This isthe midieval replicacrossbow I made in the back yard, sittin' under the shade tree. My first effort at crossbow making. I made everything from raw materials except the 125 lb steel prod. I bought that, as well as using the plans on their site,from www.alchem.com

Originals would have been bound with sinew and the track would have been horn dovetailed into the tiller. Well, I didn't have any sinew or horn laying around so I used nylon cord and aluminum angle. A few other small details keep it from being completly true to the originals but those are the biggies.

Top View





Close up of bindings and stirrup




Side view. The cord dangling from the tickler is my trigger block safety. Gotta have a mechanical safety to be hunt-legal in Texas.





Close up of the knotwork on the bindings.




Close up of the rolling nut lock. Sorry about the photo quality.[&:]




Gotta have ammo. 2-fletch wood bolts.



Don't have a clue as to speed or anything but it's pretty quick. I aim by eyeballing down the shaft and using a gap system, just like I did with my stickbows. On the 3D course, I can generally keep 'em all in the 10 ring out to 25 yards or so. And it's DEATH on those blasted football turkeys.

I've got plans to make a replica of a Spanish crossbow that they discovered in a wreck off the Texas Gulf coast, near Corpus Christi. But that's got to wait a few months.