Crossbow and Bolts, legality question

[Quit-the-forum]

Made a prototype crossbow, just to test the concept, out of cut up PVC, duct tape, and a length of string. Tests at under 15 pounds of draw strength. Shoots about a ten inch bolt. I'm fairly certain the prototype isnt going to pass any inspection, due to being held together by duct tape, flimsy, and with rough cut edges, that arnt safe. The plan is to make a more sturdy crossbow, later.


The bolt is a wooden dowel, with duct tape for fetching, and the standard tip for a normal belegarth bow, based on the instructions on the wiki, including the penny, and 2.5 inches wide and deep of foam (very fluffy foam). For the nock, it's just a cut in the wood.

I guess, this is where the question comes in. I'm under the impression that bolts and arrows are the same thing, as far as the rules, and I'm fairly certain, but not exactly certain, that the my bolts would pass, due to being made from a dowel, not a store bought arrow.

And, a second question, considering the incredibly short range of the crossbow (just for clarity, it'd only going to be accurate at a range of maybe 5 yards tops, within the minimum range allowed by practicality and the rules, whichever comes first.), would it be recommended, or required by the rules, that I put some courtesy padding on bow? Its not likely to be ran into someone, but, if someone tackles me or something, I don't know, guess that's why I'm asking. Should I/do I have to put some padding on the crossbow bow, and where, and how much?

I've done searches on the topic, on the boards, and havnt found anything to the effect of the answer to my question, though I do see a tendency for there to be sizable amounts of comments along the lines of "it's 15 pounds, it wont work, or be practical", and the prototype already was made, so I'm well aware of what the firing power of it is.

Thanks for any help you can give me, I really appreciate it, I'm still very noobish at this sport. Again, thank you so incredibly much.

Crispin Lerouche

[Galya]

I moved this to the Foam Smithing forum because I think you'll get a better response here than in New Members.

[Korbin the Mad]

I knew a Hugo had a bel legal crossbow a while back. Pretty nifty little thing.

The crossbow wouldn't need any padding. If a bow doesn't, neither would a crossbow.

Your bolts are made if wood, and as such, I believe they must be wrapped in tape. This is the BoW's way of making sure no one is hurt if it breaks.

My suggestion would be to use regular arrow shafts. * sporting Goods will cut down the shafts for you to whatever length you want when you buy them.

I'd like to see more crossbows. Post pics/vids of the final product!

[Quit-the-forum]

quit

[bo1]

i am growing exceedingly uncomfartable with people explain thier lack of funds and then making something they are shooting at my face. please wait until you can afford quality items before making a potentially dangerous crossbow bolt.

[Peregrine]

I do not think duct tape fletching is going to pass.

[Quit-the-forum]

quit

[Rasheab]

I wouldnt be shooting it at your face.

All arrows and bolts must be face legal.

[Quit-the-forum]

well, the next sentence, sorta explained why it wasnt a safety concern. Think the other fellas concern, was that if I used cheap material, and it broke in a pointy kinda way, and was going towards his face, it could have some nasty effects. I'm very conscious of safety, I dont want anyone getting hurt. The tips are fluffed wide enough they they would not go in an eye socket without someone using two hand and forcing it in with all their strength, and deep enough to comply with the 35 pound bow's arrow rules, even though this is a 15 pound crossbow, which doesnt have 1/10th the amount of force to it. Safety isnt something I'm having problems with. Legality is a problem, I was wondering whats required for legality.

I think I'm done with the forums. Sorta tried my best to indicate that I didnt want people critisizing in ways that dont account for my common sense, because I find it insulting, I just wanted information. I got that information, and I appreciate it, but I dont appreciate people harking on details that they can not see, were not given, and I'm not sharing, when I'm here, have a fully functional brain, and am working on it myself.

So, I appreciate the information, I really do, those who were helpful, I appreciate it a ton, I hope to someday be knowledgable enough to do the same for someone else. And to those who felt the need to waste my time with comments that were useless, because I happen to be in possession of two perfectly working eyes to be able to see, and 1 perfectly working brain to think, I thank you for your time wasted to waste my time.

Bye

[Tails]

well, the next sentence, sorta explained why it wasn't a safety concern. Think the other fellas concern, was that if I used cheap material, and it broke in a pointy kinda way, and was going towards his face, it could have some nasty effects.

You say you don't intend on shooting people in the face, but that's the level that these weapons are checked. If you use cheap materials to make one of the two dangerous weapons in the sport, people are gonna be nervous about it.

I think I'm done with the forums. Sorta tried my best to indicate that I didn't want people criticizing in ways that don't account for my common sense, because I find it insulting, I just wanted information.

Those two things go hand-in-hand (criticism and information) and you can't seriously expect to come to the boards as a "new" person and have everyone expect you to running on all 6 cylinders. The information so far has been good stuff, wether it is for insight on what others thing of about rules.

And to those who felt the need to waste my time with comments that were useless, because I happen to be in possession of two perfectly working eyes to be able to see, and 1 perfectly working brain to think, I thank you for your time wasted to waste my time.

Come on dude, don't be a * just because people weren't worshiping you for your idea. There is an ocean of knowledge here that you'd be stupid to skip out on, because people here don't like your idea.

[Quit-the-forum]

My issue, is you guys arnt taking the time to think. You still think that just because I said that I wouldnt be shooting someone in the face, means my arrows wouldnt be good for it, even though it was the very next sentence, that you failed to read.

It's **** like that. People looking to get a stupid assed insult comment in, without taking the time to actually see what I wrote.

Go get a life. Dont reply to me, unless you want to take the time to be useful. GO AWAY.

[Quit-the-forum]

if it isnt abundantly clear, this is my thread, get off it if you cant take the time to read. Making that real short and sweet, so you can read it. Dont want to expect you to......ah, you arnt still reading anymore, so what does it matter...

[Caleidah]

Hi, welcome to Belegarth.

Firstly, PVC is an inferior material. When used in bows, unless you constantly unstring/restring whenever it isn't in use (which you should be doing with any bow) it will warp. That said, even with doing that, it will warp. Considerably. Within a short period of time, you're going to be losing power. Find a superior material for the bow AND your bolts. Those dowels will snap the first time they take an angle improperly or get stepped on. And they will get stepped on. As Korbin suggested, look into carbon fiber shafts and cut them down. For fletchings, you'll want to use plastic. Given the conditions of Bel fields, feathers would get ratty too fast. You are going to have to spend a lot of money to make these passable, because archery has the potential to be lethal. There are steps that have to be taken.

Secondly, crossbows are incredibly gimped under our current ruleset. THey're limited to very low poundage and a very short draw. Kudos for making your own, but you'll find fairly quickly that you could throw your bolts further and faster. If you want to play the ranged game, look into getting a full sized bow, some javelins or even some rocks.

Thirdly, chill. You're a new fighter from a new(ish) realm. A lot of the thoughts and ideas that you're posting are things that are very characteristic of new people and your flippant attitude isn't helping. Take a deep breath, work on your stuff, and come back later.

And stay away from the General Mayhem for at least a month.

Enjoy your stay.

[Tiberius Claudius]

Your thread?

I'm afraid you don't understand how this series of tubes works son. You wrote something on the Belegarth forum. It belongs to all of us now and with your ego and bad attitude, it's going to be irrevocably taken away from you in a hot minute once the truly vociferous log in Monday morning and read your self-important e-peen fapping. I hope you like **** in a bag or else you've got a good plastic surgeon because you'll be paying him overtime to sew up your * hole that's about to be ripped six ways from Tuesday.

Your opening post ends with

Thanks for any help you can give me, I really appreciate it, I'm still very noobish at this sport. Again, thank you so incredibly much.

You started with the perfect attitude. Then, when people much smarter and experienced than you spoke, you freaked the **** out because you didn't want anyone to * on your golden calf that will change the face of the foam fighting like none of us ever thought of. What you want and expect from the internet is both unbelievably naive and irrelevant. While it can be forgiven and excused, you obviously are incredibly new to not understand how the culture and give-and-take method of idea exchange operates on these fora. Thick skin is a necessary tool of survival on the Bel boards. I kindly suggest you shut your **** mouth and lurk a bit longer until you can accept how things go down around here.

The vast majority of people on these boards have been playing the game for many, many years and have already tried multiple variations of new tech - if not actually developed the core tech of the game itself - and learned what works and what does not. You are most unwise to ignore (let alone throw a **** tantrum like my three year old) anything they say because it is most assuredly not in vain. They have seen countless enthusiastic n00bs and know-it-all turds come and go throughout the years with their florentine double-ended-uberflailscythes of death - every single last one of them burning in a well deserved firey **** of internet flaming - not for their new ideas; rather their unsafe aspects and rules breaking, and disgusting attitudes.

Not one comment here had been angry, mocking, or undeserved. When you see as many flat-out-stupid or not-wholely-thought-out ideas as the patient and knowledgeable veterans around here do, it becomes second nature to chime in with "hey, don't forget...." or "...... aspect concerns me". Perhaps it wasn't what you wanted to hear, but it was and forever shall be necessary because untold numbers of new fighters search the boards like you do and come across old ideas. They either read what they want to read, or don't get the context of the conversation and then they say "But so-and-so plays with laz0rz, so I can too!" Additionally, who the **** are you? No one knows you. No one knows what you know or, more importantly, the vast amount that you don't know. What they freely gave as safety concerns and advice for you to incorporate into your design, you take as an insult to your overinflated ego and sense of worth. **** you, chode. You're one load your mom should have swallowed.

If you wish to be a part of this community, and you're still invited to be, you need to learn your place. This isn't an egalitarian society. Just like on the field where you are only as good as the physical skills you bring to the game, so it is on the boards where you're only as good as your attitude, safe and accurate knowledge, and your willingness to learn and grow as an adult. After you've been around the block a few times and proven that you're not the douche you're coming across as, then people will respect you and your opinion will mean something. I strongly suggest you take a step back and learn from this. Put your ego and attitude aside and review a lot of other threads where advice is sought. You'll see that you were neither treated improperly nor differently from any other person bringing up new ideas. But, it's your choice to either grow up and chill out and become one of the team or continue to act like the whining little limp-dicked dingleberry that you have been. I sincerely hope for the former.

Welcome to the game. Hit hard. Fight honorably.

[Quit-the-forum]

Fine, thread finished, I got the answers I wanted. Next time, I'll be specific, and tell people I want only answers to my questions, and relevent subjects, not speculation on how poor I am at thinking.


I dont want to be part of the forum community. I've seen enough of this sport, to know just how people get when it comes to "discussing" the rules, and ideas. I want no part of anything other than the hitting people with foam weapons part. I wanted something specific answered, because my real life people were not knowedgable on the subject, and every time I asked someone who had general knowledge of most things, to speculate on how it aught to be, I got other people chiming in with their two cents in the most annoying of ways. Got the same thing here.

whatever. Done.

[Caleidah]

Derian, let's get a lock before this goes from south to Dirty South.

[Tails]

sheesh

[Black Cat]

PVC for a crossbow? Wooden dowel rods for the "bolts"? I wouldn't use that junk for anything more than backyard plinking shenanigans while wearing ANSI-approved safety glasses.

Not to mention that our rules are in reality unintentionally designed to disallow crossbows without outright banning them. Considering even Oznog couldn't get that rule changed, this "quit-the-forum" guy has no chance in hell of doing any good for our game in that area.

I would suggest that "quit-the-forum" should go to a bow-making forum and take a few years to learn the craft, then come back when he can make a real low-poundage crossbow for testing. But that craft takes far more patience than this guy will ever have, so I'm not going to bother linking him to the forum I know of.

[Forkbeard]

Why did you quit, *? Aww, did you get sand all up you *.
**** I love this guy, what a **** retard. I'll teel you what, bub, I'm going to go out of my way to find your stupid little realm, wait for you to have an event, and them I'm going to come to it and make fun of you in person. Who's in? If this sissy got all but hurt over people generally being NICE to him(becasue everyone in here has been really nice to you, considering the retardedness of your easily answerable questions by anyone actually owning the eyes and brain your repatedly insist you have) imagine the **** storm of stupid when he is faced with it in real life. Hi **** larious.
FB

[Black Cat]

Isn't there a realm somewhere named "Ra Tard" or some such that this guy could join?

I read somewhere that a unit called the "Scythe Clowns" fights there. This guy would fit right in.

[Zeldrine Cold]

Derian, let's get a lock before this goes from south to Dirty South.

Too late.

[Forkbeard]

You should probly just delete this thread.

[Remdawg Killionaire]

Lock and sticky this thread as a warning to all.
Stoopy thread is stoopy.

[Black Cat]

Derian, let's get a lock before this goes from south to Dirty South.

Too late.