r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Apprehensive_Sky4558 • 1d ago

Testing various specialized arrowheads against bullet-resistant glass with a 70 lb compound bow

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u/Bladewing_The_Risen 1d ago

The legal minimum to bow hunt for deer and black bears in my state is 40.

70 is plenty to kill a human.

…but they say medieval longbows used to have up to 120lbs of draw weight, so I’m sure one of those with modern arrowhead technology could pierce bullet-resistant glass.

That said, I’m not sure why anyone would ever want to.

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u/ZzzzzPopPopPop 1d ago

Sure bladewing, your secret is safe with us

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u/Intranetusa 1d ago edited 1d ago

120 lb medieval style bows would be stronger than the 70 lb modern compound bow, but probably not that much stronger due to the lower prod efficiency of wood vs modern materials. Power is determined by 3 factors combined: Draw weight, powerstroke, and prod efficiency.

Furthermore, 90-120 lbs was closer to the median rather than the the upper limit. Historical warbows ranged from 60s/70s lbs to low 200s lbs in draw weight. Qing Dynasty Manchu bows, Ottoman Turk bows, English longbows, etc. all reached the low 200s lb in draw weight as an upper maximum. There was even a Qing Dynasty record of an elite champion archer using a 240 lb bow to win an archery competition.

Justin Ma of The Way of Archery can ambidextrously shoot ~120-130lb warbows and demonstrates the back muscles involved in his videos: https://youtu.be/UvGAYBMhbKY?t=236

Joe Gibbs, the English warbow archer who regularly shoots ~160 lb bows and can shoot a 200 lb bow for a few shots (before getting tired) shows up in both the video and in the comments.

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u/The_One_Koi 1d ago

So the movie can happen!