A sufficiently high poundage crossbow (and they had very high poundages because they used mechanical tension) could blast a hole through even a plate chest plate and the guy wearing it. Though it would have to shot from somewhere close by and hit straight on or else yes it would just deflect. Though some of the most advanced plate armor may even resist that.
The thing about high poundage crossbows reminds of an account I read of a roman ballista passing through three men in a row with shields. Absolutely crazy to think of that kind of firepower, must have been terrifying.
Probably yeah, haven't heard of any practical testing but reading up on heavy arbalests and other crossbows like it, it seems possible. Those are a little further than the conventional idea of a crossbow which most people imagine though, like how an anti-materiel rifle and an infantry rifle are both rifles, but if you say the word rifle the infantry rifle is the image conjured.
A sufficiently high poundage crossbow (and they had very high poundages because they used mechanical tension) could blast a hole through even a plate chest plate and the guy wearing it. Though it would have to shot from somewhere close by and hit straight on or else yes it would just deflect. Though some of the most advanced plate armor may even resist that.
The thing about high poundage crossbows reminds of an account I read of a roman ballista passing through three men in a row with shields. Absolutely crazy to think of that kind of firepower, must have been terrifying.
Probably yeah, haven't heard of any practical testing but reading up on heavy arbalests and other crossbows like it, it seems possible. Those are a little further than the conventional idea of a crossbow which most people imagine though, like how an anti-materiel rifle and an infantry rifle are both rifles, but if you say the word rifle the infantry rifle is the image conjured.