[Keith Larman]

Don't know much about them, but I figure you guys wouldn't mind seeing an old one...

[Risto Rautiainen]

Cool!

But actually that's not a crossbow in the traditional sense of crossbow. That's a "pellet bow" or a "bullet shooting crossbow" for shooting little stones or similar round objects. A pic of a same kind of bow can be seen in the book by Sir Ralph Payne gallwey called "The Crossbow". That bow type was quite popular in the years 1800-1840. Actually, now that I look at it and compare it with the one in the book, it's almost identical. The book also has diagrams and a how-to on making the string. But that's old enough to be a museum piece so I'm not so sure if it's a good idea to make a new string. btw, is the string still keeping the bow bent? It looks to be in quite good condition.

[Keith Larman]

Interesting. I hadn't had any time to do any research on it yet, but what you say makes sense. I couldn't figure out how a bolt could be used with it, and the front thingie that rotates up was really wide -- it didn't make sense. Gonna have to find more info on this now...

Yeah, it is in really good shape. Amazing to see the strings still mostly intact. There is no tension in the strings so the bow's shape is the bow's shape untensioned. The cocking mechanism still functions but somewhere inside the trigger is no longer getting involved. So it *almost* works... Really neat to look at, hold, and feel. Substantial piece of work.

I'm going to have to try to find a copy of that book so I can be a bit more informed when I put it up for sale for the owner.

Thanks for the info. Mostly I just thought "here's something you don't see everyday...". More unusual than I had guessed, I suppose.

[Keith Larman]

Thank you very much for the reference. I just ordered myself a copy of the book on amazon. Very cool.