Can This Ancient Roman Catapult Live Up to its Reputation?

Weapons expert Stephen Bull is putting the ancient Roman 'Scorpio' catapult to the test. His aim: to find out if it can live up to its legendary reputation for unerring accuracy.

[pixelpatter]

I'm not sure why that thing doesn't have any power. did they remove 75 percent of the spring material? It looked very anemic.

[QuantumPyrite_.]

What a poorly designed replication of a weapon which could send bolts weighing 2 kilograms easily to 200 meters with far better accuracy . The bolts are way too short in length and the fletchings which stabilize the bolt for greater accuracy are almost nonexistent .

[kito]

Good that this uses the inswinger design, but torsion springs need to be wound up further. The fact that the bowstring is slack upon release shows that the springs were not properly tensioned. In addition, levers should be synchronized to ensure accuracy.

[ngabhishek]

Recreation of that weapon isn't that great

[adrianaslund]

Supposedly they could pin people to trees. So this must not have been a great replica.

[user]

They need to factor in wind speed and direction at each shot. Also, each arrow would be slightly different in weight, shape, aerodynamics, etc.

[derpsterio]

it seems like it kinda lacked a lot of power, you wouldn't have to aim it pointing up at that distance if it really had all of it's power

[dennishunt]

Poor old Will! Why does everyone fire at Will?

[GregoryTheGrster]

THere was a weapon like this in Age of Empires, and it was EXTREMELY powerful!

[knudback]

The narrator talks about the catapult as if it has just been built. But if it has just been built, why are all the parts rusty?

[Jordan-rb]

Not dogging on the craftsmanship or anything, but if someone from "the ancient world" military were to see this, they'd probably scoff and call it a child's toy. They were real experts at what they did, and many crafts and arts, they were superior to us at. Definitely including siege engines and siege weapons, as we haven't had to use them for centuries.

[cut_putashatsang]

Still wondering how this come to my Recommendation. But, interesting. Yet too short 😅

[AmazingNatureRelaxation]

🌺 fascinating stuff. Love seeing these old weapons re-created. – H

[MoritzvonSchweinitz]

At first, I thought this was about the clearly inferior (compared to the Trebuchet) siege weapon "catapult".

[JoaoSoares-rsec]

The fedders at the back were to small to be effective and they were flat not curved,

[BingleFlimp]

Looking him up he seems to specialise in ballistic weapons of the early to mid 20th century.

[scottpaul]

Did they use sinew in the reconstruction, if they didn’t then it’s not an accurate Roman design

[whatquestion]

What an impressive and powerful weapon. Those Romans sure knew how to science

[coffeyvideoproductions]

Try chocking the wheels better. It seems to be drifting to the left.

[nicoangelobado]

Need a better replica, does not give justice to what history call ancient war machines. Pretty lame, I bet balearic slingers would put this poor replica to shame to a higher distance.