't a bow hunter when he shipped out, but he was when he returned.

[@mcarlinod]

Which year did this cambodia thing happen?

[@angusmatheson8906]

Your uncle was a war criminal.

[@qt_314]

A minor point of clarification: China was unified by the Qin (秦) dynasty around 221 BC while making prodigious use of crossbows; the Qing (清) dynasty began with the Manchurian conquest in 1644.

[@R6-kc4jx]

I was confused by this lmao

[@addajjalsonofallah6217]

Way off but seems like a simple typo

[@oioio-yb9dw]

It is good to know there are people who enjoy history in this world, even today

[@nixey738]

Crossbows were already used by tribal southern chinese barbarian people who wore body ink and animal parts worshipping totem.

[@YohannesRaynar]

ZhuGe Liang improves the crossbow during late Han dynasty (3 kingdoms era).

[@clkersting]

My dad served in the Army and fought in Vietnam. As a kid I always wanted to know more about it. My mom discouraged us kids from discussing Vietnam because it caused him nightmares and put him on edge, PTSD as it's known today. However he did tell me about one encounter. While on a patrol though the jungle his fire team saw something up ahead and everyone took cover and concealment expecting to engage the VC, but what they saw was not the VC. It was a guy, presumably an American (caucasian) by himself armed with a long bow. They made brief eye to eye contact, like I'm on your side, and then the guy continued on into the jungle. He didn't really know what to make of it at the time, but later on he concluded he must have been special forces. I guess using crossbows makes sense.

[@kettelbe]

Aliens. It was aliens

[@Arthur-jg4ji]

@@kettelbe yup definitely alien, only them are sus like that

[@keithsimpson2685]

@@kettelbe You know how much heroin, weed, and booze our conscripts were on then?

[@davidcook680]

My uncle served in Vietnam. He never spoke a word about it to anybody but my mom once. He told her one night drinking beer. She said he was just staring off while someone was cooking on a grill. She ask her brother George whats wrong. He wasn't moving. She ask him like three times. Finally he said you know I can still smell them. I always can smell them. She said smell what George. He said the bodies. In the middle of the village. My mom didn't know what to say. He said I can still see the pile of villagers burning. Than he looks over at some little nephew of his. She barely heard him say especially the kids. My mom said she just didn't say anything. He had never spoken about anything he ever did over there. Said he got up with beer and walked away to the woods. He used to walk the woods alone. At night sometimes to be alone. My mom had told me this I wasn't there for it. Told me never to say anything about it to him. Never to ask him anything about Vietnam. Said don't even bring it up ever to him. I never did and I wouldn't. My uncle died a few years ago. I hope he found some type of peace. I wished I could of helped him some way.

[@shawnmendrek3544]

@@davidcook680 Helping is not asking. Just leave it alone. It is a respect thing.

[@ryanperretta8877]

Crossbows, bows, trebuchets… we are returning to our roots

[@3.142-x3b]

And some consider bayonets outdated.

[@kiritotheabridgedgod4178]

​@@3.142-x3beveryone considers the bayonet outdated, until they run out of ammo.

[@hazimrizal6834]

I'm waiting for shield formation

[@Taskandpurpose]

reject modernity, embrace tradition

[@immortalwarrior2695]

​@@Taskandpurpose Quite literally

[@jensenthegreen6780]

argue what you want about it, but modern day carbon-fiber drapped black compound crossbows look SICK AF

[@Imperialbbuilding]

Yes but they're still shit

[@Steve-ev6vx]

@@Imperialbbuilding for fighting, yeah I would much rather have a gun. For hunting they are nice for certain things.

[@piorun7840]

@@Steve-ev6vx depends what fighting because any gun on the world will produce heat and sound(ofc you can reduce heat signature using some kind of materials but it will decrease the mobility of troops or increase costs massively so if you want to have a squad that is fast, precise, stealthy to the maximum and not to use all of your budget you use either cold weapons or things like crossbows etc.)

[@knightwolf3511]

@@piorun7840 ya going to agree Crossbows are great till they spot your location but easier to get around when there is no loud banging going on

[@Steve-ev6vx]

@@piorun7840 An air bow on a high end PCP airgun frame might be more practical. I know from hunting with one, a crossbow is hard to sneak around with in heavy cover. The horizontal limbs catch on everything. They are slow to reload too.

[@kimandre336]

I stayed in China for 6 months in the past and I attended a public event hosted by the provincial police. It featured Chinese SWAT members with crossbows. I talked to my Chinese partner about this and he said something interesting. 1. Crossbows are a mainstay weapon in the police establishment due to easier maintance (i.e. generally less legally restrictive) and any standoffs with hostages in China will likely hurt the hostages when using firearms, including silenced firearms. 2. Not enough police officers that have the desired SWAT-level accuracy with sniper rifles, but there are plenty of them with better accuracy with crossbows that have good scopes. 3. Chinese officials are generally not that comfortable issuing police officers pistols/revolvers with the stopping power of 9mm Parabellum or higher in their daily routines. Hence, a taboo-ish attitude against firearms among the police establishment in general. But they have no problem with cold weapons like batons or crossbows. I don't know about the military and paramilitary (AKA People's Armed Police and others) aspects of crossbows in China. It's all boiled up to the current civic and police practices there. If you think about it, even with the crossbow-related concerns, today's China is not that different from the Ming/Qing dynasty. Of course, anybody can understand that there is a very profound contituity of the Chinese society if one actually lived in China. I guess this is the reason why today's China will stay as today's China for quite a long time.

[@nrauhauser]

To say nothing of ammo cost for training.

[@nvelsen1975]

I've seen one sported around by one member of a SWAT team on the Kunming train station. After the Uyghur jihadi terrorist strike there it's become incredibly secured. There was also two guard towers with snipers, and smg-armed troops on the ground though, so the specific use of one crossbow eludes me. This datapoint suggests it has a specific job (otherwise you get more of what you already have instead) I can however confirm that firearms proliferation among police forces drops the further away from the 'core' in the east you get. I'd theorise forces are armed or not based on political reliability and professionalism. Because if I'm honest, I've seen Chinese village cops (typically there were 1 or 2) that I wouldn't trust with a firearm either. An uncle in that part of the family runs a small resort, and last time I was there the village cop came by, got a crate of fruit, left. It was pretty clear they maintain an overly-friendly relation, and that cop had no weapon. Someone that easy to corrupt isn't the guy you want to have the only firearm in town if anything happens and people who all know eachother start picking sides. That's no Chinese thing either. Used to be the same here in the Netherlands: Most village cops (veldwachter) had no firearm. In case of a major armed disruption in their village their main job was to cycle to town and bring reinforcements.

[@dawuid1491]

You married yourself to a Chinamxn?

[@Paladin.Brandis]

Sometimes “tradition” will get you fucking SHWACKED….

[@Hercules1-v9m]

The Chinese government doesn't want mass groups of heavily armed men who can overthrow them.

[@FailedPoet444]

By this logic, the UK army should keep a special unit of longbowmen. That would be actually kind of neat.

[@randomcow505]

I think we do actually its ceremonial and the guys are all retirement age but it shows up on parade every so often

[@TaLeng2023]

Longbowmen too OP, please nerf!

[@helloworld0911]

When you mean unit... Do you mean the entire male population?

[@HistoricalWeapons]

The Chinese invented crossbows in 500 BC, but the formation of the Qin dynasty not Qing dynasty is what you got confused with

[@VezVezar]

They got it so far off hahahaha

[@FolklorCaduco]

Didn't the Qing have to (re)unify China after Ming collapsed? They probably still used a lot of xbows then.

[@NeostormXLMAX]

Indont expect the average american to know even basic chinese history, Americans also dont know china invented fire arms, gunpowder and rockets, which they stole without paying intellectual property

[@oioio-yb9dw]

True, the last emperor of the first has the unification of China as the most significant accomplishment; the last one on the other hand...

[@jeice13]

Specifically they invented unusually powerful military crossbows. Bows and crossbows were invented in most places but ones strong enough to use in war against armor much more difficult

[@abacaxiveer]

Is nobody going to address the trebuchet in the room?

[@nickbeckwith6211]

😂😂😂

[@josephstromboli9365]

"it's basically just like throwing a rock but bigger whats ur deal"

[@chazcampos1258]

When talking to the trebuchet in the room, I address it as "Sir".

[@elchinator]

When your medieval weapon is still more modern than the stone age neck beards on the other side.

[@newtypealpha]

The Navy's taking care of it. What part of "catapult assisted takeoff" did you not understand?

[@Mt-zr5bf]

Wait untill they learn about Jörg Sprave's crossbows "let me show you its fearures"

[@boilingman4357]

Yeah having magaize fed full auto crossbows would be neat

[@littlejimmy7402]

Don't mess with the Legolas platoon

[@hidum5779]

you missed his laugh HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@OnlyGrans69]

Well technically it was the Chinese that invented the repeating crossbow not Joerg lol. He just improved the design

[@bacon81]

Exactly 🤣

[@ironsightsmcgillycudy7753]

It's like when you forget about a unit for 100+ turns in a game of Civilization but you spent all your gold and can't upgrade it this turn.

[@TheMightyTengu]

As someone who practices medieval martial arts I can tell you these old weapons are just as deadly today as they were then.

[@addajjalsonofallah6217]

Of course it's not like we cyborgs we are still flesh and blood well for now anyway

[@TheMightyTengu]

@@addajjalsonofallah6217 There's a strange disconnect now where people see an old weapon & think it's no danger. They seem to think it's a decoration & poses no legitimate threat. I one was living with a girl & I brought my sword out of the closet & she asked me if it was "real" 😐 I asked her what she meant by "real" and she couldn't elaborate further what she meant by it as though she didn't know what she meant by it either.

[@ms-ht1cj]

​@@TheMightyTengu I think she meant if it was an original, functioning weapon or just a replica, something decorative. It wasn't totally stupid question. Of course you can effectively fight with a medieval sword, but cheap replica probably will break after one blow. 😉

[@yukiko6137]

@@TheMightyTengu Well, a "real" vs "decorative" swords have lots of differences. Almost no one sharpens decorative one, it doesn't have to be made properly (what I mean here is it doesn't need to be well-balanced/weighed), it can be heavier and overall flashier rather than functional

[@MetalsirenIXI]

It's not about it not being dangerous. A musket is dangerous, it's still obsolete for military use. A falchion will kill you, it's still obsolete for military use.

[@Luke_Z31]

So I googled the thing in Chinese and it appears that the most units that use crossbows are members of the armed police. They use it mainly because of the “silent kill” feature

[@giacomomeluzzi280]

It sorta makes sense in a densely packed metropolis, a loud shootout can cause mass panic which can be worse than the shooting itself

[@obd3256]

@@giacomomeluzzi280 Sure because everyone is calm while the dude next to them is suddenly screaming in pain with an arrow stuck in him...and, we know exactly where the shooter is, because it is an arrow pointing back to the source direction. Suddenly everyone knows what's up. Seriously, are we all stupid on this video??? A stupid crossbow??? "Oh its quiet" SHUT UP THIS IS A JOKE

[@giacomomeluzzi280]

@@obd3256 lmao are you mental? Also are you seriously suggesting someone screaming is as loud as fucking gunshots? There's only one joke, and that's you

[@csipawpaw7921]

I was a Sea Bee during the Vietnam War. We were there to build and not allowed to carry our weapons. Our commander said we had plenty of protection and didn't need our weapons. I didn't feel all that safe with just a knife on my belt and one day I saw a Montagnard Scout in camp with a crossbow. So I asked him if I could buy it from him. He sold me the bow and a quiver of arrows. It was a good weapon for the jungle. I could hit a man-size target at 100 yards with it and the hardened bamboo arrows would go through a half-inch plywood board. I sent it home after my tour. My dad found it in my box, played with it, and broke the bow, but I still have the quiver of arrows.

[@holman804]

Hooray Seabee

[@Rncko]

Dun tell me..... ur dad dry-fired it?

[@jamesclark6427]

You could probably find a bowyer to repair it and get it working again. Or it might be fairly easy to obtain a new bow yourself and fit it. They're readily available at relatively low cost. Someone can definitely get it back in action.

[@Rohrkrepierer88]

Reminds me how some things run in places of europe where gun laws could be summed up as you will never get one . Bows and crossbows are listed as sport weapons and therefore only have an age limit .

[@memenadekhanh3992]

"military grade" = lowest quality accepted by DOD.

[@bobo-cc1xw]

Or china where it is most acceptable bribe?

[@mnxs]

Related: What do you call a medical student that barely passes their exams by the seat of their pants? A doctor.

[@justsomeplantcells-]

“Cheapest to produce”

[@jyy9624]

On the contrary it means no bs in another level from other gov - like military grade desegregation

[@cristobaltorres6185]

Absolutely

[@bernardomingarelli619]

I work with crossbows professionally, but for hunting not military applications. There's two things I'd like to mention that could deepen the conversation. 1) Crossbows are not as fragile as many of the comments here suggest, but they do need to be well lubricated, greased, and never misfired. These are things you learn as you go. The important detail is if you do get string skip in the field, you will need a product like Bow Medic to restring compound limbs cuz gl trying to do that with your buddy's hands, lmao. 2) Broadheads. It was briefly mentioned in the video, but the extraordinary damage four vented single bevel blades will do to your body wherever it hits is unholy. It's not superior to a 7.62 rifle round, lol, don't get me wrong, but if you plant a 125grain broadhead (rip bones if it's heavier) into a moving target and it doesn't exit the other side, the internal trauma will mangle your organs - even take limbs. And you do NOT want to pry one out of yourself in the field... God. You'd be so, so screwed. And yeah, they're pretty darn quiet compared to most firearms.

[@tlevans62]

Yep, a broadhead does terrible damage to any animal, they usually die very quickly from massive internal damage and blood loss. Very nasty weapons.

[@dylan.-6527]

You forgot the screaming in pain, depending. Not quiet, more loud and powerful then a bow though.

[@xuansu9036]

@@dylan.-6527but you wouldn’t be able to hear where the shot came from

[@Wolffur]

What would scare me most would be the usage of expanding broadheads. Horrifying blood loss. Not to mention that historical archers used to allow their arrowheads to rust in order to give their enemies tetanus.

[@makinganoise6028]

@@xuansu9036 you would hear with a crossbow, I shoot bows and crossbows, bows are much quieter, especially Trad bows

[@kyleeames8229]

Fun fact: US special forces also still use crossbows. It may be a literal ancient weapon, but that there remain *some* uses of crossbows is testament to the quality of the weapon in concept.

[@dalewoods7308]

Arrow makes less noise than a firearm. The only thing I could think is that it is good for having good noise discipline

[@FuzDoesStuff]

Also probably because they have a better time getting through vests.

[@charactersmoreorthree]

They're getting prepared to live up to Einstein's quote: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones".

[@Alberto-ow6ib]

Einstein meant bows and crossbow

[@johnkongsaisy7014]

After the ammo runs out in europe in asia I fully expect that after 3 generations. Us americans though? Its amazing we havent collapsed already

[@thomashenshallhydraxis]

You know. That’s a good point. All the old stuff coming back. Because shipping arrows would be lighter and cheaper; can make arrows in jungles.

[@RafaelSang-tq8ur]

WWIV would be fought by the roaches, hornets, centipedes, scorpions, spiders and ants.

[@Crypticnunce]

Nice,🤙

[@FarmerDrew]

Some of us hunters know that the bow is the only way to outsmart a very clever animal that knows the smell of cordite.

[@thatguysky123]

I've had a buck duck under my bolt. The loud trunk my old crossbow made was loud enough for him to duck and run 😂

[@FarmerDrew]

@@thatguysky123 ninja deer not going down so easy

[@Spider-Too-Too]

My dog can smell the gun powder residue on my after a range day and he is scare of it

[@Steve-ev6vx]

​​@@Spider-Too-Toowe had a dog that was opposite of that. He loved the smell of cordite and would run out into the field of fire on the range, barking and jumping around. Couldn't let him out when we where shooting at our private range.

[@Spider-Too-Too]

@@Steve-ev6vx oof

[@z000ey]

Well IDF uses trebuchets apparently, so why not crossbows :)

[@Smatnm]

Retro is so hot right now.

[@WagesOfDestruction]

There is a military expression, if it works it ain't stupid

[@beetlebg3759]

@@Smatnmyou got hearted but not the main commenter.

[@monkofkrayak6235]

The IDF also uses diapers, so they're not a good entity to draw inspiration from.

[@MikhaelAhava]

@@beetlebg3759damn.

[@tomarnold7284]

Years ago I asked the same question to my friend who served in the Chinese Army. He confirmed that they do train to use crossbows, in prepare to deal with situations in highly flammable areas, such as taking down a target at a gas station.

[@kixigvak]

In the '60s I was in an archery shop in Portland Oregon and the owner was fooling around with a crossbow. He said "Watch this!" and shot a bolt at a phone booth two blocks away. He then sent me to fetch the bolt. It was buried deep into the Portland phone book. I was impressed!

[@jerrydonquixote5927]

No he didn't😂🤡

[@joeschmoe3815]

r/thathappened

[@erf3176]

John Travolta: Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons China: Ok. We guard nukes with crossbows from now on.

[@TylerBridwell]

Wouldn't want a Broken Arrow.

[@davidrymwar5812]

I guarded nukes for six years. Crossbows sounds like the dumbest fucking idea possible.

[@startourzdcs]

@@TylerBridwellyou sir are a genius

[@southtxgunner2388]

​@davidrymwar5812 Thank you, glad someone said it...

[@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

Stayin' Alive. Stayin' Alive.

[@mechapope9168]

7:10 you cannot gloss over the fucking trebuchet

[@Eh-Mungu-Nguvu-Yetu-q8p]

😂😂😂

[@williamqian8020]

Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill, often referred to as "Mad Jack." was a British Army officer who famously carried a longbow, bagpipes, and a Scottish broadsword into battle.

[@TheMightyTengu]

They still work so why-not.

[@penguinpie5056]

all while donning a full length ball gown as well.

[@frankrosebrock4424]

You gave the answer yourself: because they just don't really use them, obviously. You told that there is no army corps officially armed with crossbows. So the whole vid is basically pointless.

[@nevercommentnotevenonce9334]

Thanks

[@Arisawa_Heavy_Ind]

Thanks for saving me 20 minutes

[@Hikaru109Ichijyo]

Some additional reasons: They are more silent than silenced firearms. You can launch grappling hooks with them. Xbows have more range the bows (compound x bow vs compound bow). Popular media has crossbows better than sniper weapons (Half Life ) or that scene where Katniss shooots down a fighter plane with her bow. Finally bolts and arrows are slow enough to pass through energy shields but fast enough to kill, whereas bullets, gauss, particles, and plasma discharges are too fast and the e shield stops them every time.

[@GreysonStephan]

bro is paraphrasing dune in a military analysis discussion

[@andrew5207]

I thought your reasons where complete garbage until i got to the end. I wonder if crossbows would have been effective against the borg shields...

[@Indyofthedead]

Pre-watch list: -They're silent -waterproof -lightweight -reusable ammo - better overall armor penetration -goes through barriers like sand bags -can be used for fishing -don't need to be cleaned after prolonged use -Fewer moving parts, so less chance of a breakdown. -cheaper to make -no chance of jamming -can be legally purchased in the US without needing to provide proof of citizenship.

[@ShawnSeaman]

Bolts don’t have better armor penetration or go through sandbags better then common military issue rifle bullets.

[@Brassblitz]

Rebuttal: Sand bags are way more effective against arrows vs bullets. Same with armor. It's mostly a question of kinetic energy. But you can kill a tank with an arrow if you make it out of depleted uranium and fire it out of a cannon, now your have a APFSDS. Jamming is a failure of an auto reloading mechanism. Muskets don't jam either. I'd guess most jams can be cleared faster than reloading a single fire weapon.

[@davidallcock6316]

It's best quality is its stealth...silence

[@Khobotov]

*Behold!* The superior rock: -Is silent -absolutely waterproof -weight can be adjusted to your liking -reusable -bonus blunt damage against armor -can be chucked in a ballistic arc over sand bags and barriers -can be used for fishing -makes a great pet -absolutely no need for cleaning -no moving parts -can be turned into a weather station -is free -never jamms -is legal and freely available to everyone

[@adamrou12345]

crossbows can fail, it happens a lot, the bowstring comes off the cams and you can't put it back on without the correct tools to take it apart and re route the string this is a very common failure caused by torque when cocking which you have to do every time you fire. The realistic reason they would be used would be for stealth but you are going to have to stealth your way to within 50 yards of the target. A 22 with a silencer will be lethal much farther out and not much louder.

[@Arnold-l1k]

One advantage for crossbows is that they are literally silent, and there's no flash to suppress so you actually don't know where it's coming from until it hits its Target

[@harsectinal]

They aren't silent.

[@caezero2072]

​@@harsectinalIt's actually very quiet; I couldn't hear my uncle practicing with one of the 200lbs outside the house, except for the sound when he hit cardboard/tincans

[@kaylamarie8309]

​@harsectinal Pretty close all things considered. They should do a video shooting a cross bow registering sound in an ambient environment. I think that would be pretty interesting. I managed to get a second shot at a big doe from my blind that I missed by inches one archery season that I would never have gotten during rifle season with my powder burning rifles.

[@AR15andGOD]

@@harsectinal from the range youll get hit from it certainly is

[@JakieToJestPojebane]

90dB means they're as loud as a car engine. Which means they can be quiet depending on the enviroment. With helicopters flying around they'd be as quiet as a mouse.

[@DestinationBarbarism]

Arrows were used in Yugoslav civil war to penetrate sandbags. Bullets use blunt force to create damage, and they tumble and deform. This makes things like sand bags optimal for stopping bullets. Arrows go through sand bags and the like with ease. Arrows also go through bullet proof vests.

[@YoureSoVane]

Soft armor, yes, but not any kind of armor plate.

[@Taskandpurpose]

interesting point I was not aware of the Yugoslav use , that explains why they came up when talking about Serbia still using them! they go through kelvar vest of the 1990s im guessing, they wouldnt go through ballistic plates

[@kiritotheabridgedgod4178]

​​@@Taskandpurposetrue, they wouldn't go through a plate, but that's what blunt tips are for. Don't need to punch through the plate, if you can just put enough force into it, that it cracks ribs and fills lungs with bone shards. Similar concept to the thought process behind HESH.

[@Steve-ev6vx]

I stop my crossbow with a foam block. I just don't see it penetrating sand bags.

[@The1337guy1]

​@@kiritotheabridgedgod4178I have my doubts a crossbow bolt could break bones through an armor plate. I also think the use case is pretty bad because if you can aim precisely for the armor, why not just shoot somewhere else? Surely aiming for the legs or stomach would get equal results.

[@binhanjustbinhan9141]

Hello, Vietnamese here and I want to share my side of understanding/ yapping despite I am not really someone who had a vast understand of war tactic noir history of warfare. In upper high school, we had a subject known as National Defense (Translate from: Quốc phòng) that is somewhat of the equivilent of Physical Education where we wear P.E clothes and went outside to learn. This subject later continued to be study in my Colledge/ University as one of required subject in every major but unlike in High school, we would spent up to 2 months in a facility to learn both war tactic, mindset (As per theories), first-aid training and firearm training with AK replicas (As per excercise). Back to the main subject, in theories course, when Viet Nam being invaded by foreign nation with advance technologies, we would mainly use older technologies to counteract against it. The reason is that older technologies, especially things that used wired to control is less likely to hacked or detected by any devices that design to detect. Not only that, newer tech mean more complex technicality and more complex technicality mean longer and harder time to get that tech online again once it broke down. This ,in some way, forced the enemy had to spread out their forces and power to get it back and while they doing that, it leaves an window of oppotunity to strike them. This same mind set is also applied to firearms, as eventhough an rusty 50 years old AK-47 could not be as effecient as any modern state of the art weaponry fitted to dealt with any senarios, it would at least outlast those kind of weapons when comes to reliability, durability and in some case, munitions if we're creative enough. So, even an medivial age hand-made crossbow (or just bows) made from woods and bones is not really far off as a viable weapons and could be even better in some case much like any Anti-tank weapons. However, one such problem with these kind of guerilla warfare stuff it is that it was intended for pure Defense purpose (Oh wow, such a surprice), rarely offense as even with massive man power, an rocket-propelled launched from shoulder could easilly taken down a large wave of men that is the equivilent of how much was sented to Normandy beach even before they touch the optimal range for any conventional weapon to hit them accurately. Even for the man wave tactic made by Chinese where they would surround the attacking location and attack by small group, thus create the illusion of greater number, this would not be possible in morden day as surveillian drone from far above could see them with multiple spectrum even in deep forest, unless you want to dug a commically long tunnel right under the enemy base and then jump out for a surprice attack (Which believe it or not, it happened before in our effort against the French in Dien Bien Phu by digging a tunnel right beneath them, plant an 1 ton handmade bomb with gun powder gather from bullets, grenade and bombs and then blow the entire A1 hill up). So what it had to do with the Chinese army? I don't know but so far, my guess it is just to show off some false image of greater defensive power at most and if they plan to invade an nation, they gonna use the ol' reliable Man Wave tactic because that the largest resource they had in hand, much like how they done it to us in 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. We almost lost but we manage to 'fense off the Chinese masive number long enough before SoViet enter the game and told the Chinese to f*ck off after 10 years of struggle to pass through Ha Giang, Vi Xuyen.

[@SeanDailey-dy8tn]

IMO, this is actually quite deadly. Crossbows make hardly any noise when fired. I'd totally do stealth operations with this kind of weapon

[@HanSolo__]

Bolts. Crossbows shoot bolts or quarrels, not arrows. Bolt is short heavy and stubby. An arrow is long and sleek. The dagger point on a hi-power crossbow pierces a soft body armour. Not visible in the thermal camera.

[@АбырВалг-л3с]

Modern crossbows use arrows. Bolts are heavy and short, without feathers (or with a rudimental ones, cause with such energies and f***ed-up balance of a bolt feathers don't give much stabilization), with porpoise to break steel armor from close range. Modern crossbows are hunting crossbows, they don't need armor penetration, animals don't wear steel. But animals are easily scared, so we need long range, good speed, and accuracy. Arrows give this, bolts don't. Also there was problems with medieval materials (too long to describe, it's pure engineering and durability), so at these times crossbows had short rail (could not hold a long arrow, only bolt would fit) and WERY powerful limbs (1000+ lbs, modern crossbow with 225 lbs is enough to take boar).

[@HanSolo__]

In my language arrows for crosbows are still called bolts to difference em from bow arrows.

[@smokedbeefandcheese4144]

@@АбырВалг-л3с they still called bolts saw em online

[@nickl5658]

also compared to gun, quiet.

[@BeetleBuns]

​@@АбырВалг-л3с finally someone that gets it right.

[@tango_uniform]

You should follow up with an explanation of decibels. Every 10 dB increase in sound intensity is 10X louder. So, a suppressor lowering the dB level by 20-30 means it is 100x to 1,000x quieter. Log base 10. Thirty decibels is the difference between a quiet office and a busy street.

[@Bootbandwarlord]

I think everyone knows this my guy

[@hidum5779]

@@Bootbandwarlord I didn't

[@Bootbandwarlord]

@@hidum5779 yeah but you do now 👍🏻

[@301MG]

@@Bootbandwarlordpoint is he didn’t before 🤣

[@blackdog6969]

I believe every 10dB is twice as loud. At least what we were taught in my tertiary music course. 10x would make the difference between a lawnmower and a concert excruciating

[@bugstomper4670]

A crossbow bolt, when fired will penetrate kevlar body armour, designed for stopping bullets.

[@carcharhinus_555]

True to some degree - kevlar wests purely against small arms. (Un)fortunately most kevlar wests now also have knife/jab protection, which will probably work well against an arrow. At least in Europe, where knife attacks are more common than gunshots (which influences what is produced most, which influences what is cheap, i.e. bought).

[@drsm7947]

It depends on how far is the target if it's more than 100 yard it's hard to pierce a kevlar armor

[@delphy2478]

good modern military body armor has a combination of kevlar and 'break plates' ,usually some ceramic variant, and the break plates will 100% stop the crossbow bolt. it would be rather rare to find a kevlar only body armor

[@ottovonbismarck7646]

Yes, but military body armor isn't just kevlar weave. It's a goddamned hardened ceramic plate with soft armor behind it. Unless that crossbow has ridiculous draw weight, it ain't sending a bolt through that.

[@Perry2186]

@@delphy2478 it aint the bolt that need stopped its the broadhead and ive seen muzzy and thunderheads go thorough soft armor

[@heyarno]

In Syria they successfully used big slingshots. If it works, it works. Also I think it's about what soldiers feel comfortable to use in a low intensity conflict. If they are more willing to not miss with a crossbow, it is more effective than a firearm.

[@luczvd]

i do understand using crossbows to prevent against accidents that gunpowder could cause. also there's the social factor of not escalating situations by setting a "limit" to how far violence can go. at least for non-military situations, i can understand the importance of the cultural factor

[@eddiestray4870]

You talk 'bout bows and arrows, but Brazilian army also still uses blowguns for guerrilla tactics into the rainforest! And, let's not forget Mad Jack Churchill, who scored the last recorded kill with bow and arrow during wartime!

[@ikiruyamamoto1050]

NO, crossbows cannot "hit people deep underwater." (15:25) Physics are physics and water is an energy dampening medium. Oh, and there are new cavitating bullets that travel MUCH MUCH further underwater!

[@obd3256]

Its youtube, whataya goina do?

[@FortessOfMind]

Peruvian snipers used crossbows in the jungle when we fought with Ecuador becuase they were more silent, the sniper would shoot and live in trees for days

[@jorgebarriosmur]

They are either preparing for a scenario where they have to time travel into medieval times and work with the avaliable tecnology, OR they are preapring for a zombi-apocalipse..........

[@habichnicht8845]

or a post nuklear war szenario when hot weapon munitions are not beiing produced anymore cuz facilitys have been evaporated but u can make bolts out of wood metal and other debris very easy

[@dchiznit209]

The Gate leading to the special region didn’t spawn in Japan..it spawned in China!

[@demomanchaos]

@@habichnicht8845 No you can't. Arrows are actually very complicated, as you have to balance a lot of factors to get one that actually flies true rather than shatters on launch or veers off in any direction except the one you want.

[@habichnicht8845]

@@demomanchaos okay i made arrows my self for bow and also bolts for crossbow and option 1 im very talented with that...... or 2 its not that hard ..... i even made a glass shard arrow tip its easy and looks pretty but for bow arrows u need glue for the fins and the tip and for bolts just sand or scrap some stuff off until it stays on a finger when placed roughly at the middel horizontally.... and well they hit a cardboard box at 80m just fine .... so accuracy okay i guess....

[@demomanchaos]

@@habichnicht8845 Is your bow a 120 lb war bow or a modern 50 lber that imparts a fraction of the force?

[@elvfrem]

You missed the point where a crossbow bolt is technically easier to make than a bullet and that you can even make them yourself with some knowhow. And if bullets, or the gunpowder ingrediense for it, becomes scarse or unavaliable for some reason.. Making a crossbow bolt or arrow will be the difference btween winning or losing. They are also reuseable, unlike pretty much all bullets. Admittingly, arrows for bows are easier than bolts for crossbows. So I believe that the training and use of crossbows and bows in modern times is a big "what if" scenario for if bullets becomes hard or impossible to comeby and you need alternatives that isnt just hitting someone with a club or your fists.

[@DM-88]

"I do not know with which weapons WW3 will be fought with, but I do know that WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones." -Albert Einstein

[@jlastre]

I remember watching a documentary when I was about 14 in 1978 where Green Beret from Vietnam said they used them for sentry illumination. He also mentioned they had some of the first gen night vision ,and once while he couldn’t see an enemy in a tree a native ally spotted the guy and shot him with a bow. In the 2000s there were a series of thrill killings of homeless by a psycho with a crossbow in Chicago lower Wacker Drive. The police eventually caught him.

[@Subgunman]

We used crossbows in Vietnam in place of sniper rifles. There were some complaints but the Cong used far more primitive traps. Razor tipped bolts will penetrate soft armor with no problem. I had a shop teacher 50 years ago who built a crossbow made of a leaf spring from a car and steel 3/16 inch cable. The bolt was a piece of rebar that had a notch ground in the back and the tip was sharpened to a 45° angle. A solid oak stock topped things off. He test fired it from about 20 feet from a 12 inch block wall with a brick veneer on the outside. Well as luck would have it it punched a perfect hole through both the block and the brick and buried itself in the grass 20 feet outside the shop. He about sh!t his pants. Lucky the bushes hid the hole outside but he had to patch the hole inside. Funniest thing a bunch of us witnessed after hours in shop class.

[@TheMightyTengu]

They can actually punch through some types of body armor too.

[@blacknwhitesalright]

“The Cong” - that’s not what you called them when you were there. How many massacres did you participate in?

[@Snarlacc]

I very much disagree that crossbows are simpler to maintain than firearms. Simple crossbows yes (non-compound ones), but modern crossbows? You need specialized equipment to restring it, can't be done in the field, and strings do break, especially when they get wet! You need to take very good care of the string, any dirt on it can make it fail within a few shots. And if it fails while fully drawn or you dry-fire it, the limbs will very likely also be damaged.

[@Steve-ev6vx]

I had string break while firing my Barnett and it didn't hurt it, but it was a recurve. I agree though, you need a bow press to work on one.

[@Mike-ul1xn]

agreed. my local bow shop is one of, if not the only one left in the state (and several surrounding) that will still work on crossbows in house instead of shipping it to the manufacturer. It is light years easier to maintain and repair AKs and ARs than a modern crossbow.

[@robonator2945]

uh, I would *_definitely_* be curious what crossbows have a noise of over 120db. As someone who owns and has shot a crossbow that is by no means fancy (standard fare sorta 250-300lbs crossbow you can probably find on amazon in a heartbeat) at no point have I ever even considered needing to wear hearing protection to shoot it safely. A crossbow is for all intents and purposes just a bow that holds itself back for you, this does allow it to be much stronger so most crossbows are wildly more powerful than most bows, but at the end of the day it's still just relying on flexing and tension to throw a stick at someone really bloody fast.

[@mr.coffee6242]

He never said crossbows are loud. What are you smoking

[@robonator2945]

​@@mr.coffee6242 my man he literally gave exact fucking decibel numbers.

[@justin_isaac_rada44]

Reusing old weapons that needed to train in 1-2 years for modern times are bows, crossbows, clubs(ex: baseball bats and sledgehammers), axes, spears, and any kind of catapults will are essential when guns are simple to train but it will run out of ammo in some point in time and it is close to post-apocalypse scenario. These weapons will going to save your lives and to keep fighting until gun materials are fully restored.

[@davidrobinson4553]

In the video the PLA soldiers were also using Compound Bows, I shot those here in England to a high competition level (The equivalent of representing my State in the US) putting arrows in a basically head size target was no problem at 100yds or meters, the kinetic energy was massive penetrating a compressed target 5 inch thick with ease, my Bow an American made Hoyt was set at 55lb draw weight, Our club didn't allow crossbows as they destroyed the targets, Some of the Barnett Compund Crossbows mentioned being between 4 and 6 times more powerfull than mu Hoyt Bow and even more accurate.

[@Jake-dh9qk]

Same, picked up a Bowtech prodigy for fun and started shooting about 2 times a week for 2 months without any professional training. It was really easy to hit accurately once you dial in the scope correctly. I can imagine the compound crossbow would be even easier to use

[@williamhadley1580]

If any of Cappy's platoon have video of his puppet show the world needs to see it.

[@My_initials_are_O.G.cuz_I_am]

Arrows and bolts go straight through water or sandbags, barely slowing down, giving them an advantage against enemies behind sand bags or divers.

[@blochtar]

I was looking for this comment.

[@johnfroehling5653]

Better than bullets but sandbags still stop bolts.

[@JoeSyxpack]

I've used a crossbow for deer hunting for several years now. Not a very fancy or expensive one, but a good one that pushes 370 fps. I use a 100 grain mechanical broadhead and a 20 inch bolt. I've been extremely impressed with just how accurate it is, how hard it hits, and how fast it puts down a deer. The bolts punch clean through the animal at pretty much any angle, and even a shot I didn't think was an ideal placement, the deer didn't run further than 50 yards. They punch so hard and fast that I expect a person that was shot through the chest wouldn't realize they were even shot at first, and by the time they did know something was wrong they wouldn't be able to do much screaming. Although I don't think I can agree with any reliability claims for crossbows compared to firearms. Most of your mechanical parts are exposed and vulnerable to damage. Crossbows are very clunky things to carry around compared to a rifle so they'll get bumped around a lot. Scopes can be notoriously easy to knock out of alignment compared to rifles. A single accidental dry-fire will damage nearly all modern crossbows (which is why most have a mechanism to prevent that). Everything is under constant stresses, plus huge vibrations when shot, so the realistic life-span of a crossbow is somewhere between a few hundred to a few thousand shots, depending on care and quality. The strings will wear out quickly if you aren't judicious about applying rail lube (and still will wear quickly if dirt or sand gets on that lube). The string is the most likely part to require service, and for most compound style crossbows (such as that TenPoint) they would be hard to replace in the field.

[@DehJarlorNoob]

Slow blade penetrates the shield. Broadhead bolts will go through kevlar and sandbags like they are water.

[@dennismitchell4132]

A crossbow bolt can penetrate through many body armors where a bullet might be stopped.

[@davisuehara3528]

I once fired a 300 pound cross bow. We only had one bolt. I aimed at a metal barrel and missed. We never found that bolt. That was the end of that.

[@301MG]

that’s some real sh*

[@casbot71]

When the aliens are able to jam gunpowder weapons......

[@makinganoise6028]

you jest but, if you had some kind of microwave weapon you could potentially cause brass ammo to cook off.

[@DanielLCarrier]

I'm imagining development into railguns and laser weapons being based around treaties that say they have to use cold weapons.

[@charleswomack2166]

Awesome video. I love your sense of humor! And if you shoot a revolver (45 caliber) you will find it easier to hit your target, when compared to other types of short barrel firearms.

[@nixey738]

But call of duty said that using crossbow is stealthy and you can retrieve your arrow

[@texasranger24]

Purely hypothetically, would my home defense setup of Tannerite filled dog decoys and gasoline lawn sprinklers still work on the ATF if they used Crossbows now? Im Minecraft of course...

[@kiritotheabridgedgod4178]

Well, if you were to swap to Crossbows, then the ATF can't touch you, and your tannerite filled dogs are safe from the sights of the bad men.

[@seand.g423]

Bro, you were fast as hell to count "denial" as "defense..."

[@nelson2095]

For some reason, I keep hearing Joerg Sprave's laugh while watching this video. 🤔

[@jamesb6102]

A whole new meaning to the phrase "broken arrow"

[@BlueSkyCountry]

In the near future, a large orbital railgun will be the best planetary defense against incoming asteroids. And a railgun is basically a crossbow, but using electromagnetic energy instead of mechanical.

[@prettyricky9676]

I have an idea for a weapon called the Reckoner. Imagine a railgun except for accelerating a stationary particle, you have molten metal, under high pressure loaded up behind the breach with a shutter valve synced to release a jet of hot metal at enormous pressure in as the rail pulses. Kinetic damage or fire? Yes. Area damage or focused hardpoint destruction? Yes. Nuclear fallout? No. Completely terrifying and devastating show of force? Oh yes.

[@Istoeumapemba]

Brazilian Jungle Army troops use crossbows as well. They're silent and deadly. And, with the indigenous recipe named "curare", even a scratch from the bolt may be lethal.

[@ricoma6037]

I quit drinking the molotov cocktail. The heartburn was terrible. 🔥

[@chibonchibon3967]

Japan still use kamehameha

[@wenerjy]

That's Hawaiian

[@DoveringFifths]

I can think of one reason, you can just make ammo in the field if you have to. Getting shot by a crossbow will still kill you just as dead as it did 1000 years ago. Silent too.

[@gyateste6191]

must admit there is still a good use for a crossbow in combat. using arrows in a secret close combat mission is going to be super stealthy. If they were able to get close without being spotted, no one would see or hear where theyære coming from.

[@johnnyshanksalot8358]

As opposed to say a B&T SPR300? Why not slingshots at that point?

[@canadiangemstones7636]

A silenced weapon is infinitely superior. There is NO good use for a crossbow in combat. Read some military history, see how often the word crossbow crops up.

[@Jake-dh9qk]

@@johnnyshanksalot8358 The crossbow isn't meant to be the ONLY weapon of the squad, it's part of the squad's weapon system. There's a lot of versatility you can use with the crossbow

[@johnnyshanksalot8358]

@@Jake-dh9qk Not when compared to modern tech, anything it can possibly do can be done far better by stuff from the last 100 years

[@andrewz2854]

Back when I was 9 years old my grandpa bought me a Barnett crossbow kit for $10 from the flea market. Assembled it that day but it took 2 years till I was strong enough to draw it back. Finally I took a shot at the huge fir in our yard and the bolt buried itself nearly to the fletching. I never in my life have understood why people don’t take crossbows seriously and don’t feel the need to regulate them like firearms. They’re absolutely deadly, accurate, versatile and silent.

[@smokedbeefandcheese4144]

Lol how are you going to regulate an ancient weapon peoples build in garage bros a Fudd

[@andrewz2854]

@@smokedbeefandcheese4144 I’m just surprised nobody wants to when it’s literally a perfect murder weapon

[@andrewz2854]

@@smokedbeefandcheese4144 And guns are not exactly that modern either; people build them in their garages and even 3d print them now yet the libs still think they can get rid of them.

[@nosidenoside2458]

I would assume people don't regulate them because of the inherent difficulty in rapid-fire. An ar-15 can mow down a crowd but even with a modern lever-action repeating crossbow you wouldn't be able to do that because you need to cock the crossbow between every shot. They are pretty powerful weapons, though I do agree with that

[@MRptwrench]

Aliens (1986) -Lieutenant, what do those pulse rifles fire? -10mm explosive tip caseless, standard armor piercing round. Why?

[@ashina2146]

The funny part is that due to the arms race in late medieval ages Plate Armor can resist Crossbow Shots at mid-long range which in turn slowly replace Crossbows with Arquebus which can punch through them at long range before the Cuirass were strengthened so it can resist Arquebus shots. And then Muskets and more reliable mechanism like Flintlocks were introduced and most nations just ditch the armor due to the supply lines as bullet proven armor isn't easy to make for the times where Armies become far larger, plus there was once an order from Wellington iirc where he requested a Regiment of Archers to fight Napoleon, however it was rejected because there's simple no one who can use bows militarily and there were no craftmen that can keep up with the demand of supplying bows and arrows even for a regiment which is around 800 men. Kevlar is basically built to resist the force of bullets, the same can be said to Star Wars armor which doesn't seem to protect against lasers but it was made to resist lasers as you will be knocked out when hit but it won't go through you which can knock out multiple men, but that armor is just useless against regular Guns which still exist in Star Wars Universe.

[@chipslejonet8840]

As far as i know there is no evidence that wellington ever requested archers to fight against napoleon

[@Cyborg_J]

Yeah it's kinda like Rock paper scissors. Kevlar can stop a bullet, but a bladed weapon like a bow or knife can make short work of it. The same weapons that would have been made useless by plate in days past.

[@johnnyshanksalot8358]

@@Cyborg_J But cut/stab resistant armor is made of that same material just less layers of it, seems like an urban legend imo.

[@Cyborg_J]

@@johnnyshanksalot8358 You may be right actually. I've always heard that normal bulletproof vest fare poorly against knives but admittedly I've never cared enough to research it fully.

[@johnnyshanksalot8358]

@@Cyborg_J To be fair, it is complicated because there are a lot of kinds of armor over many eras. Cut/slash/abrasion resistant (also sold as motocross jackets/jeans to prevent 'road rash' in a fall) might be as little as 1 layer of aramid/kevlar fabric or possibly a few but stab resistant has more & needs a stiff backing, tends to be about level 2 in terms of bulletproofing (stops only the weakest rounds like 22lr, 25acp, etc). The toughest soft/flexible armors like what police used to wear 15-20 years ago are 8-10 layers or level 3a & stop up to 44 magnum so I'd be extremely surprised if knives/arrows could get all the way through those without getting tangled up & stopped but you never know. That said, modern 'plates' that soldiers, SWAT or anyone with up to date gear would wear (level 3, 3+ or 4 that stop military rifle rounds) would definitely 100% stop blades/arrows no matter what so it might depend on whether we're talking about old school or modern as well as hard or soft.

[@BBhatt-pi5ob]

Could be like how GIGN still carries MR73 wheel guns, because of tradition and feeling confident in its use

[@poodlescone9700]

The Tac-15 is no joke. That thing is very lethal. It is also compatible with AR-15 accessories.

[@mostlychimp5715]

lmao thinking about having to use crossbows to defend explosives, reimagining that scene from Aliens but instead of being told to use "flame only" they're told to bust out crossbows...

[@TheBayru]

Maybe they heard USA still uses Archers in their artillery units ...

[@immortalwarrior2695]

I saw Indian special forces use crossbows too. This was on 2016. Stealth kills do work

[@MrJ4zzy]

@@immortalwarrior2695 the uh, Archer is a Swedish SPH...

[@cerovec123]

@@MrJ4zzy No its a specially trained archer. Cant believe you guys figured us out hehe, better keep investing in those crossbows now :O

[@psychshift]

As long as you say 'pew' when you fire the crossbow it still counts as a firearm.

[@ChadIRLEnjoyer]

Its so weird to me that I work in a hunting store and crossbows being so cheap. From the handful of pictures shown the crossbows they use are either 90- early 2010's crossbows (which makes sense with used ones being cheap) or wider / slower versions (minus the reverse compound style). One company that produces cheap but fast crossbows is Killer Instinct, they have crossbows made in Taiwan so you'd think they would buy them from there. But hearing them spend 1000's of dollars to get a Tenpoint is nuts with a decent crossbow probably only costing about 800.

[@clibinarium]

I think you might have the Qin dynasty (3rd Cent BCE) and the Qing dynasty 1644-1911 mixed up. Which is easy to do since they sound so similar. Even the Wiki pages of each of them is headed with "not to be confused with...", so it must be something people do all the time.

[@paulanderson7893]

You forgot Bo and Lukee Duke. From Hazard county Georgia

[@HubertofLiege]

Deliverance

[@bringer-of-change]

I dont understand why they dont use the railgun concept to modify them, or why they dont use rocket propelled arrows.

[@ericb9931]

It takes 2 years to train with rubber bullets? Glad the 5 years of paintball and airsoft before my enlistment would have counted as training in China lol

[@jamesgunnyreed]

On a podcast (I cant remember which one) Marcus Luttrell talked about how they all brought their compound bows with them and would target shoot in their compound. He mentioned that a couple guys wanted to take them out on patrol, but were shut down pretty quick

[@larryqi]

It's actually quite simple, the Chinese military lacks standardized or civilian versions of silencers/suppressors. Crossbows became a simple and effective substitute, the last generation of silenced weapons was the Type 64 micro-sound submachine gun, which was too old

[@scipioafricanus4875]

Informative love the humor

[@bartweijs]

Much simpler actually. In Sarajevo, crossbows were the only weapons capable of shooting straight through a sandbag.

[@_B_B_B]

Crossbow bolts penetrate light body armor well. Also, a crossbow bolt is good at penetrating obstacles such as sandbags. It is also important to note that the arrow will most likely stop in the body rather than fly further. This helps avoid accidental hits. The arrow also has high stopping power.

[@Its_shiki_time4876]

In all fairness the chinese rifles have terrible moa so its probably more accurate than their rifles

[@FarmerDrew]

😂

[@joejohnson4183]

Mitch WerBell used to teach unconventional weapons at the farm , crossbows , bow & arrow , knives , shovels , tomahawks and even slingshots were taught and remember in this time period suppressors were only used for wetworks so not that in common use . You would be surprised how effective crossbows and even slingshots are for sentry removal and are very quiet . And crossbows have been used for decades for poaching as they make no noise .

[@chloroquine99]

Used to have a crossbow. Guns are better in every way, including if you want a quiet weapon. A crossbow when you fire is loud. And the impact of the crossbow bolt is loud; because of the slow velocity is also a distinct sound from the firing, so it like its double the sound signature. Suppressed subsonic ammo in a firearm is where it is at if you want quiet. Download it or use something like CCI Quiet 22 if you want it even quieter.

[@x-snipo2137]

Well I mean crossbows ignore most modern armour as they pierce and are far scarier as a visually on a dead body plus the ammo is reusable

[@taotao98103]

I think what you mean by "sharp blade" is like a small special force being used as a spearhead for the mission. "Spearhead" "Sharp blade" do you see the resemblance?

[@D-B-Cooper]

A crossbow can punch through a sandbag where a firearm can’t.

[@MrGsteele]

Quiet, no flash signature to give away position, high sectional density to penetrate vests, no ringing in your ear post-firing.

[@alexrockey3730]

There was also a time when arrows were used just to defeat body armor, much like how prison guards didn't wear it; the sharp point would go between the fibers of it. However, there has been new technology applied to body armor to protect against that.

[@OPMDK]

One word: “revolver pistol” Also note the position of the crossbowman is in the stack

[@WiminieKwainduo]

You never know, this might come in handy..

[@morgonsvintagetraveling2669]

They are silent, deadly and when hidden or dusk you wouldnt easily find them, but the disadvantage is the training it would take compared to a firearm.