A blowgun is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created by forced exhalation ("blow") to pneumatically propel the projectile. The propulsive power is limited by the strength of the user's respiratory muscles and the vital capacity of their lungs.
Demonstration of a blowgun by a Yagua hunter
Mixtec blowgun Tlacalhuazcuahuitl depicted in the Codex Bodley
A Dayak man using a blowgun, Dutch East Indies, circa 1920
Rivercane quiver with blowgun darts, fletched with bull thistle
A ranged weapon is any weapon that can engage targets beyond hand-to-hand distance, i.e. at distances greater than the physical reach of the user holding the weapon itself. The act of using such a weapon is also known as shooting. It is sometimes also called projectile weapon or missile weapon because it typically works by launching solid projectiles ("missiles"), though technically a fluid-projector and a directed-energy weapon are also ranged weapons. In contrast, a weapon intended to be used in hand-to-hand combat is called a melee weapon.
A period illustration of the Battle of Crécy. English longbowmen figure prominently in the foreground at right where they drive away the French crossbowmen.
Reconstruction of a post-Marian pilum
Trebuchet at Château des Baux, France
155 mm M198 howitzer