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So I'm sure most of you have seen Van Helsing, and you probably remember (besides Kate Beckinsale's sweet a**) this little beauty:



For those of you who haven't seen this movie or don't remember, this is a fully automatic, gas-operated, drum magazine-fed crossbow. Since obviously a rifle-type gas system (drawing the gas from the round being fired to cycle the gun) wouldn't work with a crossbow, it's powered by a small tank of CO2 or compressed air in the stock (visible in the image), much like a paintball gun.

Now, my question to you is, is such a weapon even possible, let alone practical?

Alright. What about removing the bow mechanism and just turning it into a big gas-powered blowgun?

Not to mention the bolts would have to be sealed within the barrel in sabots of some kind in order to keep from just blasting a bunch of air out the end.

Method would be, sealed bolts pushed by spring in rotary magazine, allowed to be pressed into the barrel by that energy as soon as the previous bolt was blasted out by the air. However if you stopped the gas at the wrong time, you might end up with a bolt stuck in the barrel. So you'd probably need a set amount of air dedicated to the firing of the bolt. Like there's one tank, that allows the Co2 into a smaller tank that holds enough air for one shot, and pressing the trigger opens the valve for that tank to fire the bolt. That would have to be semi-auto, but be more reliable.

As if this is actually a conceivable idea or something. Possible, yes, but wildly impractical. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And it's definitely a neat crossbow.

huh... never would have guessed.