First Build

Here's a couple pix of my first crossbow pistolbow build. That's a metal 50# "replacement" prod I paid $6 for. The stock is maple and assorted tropical hardwoods and is made in the style of a Malaysian matchlock pistol circa 1700. The action is a simple 'pin lock' similar to the medieval Skane lockbows. With that much leverage, the trigger is much more sensitive than any commercial pistolbow I've ever fired. After several in-construction changes it became a slurbow, firing 1/4" diameter unfletched, but metal tipped dowel bolts. Accuracy is at least as good as my commercial pistolbow

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That came out great!!! I am jealous. Thanks for posting.

Great Job KenH!! And here I thought I was a tinkerer. How long did that build take?

Thanx guys.

Actual building time? Probably 6 hours if I were to do it again. Four hours if I had a real workshop. Elapsed time from design to first shot? At least 3 months - the holidays got in the way, not to mention the vagaries of life aboard a sailboat, and a girlfriend on land, in Florida...

My next pistol bow will be a 12" loose steel laminate bow made from a 5 ft length 1/32" spring steel that I got for $7. The combined leaves only has a draw weight of about 20#, but that' perfect for an indoor shooting gallery. The tiller is based on a 17th century muzzle loading pistol stock.

I'm also working on a full-size 100+ pound draw loose laminate bow 28" long, made from a 6 ft length of black fiberglass chain-link fence tension bar. Like the build above the tiller is going to be based on a 16-17th century matchlock stock.