arrows in air-soft, Could it be done

[chris555]

im starting archery soon im wondering if i could make some sort of effective and safe air soft arrow to use would make silent kills very interesting. thoughts

[TacMaster]

The arrow would have to be so soft that it wouldn't hurt people. The problem with that is that it wouldn't retain a lot of kinetic energy, so it wouldn't have much of an effective range at all.

[CES_williamson]

depends are we talking a nerf type arrow or a normal arrow with a bb glue gunned to the end?

[Airsoft-Ed]

You could heavily mod your bow to fire BBs.

It's been done before. There's even a paintball bow you can buy as a manufactured thing, I think.

[chris555]

i was actually thinking more of the arrows they use for reenactment like this http://www.theclothofgold.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=82 if they can fire at each other in reenactments with them they have to be somewhat safe to use right

[team flex]

sounds quite cool, like a huntsman from TF2. I would love to see the end thing if you do build it!

[chris555]

i sense this is going to be a period of painful experimenting

[M_P]

Why would you want to quite literally bring a bow and arrow to a gun fight?

[SuicidalBarrelRoll]

Larp bows.

 

/thread

[Russe11]

There used to be a device you could buy that attached to a bow that allowed it to shoot small darts for practice indoors. Basically a piston with the plunger attached to the string. It may be possible to recreate it and have it shoot bb's.

The problem with rubber blunted arrows is that they still have weight behind them. They may not do much damage when hitting people as the impact area is large but if you hit someones eyepro, it may be enough to knock them off.

[BBrotherwood]

There is an actual sport using bows called archery tag. It is basically dodge ball but you shoot arrows with foam heads at each other instead. It even includes the rules that if you catch the arrow then your team mate can come back in. I would love to give it a go sometime.

[chrisbirley]

Archery Tag is good fun - i gave that a go earlier this year whilst trying to find a new hobby - have already taken up archery - but now its all about airsofting, with some archery thrown in on this side - when its not pissing down with rain - its not good for the bow or arrows

 

you can indeed get a paintball system that attaches to your bow - there is a YT vid on this with a group of guys doing it - the main problem that you have is rate of fire - you cannot possibly match the rate of fire of a gun - even a boltie for a sustained period of time. you would also have to consider the draw weight of the bow - being that heavier draw weight would wear you out much faster, or more to the point whether the kit would be able to take the forces applied to it.

 

i dont think you could necesarily use it for more stealthy kills due to having to move with your bow - more cumbersome than a gun, plus you ideally need to be standing - or at the very least kneeling to loose your 'arrow' where as you can be completely prone for a gun.

 

but as some one has said the arrow would be the main sticking point - you cant really have a long projectile that will fire far enough to make it viable - RPGs are different and have more force behind them compared to what you could achieve with a bow.

 

but i still think it would be cool

[chris555]

i actually think a reenactment arrow shot from a hunting bow could go a great deal further then a air soft bb. but yes it would be cool along with some sort of automatic mp5 as well

[kriegar]

i've dabbled in re enactment and regularly larp, Larp arrows are basically crap, they have a large soft foam head, they are designed to be too large to enter an eye socket and therefore are very un-aerodynamic every bb gun on the field will be more accurate and outrange you. Re-ac blunts are potentially dangerous so are used under controlled conditions on the battle field and trust me from personal experience they can be more painful than any bb shot i've had i got hit in the ankle after having an arrow hit the deck in front of me and skim along the grass lol.

[Ian_Gere]

i actually think a reenactment arrow shot from a hunting bow could go a great deal further then a air soft bb. but yes it would be cool along with some sort of automatic mp5 as well

Exactly, and therein lies the problem, the arrow does carry a lot more energy. Yeah, re-enactors use them, but they are usually also wearing chainmail and/or plate armour, plus they, in general, are a lot more hardcore about taking their lumps - I mean, they fight with swords etc ffs and just because they don't die of the injuries doesn't mean it doesn't hurt...

[BrightCandle]

As the Zed adventures guys like to ask -

 

Anyone want to loose an eye today? What about your teeth? Anyone getting hit on the side of the head with a fake arrow?

 

Yeah we thought not.

[Albiscuit]

As mentioned previously, eye pro could easily get knocked off so I doubt many places would allow it.

 

At lease whilst LARPing people are not firing BBs around so arrows would be in use as they wont take an eye out.

I do like the idea for a merc / badlands type of set up but I would try to keep your hobbies separate this time.

[kriegar]

As fir eye protection, i can only really comment on my own equipment but my eyes are more protected when i airsoft than when i re-enact. My mesh goggles cover my eyes completely and are in total contact to my face, whereas my helm in re-ac has an open visor that whilst it would be a huge fluke and arrow could enter.

[dex]

Larp bows.

 

/thread

 

Haha. Just leave your dignity at the safe zone.

 

I think its more of a question of why the hell you would want to rather than could you? It's airsoft not LARP.

[Albiscuit]

As fir eye protection, i can only really comment on my own equipment but my eyes are more protected when i airsoft than when i re-enact. My mesh goggles cover my eyes completely and are in total contact to my face, whereas my helm in re-ac has an open visor that whilst it would be a huge fluke and arrow could enter.

 

But an arrow with a rubber ball on the end could knock off eye pro and a BB could then get blasted in your face.

 

A re enactment or LARP would not have BBs flying about as a hazard so a lack of eye pro would be normal.

[chris555]

in a sport where we now have tag 40mm explode on contact grenades flying about, the worry of eye protection should be the last concern however if the rubber arrows do hurt that much that is another problem... tho it would solve the hit taking problem.

[Ian_Gere]

in a sport where we now have tag 40mm explode on contact grenades flying about, the worry of eye protection should be the last concern

WTF? If you think you may be hit by a TAG in the face, your choice of eyepro and/or half/full face mask is of even more significance... although TBF, there always has been the danger that you might get hit in the face by an exploding MK5, MK9 even, or an accident with a BFG, but TAG's seem to have focussed the mind a bit more.

[chris555]

people are pointing out why blunt arrows knocking of your eye protection is a massive hazard ian. im saying thats not a good agument because we have tag grenades flying about that could blow up in your face so a lump of rubber can hardly be more dangerous

[Ian_Gere]

Well TBH i suspect that an arrow will be carrying a lot more energy than a TAG grenade.

 

I'm not sure how efficiently a bowstring converts it's draw weight into momentum in the arrow, but 45lbs is light for a bow...

[TacMaster]

The wood/aluminium/HDPE used in the construction of blunt arrows is a lot more dense than the foam TAG use in their projectiles. This means that if a blunted arrow and a TAG grenade are fired at the same velocity, the arrow will carry a lot more kinetic energy than the TAG grenade simply because of the difference in mass.

It's like comparing the difference between firing 0.20s and 0.40s. If an airsoft gun is tuned enough to fire .40s at 330 FPS and an identical one with the same hop setup is tuned to fire .20s at 330 FPS, the gun firing .40g BBs will have a harder projectile impact as the .40gs will store more kinetic energy.