[INTRO MUSIC]
Alright let's do some arrow tests. I haven't done archery in quite a while, well over a year
and I still can't do it too well because of my shoulder injury, I definitely notice it
[DISTANT GUNSHOT]
when drawing the bow.
The shoulder separation has made it a lot harder to pull at this kind of angle and
[DISTANT GUNSHOT]
it usually starts to hurt - - by the way, that's the rifle range nearby
if you hear those bangs.
This is a 45 pound Scythian bow made by Grozer in Hungary
and I've just got regular field tips on here, got ballistic gel setup there
and I'm just going to see how far it penetrates.
Yeah...
Don't expect good form right now.
[CREAKING]
[THUD]
[LAUGHS]
Or accuracy for that matter.
[THUD]
There. Better.
Well that was too easy so I had to cut the ballistic gel in half and double it up
because otherwise if it goes all the way through we can't see the penetration depth as well.
So next shot. I'll try not to screw this up.
[THUD]
There we go.
Here it is.
You can see how far it went.
So almost through both blocks.
Let's see...
[THUD]
Laugh all you like, I know that I suck at archery, there is a reason why I have a crossbow.
[THUD]
There we go.
Alright, so this one you should be able to see as well.
There it is.
So pretty similar result.
It is a similar kind of point, the field point of this one is a little differently shaped.
[CREAKING]
There we go.
One more...
[THUD]
So you can see - - where as the gel isn't quite as clear as it used to be, but you can still see it.
Right there.
Alright then, this is going to be a lot easier.
For sure.
[CROSSBOW CLANKING]
[THUD]
First try. Hit. Dead center.
And this is one of the main things about crossbows that I really like,
aside from the fact that it saves my shoulder.
There it is.
It's kind of hard to see.
So here... how deep did it go?
Huh. Oddly enough it didn't seem to have penetrated as far as the arrow
which I think is probably because the bolt is that much thicker and the ballistic gel has a lot of friction.
Oh ya, I can tell. The point itself is also thicker.
So pretty sure that's why.
Now with the hunting point.
[CROSSBOW CLANKING]
[SATISFYING METALLIC CLANK AS THE NUT ENGAGES]
[DISTANT GUNSHOT]
[THUD]
The high friction of the ballistic gel really messes with this.
The hunting point usually is very good at cutting through soft tissue, of course
but it's also quite wide compared to the other points. It does a lot more damage, as you can see right there.
It just doesn't penetrate quite as far.
Interesting.
Ballistic gel is really good only for - - well, BALLISTIC tests. Who would have known?
[THUD]
[DISTANT GUNSHOT]
So it actually severed it almost entirely, at the top there.
Yeah... so I would not want to be hit with any crossbow, or anything really
but if I HAD to, for some reason, I would rather be hit with a field point than with this.
Now just for fun here`s a blunt bolt. These would have been used for bird hunting back in the day
and of course it`s not going to do anything to the gel but it should look interesting in the slo-mo footage.
So let's give it a go.
[ANOTHER SATISFYING CLANK]
[THUD]
[LAUGHS]
Right back at me, that was pretty funny.
This thing flies so slow when it comes back and rotates that you can see it pretty much in advance and go,
"Yeah, it's not going to hit me."
[CLANK]
[THUD]
Dead center and you can see how far it went.
[WIND BLOWING]
[DISTANT GUNSHOT]
It's easy to overestimate the velocity on these.
Despite the high draw weight of the crossbow the velocity isn't that high
compared to modern crossbows because the draw is that short, so the bolt doesn't
have that much time to accelerate.
If you want higher performance than you need a really heavy crossbow, like 1000 pounds or more
spanned with a windlass.
So now I've got a padded jacket setup. I say padded jacket rather than gambeson
because I don't think it's a historically accurate replica, it's one of those modern interpretations.
It's sturdier than [LOUD GUNSHOT] the one I tested before - - man that's loud.
But I've got double layers because I put it in front so it is decently thick and feels sturdy and everything
so we'll see if it does anything.
[THAT CLANK THO]
[THUD]
That was too high.
It's a little tricky to aim because I don't see exactly where the gel is.
I think it's about here.
[THUD]
Huh... interesting.
It hit right here.
It did hardly anything.
I did not expect that.
Huh.
Alright. So maybe with this many layers it does something after all.
Either that or maybe there's just too much give because - - although it's not too bad actually.
It's not super squishy so...
This is a job for the hunting point because this should be a lot better at cutting through the fabric.
[CLANK]
[THUD]
Yeah, there we go.
So it didn't go that deep, fortunately. I say fortunately because that means I can actually get it out easily.
There is a tiny bit of the point sticking out right here.
It did tear through it but it really didn't get anywhere near as far as I thought it would.
[YOU GUESSED IT. CLANK]
[CARA SPEAKING IN BACKGROUND, INDISTINCT]
[THUD]
What, did I hit the same hole twice?!
[CARA, OUT OF FRAME: "Really?!"]
Now back to the bow, let's see what it does.
[THUD]
Nothing - - although that was too low, wasn't it?
[CARA, OUT OF FRAME: "It was too low."]
Yeah.
[THUD]
Since I'm not sure if that hit in the right spot or too low let's do it again.
[THUD]
That was definitely in the right spot.
It looks like it hit here, as far as I can tell. It didn't even really puncture the outermost layer, which is interesting.
So that really did nothing.
[CLANK]
[THUD]
I seem to hit the same spot over and over again.
Oh good grouping, I guess.
[THUD]
Yeah. That was good.
[CLANK]
By the way, if the cocking looks easy that's just because of the mechanical advantage of the goats foot.
This is indeed 300 pounds, even if it doesn't look like it.
[THUD]
That was pretty good but it didn't do anything.
[THUD]
Well that was interesting.
But once again, not a whole lot of penetration - - oh never mind, it actually missed the gel after all.
Thought it hit it.
If this is free hanging this stops pretty much everything. If there is something behind, not so much.
[MUFFLED THUDS]
It is pretty sturdy fabric.
[CREAKING SOUND]
[SKALL GRUNTS]
[CARA LAUGHS]
SKALL: That's no fun.
Wait, why did I leave the bow there?
[LAUGHS]
SKALL: Because derp, that's why.
[IRRITATING SCRAPING NOISE]
SKALL: "Oh, gotta love that sound."
[SCRAPING CONTINUES]
[OUTRO MUSIC]