Heavy Crossbow

by jirf in Outside > Launchers

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Heavy Crossbow

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This is a guide helping you to make a heavy crossbow capable of killing a person.
NOTE: this is capable of killing most things except big game, so DO NOT attempt to shoot anyone or anything without thinking of killing it, and if you do, I am most definatley not responsible for the death or injury so be-friggan-ware.

Also note that the crossbow should be made over a span of 2 days, the second day can be spent assessing the crossbow, tweaking it and adding features.

Materials

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Before you start you will need these tools:

-Ratchet saw (that motorized hand saw thing)
Note: if you do not have this you will be sore from cutting the wood out with your hands, so yeah, this tool helps.
-Coping saw (any saw will do)
-Chisel
-Malet
-Drill
-Vice (absolutely, positively needed)
-Pencil
-Ruler
-Carving tool (last picture), fairly useful, if you can get one.
-Drill pieces
-Sandpaper
Note: I have gone into detail, just in case some idiot complains about it.

Deadly Resources required:
-Wood (1 metre length and 15 cm width, which is about 3 feet length and 6" width, I think).
-wooden blinds
-String (strong, the thicker the better)
-Screws
Note: Wooden blinds can be substituted for bamboo, I will go into more detail in step 3.

Marking and Chopping Wood.

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The chunk on the third and first picture has to be kept.
Chop the wood with the Ratchet, make sure that the wood is in the vice or you will be missing a few fingers after this step.
The chunk taken out of the body should be kept unless you have scrap wood lying around.

The chunk of wood that has been chopped off you should now put into your vice look at picture 6 to see where the screws go, drill them in slightly so the're in there but not completely through the wood, now remove it from the vice and clamp the base there, then fully screw in the chunk as shown in picture 5. This is the stock.

The Bow

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The bow really does vary, any material that is bendy but not in the mood to snap will do, but here are some rules.

1. If it is too bendy, add more of that and increase distance of shooting slide (cock).
2.Add 3 or four of the blinds shown (Best option).
3.Bamboo is the worst option for this crossbow but still efficient, I did manage to make a crossbow that didn't snap with a bamboo 2 metre pole, but the blinds are the best option, although I don't know where to buy them from.

If your using the blinds drill a small hole on the ends of the blinds (pic 3+4) tie a knot at the end of the string after threaded through, then thread through the next hole on the other side (make sure string is on the right side of the wood and not twisted or knotted) wrap the string around numerous times then tie a normal knot, then double it, maybe triple. Pull the bow back to the end of the cock, if it feels too tight its about to snap, loosen the string, if its too weak, tighten it.

E-mail me if you're using something else.

Inserting Bow and Making the Cock.

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The bow will go up in shown area of that chunk missing, so stick it in there and get either scrap wood or cut the chunk kept to size and hammer it in with the mallet, if the bow is moving too much get a different piece of wood and try that with the mallet, make sure it doesn't move.

The groove in the cock is made with the carver so rule 2 straight lines parallel to eachother same width of the carver and carve in a chisel like fashion along the length of the cock (pic 2).

Trigger, Sanding and Firing.

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You'll notice a fair few rough edges, eliminate them with sandpaper.

The trigger is really simple and capable of holding a massive amount of power, look at picture 1, now the way to do it, saw a 1 cm slit at the end of the cock grab the chisel and mallet, chisel either an angled cut or horizontal depending on where you want the trigger to be.

To fire, flick your thumb up below the string when loaded with an arrow or bolt, it should fire, if not look at the crossbow have a think on where it went wrong.

And if you're really impatient and want a less accurate and easy thing to shoot, get some large bullet-head nails.

Regards...

If you have any questions relating to your crossbow, it doesn't even have to be my one here, e-mail me at sutherite@hotmail.com, set your subject to crossbow otherwise I will most likely delete it.

And for safety, do not shoot this at anyone or thing otherwise you will trigger a slight neurological disorder called DEATH, and if you're wondering how or what to shoot and you don't have professional bolts or arrows I will be making a guide for those some time soon.

And also If you're crossbow can shoot over 100 metres (over 270 feet, I presume) e-mail me on what you used, because you are successful, if it doesnt shoot far e-mail me anyway and tell me what you used so I can help.