ORIGINAL: Arthur P
You guys have got it backwards. Crossbows don't resemble rifles because they've been around nearly 2,000 years longer than firearms. Crossbows have been around since at least 350 BC. Around the 15th Century, some wise guy took a hand cannon and mounted it on a crossbow tiller and Bingo! The arquebus was invented. Saying a crossbow resembles a rifle is like saying a chariot resembles an Abrams tank.
Your right Arthur P the Crossbow did come first, so that just means a Gun looks like a Crossbow and shots like a Crossbow, instead of the other way around, if were going to get techinal here.
Kind of reminds me of the time when I was a Kid and my Uncle Ted asked me the question about what came first the Chicken or the Egg. I told him the Bible said the Chicken did,and thatit really did not change the fact, thatbecause somewhere right then, there was an Egg sliding out a Chickens hind quarters!
Come on now Arthur, you know a Gun looks, and is shot like a crossbow.
Your home made Crossbow is Awsome, reminds me of whenI was a kid and my dad and I made one for me whenI thought I was William Tell, But lets be Honest here, they have nothing to do with the modern day Crossbows we are talking about here trying to get pushed into the archery season. There is no Archer involved in a Crossbow!
At least a Chariot and an Abrams Tank have a driver in common!