AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Contemporary Accoutrements => Topic started by: Carney Pace on December 31, 2019, 07:48:54 PM
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Years ago at a Western National Rendezvous there was a trader from back east, with an original Appalachia cross bow stock, no bow. Trying to find information on what they looked like and how they functioned. Looked like a full stock blank only heavier.
If I remember there was a groove down the top of the fore stock that was covered. The arrow shaft was inserted into the groove, shaft would have been approx. 36" long, had a simple trigger release.
Would like to build one.
Any information appreciated.
Carney
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Sounds made up rather than something part of historical Appalachian culture. If you search the web or YouTube for primitive crossbow you’ll probably find something similar.
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A "Google" search is a good place to start, this will get you headed in the right direction:
https://slingshotforum.com/topic/120528-appalachian-crossbows/
Tim C.
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Well I’ll be!
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I took one to the CLA show a few years ago that I bought at a yard sale in N. C. I took it to show Jim Webb. He has several of them in his collection. Jan Riser photographed it. You can search the Contemporary Makers site to see her photos. John Rice Irwin shows several in his book Guns And Gunmaking Tools Of Southern Appalachia. Hope this helps.
Bob
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There were some on display
At the museum of Appalachia too,
but I think I recently heard they
were in Pretty sad shape? Still might
Worth a visit though.
TC
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There were some on display
At the museum of Appalachia too,
but I think I recently heard they
were in Pretty sad shape? Still might
Worth a visit though.
TC
Yea, the "Google" search included them too, I do nor remember seeing them.
Tim
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Appalachian crossbows with the cover over the arrow/bolt groove are technically slurbows, a subset of crossbows. There is a theory out there that they are descended from African models, but there is really nothing about their construction that links them to that area. Notably, the trigger system, the big mechanical feature of a crossbow, is quite different - African crossbows (which are themselves a copy of low-end European models) use a lever along the bottom that bumps up a peg which forces the string out of a notch in the stock. Appalachian bows use a trigger system like a gun, but are usually pushed forward, not pulled back.
OTOH, during the 18th and early 19th century there was a bit of a minor fad for slurbows among the British landed gentry, which were built very much along the lines of fine contemporary sporting guns, just with short slotted iron or brass barrels and a prod (the technical term for the bow) for propulsion. There are some nice pictures out there on the net, and I think Ralph Payne-Gallwey illustrates a couple in his book on crossbows (written at the end of the 19th century).
The Appalachian crossbows look to me like a redneck reverse-engineered version of the aristocratic slurbow - all wood construction, but built along the lines of a firearm, not a medieval or African crossbow. I imagine they originated when some poor but bright guy saw and maybe shot a European slurbow, imitated it in wood, but didn't know how the trigger system worked and came up with his own system. I'd love to make one, but haven't been able to figure out how the trigger works!
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If I remember correctly Wallace Gusler had a couple plus a nice selection of Applachian dulcimers.
Dennis
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I took one to the CLA show a few years ago that I bought at a yard sale in N. C. I took it to show Jim Webb. He has several of them in his collection. Jan Riser photographed it. You can search the Contemporary Makers site to see her photos. John Rice Irwin shows several in his book Guns And Gunmaking Tools Of Southern Appalachia. Hope this helps.
Bob
I think there are is a drawing, in Jim Web's book on Triggers, of a set trigger for a mountain cross bow. Will see if I can find it tomorrow.
Dennis
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Visited the Museum of Appalachia on Monday. They have several on display, including a newly made monster of a crossbow that has aircraft cable for the string. I thought at the time that the "cover" over the bolt/arrow would sure be hard on fletching. Was a worthwhile visit and it would take more time than I had to have done justice to the various exhibits.
J.B.
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I got this a while ago, I was told it was Appalachian.
(https://i.ibb.co/LdVNL5S/3-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Df0rxp4)
What say you?
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For New Years humor - My dad and his friend made a primitive crossbow in high school. Used an steel leaf spring and wire cable. Iron rod for the bolt. The first shot went through a hay target, through a shovel, and through the back wall of the garage. They never found the bolt. They quietly dismantled the crossbow and returned the parts to the junkyard. A wise move! God Bless, Marc
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Is that an “Apple-Achin” crossbow or an “Apple-Ation” one? ;D
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Dennis, I just glanced through my copy of Jim’s book on triggers (I just love looking through his books...I always find something interesting I hadn’t noticed before)...while I couldn’t find set triggers for a mountain crossbow, he does have drawings of crossbow triggers from Europe. I don’t want to violate any copyright rules, but if the OP is interested, drop me a PM and I’ll try to help out.
Greg
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Dennis, I just glanced through my copy of Jim’s book on triggers (I just love looking through his books...I always find something interesting I hadn’t noticed before)...while I couldn’t find set triggers for a mountain crossbow, he does have drawings of crossbow triggers from Europe. I don’t want to violate any copyright rules, but if the OP is interested, drop me a PM and I’ll try to help out.
Greg
Greg,
That may have been the ones I thought about. Was that the trigger that had the Boar bristle trigger? Probably the reason light triggers are called "hair" triggers today.
Dennis
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Dennis, the boar bristle trigger is on a different page. The crossbow triggers I found are on pages 130 and 131. One set is from the 16th century, and the triggers are pinned through the stock like we do simple triggers...there is no trigger plate. The other set is from a later period, and looks just like a set of longrifle triggers.
Greg
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Wonder if anyone makes these?