Old Ways?

This is coolbert:

"Sometimes the old ways are the best ways" - - Bert.

"Words fail me. First there was the black powder AR, then the Chainsaw AR …"

Some modern instances of old wine in a new bottle! Or are these cases of new wine in an old bottle?

1. The AR-15 crossbow.

A military style assault rifle, modified with an cross-bow attachment of just amazing lethality.

Take your average-everyday AR-15, assault rifle, remove the upper barrel assembly, attach the cross-bow assembly to the receiver group of the rifle, and voila', you have a brand new weapon with some potency to it! All this legal too [at least in the U.S.]!

"PSE TAC 15"

"This AR-15 accessory-called the "Tactical Assault Crossbow 15"-will morph your standard AR into a viable crossbow for hunting big game."

[the AR-15 of course is the civilian version of the military M-16. Other than the lack of a bayonet lug, night sights, and having only a magazine with a ten round capacity, the AR-15 and the M-16 are almost one and the same!]

"The machined aluminum TAC-15 upper attaches to any standard AR-15-style lower receiver exactly like you'd attach an upper barrel assembly; it snaps perfectly into position using the AR's two existing pins . . . All the fire controls (safety and trigger) function as a normal AR-15."





See prior blog entries on the modern military use of the cross-bow:

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/12/crossbow.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/12/commentary-crossbow.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/08/crossbow-again.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/09/use.html

2. Catapult. The last supposed use of the catapult during a time of war was during World War One [WW1]. Used as a device during the early stages of the war to "chuck" hand grenades at the enemy. Quite a distance could be had from the mechanical contrivance? Far greater range than if a person had been throwing the grenade by hand!

"The last large scale military use of catapults was during the trench warfare of World War I. During the early stages of the war, catapults were used to throw hand grenades across no man's land into enemy trenches. (These were eventually replaced by small mortars)."





BUT NOT SO FAST!

From only today we have a report of a catapult in action - - on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. A catapult being used by Mexican drug dealers to heave 2 kilogram [5 pound] bales of some "substance" over the border. You might suggest that this is NOT a catapult being used in a military situation. OR is it?

"Drug Smugglers Catapulting Marijuana Into U.S."

"U.S. authorities say some Mexican drug smugglers have resorted to using a catapult to get marijuana across the border into Arizona."

"The National Guard spotted the suspects on a remote surveillance camera launching 2 kilogram size bails over the border fence last Friday."

Crazy world, isn't it? But I ask you - - there is a degree of truth to the adage that sometimes the old ways are the best ways?

coolbert.