Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Broadhead choice

Starting to think about broadhead selection for my first season of bowhunting, and of course discovering they are almost as controversial as rifle bullets!

The quarry will be the local whitetail herd. On the board at my archery range the regulars post a log of their kills. The smallest from this fall weighed in at 58 lbs. and the biggest was 188 -- next to which someone wrote "Ya right!"

I am shooting a Hoyt Ultra Sport with Gold Tip arrows and 100-gr. field points, and I'm very happy with how it shoots when I do my part. (Nailed the vitals on the 40-yd. coyote 3 times in a row Sunday.) I use a horizontal peep and caliper release and the current draw weight is around 52 lbs.

Basically I want to keep it as simple and foolproof as possible, and that means the least possible re-tuning. If anyone's found a broadhead that shoots well in a similar rig, and kills well, I would be tickled to hear about it.

I'm not particularly worried about cost, since I figure I don't worry much about that for hunting bullets that can't even be reused ...

Suggestions?

In my compound setup, I prefer NAP Thunderheads. I've pushed them thru shoulder blades without damaging the ferrule, just replaced the blades.
Your setup is conservative enough that you should be able to just screw on a T-head. What spine GT's and what fletching? If they are 3555s and 4", it should shoot fine.

Long PM sent.

Good luck,
Sam

I second the Thunderheads. I have taken several elk, a couple of bears and 14 150-225 lb. mule deer bucks with them. The only way they break is if you hit rocks. They are very durable and reusable, simply replace or sharpen the blades. They are an extremely accurate head as well. Flinch

What weight of Thunderheads do you guys like?

Also if it helps -- my arrows are Gold Tip Hunter 5575 graphite (3-7/8" vanes) and the rest is a NAP Quik-Tune.

John

I agree with the guys above on the Thunderheads. We sell the Pro Series Thunderheads and the promotional video on these heads is impressive.



What is your draw weight and length, what brand vanes (just curious) and what arrow length do you shoot?



Also which quick tune do you have? (just curious)



Glad to see everyone is on the fixed blade head page. My preference is the Rocky Titanium 85 or 100 but wouldn't hesitate to trust a Thunderhead.

The vanes are whatever came with the shafts ... so I assume basic Gold Tip.

The rest looks like a Quiktune 1000.

Sorry to be clueless but as a total newbie, once I found a pro shop I liked, I let them figure a lot of this stuff out -- and so far the shooting results have confirmed the wisdom of that choice!

Vanes are probably Duravanes.

Let me guess on the pro shop, B&B or Bows and Arrows?

Nope, actually went out of state on this one -- The Gun Shack in Mt. Airy, MD.

Campfire member Dave King took me up there last fall, cool gun store with really nice archery guys and a great selection of bows from several manufacturers.

Funny thing is, it's the same bow the gentleman at B&B recommended -- the difference is he told me it was THE bow I needed, while at the Gun Shack I picked it out of 3 that I actually tried on their range.

A few weeks later an equally newbie friend went up there, tried some of the same bows including the Hoyt, and picked a Martin that would have been my second choice -- which I always point out as proof that there's no substitute for hands-on shopping.

I like 125gr T-heads. My wife is using 85gr and my dad uses 100gr. Except for my wife, who just switched from expandables, we had excellent results. Since you shoot 100gr field tips I'd try the same weight broadhead. The only way I see you having any trouble with arrow flight is if there is a misalignment in the insert that will cause the broadhead to wobble. Unlikely, but it does happen.

Been shooting 125 grain Thunderheads since.........never mind it will give my age away. They are the most dependabe broadheads I have ever used. Tried expandables and will never use them again.

I use a Lansky Diamond hone to sharpen mine.

I also like the 125 grain Thunderheads. They're accurate and absolutely dependable. With most of the setups I've used, they shot to the same POI as field points.

It appears that I lucked out when I picked the 125 Thunderhead when I got back into archery last year! They shoot to the same impact as my field tips. I'm glad to see it wasn't a fluke.
I bought a new Hoyt Ultra-Mag this winter and have it set-up for carbons. I will go with the 100 Thunderheads this time. Are there any pros/cons between 100's and 125's?

Used Zwickey Deltas for the last 25 years, before that it was Bear razor heads...
Catnthehat

Here's ya a broad head test site that kinda interesting...... http://www.american-hunter.com/broadheads/broadhead_test.htm ...Boots

Thanks for posting that -- not sure if I agree with all his methodology or scoring system (especially the + or - for heads that "should" have done better or worse) but some interesting points of comparison.

Go with Thunderheads. Hard to go wrong. I have taken whitetail, moose, griz, elk with the 100 grainers. Incredible penetration. Complete pass through the majority of the time. As someone else said, stick with the same weight as your field points

Big Red

Ditto on using Thunderheads! I use the 125gr version and don't see the need to change. You might want to put on a U.B.A.R on behind the broadhead to keep the rubber washer from slipping over and onto your Goldtips allowing the blades to come loose upon impact! They are inexpensive and don't add but .5gr if that. NAP suggest you use them and I have found the blades will come out if you have a hard impact when not using the U.B.A.R's on carbons like the Goldtips. Outstanding products!!

John,

The 100 grain Thunderhead Pro with ACC's have been perfect for me since getting back into bowhunting in 2001. They hit same POI as my 100 grain fieldpoints and do some real damage on their way through critters.



Good Hunting, Bruce



*edit* U.B.A.R's seem to be necessary with carbon or ACC type shafts as the poster above mentions....

Of the thirty or so whitetail deer i have taken with a bow i have only lost one and i blame that on myself. i use muzzy 90 grain three blade heads. the buck that i lost bled like a stuck pig, i guess we did not give him enough time to die and we jumped him. the broadheads did what they were supposed to do i messed up. i too used the nap t-heads for a while and one day just decided to try the muzzy's. i have not looked back since. anyway just an opinion....blake