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So a large reason as to why I've gotten into making crossbows is airsoft. It is like paintball but the guns shoot solid plastic bbs instead of large paintballs-for realism, alot of people say. Anyhow, my expensive gun completely failed me and broke down horribly, and even though I bought a replacement (a very expensive Mauser Broomhandle), it broke as well. So I started with a pouched bullet bow with PVC limbs.
Well, the limbs broke, and one slapped me in the face. I didn't have any other resources, and I kept seeing millions upon millions of Backyard Bowyer vids about his amazing PVC bows, so I kept trying, and trying. After a recorded count of 45 failures (I don't really give up), I ditched the idea completely and made myself some slingshots.
However, it is very cold here in Manitoba, or at least when its not summer, anyways. So a slingshot performs very poorly, due to physics of rubber. After many experiments, I decided to go back to the PVC bullet bow. Again, it failed, and this time the riser broke, and once again bonked me on the head. Sad, I know, but trust me, it wasn't my workmanship. I did manage to get a coupl of decent shots off of it, though.
So after a short break I was looking at the Airow gun product online, and I thought t could be a good idea, so I built my own.[img]
[/img] Nothing pretty, as it wasn't finished, but it worked, surprisingly. The bow powered an air piston which spat out a bb at around 200 FPS, with a 30 pound draw. But, after a couple of shots, as you could guess, the bow's shoddy PVC limbs broke on me, even though I had spent abot a good 6 hours shaping them with pinpoint accuracy. So on that day I gave up on that project, though I still have the homemade airow gun in my shop somewhere.
Recently, months later, I revisited the project, and after many thorough readings of The Practical Guide to Man Powered Weapons, I made a prototype test bullet crossbow.[img]
[/img]. It worked!! One of the happiest days of my life. 
. I was too worried about shooting bbs after seeing a couple of posts by Geezer on this site, so I stuck with Marbles and 68.cal paintballs. It shot them at maybe 80 FPS, with a light 10 pound bowmade from an old steel handsaw. Draw length was 8 inches. I shot it lots, and was very happy with it. One day though, I loaded it incorrectly, and lo and behold, it shot a marble up and diretly into my face. Thank the lord for cursing with me with bad eyesight, because my glasses saved my poor face 
Anyhow though, I decided to use a track and ball shuttle after reading this forum and seeing the Zubin X340. I'm currently working on this[img]
[/img][img]
[/img]. It is a Reverse Draw crossbow which uses small wooden shuttles to propel marbles, paintballs, and any other type of ball. I'm thinking of adding many other things too.
HERE IS WHERE I NEED HELP!
-I am using small Leaf Springs from an old Skidoo that was half buried in the ground. They had a high drw weight initially but as I attached them and set the cams on and tested, the draw weight was maybe around 20 pounds. Why is this? Is there something I'm missing?
-If a crossbow is shooting something as light as a marble, and using a heavy prod which is more than 60 pounds, will that damage the prod, even if it is made from steel?
-If a crossbow or bow were to shoot airsoft bbs, would an ultra lighweight string and prod with little draw weight an a long dr length be better than a high draw weight prod? I've noticed that my slingshot with a butterfly draw and some 5 pound Dankung 1632 tubes shoot on par with most airsoft guns.
-Does anybody know if an inswinger crossbow is legally considered a crossbow by Canadian law? I'd like to make some kind of compact crossbow, but Canadian legality states that any crossbow under 500 mm and that is shot using one hand is illegal.
-I would also like to hear your ideas and opininons in general about shooting airsoft bbs out of bows and crossbows. I have made many designs and I'll accept basically any idea, as long as there is no airguns involved.
Thank you in advance for your responses and taking the time to read this.
-Jacob
Well, the limbs broke, and one slapped me in the face. I didn't have any other resources, and I kept seeing millions upon millions of Backyard Bowyer vids about his amazing PVC bows, so I kept trying, and trying. After a recorded count of 45 failures (I don't really give up), I ditched the idea completely and made myself some slingshots.
However, it is very cold here in Manitoba, or at least when its not summer, anyways. So a slingshot performs very poorly, due to physics of rubber. After many experiments, I decided to go back to the PVC bullet bow. Again, it failed, and this time the riser broke, and once again bonked me on the head. Sad, I know, but trust me, it wasn't my workmanship. I did manage to get a coupl of decent shots off of it, though.
So after a short break I was looking at the Airow gun product online, and I thought t could be a good idea, so I built my own.[img]
[/img] Nothing pretty, as it wasn't finished, but it worked, surprisingly. The bow powered an air piston which spat out a bb at around 200 FPS, with a 30 pound draw. But, after a couple of shots, as you could guess, the bow's shoddy PVC limbs broke on me, even though I had spent abot a good 6 hours shaping them with pinpoint accuracy. So on that day I gave up on that project, though I still have the homemade airow gun in my shop somewhere.Recently, months later, I revisited the project, and after many thorough readings of The Practical Guide to Man Powered Weapons, I made a prototype test bullet crossbow.[img]
[/img]. It worked!! One of the happiest days of my life. . I was too worried about shooting bbs after seeing a couple of posts by Geezer on this site, so I stuck with Marbles and 68.cal paintballs. It shot them at maybe 80 FPS, with a light 10 pound bowmade from an old steel handsaw. Draw length was 8 inches. I shot it lots, and was very happy with it. One day though, I loaded it incorrectly, and lo and behold, it shot a marble up and diretly into my face. Thank the lord for cursing with me with bad eyesight, because my glasses saved my poor face Anyhow though, I decided to use a track and ball shuttle after reading this forum and seeing the Zubin X340. I'm currently working on this[img]
[/img][img][/img]. It is a Reverse Draw crossbow which uses small wooden shuttles to propel marbles, paintballs, and any other type of ball. I'm thinking of adding many other things too.HERE IS WHERE I NEED HELP!
-I am using small Leaf Springs from an old Skidoo that was half buried in the ground. They had a high drw weight initially but as I attached them and set the cams on and tested, the draw weight was maybe around 20 pounds. Why is this? Is there something I'm missing?
-If a crossbow is shooting something as light as a marble, and using a heavy prod which is more than 60 pounds, will that damage the prod, even if it is made from steel?
-If a crossbow or bow were to shoot airsoft bbs, would an ultra lighweight string and prod with little draw weight an a long dr length be better than a high draw weight prod? I've noticed that my slingshot with a butterfly draw and some 5 pound Dankung 1632 tubes shoot on par with most airsoft guns.
-Does anybody know if an inswinger crossbow is legally considered a crossbow by Canadian law? I'd like to make some kind of compact crossbow, but Canadian legality states that any crossbow under 500 mm and that is shot using one hand is illegal.
-I would also like to hear your ideas and opininons in general about shooting airsoft bbs out of bows and crossbows. I have made many designs and I'll accept basically any idea, as long as there is no airguns involved.
Thank you in advance for your responses and taking the time to read this.
-Jacob
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