en
Download

Military

How wide is a medieval crossbow?

A medieval crossbow is about 70 cm (2 ft 4 in) wide.

What is measured: European hand-held crossbow, span width

Medieval Crossbow (70 cm) drawn to scale beside a bowling pin (38.1 cm) and an adult person (1.7 m)
Drawn to scale, from left to right: Bowling pin (38.1 cm), Medieval Crossbow (70 cm) and Adult person (1.7 m).

Compare

How big is that, really?

  • About 1.8× the height of a bowling pin
  • About 41% of the height of an adult person
  • About 35% of the height of a doorway
  • About 4.8× the height of a smartphone
  • About 8.2× the length of a credit card

Learn

Facts about Medieval Crossbow

Crossbows required far less training than longbows, letting armies field effective shooters after only weeks of practice.

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arms and Armor collection

Military

NameSizeCompared with Medieval Crossbow
Roman Gladius Sword65 cm (2 ft 2 in)0.93×
Medieval Crossbow70 cm (2 ft 4 in)this page
Thompson Submachine Gun81 cm (2 ft 8 in)1.2×
MP40 Submachine Gun83.3 cm (2 ft 9 in)1.2×
AK-47 Rifle87 cm (2 ft 10 in)1.2×
Sturmgewehr 4494 cm (3 ft 1 in)1.3×
RPG-7 Rocket Launcher95 cm (3 ft 1 in)1.4×
Winchester Model 1873 Rifle99 cm (3 ft 3 in)1.4×
Katana Sword1 m (3 ft 3 in)1.4×
M16A2 Rifle1 m (3 ft 3 in)1.4×

Test your sense of scale

Which is bigger: Medieval Crossbow or AK-47 Rifle?

Topics

More sizes like this