Unusual arrows for I.D.

colin henshaw · 24th February 2009, 08:59 PM

Many thanks, Jim, Michael & Henk for your observations.

I should have mentioned in my first post that the arrow with the needle point has a flat butt end, whilst the other has a shallow concave nock. They are a mystery to me and came with a bunch of African spears and stuff.

They seem to possess attributes of both longbow arrows and crossbow bolts. I had always thought of arrows for bows having three flights and in addition these shafts seem very thick for bow arrows. But the length seems too great for a crossbow and the points are quite delicate, unlike crossbow bolts. Also, why have the leather flights/fletchings feathered at the edges like that ? A point to note is that they are well made. They remind me slightly of pictures of the bolts used by Roman ballistae, which were quite long, but of a heavier construction.

My best guess is that they are for some type of specialised (crossbow ?) target competion shooting. Maybe the "feathered" flights are so the arrows can pass through some sort of narrow target opening, the sharp needle-like points perhaps for target balloons ? I have heard of "Popinjay" shooting, but thought they used arrows with blunt ends.

This is pure speculation on my part and I welcome more opinions...

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24th February 2009, 08:59 PM	#5
colin henshaw Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,429	Many thanks, Jim, Michael & Henk for your observations. I should have mentioned in my first post that the arrow with the needle point has a flat butt end, whilst the other has a shallow concave nock. They are a mystery to me and came with a bunch of African spears and stuff. They seem to possess attributes of both longbow arrows and crossbow bolts. I had always thought of arrows for bows having three flights and in addition these shafts seem very thick for bow arrows. But the length seems too great for a crossbow and the points are quite delicate, unlike crossbow bolts. Also, why have the leather flights/fletchings feathered at the edges like that ? A point to note is that they are well made. They remind me slightly of pictures of the bolts used by Roman ballistae, which were quite long, but of a heavier construction. My best guess is that they are for some type of specialised (crossbow ?) target competion shooting. Maybe the "feathered" flights are so the arrows can pass through some sort of narrow target opening, the sharp needle-like points perhaps for target balloons ? I have heard of "Popinjay" shooting, but thought they used arrows with blunt ends. This is pure speculation on my part and I welcome more opinions...