Bullet-shooting crossbow

[3] As powerful a weapon as the crossbow was, it lacked the capability of hunting smaller animals like birds, squirrels, and rabbits.

[4] However, in discussing astronomical topics such as solar and lunar eclipses, the Western-Han era Chinese mathematician and music theorist Jing Fang (78–37 BC) wrote that the moon, shaped like a ball, produced no light and was illuminated only by the sun, which he compared to the shape of a round crossbow bullet.

The bow's primary purpose was to shoot birds, as conventional weapons lacked the ability to effectively hunt flying prey.

[6] The lighter projectiles from a pellet bow flew faster, so the shooter had a better chance of hitting a moving target.

This allowed for a straighter stock or body of the crossbow, which utilizes stronger springs to launch bullets faster and more accurately.

The bow was adapted to shoot half ounce lead bullets, which are more accurate and do much more damage than stones and clay pellets.

Gunpowder is much more powerful and destructive than a crossbow, and guns quickly became the new weapon of choice both for hunting and war.

Even though more powerful weapons were invented, like the air gun, the bullet-shooting crossbow was used extensively throughout history because it was not loud enough to scare prey off.

There was no reason to use a bolt-shooting crossbow to hunt squirrels when a smaller, less-powerful weapon could get the job done just as effectively.