[Ansteorra-missile] Re: Ansteorra-missile Digest, Vol 25, Issue 3

[Mike]

I have doing this for years - bringing out my combat arrows and make 
them while fighter practice is being held.  Almost everyone will come 
over and watch, even ask questions, even "moderns" who are drawn to the 
scene of people wearing armor and swing swords and using shields. The 
big surprise has been and continues to be when one or several fighters 
actually put down their weapons and asked if they could shoot my bow 
with combat arrows. I even had a few who step forward and offered to 
give me shooting tips of how to an arrow should be shot, when I have be 
practicing solo and/or when we were having War Practices. This is based 
upon their experience with traditional arrows and not with the current 
combat arrows with the APD. What I do is set up my target - a 13 oz 
coffee can at about 4 to 5 ft above the ground using a 6 ft high earth 
mound as a back stop, if I have not already setup. Walk out with them, 
giving some advice, making sure that there the area or my range is clear 
and let them shoot at the target. They do fairly well, of course they 
are not using gauntlets at this point on their hands. After they have 
shot, I hold out my full gauntlet and Archer's Gauntlet and ask them to 
put them on and then shoot again. The outcome is shocking to them, where 
before they were able to load and pull the string, releasing the arrow 
and even hit the coffee can, now they are lucky if the arrow stays on 
the string and even leaves the bow.  Of course, even the arrow does 
leave the bow, the flight it takes is down range and toward the target 
is not what anyone would desire as being "good".

This experience is even more of an eye opener than just letting them see 
and even help build the combat arrows, especially attaching the APD. And 
I use 45 degree angle cut Golf Tube (GT) for my APD's and the best time 
that I gotten in attaching the GT APD is 25 minutes per.  And no, I do 
not use any type of jig - eyeball and using my hands. This is the result 
of what the last 4 years of learning the proper method for building GT 
APD's.

And of course, they always asked the one question of - "How in the world 
do you shoot these things?"

 And my answer is: " Practice, Practice and even more Practice. Even 
more so than attaching a GT APD."

I would then request the bow, quiver and gauntlets back and walk them 
through how I load and shoot these "things". Once, I have show them how 
I do it, then I offer them back the bow and the quiver and ask them to 
try again. And every one of them has. Usually, the quiver will have 
about the amount that I normally carry on the field - 50 or so. The 
weigh of the quiver surprises them as well, think about 50 fiberglass 
combat arrows. The thought process has been among them that these 
"arrows" weigh next nothing and one arrow does, although it is heavier 
than the traditional target arrow does or even a normal quiver of target 
arrows do.

They hand me back my bow, quiver and walk away shaking their heads. Yet, 
a few will come back every on and then and ask if they could shoot 
again.  I even had a few who asked if they could shoot against other 
fighters to get a feel in being in a combat situation (abit control 
one). Some of the fighters have even requested that I shoot at them to 
help improve their missile defense ability for when they take to the 
field during an SCA War event, this includes Gulf Wars, Gothic Wars, 
etc... They are armed only with a single sword and NO shield or a spear, 
afterall if they can block or dodge or even catch a combat arrow coming 
at them with only a single spear and using their wits, then using a 
shield with a sword will make they even more difficult to "kill" on the 
field when they do take to it.

Just some things that I do when attending and working with the fighters 
at their normal fighter practice. on Sunday afternoons


Michael Kettering




Robin Allen wrote:

>      
>
>     Another good way to get people interested in CA is to show up at
>     events and fighter practices and make combat arrows. For some
>     reason that seems to get the ball rolling better than any other
>     approach I've seen. It is especially usefull fro younger fighters
>     and those not yet old enough to play. I let them help me make the
>     things and that gives them the knowledge they need about arrow
>     safety requirements and how to inspect an arrow.
>
>       
>
>
>
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