Crossbow versus pre american civil war musket - Historum

JerseyPerson14 · March 26th, 2007, 08:25 PM

If one army armed with chinese crossbows fought one army like the british redcoats armed with those muskets, who wins?

**PADDYBOY** · March 27th, 2007, 05:22 AM

Boy, this is a hard one ?
British redcoats I think

JerseyPerson14 · March 27th, 2007, 07:28 AM

The crossbow was more accurate than the musket. I was also a lot easier to load. the redcoats did not have armor on. I honestly think the crossbows would have prevailed.

**Belisarius** · March 27th, 2007, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerseyPerson14

The crossbow was more accurate than the musket. I was also a lot easier to load. the redcoats did not have armor on. I honestly think the crossbows would have prevailed.

You think? Check out the Opium Wars.

JerseyPerson14 · March 27th, 2007, 04:13 PM

Hey man china was weak. And it was manchus the brits beat.

And wasnt that mostly a sea war

Liang Jieming · March 27th, 2007, 06:34 PM

need to define the types of crossbows and muskets. The Song dynasty for example, manufactured hundreds of types from small onehanded types to sniper versions which records say took out a Khitan General Xiao Dalin at the battle of Shanzhou in A.D. 1004. Some like an improved design recorded to have been presented to the emperor Liting in A.D. 1068 could pierce through a tree at 140 paces, not to mention the zhugenu with low effective range of only 15-20m (think Uzi) but as high a fire rate as 10 bolts/7 seconds.

**Belisarius** · March 28th, 2007, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerseyPerson14

Hey man china was weak. And it was manchus the brits beat.

And wasnt that mostly a sea war

The ruling Manchu dynasty may not have been native Chinese but the bulk of ther troops engaged were.
Mostly a sea war? China had a navy?

Also consider, by this time the crossbow had been largely superceeded by the matchlock musket in China. The skill required to use a musket and a crossbow are broadly similar and I suspect the crossbow was easier to produce. If the musket was so inferior, why did the Chinese adopt it en masse?

JerseyPerson14 · March 28th, 2007, 07:34 AM

I guess because the period prior, armor was a big issue. But by the time muskets became popular no one was using armor anymore.

I always thought it was mostly a sea war because it was fought over trade rights. The british were just bringing the opium to ports, and selling it to the gangs. The british did not operate the actual opium dens on land, it was the chinese.

**Belisarius** · March 28th, 2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JerseyPerson14

I guess because the period prior, armor was a big issue. But by the time muskets became popular no one was using armor anymore.

Both crossbows and muskets could penetrate armour, so why did crossbows go out of favour?

Komrade · March 28th, 2007, 01:58 PM

From a distance, I think the crossbows would have a slight (an ever so slight) advantage, but at close quarters, the musket would prevail. Especially since the soldiers with muskets have one thing the crossbowmen do not, BAYONETS!