Scorpion Test Fire

[lordaxel1997]

imagine the front of that thing facing toiwrds you, then the bow goes back... AND FORWARD! now you got sish kebab :D

[Nicholarious]

Swastika handles

[PyR0Star]

Jet Li could defend that

[acoundou]

thats not even a scorpio, its a ballista

[DeathFirere]

@acoundou Ballistas are 6-12 feet tall.

Scorpions are 4-5 feet tall.

[JakeEricson]

@DeathFirere If even that to be honest. Scorpions got to the point where they were damn near handheld if I'm not mistaken.

[KillerBee256]

@JakeEricson Wouldn't that make it a crossbow?

[moleman1961]

That would leave a mark!

[gatekeaper80]

wars over by the time u load it

[agentkapser]

what would happend if you hit a cat =(

[AsparagusBoB]

@agentkapser The cat would be no more.

[agentkapser]

@AsparagusBoB lol



[TalonMercenary]

@agentkapser  would be a cat-kebab lol

[agentkapser]

@TalonMercenary lol



[MrBum504]

@TalonMercenary  lol ikr

[KRAZY7777]

@agentkapser oh it would die, horribly

[TreeTopSky]

no need for these anymore, we have cross bows ;)

[Umaxen]

If the wire broke, his head would be sliced in half like a tomato.

[CookieBoogy]

dude wat the fuck is the point of an arrow firing weapon this fucking big????

by the time units are done loading that thing the war will be over, or they will just get shot whil loading it.

[TheEpicGuitarist]

@CookieBoogy When the weapon was armed with 4-5 able bodied men the scorpion, and other ballistae fired rather quickly. Some weapons had as many as 3 or 4 handles of 1-2 spindles, compared to only two handles on this spindle. This was actually a midget compared to the Chinese triple crossbow, when mounted on a tower it could fire up to 10 miles.

[bananasofthesea]

just buy a gun...

[gespilk]

I wonder when would somebody make a modern version of this device, not just replica of old day ideas. With modern crossbows I can hunt to a 50-60m. I want to hunt with this device at 200m for example.

People make giant pizzas, shoes, etc. I want a giant crossbow using modern materials. What do you think? The bolt would be huge like 1.5m and it would be used to hunt big game only from enormous distance. It could also be computerised to calculate trajectories, elevation, etc.

[TheMogar85]

@gespilk your retarded

[gespilk]

@TheMogar85

it takes one to know one.

[samridebicycle]

@gespilk Sounds like a pain in the ass to design and create, but it would be bitchin all the same :D

[bananasofthesea]

@gespilk your not going to be able to hunt with a 500 pound crossbow...

[geekymgee]

@bananasofthesea it's called truck mounted dumbass

[SchoolSarge]

@gespilk What large game? Elephants!? Tanks?

[obrienj93]

@murggik Designed by the Romans in their high age of technology

[Bloodmagma]

looks dangerous and takes a long time to reload

[Zentropa999]

An excellent example of a Carroballista, obviously being fired underpowered for safety reasons. Great workmanship on the engine from what can be seen in the video. Thank you for sharing. Vires quod veneratio!

[666scav]

breathtaking.... not

[jemoederheefteen]

If they made the handles on the side it would load tons faster, because now the handles get in your own way, and the reach for a circle gets smaller.

[RebelForce8]

I see what you mean, and i agree

should look like a pedal on a bicycle

[jemoederheefteen]

Aye.

[jgn69]

the ballista/scorpion is my favorit artillery weapon

[gindaer]

they were usally a lot bigger and they fired flaming bolts to citys and the walls making stuff catch on fire

[xxJMStudiosxx]

no, your thinking of a ballista. thats a scrpion. It's smaller if i'm not mistaking.

[TheAlexagius]

@xxJMStudiosxx your right scorpians were field artilary for use agianst men not siege artilary gindaer (failure)

[Actar411]

@xxJMStudiosxx well both were made in several sizes so yes and no. Though, the ballista was usually bigger.

[kaziklu79]

Very good reconstruction! By i don't think this weapon was common in the roman army - it's too slow and ineffective. I believe it was for prestige - like the nowadays american B2 Spirit.

[aieoneoneeight]

if there were two people winding it it would be a lot faster

[candr]

Not really the scorpio was an excellent seige weapon used fairly commonly at that time. Granted not very easy to move about but effective. Even used in their navy.

[kaziklu79]

:) Keep in mind that the roman authors were more propagandists then historians - not everything written by them is truth. As far as i know these machines are famous only by written documments, not as archeological artifacts. I don't think any reasonable military commander would spend such huge efforts to mass build them, that's why i believe they were for prestige. But you're right about the navy - the scorpions look good for sea battles. :)

[candr]

Possible, also were not many designed for shooting ball or stone (granted small next to trebuchet)?

[kaziklu79]

The balls shooting ones are called ballistas, as far as i know and the smaller bolt throwers are the scorpions. Unfortunatelly as all other things from the past we can't be 100% sure what exactly they looked like and how did they work. The trebuchet is a Medieval siege machine -it is much simpler then the ballista, but not less effective. Surely they had similar machines in the Antiquity, but the trebuchet (as its name tells) comes from the second half of the Middle Ages - i guess after 1000 AD

[Solarian2495]

actually, it was indeed an extremely good weapon, Roman seige equipment was the best of its time

[dakkenly]

Yes, ballistas were used for taking out lines of infantry...

[ficklefackle]

actually this weapon was used very frequently... one very good use of a scorpion is to agitate the enemy into attacking the roman shield wall.

most scorpions were larger then this one though

probably the most famous use of the scorpion was in sieges, especially the siege of sinai, where the romans slaughtered the jews

[adobo777]

More like a terror weapon I'd shit my self knowing a ton of metal is gonna be dropped at me and nothing in the current world arsenal can defend against it, not the most efficient, but the terror factor is the mark just like Tiger tanks of ww2.

Scorpions with 2-3 guys manning it can fire a shot every 10-15 seconds masses of them would be effective..

[kaziklu79]

You're right about the terror factor, but i doubt it that this weapon can be shot every 10-15 seconds - more likely one shot in a minute for the small ones and 5 to 15 for the really big siege weapons.

[calebcodyeasy]

i wish the braided string broke at 0:34

[NbaBaller243]

thats discusting

[gargosaurio]

uch cuanto te demoraste haciendo esa cosa?????

[TorontoBoi]

The brits love their ballistas!

[whowantsabighug]

shame it wasnt thier design

[Peter134679852]

speed trick^^

[Peter134679852]

your video is the best on youtube

[Darius92Mutinensis]

how far can this throw?

[DARIVSARCHITECTVS]

If they had the cord bundles properly pretensioned, THEN twisted, you can achieve over 450 yards with a 3-span catapulta. I have shot one that far. My 3 mina stone throwing ballista is currently able to throw a 3 mina (2.9 pounds) stone over 265 yards. I hope to achieve 340 yards eventually, after revisions to the release mechanism are made.

[whowantsabighug]

thats only if the cords are twisted evenly

[zach3003]

gooood god

[Kroglice]

The scorpion is roman...The ballista is Greek..But greatly modified and improved by the ROmans...

[sz42781]

beautiful

[NODsniperX]

how much does this cost?

[DARIVSARCHITECTVS]

You can make a 3-span catapulta like this one for less than $1200.00 and lots of time. It's a labor of love, and done mostly with hand tools. Quite doable by an average engineering college student who take ths time to make the plans and design drawings first before starting construction in the shop.

[danpt2000]

So, how many shots could be fired in a minute? Maybe 1?

[Chosan69]

3 to 4 shots per minute

[danpt2000]

Perhaps, but in this 1 minute long video, the operator fired only one bolt.

[DamJeu42]

he was a bit slow but you have a pretty good point there xD

[DarkMark999]

I want one!! xD

[ickmagkase]

The Skorpion was Greek. The Ballista was modified from the Skorpion by the Romans.

[jipojakobi]

weird

[kahutuwhare]

geek, do u wear those clothes too bed?

[Ouchthathurtslol]

lol

[ARM02]

The handles are pointing the wrong way.

[ganaschico]

@ARM02 replying to a 4 year old comment

no they are right