XBOW

A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted onto a stock that shoots projectiles named bolts or quarrels at parabolic arcs. Their first major usage originates in China around 600 B.C.. Although they see very little use in modern militaries, crossbows are still used for hunting and recreational target shooting.

Battlefield 3
The XBOW is an improvised crossbow made on a malfunctioning M417 appearing in the Battlefield 3: Aftermath expansion pack.

of the USMC Recon equipped with a PKS-07. It was also seen equipped by the USMC Engineer and USMC Assault.

According to a post in the Battlefield Blog, it is described as a jury-rigged weapon made from a malfunctioning assault rifle, an M417, wire from a broken down car, scrap metal for the bow, and a optical sight like the Red Dot Sight or PKS-07 as shown in the trailer and preview screenshots.

Bolt Types
Standard bolts are the starting ammunition type. The three non-standard bolts are unlocked via assignments. (default on PC,  on consoles) switches between the bolt types.

Standard Bolt
The Standard Bolt is the default bolt type for the XBOW. Due to its barbed head, it has a higher bolt drop compared to the balanced bolt thus limiting its range.

HE Bolt
"High explosive bolt against vehicles with almost no splash damage and a short trajectory."

- Battlelog description

The High Explosive Bolt is tipped with C4 that explodes on impact. It does not deal as much damage as an actual C4 charge or an RPG shot, but it can still disable scout choppers (AH-6 and Z-11w) in a single shot, and take out small groups of infantry.

Scan Bolt
"Scan bolt fires a sonic sound on impact spotting enemies within a 10 meter radius."

- Battlelog description

The Scan Bolt is tipped with a radio emitter that scans for enemies in a 10m radius. Scanned enemies are automatically spotted with a special flashing icon.

BA Bolt
"Balanced bolt is a long range, medium damage bolt with almost no drop because of stabilizers on the arrow."

- Battlelog description

The Balanced Bolt, being more aerodynamic due to it being double-feathered, has the most range among the bolt types, but does less damage with its thinly-tipped head.

Sights
Two assignments award the player with an XBOW equipped with a sight—the Kobra or the PKS-07.

Trivia

 * The lower part of the XBOW, the M417 receiver, has its ejection port, bolt release button, and magazine well taped shut.
 * The XBOW on Battlelog is listed twice under the weapons tab, once with the Kobra and once with the PKS-07.


 * In the Battlelog, once clicked on, the page for the XBOW SCOPED is equipped with the US 8x rifle scope instead of the PKS-07 scope it actually uses.