Hornbow vs Flatbow
Nachtigal
I can't seem to decide between these two. Will a hornbow with +15% while enchanted and customized and with judges insight beat out a flatbow with the same stats/skills? With the hornbow I notice it doesn't restart the animation, but that doesn't mean it's actually firing faster or the same speed with constant barrage (I don't think). This is not taking into account misses, since any bow worth carrying misses moving targets and none of them miss stationary ones.
SnipiousMax
You will actually get more barrages with a horn bow than a flat bow. Breakin animation does in fact slow your barrages down. So Horn bow is better than a flat bow in term of fire rate (assuming you're keeping up a constant barrage. Now if you wanted to sacrifice that armor penetration a longbow is actually just a little bit faster than a hornbow, and you get better range. Which you prefer is just a matter of personal prefrence. But Flat or short bows are the worst for barrage.
Quaker
Check this out for stats on various bows:
http://www.guildwiki.org/wiki/Bow
http://www.guildwiki.org/wiki/Bow
Str0b0
as I recall hornbow and longbow synch up perfect with the barrage animation. The only difference is the range. Long bow has the better range. However with better range comes the possibility of more missed shots as targets move faster than the arch of the arrow can fall.