coldshot

I know tha these forums are about history rather than about weapons alone but I could not find a better forum for this question... I wanted to compare these 4 missile weapon categories:

1.Handheld with mechanical trigger (bows, crossbows, etc.)

2.Handheld with chemical trigger (guns, bazookas, rocket launchers)

3.Held by more than one person or else mounted on a structure or vehicle with mechanical trigger (ballistae and the like)

4.Held by more than one person or else mounted on a structure or vehicle with chemical trigger (cannons, antiair missiles, etc.)

In particular I want to find where they brake records in these properties (and it would be better if any weapon that is mentioned receives information in the different areas)

1.Rate of fire (how many projectiles are shot per minute, second or whatever)

2.Range (how far can the projectile go before loosing accuracy and/or lethality)

3.Striking force (newtons per cm square or inch square, whatever you prefer, on the region where the missile hits the target or obstacle)

4.Damage area (the are of the entry wound and/or the exit wound of a missile)

These details are pertinent to war history as they relate with the impact of weaponry and the adoption of some weapons over others

Belisarius

You don't want much do you? Welcome to the site, I'll see what I can dig up.

coldshot

Hi, thanks... Well, yep, I am not much of a history buff but... I love etymology, mythology and weaponry... (I am in the process of reading "the ethnic origin of nations" however)...

coldshot

the damage area would better be presented with the pertinent measurements in the projectile (the diamter in an arrow or arrowhead or javelin or spearhead, etc, the diameter in a bullet or pellet, etc. and so on)

Triceratops

This book might be of help, Coldshot;

The Crossbow > Its Construction, History and Management > Table of Contents > page ix

Payne-Gallwey test fired an arbalest,shooting a bolt 450 yards across the Menai Strait. He calculated the pull of this bow at 2,000 lbs.

and this;
http://www.thesugarbakers.net/Archery-Testing.pdf

coldshot

Thanks triceratops

Poly

What category does throwing a rock or a spear come under ?

coldshot

None of the given... hand-thrown missiles are cheap but they are not very effective... I needed record-breaking missile weaponry... but ballistae shoot spears, kinda

Poly

The Roman army found that their pila were pretty effective at close range

Thracian Peltasts were effective light troops used by many Greek city states as light troops, just as effective as archers

A hand grenade is a missile weapon, hand thrown and pretty damn effective in certain circumstances (albeit with an explosive core)

The common sling is cheap and deadly (OK it is not exactly hand thrown but doesn't seem to fit any of your categories)

coldshot

Wouldn't that make it a melee weapon?

Where peltasts used in the role you would find archers? Or they were meant for close quarters combat? That maks a large difference on whether you could consider them melee or missile

The power of a hand grenade comes from its ability to explode, it is often hand thrown because that is the easiest way to keep the explosion away from the person employing it, however scenarios can exist where the weapon is equally lethal without it being thrown (it can be dropped on the target, it can be tied to an animal before making the animal run into the target, etc.)

I would say it falls under "Handheld with mechanical trigger"... However I want record-braking missile weapons...