Pass the Bow!

If you had a line of players, each with arrows or bolts - could you pass a single bow down the line from player to player in initiative order and have them all fire the bow?  It seems in RAW the object interaction would allow the first plater to pass the bow after attacking with the bow to the second, the second in turn could load, attack, and pass the bow again, and so on and so on.  You could fire an infinite amount of arrows with one bow.

How exactly do you fire said infinite amount of arrows, it still takes the Attack actually to actually shoot with the bow. Why not just use the same amount of bows for all the players, seems better than hoping the enemies don’t just walk into the firing line and maul you to death.

Quote from BMCon >>

If you had a line of players, each with arrows or bolts - could you pass a single bow down the line from player to player in initiative order and have them all fire the bow?  It seems in RAW the object interaction would allow the first plater to pass the bow after attacking with the bow to the second, the second in turn could load, attack, and pass the bow again, and so on and so on.  You could fire an infinite amount of arrows with one bow.

Yes, it seems like that would work, though it doesn't seem particularly useful outside of the very niche situation of having only one bow but needing to make a large number of ranged attacks in a short time.

Quote from ClassicCharismaCaster >>

How exactly do you fire said infinite amount of arrows, it still takes the Attack actually to actually shoot with the bow. Why not just use the same amount of bows for all the players, seems better than hoping the enemies don’t just walk into the firing line and maul you to death.

They're describing each player character using the Attack action to attack with the bow in turn.

This seems incredibly close to the peasant rail gun specifically called out in the DMG as something you should not be able to do. At least, if you’re talking about trying to pull it off in one round like some kind of Gatling gun.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

Quote from BMCon >>

If you had a line of players, each with arrows or bolts - could you pass a single bow down the line from player to player in initiative order and have them all fire the bow?  It seems in RAW the object interaction would allow the first plater to pass the bow after attacking with the bow to the second, the second in turn could load, attack, and pass the bow again, and so on and so on.  You could fire an infinite amount of arrows with one bow.

Yes, it seems like that would work, though it doesn't seem particularly useful outside of the very niche situation of having only one bow but needing to make a large number of ranged attacks in a short time.

Many magic weapons, such as +X weapons don't require attunement so this could be a way to share the damage and accuracy boost. Theoretically, if it works with ranged weapons, it could apply to melee as well.

I'm not sure the next player in the Initiative order can really "Interact with Things" off-turn to take or equip the bow.

Your Turn

On your turn, you can move a distance up to your Speed and take one action. You decide whether to move first or take your action first. [...]

Interacting with Things. You can interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe.

Time-Limited Object Interactions

When time is short, such as in combat, interactions with objects are limited: one free interaction per turn. That interaction must occur during a creature’s movement or action. Any additional interactions require the Utilize action, as explained in “Combat” later in this chapter.

 
But I'd allow dropping your bow after shooting with your Attack action, so the next character can pick it up and shoot (thanks to "one free interaction per turn"). Then, after attacking, that next character can again drop the bow, and so on.

That being said, this is from the 5e PHB:

Here are a few examples of the sorts of thing you can do in tandem with your movement and action: [...]

• hand an item to another character

Quote from BMCon >>

If you had a line of players, each with arrows or bolts - could you pass a single bow down the line from player to player in initiative order and have them all fire the bow?  It seems in RAW the object interaction would allow the first plater to pass the bow after attacking with the bow to the second, the second in turn could load, attack, and pass the bow again, and so on and so on.  You could fire an infinite amount of arrows with one bow.

A combat round is simultaneous, even if for ease of use the rules have people go in sequence per initiative order

In specific situations, I might let two characters use the same weapon in the same turn

Anything beyond that would be a hard no

Rules Aren’t Physics. The rules of the game are meant to provide a fun game experience, not to describe the laws of physics in the worlds of D&D, let alone the real world. Don’t let players argue that a bucket brigade of ordinary people can accelerate a spear to light speed by all using the Ready action to pass the spear to the next person in line

Quote from Xalthu >>

This seems incredibly close to the peasant rail gun specifically called out in the DMG as something you should not be able to do. At least, if you’re talking about trying to pull it off in one round like some kind of Gatling gun.

 Yeah, though unlike the peasant rail gun, it's not trying to use rules, ignoring physics, then switch to physics, ignoring rules. It's all rules-legal, but the DM would definitely say "What? Why? Also, no."

You can hand a bow to another chatacter as part of your Free Item Interaction. Alternatively, you can drop the bow and another creature can pick-it up in your space. 

You can fire as many arrows with one bow from one person or more.