My Rage against RAGE Broadheads - With Video evidence

[Norwegianwoods]

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.

Thanks
I thought I had QuickTime Player on this computer, but looks like I forgot to reinstall it after I upgraded my computer.
I manage to look at the videos with Internet Explorer now.
Now I just need to find out how I give my default browser the go ahead to show the videos as well

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

Same here then. however only on extremely close inspection one would be able to pick up whether it hit the small bone protrusion that comes up from the leg bone.
Once agin glad that you were able to recover it.
My best always.

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.

 

[Norwegianwoods]

From the video of the Waterbuck it is a bit difficult to tell about the hit.

But with the Impala ram it is without a doubt a good hit and good penetration.
Only explanation that you didn't recover that ram quickly must be that either both blades broke of at impact or they never deployed, resulting in field point damage to the lungs.
Did you ever recover the arrow used on the ram to see how the BH looked like after the shot?

 

[mudslinger]

Norwegianwoods, I think what you are seeing on some of the hunting shows and other videos of people shooting mechancials is the fact that they cannot get their bows to shoot FP's and BH's the same, a factor of not tuning the whole set up. Mechanicals came about because the speed of the bows jumped drastically in the 90's and it became hard to get fixed blade BH's to fly right, hence mechanicals. Screw most mechanicals on an arrow and the majority of the time they will shoot with your FP's. If not you have some serious tuning issues. With an untuned bow even a mechanical is going to loose a lot more energy whit it hits an animals as opposed to one being shot out of a well tuned bow set up. I have shot a lot of different heads, fixed, replaceable blade and mechanicals and I have killed a lot of game with all 3 and unfortunatley lost some game with all 3. It boils down to proper shot placement. I agree, mechanicals can fail, but so can sights, release, compound bows and such. On plains game I do not think it is bad to use mechancials as long as your are shooting enough KE, momentum and have your bow tuned and know how to shoot it. I have used Rages on my Nyala and Kudu with great success, but that will probably be the last time I use a mechanical, especially in Africa. That is unless I find a head that will outshoot and out penetrate the Smoke Ramcats I am currently shooting.

 

[iamyourhuckleberry]

Mechanicals came about because the speed of the bows jumped drastically in the 90's and it became hard to get fixed blade BH's to fly right, hence mechanicals.

Exactly! For me, it seems everytime I go above 74 pounds of draw weight my grouping with fix blades opens up beyond that which is acceptable. This is due to planing effects caused by higher speeds. It is tremendously significant beyond forty yards. Please keep in mind, not all of us hunt from ground blind when we travel to Africa. I grew up spot and stalking in open country. This is still my preferred style of hunting. A fix blade will fail to open if it cannot hit the target.

 

[dtenney]

Thanks for all the information. I have always been a fan of cut to tip fixed blade broadheads. Takes a little time to get them to fly right but it is worth it in the end.

 

[WyoWes]

Great thread guys. Not a bow hunter myself but I've following my son around filming his hunts. To date he's taken 27 species with Magnus buzzcut and Magnus Stinger two blades, including 4 of the big 5. In 4 years of hunting we've never lost an animal in fact most dropped in less that 50yds. Except the elephant he went about 150

 

[iamyourhuckleberry]

Wes,

It sounds like your son has found the right combination. I hope his streak stays alive! Congratulate him for me on taking four of the big five w/ archery gear. Very cool!

 

[35bore]

Great thread guys. Not a bow hunter myself but I've following my son around filming his hunts. To date he's taken 27 species with Magnus buzzcut and Magnus Stinger two blades, including 4 of the big 5. In 4 years of hunting we've never lost an animal in fact most dropped in less that 50yds. Except the elephant he went about 150

That's very cool.

 

[Norwegianwoods]

Great thread guys. Not a bow hunter myself but I've following my son around filming his hunts. To date he's taken 27 species with Magnus buzzcut and Magnus Stinger two blades, including 4 of the big 5. In 4 years of hunting we've never lost an animal in fact most dropped in less that 50yds. Except the elephant he went about 150

Very cool!
I regard the Magnus broadheads to clearly be among the best broadheads on the market today.
The 3 top brands for me is Magnus, Slick Trick and German Kinetics.

 

[Azuplander]

I have seen the same problems. A friend of mine in texas used these and had the same issue with the blades deploying out of the bow. When we returned he contacted Rage and they told him to just add another rubber band. I have also seen these heads deploy the blades while stalking through brush. Not a very reliable broadhead. I have used either the NAP thunderheads or Shuttle T's and have taken elk with both broadheads with no issues.

 

[TOM]

Exactly! For me, it seems everytime I go above 74 pounds of draw weight my grouping with fix blades opens up beyond that which is acceptable. This is due to planing effects caused by higher speeds. It is tremendously significant beyond forty yards.

I think there is something to this but I am not a big fan of an ultra fast bow either. I like to keep my bow in the 280-285 feet per second category (decreasing speed actually) by increasing the weight in the front of my arrow and overall arrow setup. I think this results in a fast, hard hitting, high FOC arrow. In my opinion, that's just hard to beat!

 

[iamyourhuckleberry]

Tom,

I am sure I have mentioned somewhere that I prefer to hunt via spot and stalk. With that being said, my experience is animals seem to maintain a forty yard defensive perimeter (a universal generalization). In open country, penetrating this perimeter successfully is extremely challenging. Animals quickly become alert, most of the time they are staring right at you-a result of the dynamics associated with drawing a bow. In this alert state, a slow /heavy arrow, regardless of the tip seldom finds it's mark. When I am hunting critters like pygmy antelope, antelope, and gazelle I want fast and flat. In my opinion, that's just hard to beat! The right tool for the task at hand will take the professional archer to the finish line 9 out of 10 times. I always allow one spot for a little luck...

This July, I will be launching a 900+ grain arrow out of an eighty four pound Pse X-Force. I'm tipping the arrow with a 220 grain two blade Outback Supreme FE broadhead. I hoping to ram this beast of an arrow through a Cape Buffalo. I pray the arrow is fast enough whilst the buff is slow enough for the two to meet properly on the field. Results pending....

 

[TOM]

Huck,

I agree with your 40 yard theory...completely! I am happy shooting my 280's feet per second compound as it still reaches out and is actually more accurate for me than when it was even faster. But, to each his own and that's the fun of archery! Now, if I could just get my recurve to shoot that fast.

I'm envious on the buff hunt! I love shooting heavy, powerful arrow setups. Last August i shot a giraffe (hung up at 44 yards) with a grizzlystik "Safari" and a 310 grain "nanook" single bevel broadhead. Total arrow weight in the 900 grain territory.

Something about shooting a large animal with a big arrow is just awesome! The arrow has a beautiful arch in the air and hits like a ton of bricks! Let us know how your buff hunt turns out. I shot mine with a rifle but it will be bow next time!

 

[Bush baby]

Hi
Just some feedback on hunts, shot a Kudu with the Rage 2 blade 100gn what a disaster hit it on the shoulder from about 17 meters the arrow penetrated about 6" lost the animal due to bad penetration and no blood trail after about 2 hours trying to follow the spoor (Hoof marks) of the wounded animal, this was my second mistake on a big animal with the Rage lost a Blue wildebeest the same way last year. I have shot at least 20 small animals with the rage this year such as warthog, impala etc with no fail rate at all. Thus my opinion on Rage I sincerely think it is a great broadhead for small game but I will never be so stupid again to try it on a big animal such as Eland, Kudu and bluewildebeest as I don't think this broadhead can handle heay boned animals, I will rather change to fixed blades for the bigger ones from now on. Still like to have the Rage in my box but only for the smaller ones.

 

[TimRumble]

Rage Chisel tip 125grn. Passed through


The Rage Chisel tip after the shot


You win some, you loose some.

 

[BRICKBURN]

...........

You win some, you loose some.

It's that "lose some" that concerns me.

 

[Habu]

I dont know if any changes has been made to the Rage broadheads since this thread was started but before I started shooting traditional bows I have used 2blade rage broadheads on +/- 10 animals ranging from whogg to kudu and none of them went further than 50 m. The reason I started using them was because of the success my brother had with them on kudu,impala and blesbuck. Not good for w/s because the rubberrings do come off but from a hide up to 35m I have not had a single malfunction, great bloodtrails (not that I needed them as most animals dropped in sight
Now Im strictly a GK and Zwickey guy as I feel that is what is used with a traditional bow.

 

[TimRumble]

It's that "lose some" that concerns me.

I think we all feel the same.

 

[1ObsessedHunter]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I just bought a package of the new Rage Hypodermic 2 blade broadheads that I wanted to use for the opening day of bow season on whitetails. Truthfully, I wasn't impressed with them after I opened the package. I really don't like the design of the locking collars used to hold the blades. I'm going back to my Montec G5s. They've worked well for me in the past and there's no reason to change. Seeing this thread just reaffirms my decision.