The belt hook is a great idea, except that it’s way too close to the genitals with that high-powered assembly under tension. One wrong slip and you might become a eunuch.
Mine came with a foot-puller system where you put the front of crossbow on the ground and hold it down with your foot in a foot-loop (metal) while you attach a puller cord to the string and pull up with a lot of force. It’s not easy at all.
If only they could do the same for ballistas. Why launch small bolt when you can launch big bolt.
“I said I wanted the BIG crossbow”
I love the ingenuity of using a simple metal hook and leather strap instead of fairly complex leather gloves for soldiers to ease the process of reloading.
The belt hook is efficient! Early accounts of crossbow loading by hand, before the stirrup, involve the poor fellow sitting down and having to pull with both hands. Even after the stirrup, pulling a crossbow back with just your hands is hard work. The belt hook is much easier, letting the crossbowman use less energy and pull back greater draw-weights, and is faster too, for that matter.
