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Old 01-09-2019, 11:29 PM   #20
lwcamp
 
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
Default Re: A case for crossbows for the Urban Fantasy Vigilante

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
Crossbow is an Easy skill to learn. The big advantage of crossbows over guns is that crossbows have no LC. Automatic guns are LC 2, semi auto are LC 3. Therefore, crossbows are less legally controlled than guns. It becomes a big advantage because if you want to legally purchase a gun, you need at least a license and if people start dying from gunshot wounds the cops will start looking for suspects who own guns that could have shot the ammunition you use.
Where I live (Washington State in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States), you do not need a license to purchase any firearm*. There is no gun registry the police can look up to figure out who has what kind of gun. You do need a license to legally carry a concealed pistol, but anyone who is not a felon and who has not been convicted of domestic assault can carry a pistol openly. Open carry of shotguns and rifles is also legal - and fairly common during hunting season when out in the field. There is a background check to purchase any firearm, including filling out a form, stating under penalty of perjury that none of the things that can disqualify you from purchasing a gun apply to you, and a call to law enforcement clearance line to see if you are on a list that disqualifies you from buying a gun.

My understanding is that this is fairly typical of most of the United States - although the rules for open carry can vary quite a bit from state to state. Now if you are setting your game in another country, things could be quite a bit different.

(Note that Washington State is not the same place as the other Washington, the city in the District of Columbia (D.C.) where the federal government has its capital.)

* Except for fully automatic firearms and certain other guns like short-barreled shotguns, rifles of more than .50 caliber, and a few other weapons restricted by the federal government.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
Another advantage of crossbow is that they are less noisy weapons that unsuppressed guns. Suppressors, and silent ammo are highly restricted items. If you shoot someone with legally acquired suppressors and silent ammo, the list of suspects is gonna be a short one. If, on the other hand, you use black market equipment, you risk getting caught with highly illegal contraband. Using a crossbow, you can pretend to be a hunter and sell enough meat between missions to give yourself a cover story should you be subject to a control. Enough hunters use hunting crossbows that it could work.
This varies considerably from state to state. In Washington state, it is perfectly legal to own and use suppressors. Admittedly, even with a suppressor, a crossbow would still be quieter (maybe not quieter than a suppressed .22 rimfire rifle - even unsuppressed, those are really quiet - but quieter than just about anything else).

In Washington, crossbows only became legal to use for hunting within the last couple of years. In other states, they may not be legal for hunting. Bows have always been legal for hunting in Washington and, I suspect, everywhere else as well.

In general, it is illegal for hunters in the U.S. to sell the meat of the animals they kill. They can give it away as gifts if they want, but selling for money is right out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
Lastly, exotic ammunition is easier to make than for guns. Myth Busters proved that while silver bullets are possible to create, they are a nightmare to actually craft. Silver and Cold iron rounds could at the very least increase maintenance requirements on your guns. Using a wood tipped bolt as an impromptu stake is more practical than wooden bullets, and if you know an armorer in the know, glass bolts could be cheap but deadlier than regular bolts.
Exotic ammo is pretty easy to make for shotguns. Heck, most birdshot these days is already made of iron - unload a shell of iron BB's into a fae and it will have a real bad day with all those BB's remaining stuck under its skin, continuing to burn and drain it until each of them can be pulled out.

A quick look at a jewelry catalogue showed that I could order silver beads with nearly the same diameter as 00 buckshot (if you don't mind them being pierced by a small hole intended for a necklace string). With a shotgun shell loading kit, I could make a batch of silver buckshot for fighting off werewolves and such. It wouldn't have quite as much penetration as lead buckshot - silver is only about 2/3 as dense - but you would still likely have enough oomph to reach the innards of a werewolf (#2 buck is often recommended for home defense).

Wooden bullets would be more difficult. With wood for your bullet, you really won't have the sectional density to get much penetration - I'd guess you would have difficulty getting the bullet to penetrate to the heart, and if it did, you would have issues with over-penetration. The best idea I came up with is a shell with the powder and wad, and then ram a dowel down the barrel from the muzzle that fits into the shell. It would require some good engineering to get it to fly straight, but if you can do that you should be able to impale your vampires.

Luke
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