# Is it possible to shoot an arrow 300 yards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733 "2005-12-22T03:05:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/21 "2005-12-22T20:46:20Z")
> [@Hombre](#): > > Depends on what you mean. > > Yes, you can hand fire an arrow that far. But aiming it? Not a chance. Of course if you have a few hundred (thousand?) archers all drawing and firing en masse against a group of enemy troops they don’t need to aim at an individual target, just hit the general area. In the time it takes the oncoming soldiers to cover the distance they will get showered with jillions of arrows. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/22 "2005-12-22T21:00:26Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > I found pictures of footbows, but not his “unlimited” footbow. What does it look like? Here’s an image of him shooting one [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/archers/pics/drake.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/archers/pics/drake.jpg) When I worked with it, it was in pieces; I wasn’t allowed to put it together, much less shoot it. I probably have a picture or two but they are 35mm slides. The thing that stood out the most to me was that he used Gillette razor blades for the fletching on his arrows. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/23 "2005-12-22T21:00:42Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Is it just me or does that site have a completely incorrect interpetation and explanation of the Heisenberg uncertaintiy principle? Well, now that Mangetout has looked at it, of course, it has changed. No telling what it used to say. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/24 "2005-12-22T21:03:57Z")
Shooting 300 yards was probably not a major problem…hitting what you were shooting at was probably more of a challenge. Though I suppose the concept of mass fire was known even in biblical times so maybe it wasn’t a major issue. I suppose that fact that people were either lightly armored or not armored at all helped a lot as well. -XT ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/25 "2005-12-22T21:47:51Z")
More on Drake, and the “One Mile Shot”. [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71a.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71a.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71b.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71b.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71c.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71c.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71d.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71d.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71e.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/drake71e.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68a.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68a.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68b.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68b.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68c.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68c.jpg) [![](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68e.jpg) ](http://www.archeryhistory.com/articles/pics/flight68e.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733/26 "2005-12-22T23:28:19Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Of course if you have a few hundred (thousand?) archers all drawing and firing en masse against a group of enemy troops they don’t need to aim at an individual target, just hit the general area. In the time it takes the oncoming soldiers to cover the distance they will get showered with jillions of arrows. As I understand, this is the basic idea behind the MLRS rocket system the Army uses. Use a series of short-range ballistic rocket launchers mounted on trucks to turn any square mile area you want into a much flatter square mile area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-an-arrow-300-yards/336733.md?page=1)