There's nothing traditional about my experience, but maybe you can get something out of it.
I did some experimenting several years ago shooting arrows out of a modern shotgun with reduced powder charges. It worked surprisingly well when I got the loads right. I had to modify the arrows by replacing the nock with something wider, (I used RG6 cable TV fittings). The fletchings centered the back of the arrow and prevented it from sliding out and I used a twist of newspaper wrapped around the arrow near the muzzle to center the front end.
My main problem was consistency. I was trying for a silent arrow flinger and sometimes it worked like a dream. I couldn't count on that however as sometimes it sounded like a gunblast and sometimes the arrows barely made it out the muzzle. This probably had to do with inconsistent ignition due to a tiny powder charge in a 12g shotgun shell. Also I had no reloading supplies at the time and the way I was making the ammo was by cutting open a shotgun shell, dumping out the powder and shot and then adding a couple scoopfuls of powder back using a .22lr casing as a measure.
All in all it was a half-assed project, but I have no doubt whatsoever that someone who did a better job than I did could make it work.