1999年6月
彈弓
我有機會研究了一些有趣的中國傳統彈丸弓。 弓本身很輕，有筋但沒有牛角。 （然而，其中一把弓是從一把破損的角弓改裝而來的。）它們飾有蛇皮，並且通常在弓尖上雕刻成猴頭的形狀。
然而，彈丸弓最特別的部分是弓弦。 它部分由絲綢弓弦製成，部分由堅硬的竹帶製成。 一雕刻竹子小杯覆蓋著鯊魚皮的盛著烤製的粘土顆粒。 拉弓時，持弓手抓住中心下方的握把，施加向外的扭矩，以防止鬆開弦時彈丸擊中握把。 拉手的拇指和食指握住杯子，將球靠在杯子上。 這很容易，因為拉力不超過 25#。 彈丸杯被拉回射手的眼睛，射擊是瞄準目標超過握把的頂部（與彈丸杯對齊）。
這種弓在射擊小鳥時很受歡迎。 射擊應該是非致命的：想法是捕捉活鳥：而不是殺死它們。
Pellet-bows
I had a chance to study some interesting traditional Chinese pellet-bows. The bow itself is quite light, backed with sinew but without horn. (One such bow, however, had been converted from an arrow-bow which had broken and is horn-backed.) They were decorated with snakeskin and often had tips carved in the shape of a monkey's head.
The most extraordinary part of the pellet-bow, however, is the string. It is made up partly from silk bowstring and partly from rigid bamboo straps. A small cup of carved bamboo covered with sharkskin holds the baked clay pellet. The bow is drawn with the bow-hand grasping the grip below centre, imparting and outward torque to prevent the pellet from hitting the grip when the string is released. The draw-hand thumb and forefinger grip arround the cup, holding the pellet in against it. This is easy because the draw-weight does not exceed 25#. The pellet cup is drawn back to the archer's eye, and the shot is made aiming at the target past the top of the grip (which is aligned level with the pellet-cup.)
This sort of bow was popular for shooting at small birds. The shot is supposed to be non-lethal: the idea was to catch birds live: not to kill them.
2000年11月
有幸採訪到張少傑，一位畢生致力於表演武術表演的表演藝術家。 他的表演包括舉重、拉重弓和用彈丸弓射擊。
張是第四代演員，在中國非常有名。 從曾祖父張玉山，到祖父張保中、父親張英傑，他在清代武舉中練就了表演技藝。
“我們也有自己的表演團和一家藥店。我們過去常常在天壇後面的街道上表演，並向被我們拉弓表演吸引的人群出售我們的藥品，”張回憶道。 後來，我們組成了一個正規的表演團，參加了一次馬戲表演。 我們有拉力超過 100 磅的弓，我們用幾把這樣的弓連在一起表現出了力量。”
“還有一幕是舉重石，其實是叫‘騎石’的馬墊，先用兩隻手舉到單膝上，準備好後，再舉到胸前，這樣觀眾就可以 可以看到石頭的底部。我們把它們放回地上。
“我們過去常常為彈丸弓表演製作自己的彈丸。所有東西都放進去：頭髮、紙、鉛和粘土。然後我們用力烘烤它們。我們表演的表演需要使用彈丸來撲滅一定範圍內的蠟燭火焰 幾米。我的妻子是這方面的佼佼者。但現在我們倆都不表演，我們也不招收任何學生。練習需要太多時間。現在沒人有時間練習了。而且 另一件事是，用彈丸弓射擊很難做出有吸引力的舞台表演。”
“我們使用帶有兩條平行弦的彈丸弓。如果拉力很重，我們可以使用拇指環。將弦拉回到右眼角，然後用左手拇指瞄準目標。當你釋放時 ，你左手稍微向外扭動，以免碰到拇指。打拇指叫“叫門”。我們不能把華北製造的弓帶到南方，因為 濕度。我祖父以前買的是福建產的漆南弓。”
I had the pleasure of interviewing Zhang Shaojie, a performing artist who has devoted his life to performing feats developed from the old military examination system. His performances included weightlifting, pulling heavy bows and shooting with the pellet-bow.
Zhang is the fourth generation of performers and he is very well-known in China. From his great grandfather, Zhang Yushan, through his grandfather, Zhang Baozhong, and father Zhang Yingjie, he has developed performing skills based on the feats that candidates for the military examinations in the Qing Dynasty had to perform.
"We had our own performing troupe and a medicine shop as well. We used to perform in the streets behind the Temple of Heaven and sell our medicines to crowds attracted to our bow-pulling acts," recalls Zhang. Later on, we formed into a proper performing troupe in a circus performance. We had bows of over 100 pounds draw-weight and we performed feats of strength with several of these bows linked together."
"Another act was lifting a heavy stone. Actually, the stones were horse-mounting blocks called 'zhishi'. First we lifted them with two hand onto one knee, then after preparing, we lifted them high enough against our chests so that the audience could see the bottom of the stone. The we put them back on the ground."
"We used to make our own pellets for the pellet bow act. Everything went into them: hair, paper, lead and clay. Then we baked them hard. The act we performed required using a pellet to put out candle flames at a range of a few metres. My wife is the crack-shot at that. But now neither of us performs and we do not take on any students. It just takes too much time for practice. No-one has the time for that these days. And the other thing is, it's difficult to make an attractive stage performance out of shooting with a pellet bow."
"We used a pellet bow with two parallel strings. If the draw-weight is heavy, we can use a thumbring. You draw the string back to the corner of the right eye and aim over the left thumb at the target. As you release, you twist your left hand outward slightly to avoid hitting your thumb. Hitting you thumb is called 'jiao mer' ('calling out at the doorstep'). We couldn't take bows made in North China down to the south because of the humidity. My grandfather used to get lacquered southern bows made in Fujian."
2001年1月
在中國，通過清潔和裝飾房屋並張貼吉祥年畫來慶祝農曆新年（1 月 24 日星期三是蛇年的第一天）是一種習俗。
左邊的年畫就是一個典型的例子，雖然不常見。 這是一幅捲軸畫，應該說是晚清（大約19世紀末）的一幅捲軸畫，一張紙條上寫著“張師射天犬”。
“張師傅”是誰？ 他似乎與宋代記載中的“張仙”（張先）是同一人。 孟嘗自立為後蜀霸主。 他娶了可愛的“花蕊小姐”為妃。
965年孟嘗大敗，其妃子被擄至宋太祖宮中。 她仍然忠於她的丈夫，並保留了一幅他拉弓、手指拿著一顆子彈的畫。 她把這幅畫掛在她房間的牆上，每天供養牠。 當皇上問起她為何崇敬這幅畫時，她偽造了題中的一個字來騙過他。 說是“張仙人”的畫像，向它祈求會生子。 這幅畫後來成為民間傳說的主題，並被用作生育兒子的象徵。
這顯然是這幅畫背後的意圖，所有的小男孩都在他的腳邊轉來轉去。 但我從未見過任何人提到他向狗開槍。 黑狗是月食的原因嗎？ （月食能夠使月亮變紅。）
仔細看，這把弓分明是雙弦的鵝卵石弓，（而且，確實是看不到箭。）在右邊的放大圖中，你可以看到他有一顆彈丸 握在他的手指之間，準備下一次射擊。
In China, it is the custom to celebrate the lunar new year (Wednesday 24 January is the first day of the Year of the Snake) by cleaning and decorating the house and putting up auspicious new year pictures.
The new year picture on the left is a typical example, although it is unusual. It is a scroll painting which, I should say, dates from the late Qing Dynasty (around the end of the 19th Century) and a slip of paper bears the note "Master Zhang shoots the heavenly dog."
Who was 'Master Zhang'? He seems to have been the same person as 'Zhang the Immortal' (Zhang Xian) who was known from an account dating from the Song Dynasty. Meng Chang set himself up as overlord of the Later Shu kingdom. He took as his concubine the lovely "Lady Flower Stamen".
Meng Chang was defeated in 965 and his concubine was captured and taken to the Palace of the first Song Emperor, Tai Zu. She remained faithful to her husband and kept a painting of him pulling a bow and holding a pellet in his fingers. She hung the painting on the wall of her chamber and made offerings to it each day. When asked by the Emperor why she revered the painting, she deceived him by forging one of the characters of the title . claiming it was a picture of "Immortal Zhang", and that praying to it would make her bear sons. The picture later became the subject of folklore and was used as a symbol of bearing sons.
That is obviously the intent behind this painting, with all the young boys milling about his feet. But I have never seen any mention of him shooting at a dog. Is the black dog the cause a lunar eclipse? (A lunar eclipse is capable of making the moon turn red.)
If you look carefully , you will see that the bow is clearly a pebble bow with a double string, (and, indeed, there is no arrow to be seen.) In the enlargement on the right, you can see that he has a pellet held between his fingers at the grip, ready for the next shot.
2002 年 11 月
上個月，我再次訪問了北京。 通過內蒙古的一個聯繫人，聽說有一位工匠可以製作很重的“強力弓”，供馬戲團表演者使用。 由於得不到材料，工匠已經幾年沒有製作弓了。 在北京的時候，我撿到一把居元浩為我製作的彈丸弓（“猴弓”）。 這些弓的猴頭設計的原因我仍然不清楚。 有人認為“猴”與漢語中“官銜”的詞押韻，所以猴頭被雕刻成吉祥的象徵。 但是聚元昊在一端雕刻了一個猴頭，在另一端雕刻了一個豬頭，以慶祝中國著名小說《西遊記》中的英雄。
'美猴王'
我想學彈丸弓有一段時間了。 我發現這是一個特別困難的技術：你伸出手臂並將繩子（一根雙繩子和一個用來固定顆粒的杯子）拉回眼睛。 然後就在釋放之前，您必須將您的弓手從射擊線急劇向外扭轉，這樣子彈就不會擊中握把。 在保持準確性的同時做到這一點目前超出了我的範圍。 有使用彈丸弓射擊經驗的人會寫信給我（或者更好的是，在 ATARNet 上發帖）並提供一些提示嗎？
November 2002
Last month, I made another visit to Peking. Through a contact from Inner Mongolia, I heard that there is a craftsman who is able to make heavy 'strength-bows' for use by circus performers. The craftsman has not made any bows for a few years because he cannot obtain materials. While in Peking, I picked up a pellet bow ('monkey bow') made for me by Ju Yuan Hao. The reason for the monkey head design of these bows is still not clear to me. Some people have suggested that 'monkey' rhymes with a word in Chinese meaning 'official rank', so the monkeys' heads were carved as good luck symbols. But Ju Yuan Hao carves a monkey's head at one end, and a pig's head at the other, celebrating the heroes of the famous Chinese novel 'Journey to the West'.
'Monkey King'
I have wanted to learn the pellet bow for some time. I find it a particularly difficult technique: you extend the arm and draw the string (a double string with a cup to hold the pellet) back to the eye. Then just before release, you must torque your bow-hand sharply outwards from the line of the shot so that the pellet will not hit the grip. Doing that while maintaining accuracy is beyond me at present. Will anyone who has experience in shooting with pellet bows write to me (or better still, post on ATARNet) with some tips?
不久前，我向大家提出了一個問題，關於如何發射彈丸弓。 現在鮑勃·布朗想出了一個解釋。 Bob 是 Soc 的長期成員。 Archer Antiques 和他們的時事通訊“Arrowhead”的編輯。 這一解釋也將在稍後由 SPTA 發布，我在得到他們的許可後將其包含在本期時事通訊中。
射擊彈丸弓
鮑勃·布朗
在 SPTA 通訊中的一篇文章之後，我發現了“ATARN”網站，該網站非常有趣。 我發現的一件事是斯蒂芬塞爾比正在學習用彈丸弓射擊。 做到了這一點並讓它發揮作用，因為我注意到他要北上參加利茲皇家軍械庫的弓箭手活動，所以我想我會去那裡帶他去看弓箭手。 las，日期衝突。 當他向北走時，我將向南飛奔到弓箭手古物協會的古物拍攝處。
許多個月前（1960 年代後期），我看了一個關於印度南部鄉村生活的電視節目。 裡面有一個男孩用彈丸弓射粘土彈丸。 在一個明顯是擺拍的場景中，他朝一個掛在小屋屋簷下的陶罐開槍，以保持裡面的東西涼爽。 他從估計的 15 英尺射門，幾乎擊中了底池正中。 子彈直接穿過，水從入口和出口的孔中噴出，落在坐在下面的長老身上。
弓的力量和準確性給我留下了深刻的印象，並決定試一試。 大約在那個時候，我買了一把初學者反曲弓，它是用一塊扁平的白蠟木製成的，我想嘗試用肌腱支撐它。 但它很輕——24 英寸重約 20 磅，可以很好地轉換成彈丸弓。 節目中的印度竹子是用一段大直徑的竹子做成的； 大約 3 英尺長，有一個帶袋子的雙繩。 彈丸弓在整個 S.E. 都廣為人知。 亞洲和中國以一種或另一種形式出現。
我的繩子是用窗扇繩製成的，形成一個弓弦長度的環，帶有一個結連接。 在每一端的眼睛下方將兩個絞線綁在一起形成了眼睛。
兩個絞線由兩個（6 毫米）長約 1 英寸（25 毫米）的帶缺口的銷釘分離器分開，分離器位於袋和箭尾之間的中間位置。我推斷，如果出現嚴重錯誤，我可以將一顆子彈射入我的弓手並決定 將袋子設置在我的弓手位置上方約 2 英寸（50 毫米）（事實證明這是一個明智的預防措施）。我第一次嘗試使用皮革袋子只是分離的寬度和 1 英寸深。 這太窄了，無法很好地抓住顆粒。 第二次嘗試成功了。 這次我剪了一條長得多的條帶，把它縫在一根線束上，做成一個袋子，把一顆彈丸放進去，拿著它，測量它到達另一根線束的位置，然後把那一側縫到弓弦上。
到花園去玩一玩。 弓手的部分拉動和扭曲（向右）鬆散 - 擊打 - 小石頭擊中了弓。 再次嘗試，用力更大——石頭從弓的邊緣滑落。 嘗試將皮彈兜移往握弓手的上方約10公分. 經過一些練習後，我大約有一半的射門能射過弓。
拿去射箭社炫耀。 我們中有幾個人看過這個節目。 另一個小伙子也做了一把彈丸弓。 發現了同樣的問題並提出了解決方案。
它可能不是唯一的解決方案或經典解決方案，但它確實有效。
他開發的技巧是牢牢握住弓，使弓和弦與您的弓臂成 45° 對齊。
繪圖 © Bob Brown，2003
寬鬆的是一個簡單的捏握。 在加載（膨脹）的袋子上，這比在繩子上的狹窄箭頭上更堅固。 然後畫到眼睛——而不是臉的一側——這樣你就能看到眼袋上方的目標了。 然後彈丸繞弓而行（對於右撇子射手來說是向右）並且弦回到 45° 對齊。
弓似乎沒有受到這種嚴重錯位的影響，儘管我不知道它會如何影響斯蒂芬塞爾比的中國子彈弓，據我所知，它有 siyahs（固定耳朵）。 [Stephen 說：'實際上，我的彈丸弓沒有長而靜止的耳朵。'] 帶有 siyahs 的東方復合弓不適合橫向扭曲。 橫向扭曲乘以 siyahs 的槓桿作用，扭曲弓形肢體，形成一組（需要矯正）。 如果發生組合，則存在非常真實的危險，即弦從 siyahs 上脫落，鬆散（對弓和弓箭手來說是危險的）並且弓變得鬆散和倒轉。
彈藥。 最初，小鵝卵石是我們的彈藥，但後來我們使用了從火槍子彈模具中鑄造的 ½" 鉛球。鉛球彈藥非常棒，可以對高達約 40 英尺（12 米）的錫罐造成嚴重破壞，那時有適當的 錫罐，而不是這些你可以用一隻手捏碎的現代罐頭。
通過一些練習，我們確實變得非常準確。
與任何形式的射箭一樣，如果您嘗試使用彈丸弓，請小心。 安全至上。
Not long ago, I posed a question to Members about how to shoot a pellet bow. Now Bob Brown has come up with an explanation. Bob is a long-time member of the Soc. Archer Antiques and editor of their newsletter 'Arrowhead'. This explanation is also due to be published later by the SPTA, and I am including it in this newsletter with their kind permission.
SHOOTING A PELLET BOW
by Bob Brown
Following an article in the SPTA Newsletter, I discovered the website for 'ATARN' which have found very interesting. One of the things I spotted was that Stephen Selby was learning to shoot a pellet bow. Done that and got it working, and since I noted that he was coming North to the Horse Archers Event at the Royal Armouries Leeds, I thought I would go over there and show him and see the horse archers too. Alas, the dates clash. I shall be hurtling south to the Antiquarian Shoot of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries as he comes north.
Many moons ago (late 1960s) I saw a TV programme about village life in Southern India. In it there was a boy with a pellet bow shooting clay pellets. During an obviously staged scene, he shot at an eathenware pot slung under the eaves of a hut to keep the contents cool. He shot it from a guesstimated 15 feet and hit the pot nearly dead centre. The pellet went straight through and water fountained out of entrance and exit holes over the elder sitting beneath.
I was impressed by both the power and accuracy of the bow and decided to have a go. About that time I had acquired a beginners recurved bow made from a single flat-sectioned piece of ash with some idea of trying my hand at backing it with sinew. But it was light - about 20 pounds at 24 inches and converted to a pellet bow very nicely. The Indian one shown in the programme was made from a section of large diameter bamboo; about 3 feet long and had a double string with pouch. Pellet bows are known throughout S.E. Asia and China in one form or another.
My string was made from window-sash cord formed into a bowstring-length, endless loop with a bound knot join. Binding the two skeins together below the eyes at each end formed the eyes.
The two skeins were held apart by two (6mm) notched dowel separators about 1" (25mm) long set about halfway between the pouch and the nocks. I reasoned that if things went horribly wrong, I could drive a pellet into my bowhand and decided to set the pouch about 2 in. (50mm.) above my bowhand position (a wise precaution as it turned out). My first attempt at a leather pouch was just the width of the separation and 1" deep. This was too narrow to give a good grip on the pellet. The second attempt worked. This time I cut a much longer strip, sewed it onto one skein and made a pouch, put a pellet in it and held it and measured where it reached the other skein, then sewed that side to the bowstring.
Out to the garden to have a go. A part draw and a twist (to the right) of the bowhand on the loose - smack - the small stone hit the bow. Tried again, with a more forceful twist - the stone careened off the edge of the bow. Retired to house to pad bow with a covering of sisal string and leather for about 4 inches (10 cms.) above bowgrip. After some practice I could get about half of my shots past the bow.
Took it up to the archery club to show off. Several of us had seen the programme. Another chap had made up a pellet bow too. Found the same problem and come up with a solution.
It may not be the only solution or a classic solution but it works.
The trick he developed was to hold the bow firmly so that the bow and string are aligned about 45° to your bow arm.
Drawing © Bob Brown, 2003
The loose was a simple pinch grip. On the loaded (bulging) pouch this was able to be much firmer than on the narrow nock of an arrow on the string. Then draw to the eye - not the side of the face - so that you are looking at the target over the pouch and loose. The pellet then goes round the bow (to the right for a right-handed archer) and the string goes back to the 45° alignment.
The bows didn't seem to suffer from this gross misalignment although I do not know how it would affect Stephen Selby's Chinese pellet bow, which I understand, has siyahs (fixed ears). [Stephen says: 'Actually, my pellet bow doesn't have long, static ears.'] Oriental composite bows with siyahs do NOT take kindly to lateral twists. A lateral twist is multiplied by the leverage of the siyahs, twisting the bow-limbs which take a set (requiring correction). If a set occurs there is the very real danger of the string dismounting from the siyahs, on the loose (dangerous to bow and archer) and the bow becoming unstrung and reversing.
Ammunition. Initially, small pebbles were our ammunition but later we used ½" lead ball cast from a musket bullet mould. The lead ball ammo was splendid and wreaked havoc on tin cans up to about 40 feet (12m.) and that was when there were proper tin cans, not these modem ones you can crush in one hand.
With some practice we became very accurate indeed.
As with any form of archery, if you try using a pellet bow, take care. SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT.
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