Editing Repeating crossbow (section)

== Designs ==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2021}} 
[[File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic267 - 諸葛全弩圖.png|thumb|[[Ming dynasty]] repeating crossbow]]

The repeating crossbow combined the actions of spanning the bow, placing the [[Crossbow bolt|bolt]], and shooting into a one-handed movement, thus allowing for a much higher rate of fire than a standard hand-held crossbow. The most common repeating crossbow design originated from the Ming Dynasty and consisted of a top-mounted magazine containing a reservoir of bolts which fed the crossbow using gravity, a rectangular lever attached to both the tiller and the magazine, and a tiller mounting the prods with a stock. By holding the tiller firmly against the hip while pushing and pulling the lever forwards and backwards, the user was able to catch the drawstring on to side notches at the back of the magazine while loading the bolt. A sliding lug nut at the back of the magazine pushed the drawstring out of the notches once the lever is fully pulled backwards; with the tiller pushing the nut up and enabling the drawstring to propel the loaded bolt. The Korean version mounted the magazine at the end of a longer stalk as well as a pivoting recurve bow as a prod; increasing the draw strength, span, range, and performance of the crossbow. Additionally, both the Ming Dynasty in China and the [[Joseon|Joseon Dynasty]] in Korea developed variations that either shot two to three bolts per draw or fired pellets in place of bolts.

An earlier version originated from the [[Chu (state)|State of Chu]] during the [[Warring States period]] used a different design. It consisted of a tiller mounting a fixed double magazine on top as well as a pistol style grip at the bottom beneath the prods mount. Instead of an overhand lever for arming and shooting, it used a sliding lever that had a handle tied to the end with a chord. The lever was pumped forwards and backwards with one hand while the user held the pistol grip firm with the other hand; in a manner similar to drawing a regular bow. Within the crossbow, the lever was embedded with a special metal trigger composed of a latch and sear; the entire trigger being shaped like a crab's claw arm. Upon pushing the lever forward, the trigger was moved forward to catch the drawstring and becomes locked firm by friction and tensional forces from grooves inside the mounting lever and sear. Upon being drawn back, the draw string is spanned while the double magazine fed two bolts onto the firing slots on either side of the trigger once the drawstring is almost fully drawn. At the very end of the pulling action, the sear comes in contact with a round bar that holds the sliding lever in place. The bar pushed the sear forward to release the trigger and enable the drawstring to propel the two loaded bolts. Ultimately, it was superseded by the aforementioned design from the Ming Dynasty due to being overly complex with weaker performance.