/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Alright fellas, fa/tg/uy here. I need a bit of advice.

I'm going to be building a pistol crossbow. Nut-&-trigger lock, I have some nice hard wood on hand and I like the system (not prone to jams, few moving parts, etc). but I'm having trouble figuring out how to make a prod for the thing.

Specifications are as follows:
>no more than 18" wide when unstrung
>no recurving or compounding
>must deliver 80 lbs of draw weight at a draw distance of 5 1/2 in (this is very close to the legal maximum for pistol crossbows in my area...I'd make it stronger but I want to be safe)

I'm thinking either PVC or scrap leaf springs. I'm banking on the former...there are not many junkyards in my area so leaf springs this small may be hard to find.

Can this be done, /diy/, and if so, how?

I am starting a new project and would like some advice so i don't destroy myself in anyway,

I need to know what i could do to make the lath or prod out of, I'm not looking for extreme power, all the ones i see online for sale are around 50-80lbs draw and i only want it at 40 max, seeing as its just for fun and id like to recover some of the bolts, lol i would like it to be metal so i can keep it small but i'm not sure what to make it out of. any help would be fantastic!

> tldr need to make a metal prod for pistol crossbow need suggestions