I've heard of this, but what's the advantage? They still need to recharge the torsion the same way, which must've taken longer than someone manually feeding the next bolt.

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lelanthran 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> I've heard of this, but what's the advantage? They still need to recharge the torsion the same way, which must've taken longer than someone manually feeding the next bolt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2010_season)#Epis...

> They set up 5 targets at 90 yards (82 m) and brought in professional archer Brady Ellison to provide a benchmark for comparison. He hit the targets in 2 minutes, using 11 arrows. After further breakdowns and repair work, Adam and Jamie accomplished the feat with 15 arrows in 1 minute and 50 seconds.

Certainly sounds like a win to me, if it was faster and just as accurate as the worlds number one ranked recurve archer :-/

You can train a man to turn the windlass in about an hour. It takes years to get an archer to the same accuracy and speed.

So, a definite advantage.

	▲	Peritract 33 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> He hit the targets in 2 minutes, using 11 arrows. After further breakdowns and repair work, Adam and Jamie accomplished the feat with 15 arrows in 1 minute and 50 seconds. Faster, sure, but not more accurate--10 seconds less but 4 more arrows. Faster itself is also debatable, depending on whether or not you factor in the breakdowns.
	▲	4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[deleted]

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bondarchuk 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

From wikipedia it sounds like the advantage is not really speed of recharging but just that it will repeatedly fire for as long as the lever is turned without any other actions or pauses needed in between. Maybe not losing 10% (or whatever?) of the time on bolt feeding was sufficient advantage? Maybe the ease of operation in a hectic battle situation was advantage enough? Or maybe the continuous power requirement made it more feasible to use multiple soldiers at once working at higher speed, without them having to synchronize starting/stopping/waiting every x seconds?

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avadodin 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Full auto would require charging a huge version of a similar mechanism for a single volley and as a non-actual-engineer, I do not know that it is possible to output the torsion energy in a controlled manner preventing the gun from exploding violently.

edit: But, yes. This is more akin to a revolver than to a machine gun(or even chain gun as Wikipedia implies).

	▲	brador 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Pulley and a big rock to precharge. We know they had the components since catapult existed.

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bfivyvysj 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You can't imagine why a quick succession of bolt fire might be more advantageous than a slow reload?

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zadikian 8 hours ago | parent [-]

I mean how is it actually faster if the rate limiting step is the same. People are claiming it was 2-3X as fast.

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Someone 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybolos, at least some of these used a windlass to rearm. That may explain part of the speed difference over one using a separate lever or one that’s rearmed purely by hand.

These weapons also may have given up on some firing power for firing frequency.

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eucyclos 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Maybe it's harder to deal with ten projectiles in a minute followed by a nine minute reload than one a minute for ten minutes?

	▲	ithkuil 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Even a short surprise can be crucial in an ancient battle, where breaking formation can be fatal
	▲	zadikian 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I'm not even considering the magazine reload time, just the time between shots assuming a full mag. That's 10 recharges either way, as shown in the videos. It's not like a machine gun where the energy is in the powder.
	▲	goodpoint 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Very likely.

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normie3000 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Maybe one less operator required? Less chance of losing a hand?

	▲	zadikian 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah I figured it's more convenient, but they're claiming it's also twice as fast. With the chu ko nu I get it, you only have two hands, so the auto reload was faster.

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adzm 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The psychological advantage can't be discounted either