[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Skybird

An arrow is a sword with wings! The airforce of what usually hacks and stabs.

If you come closer than let's say 100-120m, than in earlier years, when I practiced regularly, you would have been mine with most shots, promised. I haven't done that for years now. I used a special Korean compound bow, a handmade special work of which only some 40 had been built by the master who created it. Buying it made me a poor man back then. It did acchieve a somewhat very good compromise between the small size of a mongolian bow with the enormous compression-power (don't know if that is the ro crrect english word) of British Longbows and Japanese warbows (does not mean it is as stgorng as these). Depending on the weight of the arrow and the pulling power of the shooter, that beast has a precision-shot-range of around 250m. For comparison, sporting events are done at varying distances of 40-90m, and mediaval English Longbows were built with more than 100lb pulling strength and a range of 350m, roughly. An non-shooter could not pull the string of such a monster. Archers were trained in ancient times sicne their childhood to build the needed muscles for that. I couldn't shoot precisely that far, but was able to pull it to acchieve a 200m-range. Precision shooting for me ended somewhere around the 100-120m mark. That means I am not strong enough to use this bow to it's full potential. I can use around 60-70% of it. the strongest bows that are built in the present have a pulling strength of around 200lb maximum. Shooters able to use them are very rare.

If you think a good bow is inferior to a hunting gun, then you are totally wrong, believe me

Consider a shooter using such a weapon against you, and he is trying to hide and give you no target and uses sniper tactics of moving and approaching - then you have an extremely serious problem with that guy, no matter if you have long range hunting rifles or automatic weapons for yourself or not. If that guy also has a sword and is skilled in using it, then you are almost dead if you ever manage to approach his hidden position to be withion sword-striking range.

I trained archery and sword fighting and Martial Arts, and seriously so, but no Ninja-stuff and camouflage games. I have that Korean special compound bow (decinstructable into three parts (without metal, airport security would hate it), another ordinary sport bow, two wooden Katanas, one industrially-manufactured Katana, and an original ancient Katana (late 16th century). If I would sell that stuff, I would be able to buy myself a luxury car, a bigger appartment, or even a small house. :rotfl:

Bow speed means I can step out of the way of your ranged shot. The way the English used to get around this and kill their enemy was to unleash a hail storm of arrows at the exact same time so that there was no way for the enemy to run.
can't hit you with at least 1 round from 500 meters or less, I deserve to be shot!
Now if I take a 30 round clip, and can't hit you from 500 meters or less, I deserve to be shot.

PS. THe time it takes you to recoil and strike with a sword, I can train on you and shoot you mutiple times practically tearing your body in half before you even have the chance to strike - the very reason swords were discarded after the ball and muskett moved technologically to automatics. The point is - your ancient sword is of no use in a modern world except on an equally armed or unarmed opponent. Everything else is dream world.