History Main / AutomaticCrossbows

* A modern automatic crossbow, built out of a PP-19 Bizon submachine gun and as such feeding from a large helical magazine, is Ajay Ghale's go-to stealth WeaponOfChoice in ''VideoGame/FarCry4''. The standard bow from the last game is still available as well, so it really comes down to player preference (the auto-cross can be used one-handed and is much faster, removing much of the skill necessary to use it to its full potential, but non-headshots are slightly weaker and it can't use fire or explosive bolts).

* In ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' Twitch has an extremely high base attack speed and usually gets items to increase it, so that he fires crossbow bolts at a rate greater than one a second.

* Invoked with the Helsing in ''Videogame/{{Metro 2033}}'' and the [[Videogame/MetroLastLight sequel]], a 6-shot pneumatic rifle that fires crossbow bolts at lethal speed, which is reloaded like a revolver, and pumped-up to pressure by hand. Killing a mutant with it [[ShoutOut grants the "Van Helsing" achievement]].

* ''Videogame/{{MetroExodus}}'' Has the Hellsing crossbow, which can be modified to be a rapid-fire gas-powered Automatic Crossbow.

* ''VideoGame/HypeTheTimeQuest'' has some quick crossbows, one of which actually could rapid fire three arrows!
* In ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', the crossbow automatically loads the next shot. Despite this, the fire rate isn't faster than other FPS crossbows.

* Queen Mercedes in ''VideoGame/MapleStory'' [[DualWielding dual-wields]] a pair of 'bowguns', which can be best described as this trope with a dash of GatlingGood. In her case, she never has to reload because her arrows are made of magic. Given her rate of fire, conventional ammunition would probably be impossible to reload quick enough unless it was belt-fed.
** Also from Maplestory there is the Wild Hunter class who is from a very Steampunk inspired faction and thus can use mechanisms to fire their crossbow at a rate comparable to Mercedes, without magic.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', for most of the pre-release period, took this even further by having a fully-automatic ''longbow''. If you had enough arrows stored up, you could just point at a horde of enemies, hold down the right mouse button, and mow them down like you're wielding an assault rifle. And as an added bonus, missed shots didn't waste arrows because they could (and still can) be gathered up and reused later. Beta 1.8 finally retooled the bow to behave more like a traditional video game longbow (i.e. hold the button in to pull back slowly, release to... well, release; damage and accuracy increases based on how far back the bowstring was drawn) but also do more damage if used properly.
** Some Minecraft griefing clients not only restore the fully automatic nature of the bow but can make it fire ''even faster''.

** Trying to be funny, or referencing the slow fire rate it would have in real life? [[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]].

* Downplayed in ''Literature/{{Kane}}'', Kane's favoured crossbow is a bit more advanced for its time due to Kane's eons of scientific/engineering study. However it's cocking mechanism is only quick because Kane's superhuman strength lets him crank it faster than normal and he still needs to place a new bolt each time its used.

** ''Literature/Jingo'' contains probably the only explicit reference to a weapon being automatic, but rather than a crossbow, it's a "throwing star hurler." Apparently it fires the little blades fast enough to reliably decapitate at 20 paces. The book also introduces the "Great Leveller," apparently an automatic ballista, and the "Viper Mk 3," which is not elaborated upon besides the tag line "kills people but leaves buildings standing."

* A character in ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD: Bloodlust'' fires quarrels at a rate of roughly seven billion per second out of a ''hand-loaded'' crossbow. No explanation is offered as to how, although it looks like he's pulling a [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Detritus]] -- loading a bundle of them and letting them [[RainOfArrows diffuse mid-flight]].

Compare with {{Multishot}} when one gets similar results with a regular bow.

* ''VideoGame/OddworldStrangersWrath'' has the main character use an arm-mounted double-barrel crossbow that fires [[BeeBeeGun bees]] at a machine gun-like rate, as well as various other critters.

* In the 1980s, light-gun shooter ''VideoGame/{{Crossbow}}'' an arcade game from Exidy had you protect a hapless group of adventurers from incoming monsters with a rapid-fire crossbow.

** Considering the above examples, it is notable that ''BladestormTheHundredYearsWar'' - also by KOEI - completely [[AvertedTrope AVERTS]] this. Crossbow-units have to reload after each shot, taking several seconds - and Heavy Crossbows take even longer since they have to use a hand-crank to do so. Of course, this makes them rather less than practical to actually USE, especially if you don't have some allied units around to run interference while you're busy reloading...

* ''VideoGame/GemstoneWarrior'' and its sequel ''Gemstone Healer'' from SSI had its hero fight his way through demons to the magical Gemstone with a rapid-fire crossbow that was weak but had a large ammo supply and fireballs which OneHitKill but your ammo supply was very limited.

* The Desert Striker Crossbow from ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'', is a future semi-automatic, reverse-draw crossbow that functions as a scope-less sniper weapon with varied ammo in early game.

In real life, it is [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome much more difficult]] to create such a weapon than many works assume. Automatic firearms work by using excess energy from the detonation of the propellant to reload and recock the weapon. In a bow powered by elasticity, there is no such simple source of excess energy. This is no fun, as you still want said automatic weapon. There are several ways this might be accomplished. The most realistic options use various types of hand-powered mechanical device to produce repeating bows that are similar to RealLife [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeating_crossbow historical examples]] but [[UpToEleven dialed up to eleven]]. Others might use SchizoTech or magic to accomplish this purposes. If it is the latter, the use of magically justified BottomlessMagazines might make the Automatic Crossbow even more powerful.

** In fifth edition the "loading" property means that a crossbow can "only" be fired every 6 seconds, while the character is still freely moving and potentially taking other actions as well. The Crossbow Expert feat take it UpToEleven, allowing a character to ignore the "loading" trait. As a result a high level fighter could loose a total of ''9'' bolts in that same 6 second span. Rangers can do even better with their ability to attack every enemy within 10 ft of a point, so the only limit to how many bolts they can theoretically fire off in a turn is how many enemies are packed into the space (and ammo, of course)

* Maybe with a little nod tuned UpToEleven to the Chinese chu-ko-nu in the RealLife section below, ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 7'' players have access to highly-accurate ballistas in some missions. Its {{gatling good}}ness and [[ImprobableAimingSkills never-miss accuracy]] make for some [[CurbStompBattle easy army leveling]].

** The eighth game takes this [[UpToEleven to a ludicrous extent]] with the DownloadableContent "Revolving Crossbow", which is basically a portable gatling cannon that fires arrows.

* ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'' has an automatic crossbow, as well as splinter guns, which are basically mini shotgun-crossbows. Taken UpToEleven with the Heavy Auto-Crossbow, which rapid-fires bolts capable of taking down walking tanks in one hit.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'', one book ''Land with no Stars'' is set on a primitive alien world where warriors use crossbows as part of their arsenal, including exotic arm-mounted versions that can rapid-fire dragonflies.

* In D20 rpg ''TabletopGame/DarkLegacies'', there are standard automatic crossbows out of Dungeons and Dragons, but also there are even more advanced assault crossbows, which are automatic crossbows with an ammo belt to create a constant rate of fire. And a certain class can further mount these assault crossbows on a steam-powered armour and then improve the crossbow with things such as flywheels, high-tension strings and etc. Note that in most fantasy worlds, these assault crossbows would be the highest level of technology. But in ''Dark Legacies'', it's set in our world in the post-apocalypse, demon-haunted far future, so the assault crossbows and other tech is a big step down.

* Steamlogic's ''Mechanical Dreams'' has repeating crossbows. The most basic versions can store 3 bolts while the best quality ones can hold 12 bolt. Then there's the Arrow Rotary, this is a drum-fed automatic crossbow that can hold 100 arrows and will continuously shoot so long as the trigger is pressed.

* Dark Elves in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' use repeating crossbows as their standard ranged weapon. On top of that, both they and the High Elves have repeating Bolt Throwers (ballistas) as their primary war machines.

* ''VideoGame/FoxNForests'': [[PlayerCharacter Rick]]'s crossbow can fire bolts one after the other in unrealistically quick precision for a crossbow.
* ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}''-clone, ''Demon Stalkers: The Raid on Doomfane'' had your heroes rip into the forces of evil with rapid-fire crossbows.

* Edgar's Auto Crossbow tool in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. [[DiscOneNuke It's available less than an hour into the game, and remains useful for a long time.]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', Tsun 'Kalu wields a crossbow that fires three bolts at once.

* ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' (the novel) attributes the original creation of an automatic crossbow to Zhuge Liang, circa 200 AD. While this is not exactly historical fact, the existence of the weapon in that time frame is confirmed. While certainly weaker and less accurate than a typical bow, it was much quicker and used effectively in mass combat against lightly armored foes. Also in his fantasy short story "Dragon's Teeth," in the mid-fourth century AD.
* An artillery version was developed by the Roman Empire (the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheiroballistra cheiroballistra]]), while some Roman auxiliaries carried bullet-firing crossbows. However, the repeating variants were much weaker than the regular crossbows and it was necessary to tip the bolts with poison to make them more lethal.
** However, a body recovered from the site of a Roman siege in south-western Britain showed that a bolt-head typical of a Roman repeating crossbow had enough force to go right through a human body from the front and lodge in the luckless target's spine, with the point penetrating out of his back. Ref. Adam Hart-Davis, below.

* The Series/MythBusters actually made one. It tended to jam often, but it worked.
** A large problem with the jamming turned out to be just how it was fired. With the right cranking technique, it worked fairly well.
** Adam Hart-Davies, eccentric presenter of the 2000 British history reconstruction show ''What The Romans Did For Us?'', reconstructed a Roman automatic crossbow design. It fired repeatedly, quickly, penetrated an impressive assortment of materials, and didn't jam or fail once.
* This crossbow was one of the weapons improved upon on the Military Channel show ''Weapon Masters''. Chad made a pneumatic steel-framed crossbow that was deadly accurate and powerful at all ranges tested, and could quickly reload itself in seconds from a top-mounted magazine.
* When ''Series/ScrapheapChallenge'' did an episode on repeater bows, they showed a full-size but down-powered model of an original Chinese design dating to 200 AD. It essentially had an ammo hopper on top which was gravity-fed, and a wheel on the side that pulled the string back once with each rotation. It could fire pretty much as fast as you could turn the wheel, getting through maybe 40 shots per minute.
** Historic repeating crossbows all had the same problem, they lacked the range and penetrating power of their slower firing brethren. Great for volume of fire, less than spectacular when it comes to precision marksmanship, long-range target shooting, and armor penetration. Which is why the bolts were often [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned]] or scaled up to the size of artillery.

* Wikipedia article on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeating_crossbow Repeating crossbows.]]
** This particular weapon was demonstrated in real life on ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'', during the show pitting Sun-Tzu against Vlad the Impaler. It worked better than they expected.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4RKoRyTik&NR=1 This guy made an auto-electric crossbow.]]
* While this guy built a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxtHtPK2MH8&feature=related Gatling slingshot crossbow!]]
* A few other folks on Youtube have made [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter pump-action]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR0FXZe2_64 repeating]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAyCVTV8-lM crossbows.]]
** The same guy in the first example above also built an auto crossbow capable of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw6VBJ_o3AQ one-handed shooting.]]

* A character in ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD: Bloodlust'' fires quarrels at a rate of roughly seven billion per second out of a ''hand-loaded'' crossbow. No explanation is offered as to how, although it looks like he's pulling a [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Detritus]] - loading a bundle of them and letting them [[RainOfArrows diffuse mid-flight]].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels use this quite a bit. ''Literature/TheTruth'' and ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' even feature a small spring-powered crossbow that's been so heavily modified that it's a gun in everything but the most technical sense. There's also Sergeant Detritus's "Piecemaker," a giant siege weapon that fires six-foot-long arrows, which he converted into [[{{BFG}} biggest handheld weapon on the Disc]]. Although both are described, most emphatically, as being ''slow'' to reload.
** The issue with the Piecemaker is that it doesn't ''need'' to be fired more than once. Or even ever. In its latest incarnation/modification it's practically the equivalent of waving a rocket-launcher in somebody's face, in proportion to the technology level of the Disc.

*** The Piecemaker has actually been fired, it applies so much force that the arrows instantly shatter. The target is then hit with a spray of fast-moving wood and metal chips of what used to be arrows. It has the same effect as a shotgun, dialed up to 11. Often being used to vaporize pesky obstacles that block their path.

* In Eric Cox's ''The Relic Guild'' series - Namji, an Aelfir noblewoman and allied magic-user to the Relic Guild, owns a stolen Aelfir pistol crossbow. This item is a master-crafted, {{Magitek}} weapon that uses power stones. While there's charge in the stones, the weapons will automatically reload and cock after each trigger pull. The weapon carries a magazine of pencil-sized crossbolts that are all enchanted with a single-use offensive spell cast by Namji. In a world, where {{Magitek}} guns are commonplace, her crossbow gives her firepower that often outclasses enemy firearms.