My Rage against RAGE Broadheads - With Video evidence

[Brooster]

I know I'm a bit late to reply to this but to add to the thread with experience from Australia. My brother shot a Red stag during the rut in March this year at 25m, it was a quatering away shot with a Rage 3 blade , 400 grains total weight, out of his Mathews Monster on 65#. Plenty of artillery for the job. The shot looked real good and it was his first red stag. The penetration was very poor, the arrow fell out and one of the blades broke off in the critter. We couldn't find a blood trail and much to our dismay we couldn't find the stag. We came back the next day and tried again and came up empty. That said my brother still loves em for some weird reason and has even bought some more........me thinks he has joined the Rager cult and hasn't told me.
cheers
bruce

 

[TOM]

Bruce,

For some reason people fail to fully recognize just how terrible these broadheads really are on anything bigger than a large rabbit.

 

[iamyourhuckleberry]

Hmmm...

I have shot nothing but expandables my entire bow hunting life. I have had nothing but tremendous success from one animal to the next-big or small. I do not shoot Rage heads because I found they open during flight with my set-ups (not good). Fix blades plane too much, and thus, I hate them for not giving me the accuracy on which I depend (yes, I know how to tune a bow). Tom, like you, I experiment with one head after another. I will not tell a soul which head I use because what gives me confidence may not give you confidence. I would rather you acquire your own confidence...test for yourself and avoid the generalizations you constantly hear. That's what we do when we want to become proficient bowhunters!

One thing us bow hunters never factor: does the animal want to die? In nearly every cases, the answer is no! They spend their entire lives trying to survive. Do you think a hole in/through them is going to change that? I have seen animals shot with both fixed blades and expandables. The shots were picture perfect! Two weeks later, the animal is still up and walking-as much alive as the day they were shot! The wound is actually in the healing process. Bottomline, they do not always die when we want them to die! Do your best! Practice, practice, and practice-professionally (every day, not every once in awhile). Improve your tracking skills whenever possible (I track even when I see an animal die within sight-for practice)! We all could learn a thing or two from the Black trackers-they are nothing short of magical! When in their presence, be nothing but eyes and ears! Do not be afraid to ask questions! You'll build a enduring relationship with very little effort, and the skills you learn might be the difference between a cat in the bag or nothing.

Tom, I couldn't get your link to open.

 

[get015]

We have had this problem with mechanicals for many years in Africa as well, never had one that really worked well, rage is no different, had many clients use them and not to my satisfaction, please understand I am not trying to put down rage but they are all less than favourable. They were outlawed for the longest time in South Africa and I believe they still are (will confirm not sure though)

There is no sustitute for a well tuned bow...., I am addicted to bow hunting (by myself just dont have the patience to sit in a blind I walk and stalk) and must admit I am a Stinger (magnus) fan. Well tuned bows will shoot fixed blades well, spin testing arrows with broadheads are a good idea for checking straightness (broad head to shaft) I number my arrows. The more you shoot the better you get that is a undisputable fact IYHBY you are correct.

In my experince on African game I would not throw a mechanical, just my experience, has showed me that there are better options.

My best always

 

[awcorder1]

Just my thoughts! Rage broadheads are decent broadheads at best. "People", stop being lazy and tune your bows and shoot a more well constructed fixed or replaceable blade broadhead. It's not that difficult to have your bow tuned by professional at your local archery shop. (If you don't have the proper equipment)
Big holes that the rage makes are great for the soft skinned and light bones of the animals of the U.S. Penetration is what is needed for African animals. Even the smaller plains game animals of Africa are thicker skinned and heavier boned than game in the North America of similar size.
It's just this guys, why travel half way around the world and use something that doesn't perform up to it's expectations 100% of the time.
You owe it to yourself and the animals, but make quick for them!

 

[35bore]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones, I shoot a PSE Primos STL at 70#'s and have used Rage broadheads for several years with fantastic results. Jackrabbits I have not tried yet, but, complete passthrough's on Whitetail, yes I have. I like them.

 

[mudslinger]

One thing to remember, and I am not a fan of the Rage, without the animal there is no way to tell where the BH hit or what caused the loss of the animal. I have seen to many, almost everyone at one time or another blame the broadhead for not finding the animal when in fact it was the shot placement the majority of the time. Not saying that a mechanical will not fail after all it is a mechanical device. Waht bowhunters really need to pay attention to is to get comfortable with their equipment and their ability to use that equipment, tune it to the max with what they are going to hunt with, use any broadhead they are comfortable with and put it in the correct place on the animal and it is dead. Some animals with thick hide may require a different set up, but get confident, shoot a sharp broadhead and put it in the right spot and everything will take care of itself. Not many broadheads will make up for a poor shot. A lot of bowhunters would be better off going to a heavier arrow in their set up and not worrying about the speed. A heavier arrow will be more forgiving, more accurate, make the bow quieter and aid in penetration. Not saying just a few grains heavier, I am saying 100+ grains.

 

[get015]

100% true!! Mudslinger how do the Ramcat's perform and could you elaborate on the mechanism, if I am correct they are not a deploy on impact broadhead, but rather move when the arrow moves backwards in the wound channel??

My best always

 

[mudslinger]

Yes Jaco, the Ramcats are fixed in position, swept back and only pivot almost to a 90 degree angle to the ferrule if they try to back out of whatever they are in. they are also sharpened on the back side. I used them on my Warthog, Impala, Zebra, Waterbuck and Tsessebe in 2010 and got 2 full pass thrus on a 1000# 345" 6x7 bull elk in Colorado this past Sept at 38 and 44 yards. I have been shooting a bow since 1971 and I tinker and try everything under the sun and try new BH's every year and the Smoke Ramcat is the best BH I have ever seen. It will take one heck of a BH to make me take them out of my quiver. My PH had a full pass thru on a big Eland this year with 62#'s and a Smoke Ramcat by one of his hunters. the may look flimsy to some, but they fly great and cut big holes.

 

[mudslinger]

The 100 grain Ramcat has a 1 3/8" cut and the 125 this year has a 1 1/2" cut.

 

[get015]

Mud, I like heavy arrows will go for the 125's

My best

 

[iamyourhuckleberry]

Here ya go Jaco... deadly sharp(enable),tough, and heavy:

Outback 220gr Supreme fe's

Slow and heavy has it's place but so does light and fast. The proper tool for the job can be critical. Understandablely, Africa is unique. Where else in the world can you step out into the bush and have such a cornucopia of big/slow and little/fast movers to hunt? One bow and one arrow might not be the answer...

A willingness to learn and a little trial and error will go a long way for building confidence.

Mud, I was given a dozen Ramcats to test. I like the concept. I look forward to running the cats through a thorugh examination,

 

[Norwegianwoods]

I plan on using 175 grain Xbow Trick on my PG bow hunt in SA this year.
I am also going to test out the 150 grain Xbow Trick that is coming this year, but not sure if I will use that for hunting this year.

 

[TOM]

This was a fun hunt and I tested several different broadheads. My bow is tuned and used to three blade, 125 grain muzzy's. I know they aren't fancy but I keep coming back to them.

For the giraffe, I used an Alaska Bowhunting supply "Nanook" head weighing 310 grains, single bevel, right wing. I was shooting Grizzlystik "safari" arrows.

I don't mean to get into a big argument over mechanicals vs. fixed, but i just personally have had such bad luck with mechanicals that I won't use them. Period. I thought I would give Rage a "shot" on few shots on this safari and still regret it. I literally threw them in the trash when I got home.

I am biased as I'm a traditional archer at heart shooting a compound sometimes. I love sharp, heavy, cut on contact broadheads. That's just me.

 

[35bore]

TOM,

I played the video forwards and backwards paused it several times (I am not beating you up here and don't want to get beat up for this statement), but, it looks like the impact was on the front leg bone (Dead center of the leg) the way it looked on the video. Mechanical or not I don't know that it would have been a different result using a fixed blade. I already posted that I have been using the Rage for a few years now, but I have used a couple of fixed blades in my 12 yrs of bowhunting, as well, with good end results. I am not so sure either would have changed the result you caught on video.

Again, not trying to stir the pot but, without a recovered animal it would be hard for me to believe that the BH failed to do it's job or not, just by the video. Regardless that arrow came to a screeching halt on impact.

 

[TOM]

We did recover the animal the day i left...alive and needed finished with a .458. The archery shot did not hit the leg bone. It was on the mark but didn't penetrate.

 

[35bore]

I retract the statement then, maybe it was just the angle of the camera in the video. Glad you found the animal though. Sucks that you had that bad experience with the BH though.

 

[get015]

35 bore agreed on the angle he hit the back of the leg bone....no denying that = no penetration = no waterbuck = not the broadhead, Tom I am terribly sorry that you lost this animal and I know how it feels, no one is pointing a finger or trying to sound smart....you know what we say about hind site??

Placing the same shot 2" higher (or even same hight) and 3 inches further back to angle for the opposite shoulder would have been good = dead=dusted. In this case I do not belive it was the BH (dont get me wrong though, I am not a mechanical fan).

Once again sorry you lost this animal!

My best always.

 

[Norwegianwoods]

Can someone tell me why I am not able to watch the videos on this forum?
I have tried 2 different browsers.

After looking at lots of hunting videos both on the net and at home, I am not very eager to give mechanicals a try.
When people use a good quality BH, you most of the times see they get good penetration.
When people use a mechanical, you some times see great penetration, but you very often see very poor penetration.
And that is even with pure broadside shots behind the shoulder on as light animals as a whitetail.
I feel they are not consistent enough.
I want to use a BH that probably still will manage to do the job even if I hit bone and not a BH that probably or for sure will fail if I hit bone.

I don't understand why people will risk using mechanical when traveling far on an expensive hunt in Africa.
And specially when they hunt from blinds and the shots are usually only 15-20 yards.
If someone can't get a fixed BH to group well at 15-20 yards then he/she has a major tuning issue.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Can someone tell me why I am not able to watch the videos on this forum?
I have tried 2 different browsers.

Norwegianwoods, You either will need to download the free QuickTime Player plugin that runs the video on AH otherwise the player may need your permission to run on your browser.