Arrows?

[GBG]

I've read that some of the first firearms shot arrows. I did a forum and net search but found little info. Is there a reliable source with details and has anyone built or tested replicas? Just curious, thanks for any help.

 

[mr.fudd]

There's nothing traditional about my experience, but maybe you can get something out of it.

I did some experimenting several years ago shooting arrows out of a modern shotgun with reduced powder charges. It worked surprisingly well when I got the loads right. I had to modify the arrows by replacing the nock with something wider, (I used RG6 cable TV fittings). The fletchings centered the back of the arrow and prevented it from sliding out and I used a twist of newspaper wrapped around the arrow near the muzzle to center the front end.

My main problem was consistency. I was trying for a silent arrow flinger and sometimes it worked like a dream. I couldn't count on that however as sometimes it sounded like a gunblast and sometimes the arrows barely made it out the muzzle. This probably had to do with inconsistent ignition due to a tiny powder charge in a 12g shotgun shell. Also I had no reloading supplies at the time and the way I was making the ammo was by cutting open a shotgun shell, dumping out the powder and shot and then adding a couple scoopfuls of powder back using a .22lr casing as a measure.

All in all it was a half-assed project, but I have no doubt whatsoever that someone who did a better job than I did could make it work.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

There isn't as much on the subject as you might think. Try typing handgonnes & matchlocks in your browser window. And watch the History Channel and History International as they have a couple of shows that discuss this to a degree.

 

[mr.fudd]

I was looking through old threads tonight just seeing what caught my eye and I happened to stumble upon this.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/192749/

 

[robinghewitt]

It's that earliest picture of a gun. The artist had obviously never seen one, but you can see how it was described to him...

"A gun is vase shaped, mounted on a wooden table, lit with something on the end of a stick and fires a fat arrow" :yakyak:

 

[Elnathan]

You might want to have a look at Robert Held's Age of Firearms. I don't recall what exactly is in there, but Held is likely to have something.

 

[benvenuto]

theres some pictures on my website:
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~dispater/handgonnes.htm
The arrows they used were more like crossbow quarrels, they called them "sprites" or "springalds" .
The fletching was made out of tin or brass sheet, and they were loaded over a wad with some more wadding wrapped just below the head to keep it centred in the bore. They were used up until elizabethan times.
As you can see from the pictures on my page longer veresions were used to launch incediaries.

 

[GBG]

Many thanks benvenuto for the detailed information and link to your website. I had no idea arrow launching firearms were used to that late a date.

 

Actually, dart like projectiles, called fletchettes, have been used in modern warfare. There is a tank killer round that uses such technology.

CP

 

[benvenuto]

good article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette

the anti-tank version is called a kinetic energy penetrator or more precisely Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) round
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy_penetrator

scary stuff!

 

[hakujin]

Some ideas never seem to die: http://www.lauerweaponry.com/subcats.cfm?Category=150

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

The beehive rounds were very effective in Viet Nam. I've always been glad that we had had them and the other side didn't!

We played around with a version of a flechette that we fired from a smoothbore flintlock pistol. Essentially a dart with the fins trimmed down to fit the bore and a wooden "sabot" surrounding part of the shaft, it was accurate enough at thirty or forty feet that an aluminun pie plate was in serious danger. It was a fun experiment, but basically had no practical use that we could discover.