03-13-2006, 06:09 PM
Ambrosius,
I should probably point out that my knowledge of the polybolos is completely based on talking to Alan Wilkins and seeing his reconstruction. It was him rather than me who made the point about the Bren gun. I had not known about the Bren's accuracy or otherwise prior to that. My own grandfather was prevented from joining up as he was a farmer. He was in the Home Guard but as far as I know he never had anything as expensive as a Bren gun to play with. A quick search for the name 'Crispvs' on the BBC Poeple's War site should bring up all those things I know of my grandfather's experience of WWII. In the late 1950s and early 1960s my uncle carried a Lee Enfield No. 4 and proffesses to know little about machine guns.
Dan,
I don't know what the draw weight should be. Not being an artillery specialist I have to rely on what other people tell me. Alan's polybolos was intended to be a working model to test the reconstruction rather than a fully capable weapon. Therefore the draw weight of his reconstruction will have been considerably less than that of the real thing, whatever that was. When the reconstructed polybolos was demonstrated on the rather inaccurately named BBC progamme 'What the Romans did for us', the director wanted to show the range as well as the accuracy of the machine. On that day the machine was at a particularly low tension and was only shooting fifteen feet or so. The director therefore insisted we retrieve the bolts and stick them in the ground again in the same pattern some distance further on. This is how the range demonstrated on the programme was accurately achieved.
I agree that the achievable draw weight is more likely to be a factor in its demise than the accuracy. I will try and pass on this suggestion to Alan Wilkins next time I see him, although if he has continued working on the project he may have discovered it for himself already. I would expect Duncan Campbell to know.
Tarbicus,
"The thing I understand about its use is that it was no good for area fire"
I thought that the Vickers gun was still used in this role. :?:
Crispvs
I should probably point out that my knowledge of the polybolos is completely based on talking to Alan Wilkins and seeing his reconstruction. It was him rather than me who made the point about the Bren gun. I had not known about the Bren's accuracy or otherwise prior to that. My own grandfather was prevented from joining up as he was a farmer. He was in the Home Guard but as far as I know he never had anything as expensive as a Bren gun to play with. A quick search for the name 'Crispvs' on the BBC Poeple's War site should bring up all those things I know of my grandfather's experience of WWII. In the late 1950s and early 1960s my uncle carried a Lee Enfield No. 4 and proffesses to know little about machine guns.
Dan,
I don't know what the draw weight should be. Not being an artillery specialist I have to rely on what other people tell me. Alan's polybolos was intended to be a working model to test the reconstruction rather than a fully capable weapon. Therefore the draw weight of his reconstruction will have been considerably less than that of the real thing, whatever that was. When the reconstructed polybolos was demonstrated on the rather inaccurately named BBC progamme 'What the Romans did for us', the director wanted to show the range as well as the accuracy of the machine. On that day the machine was at a particularly low tension and was only shooting fifteen feet or so. The director therefore insisted we retrieve the bolts and stick them in the ground again in the same pattern some distance further on. This is how the range demonstrated on the programme was accurately achieved.
I agree that the achievable draw weight is more likely to be a factor in its demise than the accuracy. I will try and pass on this suggestion to Alan Wilkins next time I see him, although if he has continued working on the project he may have discovered it for himself already. I would expect Duncan Campbell to know.
Tarbicus,
"The thing I understand about its use is that it was no good for area fire"
I thought that the Vickers gun was still used in this role. :?:
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
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