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peggy
10-12-12, 3:03pm
So I was watching this new program the other day, Revolution, and everyone was using cross bows. Of course I knew they existed, but had never really given them much thought. They are actually kind of cool, aren't they!
I did a little quick research and found out there are all kinds of cross bows, from the big deer hunting kind to 'pistol bows' and even 'stone bows' that shoot a bullet like lead thing or clay bullet.

Does anyone here have a cross bow? What kind and what do you use it for? I know some like the challenge of deer hunting with a cross bow, and I believe my state has a season for that, but what do you hunt with the pistol bow, or is it more for target fun? And the stone bow seems almost like a sling shot plus, although i could be wrong about that. On a side thought, that stone bow might be just the thing to keep the squirrels from my feeders! I tried a sling shot but I pretty much suck at that! I wonder how easy these are to use and how accurate.

I saw that some cross bows are 'set' (computer won't let me write cocked;)) by hand and some have levers and devices to 'set' the string. I'm just guessing here but the ones set by hand aren't as powerful as the ones that need a 'setting' device. I could see someone who liked these making one of their own as the actual weapon seems pretty simple, but lots of room for embellishment.

Anyway, I just thought they were cool.

* ooh! it did let me write that!

Spartana
10-12-12, 3:26pm
I have a mini-cross bow that my DH got me for a valentines day present years ago (along with a sexy nighty - strange fellow :-)!). It's got a pistrol grip like a small handgun and sights. It's very cool. I just use it for target practice. Mine is similair to this one:

http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1011&d=1350066532 http://www.simplelivingforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=1012&d=1350067354

I also have a pistol grip metal sling shot with a wrist guard thingiy (another one of DH's gifts with a sexy night gown..hmmm.. was he trying to tell me something? :-)!). It's pretty heavy-duty and accurate and deadly so you might try something like that to make your squirrels move along. However, because I use heavy steel balls for ammo for the slingshot, I will kill pretty much anything I hit - including a person possibily. So be careful what you use. As I'm anti-hunting, I have them as part of my "survival" stuff and for fun target practice.

peggy
10-12-12, 8:38pm
Thanks for replying. So is that small one considered a 'pistol bow'?
You can actually kill stuff with the sling shot? Rabbits and squirrels? It wouldn't really bother me to kill the little tree rats, but then i would have to deal with the body and all.
Would you say the small cross bow is as powerful, more powerful or less powerful than the sling shot? That's a pretty nifty little cross bow. It looks like it has some sort of mechanism to cock the string. How accurate is it?

Spartana
10-17-12, 4:46pm
I think it's just called a mini-crossbow. Don't know what brand I have but it's similair to the picture but no, it is cocked by hand but it isn't too hard to do. The full size crossbows have places to put your feet on them to use to cockl them. They even make mini crossbows with "full auto" magazines - basicly a rotating cylinder that hold several bolts (arrows) and can reload it's self. And yes, you can kill things with a slingshot. There are many people who hunt small game with slingshots and you can buy the metal balls (like BBs) in all sorts of caliber like 9mm etc..

peggy
10-17-12, 11:05pm
Interesting. Thanks Spartana.

Spartana
10-25-12, 5:26pm
Interesting. Thanks Spartana.

You're welcome. Bae probably knows alot more about that kind of stuff then I do as I seems to remember he was training his teenage daughter on all sorts of different ... er... weapons for lack of a better word... and survival gear.

bae
10-25-12, 5:38pm
You can actually kill stuff with the sling shot?

Even really big stuff.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Osmar_Schindler_David_und_Goliath.jpg/439px-Osmar_Schindler_David_und_Goliath.jpg

I prefer the atlatl myself, in my current climate zone.

peggy
10-25-12, 7:02pm
Is that a weapon? I'll have to look that up.