Shooting range

[badhabum]

Reading a book from Jean Lopez "La guerre Antique" , I was perplexed by an article on the slingers. Citing Xénophon Anabase, III, 3, 10, 3, 16 the range of a persian bow that outranged the cretan archers was about 5 plèthres or around 150 meters  and explain that the Greeks used the rhodian slinger whose range was about 200 meters . the article goes on and compares shooting ranges citing diverse test such as studies made by Saxton Pope and the average range of an antique bow  would be 120 meters, 200 for the best ones and then he cites the tests done by a Manfred Korlmann on the site of troy and the range of the sling was average 200 m but some ranging to 230/240 meters so outranging the bows. Procopius is also cited as he would have written that slingers outranged hunnic bows but I do not have the right coordinates of the text.
At the end of one of the chapter ranges are :
Legion pilum : 20-40 meters
Bow 50-150 meters
Sling 200 meters and up to 400 meters if parabolic
Scorpio ( the ART with legions ? up to 100 meters only but if parabolic up to 400 meters

So I tried to check the Longbow and from tests that have been made it seems taht the usefull range would be depending on sources 60 to 100 meter and piercing plate armour, up to 200 meters piercing mail .

Medieval crossbows are credited with a range of 270 meters ( even some say 450 meters but what would be the armour piercing power )

But now I cannot keep wondering as in MEG bows outrange slings but it seems historical facts tell us another story and slings could be as dangerous as longbows in range and power.( a heavy bullet sent straight forward with some power capable of killing someone even armoured ?  )

So now open to discussion

[lionheartrjc]

There have been numerous articles in Slingshot on this topic over the last 40 years.  Information on maximum ranges is largely useless, there are a lot of different factors that influence range.  Xenophon actually says that the Rhodian slingers had twice the range of the Persian slingers because the Rhodians used lead shot while the Persians used heavy stones.  By the way I cannot find Xenophon mentioning the range of a Persian bow in the III.3.10.  He does say that the Persian archers could outrange the Cretan archers and that the Persian slingers could outrange the Greek javelin throwers.

In reality few troops shoot at anything near maximum range due to ammunition limitations. The range you shoot at depends upon what your enemy can do. If you were a mounted archer facing hoplites you could gallop up to 10 yards from the enemy shoot and then retire.  If the hoplites are protected by slingers, you don't want to get anywhere near them.

The effect of a slingshot hitting a target is different from an arrow.  A slingshot inflicts blunt trauma, an arrow pierces its target.

Crossbows vary enormously from simple crossbows to powerful medieval arbalests.

Quite frankly I have seen so many different ranges quoted for weapons that I don't trust any of them.  I have personally seen a bow fired 250 meters, but that was absolute extreme range (a powerful bow and an experienced archer). Sling effectiveness and range depends upon the ammunition used.

Richard

[badhabum]

A slingshot inflicts blunt trauma, an arrow pierces its target.

Blunt trauma can kill when arrows do not depending on the armour 

But Ok it will be an endless discussion as different historians have different opinions 

[LawrenceG]

What does "if parabolic" mean in this context?

[Simon Meg-Meister]

Legion pilum : 20-40 meters
Bow 50-150 meters
Sling 200 meters and up to 400 meters if parabolic
Scorpio ( the ART with legions ? up to 100 meters only but if parabolic up to 400 meters

Rules broadly based on the 400m scorpio = 8BW.
Bow 200 - 4BW
Sling - 200m hell of a sling shot ...
etc.