Some people still argued during the Napoleonic Wars that British soldiers should carry longbows because of their range and rate of fire. The comparison overlooked how long it took to train an effective bowman. An imagined longbow army would be ready in twenty years, a joking estimate used to contrast its preparation with the quicker training of musketeers. The analogy relates weapon choice to training time and the ability to expand an army.
Notable Point · 2:43:32-2:45:17
Longbow arguments reveal the training cost behind weapon choice
Even if a longbow could outperform a musket in some measures, the time needed to train effective bowmen made it hard to scale.