Broadheads - likes and dislikes

TOM

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For those of you that are gear nuts like I am, what do you like and dislike about your current broadhead setup? Anything you would change if you could?

Do you buy new heads every year or sharpen/buy replacement blades?

Do you think current offerings are good quality?
 
First of all I demand that the broadheads I use are solid and can take some beating. Because of this I never use anything else than broadheads made of steel only.
There are some broadhead designs that I like but stay away from because they don't have a steel ferrule.

I plan to use the 175 grain Xbow Trick on my PG hunt this year. I have not used that on animals before, but I have tested it a lot at home and given it lots of beating to see how well it flies and how tough it is. The performance has been very good and I am totally confident it will do a great job.

We will see how it really performs in July, but for now it is close to perfect to how I want a 4 blade fixed broadhead to be.
But I have some weighted down arrows made that I will bring with me so I can use the 125 grain Slick Trick Magnum, and that I have used before with great results.
These 2 broadheads use the same replacement blades. I don't bother to sharpen the used blades for the Tricks and factory new blades are extremely sharp.

I have been looking at some mechs to use in windy conditions, but very few of them have a steel ferrule and often they have thin flimsy blades and the blades and other parts tend to bend and/or break when you shoot them from a more beefy setup and hit some bones.
I have been looking at the new 100 grain Rage Hypodermic that is coming soon. I just wish they could make a 125 grain version with a longer ferrule and some thicker and stronger blades.

Do I think current offerings are of good quality? Yes and no.
But most broadheads are good enough when you use an average setup and hunt nothing bigger than Whitetails.

I don't think the main problem is the quality of the broadheads. I think the main problem is that the hunters fail to match their bows, arrows and broadheads to each other and to what animal they plan to hunt.
 
When I think about what we had for archery equipment today compared to 30 years ago, we are light years ahead. The arrow we use are a lot better! I still use Thunderhead 100 grains. But if I ever go to Africa, for that dream bow hunt I will probably go to a 125 grain. I would also increase my arrow weight, my current set-up is for whitetails, black bear, antelope and mule deer.
 
I prefer 125 grain broadheads with fixed blades. There are a number of very good manufacturers out there. I have just seen too many failures from some of the other styles with inserts and the expanding types, particularly when they hit bone, but not always.

As with many things in hunting, there are getting to be so many offerings on the market it is really tough to keep track of it all.
 
This will be a good thread for me to follow as the only real Bow hunt I have ever done not including snowshoe hare in alaska was on a whitetail doe I was using 125gr first cut expanding broadheads from a treestand at 15yrd the only part of the arrow that I could see as the doe ran off was the fletching sticking out. Never found any blood or the doe so I stick to my guns for anything larger then a bunnie.
 
I prefer 125gr fixed broad heads as i have seen to many mechanical blades expanding in flight to a animal, troughing the arrow of course and causes a whole lot of tracking a wounded animal. I settled with the nitron 125 as they hit exactly where my field points hit. And they are suitable for any PG. I'd rather buy replacement blades as these bad boys are much shaper than I would ever get them.

Nice thread i'll be following
 
There is so much money behind the archery industry these days that it is almost hard to find a bad broadhead company. Now everyone has there opinions and reasoning as to why one head is good and one that is bad. I myself have been using the rage heads for thin skinned game like deer, prong horn, and black bear. I have had nothing but phenomenal luck with them. It is all about shot placement, plane and simple. One of my favoret things is matching gear for a specific hunt, I shoot my bow at about 72lb with a total arrow weight of 400grns. I am getting enough kinetic energy to kill anything in North America. My only complaint is that during spot and stalks they can open up. I am looking forward to testing a new setup for my first trip to Africa.
 
I would like to try the Swacker broadheads. I have watched their promotion video and have seen things I like...but I would like to field test them first.
I never manually sharpen broadheads, it's best to buy replacement blades.
 
I tried out the Shwacker's because they looked to be a more durable, better designed expandable than the Rages. They are also supposed to be a cure for quartering away shots deflecting off that the Rages are notoriuos for...I killed a whitetail doe before taking them to Africa. I was pleased with the size of the hole they produced so I gave them a try.

Unfortunately, they like every other expandable, spend a huge amount of kenetic energy in their deployment. If they hit any signifigant bone mass, they stop in their tracks. I killed my first and last African animal wiht them after taking an impala ram. I was shooting down from an elevated hide and put a good shot mid-body, directly up the front leg. The broadhead stopped in the leg joint on the opposite side. I killed the animal cleanly, but the bone not only prevented a pass-through, it bent the aluminum body where the ferrule meets the threads.

I unscrewed the remaining Shwackers and replaced them with my tried and true Muzzy M-X 3's. I have since killed dozens of African and North American game animals with my fixed blade heads with no mechanical failure at all...There are just too many variables with big, heavily boned game animals to take the chance on shooting an expandable broadhead. I would love to have the capability to blow a 2"-plus wound channel through an animal, but without shooting a 90-100 pound bow at plainsgame with an all steel mechanical broadhead, it isn't currently possible.

I will still take some expandables to Africa... They are great for shooting Guinea foul...
 
Thanks, that is the kind of information I was looking for firehuntfish. Scratch them off the list.
 
What firehuntfish mentions about some mechs have a tendency to deflect at quartering away shots is one of the reasons for why I stay away from mechs, but I have seen it with some fixed too. I think a mech needs rear deploying blades and a good distance from the tip till the deployment starts.

This is one of the reasons for why I like the 175 grain Xbow Trick so much.
It has a sharp and tough steel ferrule that is rather long before the blades comes into action. This reduces the chance for a deflection on a quartering away shot.

I have tested the Xbow Trick on floor grade particle boards shot at a 45 degree angle and the broadhead penetrated straight in without changing direction at all on every shot. And the broadhead still spins true after 20+ shots like that in addition to lots of other shots in different media I have done to test it.

The deflection issue is also the reason for why I would like Rage to make a 125 grain version of their all steel Hypodermic with a longer ferrule so the ferrule gets a good chance to enter well into the skin before the blades starts to deploy.
I fear the 100 grain version with the very short tip will have a tendency to deflect at quartering away shots.
 
Even if you found a ferrule/blade design that won't bend, break, or deflect you still have the bigger issue of poor penetration with mechanicals.... I have yet to see or shoot a mechanical broadhead design that did not spend the majority of it's kenetic energy during deployment.

It's simply a matter of physics....In my opinion and experience, unless you are capable of drawing 80-plus pounds on one of the newer speed bows, you should not attempt to use mechanicals on any African game animal bigger than an impala or blesbok... Even Rage acknowledges their limitations by putting a disclaimer on the packaging that some of their broadhead designs are not designed for low poundage/low speed bows. The problem is that hunters buy them anyway based on the intense marketing schemes, and they wound or lose an animal because of it...
 
I have been using German Kinetics in 180gr and 210gr for many years now and have hunted hundreds of animals with them from hares to Hippo and Elephant. They do the job every time without fail. They are scary sharp from the box and they fly through bone like a knife through butter.

I will not fix something that ain't broken.
 
I have been using German Kinetics in 180gr and 210gr for many years now and have hunted hundreds of animals with them from hares to Hippo and Elephant. They do the job every time without fail. They are scary sharp from the box and they fly through bone like a knife through butter.

I will not fix something that ain't broken.

Me either. :)
 
Fixed blade only for me, regardless of where the hunt is. G5 Montec (fixed 3 blade machined from one piece, crossbow and compound) and the German Kinetics fixed 2 blade (traditional archery). Right, wrong or indifferent - re-sharpen and re-use G5 Montecs when hunting typical whitetail, feral hogs and exotics in Texas. For anything more substantial, we use new broadheads for the hunt. Both broadheads have performed very well for us, from Zebra and Wildebeest to Whitetail, Axis and feral hogs.
 
Fixed blade only for me, regardless of where the hunt is. G5 Montec (fixed 3 blade machined from one piece, crossbow and compound) and the German Kinetics fixed 2 blade (traditional archery). Right, wrong or indifferent - re-sharpen and re-use G5 Montecs when hunting typical whitetail, feral hogs and exotics in Texas. For anything more substantial, we use new broadheads for the hunt. Both broadheads have performed very well for us, from Zebra and Wildebeest to Whitetail, Axis and feral hogs.
Totally agree...Montec G5s are the best!
 
Hi All,
I am heading back to RSA soon with a new bag of tricks and I am pretty excited. I have a Mathews Heli M set at 60lbs. I have always been a Hoyt guy but I fell in love with that solid back wall. It feels good with my old shoulders. But we are talking broadheads so I will move on . First I need to talk arrows. I have chosen to take Easton Injexion arrows which is a G diameter arrow. They give a much deeper penetration but also seat a broadhead with a deeper thread count. I am going to use a NAP deep six Thunderhead in 100 grain. I am going after plains game. The total arrow weight is a hair under 400 grains. I did use the setup this week on a boar hunt. I wanted to make sure I was going to be ok. Boar are pretty tough and I felt it would give me a reasonable idea of performance. I was very pleased. It blew through the pig nicely. The wound channels were large and the head took out bone and kept going. I will post performance results when I return.

thanks-Jerry
 
Hi All,
I am heading back to RSA soon with a new bag of tricks and I am pretty excited. I have a Mathews Heli M set at 60lbs. I have always been a Hoyt guy but I fell in love with that solid back wall. It feels good with my old shoulders. But we are talking broadheads so I will move on . First I need to talk arrows. I have chosen to take Easton Injexion arrows which is a G diameter arrow. They give a much deeper penetration but also seat a broadhead with a deeper thread count. I am going to use a NAP deep six Thunderhead in 100 grain. I am going after plains game. The total arrow weight is a hair under 400 grains. I did use the setup this week on a boar hunt. I wanted to make sure I was going to be ok. Boar are pretty tough and I felt it would give me a reasonable idea of performance. I was very pleased. It blew through the pig nicely. The wound channels were large and the head took out bone and kept going. I will post performance results when I return.

thanks-Jerry

Jerry enjoy your trip, and post a pic of the pig. Bob
 
I am sure you will have a great time zenbear!
Aim at the golden triangle and watch them drop :)
Looking forward to your report.
 

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