Read this article (and watch the videos) to learn how to make an effective crossbow. It is fast to make, cheap to make and effective to use.

Before reading the full article though, consider this:
If you learn to aim well and consistently with a bow (eg. learning the string-walking aiming method which is not hard), you don’t really need a crossbow (maybe). HOWEVER, what about other people in your family or ‘community’ (tribe) who are not proficient with a bow? How will they defend themselves or hunt for food? Will they learn to use a sling (which takes a LOT of effort to get good at), or a staff sling, a sling-shot (which also takes a lot of practice and effort to get accurate with), a gun (where access to guns is not so easy due to gun control legislation in various countries around the world)… or perhaps something like a crossbow which is easy to use, relatively easy to make, easy to learn to use and easy to be accurate using?

Side note: A crossbow can also be setup as part of a snare trap which I believe is a handy benefit as well.

If I was going to make a DIY crossbow in a hurry, I would want it to have the following criteria:

  • Easy and cheap to make
  • Effective (accurate and able to penetrate animal hide/ skin from at least 50m away)
  • Easy to duplicate (to make more than 1 of them)
  • Durable
  • Ideally it would have a safety mechanism.

Of all the 100’s of DIY crossbow videos on YouTube that I have watched since 2013, the most simple crossbow that matches all of the above criteria would be one I could make if I combined aspects of these 3 videos (below).

This is what I would do:

  1. I would make the prod/bow using the method in the first video (see below). A rubber prod string (made from something like an exercise resistance band) is very easy to make… and as effective as making a simple bow prod (though if you make a REALLY good one they can be MUCH more powerful… however they take much more work).
  2. I would make the stock and the trigger mechanism using the ‘Skane crossbow’ method (see the second video below). It is MUCH simpler to make this than a lock-nut type trigger mechanism or something more modern and complex.
  3. I would lash the prod to the stock using the method shown in the 3rd video. OR if I needed to make the crossbow even faster, I would use wedges instead.

Once made it would not be hard to add some kind of safety mechanism to this, to prevent it from firing accidentally…. though as you know, NEVER rely or trust a ‘safety’. I also would not be hard to add some sort of ‘sighting’ system to it.

Side note: If I wanted to make a FAR more elaborate, sophisticated and powerful crossbow (and had the time to do it), I’d make something more like one of these (this one or this one or this one) and make an advanced trigger than can deal with the load that a high poundage prod places on a trigger. Or a trigger with automatic safety.

Watch the 3 videos below. Post your thoughts in the comments.

Credit to the creators of the videos in this page:

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