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By stephan d
#2963
This idea is for a steel torsion spring powered 'ballista' (ancient roman war machine that resembles a crossbow) which fires ballbearings. It could be used for hunting and with such durable ammunition it would be more economical than bows and arrows or firearms. Also would be great fun to shoot at gongs!

Reward: I'd like to shoot one
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By FlatTop808
#3031
Could a commercially available crossbow be modified to suit? Keeping the ball on the track would be the tough part. I'm not to sure if it would make a good hunting weapon. The advantage of arrows, bolts, and bullets if that their design makes them fly straighter than a ball. Tthis is why muskets went out of favor when rifled barrels came along.
By stephan d
#3034
A crossbow could be mod'ed to suit. There is no track. Arrows are easy to break and hard to make. Some still hunt with a hand-thrown stick. These could also fire stones. My intrest is in not running out of ammo and not having to buy any. What if and when the munitions factories shut down? B-)
By stephan d
#3182
P.S. how many arms do you have experience with FlatTop? I've shot thousands of rounds and dozens of models and cal. including muskets and even a dimwit could hunt with a cap'n ball and put meat on the table. ;-D 8-o
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By Michael D. Grissom
#3187
A torsion spring is an excellent source of launching power for any projectile. It would not be degradable by weather like bows, arrows, strings, etc. and would not require exaustable resources like gunpowder, CO2, string, etc. It would also be much more compact than any other source of inexaustable power that I can think of. I think this is a great new method! By design, this also allows for an easy zero-kickback mechanism to enhance accuracy. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Ingenious!
By sk8mad85
#8322
you are basically thinking of a BB gun, with stronger bullets, fired from a crossbow. wouldnt it be more effective to strengthen either one of these weapons than to make a new one, i think it would be pretty cool but it doesnt seem logical to me.
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