English longbows were made to seven (7') long. Draw weights of 80lb were the usual but bows with an upper limit draw weight of 160lb were also manufactured. The ability to pierce full plate armor is now understood. There were some liabilities to the English Longbow as it required a highly trained bow maker to produce, and older seasoned yew became increasingly difficult to obtain in central Europe. Longbowmen required a long period of specialized training, special diet and continual practice to retain a cutting edge expertise. Nonetheless, hand held gun powder weapons would not be deployed en masse until well into the 1400s and the crossbow would not meet its equal until the invention and widespread use of the musket in the early 1500s.