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JJHACK Offline OP
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I have never used a Mechanical broad head on any big game, only turkeys. For turkeys there is nothing even close to the rage mechanical head. It's just devastating in every way and absolutely as accurate as a field point.

I have a weird curiosity of mechanicals, maybe because of my engineering education or simply that some seem like a brilliant design idea. However several I have looked over or fooled with are not what I would call good engineering, rather very good marketing!

The rage for example is a great idea, but I think it has a flaw in that the blades just don't remain closed 100% before the shot. Except for that one problem I think they are pretty darn good. That one problem however would be a deal breaker for me. Now they have come up with a design that incorporates a little sacrificial plastic sleeve to keep the blades closed. I have used these on the turkey broad heads and they are 100% flawless so far. As well as when used on my sheep.

I have corsican sheep on my farm, I sell off about a 12 a year, of those about 8-10 I sell skinned and gutted to local farm workers for some type of feast they have seasonally. I have shot all these this year with mechanical heads to verify operation and function. My Switchback shoots at 63-64 lbs. 29" draw. 440 grain arrows. With the Slick tricks in the past the arrows zip through these 125lb sheep and land well beyond them.

With the several mechanicals I tried they stick out the other side about 1/2 the time and exit about half the time. The angle being the likely difference. The death of the animal is notably and decisively faster with the 2" Rage and NAP broad heads then the slick trick. The gash sliced through them is wicked to say the least. The Grim Reaper was another great Mechanical but it was the least likely to exit, much like the shwacker. However the entry hole is a bloody disaster that is more impressive then any bullet could be.

Speaking of the NAP "rage copy" it's a bit complicated at first because the blades are so tight in the ferrule that it seems as if they would never open and would penetrate straight through without opening up. It's not impossible to get them to open but you cannot do it easily with your fingers by trying to. The risk of slipping and slicing yourself is quite high anyway.

I set up a test of these to see how they would open before I shot a sheep. They opened completely on a terry cloth rag duct taped tightly across a 5 gallon bucket. The blades opened slicing a 2" gash through the soft terry cloth rag and then out the bottom of the bucket as well! On every single sheep they sliced 2" in and out of them with death in seconds, as fast as using my .223 with Vmax bullets works on them.

Anyone handling these NAP mechanicals is sure to question the difficulty opening them up. I assure you they snap right open with 100% flawless precision..... so far anyway. The Rage always open as well, unfortunately they may open too easy without the plastic collar. Using the collar they have never failed me.

I have shot two sheep quartering away deliberately behind the last rib at 25-30 yards. Both the NAP and the rage sliced 2" wide gashes clean through exiting behind the shoulder opposite side. The Grim Reaper worked just as well, but stick into the bone of the front leg not going clean through. Just the luck of the sheeps stride at the shot.

I have wacked, dropped, smacked and tried every reasonable means to get the NAP to open other then shooting it without success. That is very comforting. It's clear to me that the folks that developed these used them on game and figured out the blade tension needed to hold them, and then to deploy them. At first look you will think they cannot open up upon impact, but they do!

In any case they shoot like field points. I have a practice tip with the ones I got for test. I forget it's in the pipe stand when I shoot and practice with it right along with my field points on my 3D targets. It's surprising when I find they hit the same as the field points every time. Even out to 50 yards!

I'm not sure if I would use them on big game, although for turkeys and probably small game and even deer they are likely just fine. They have been 100% flawless on my Sheep, close in size to deer, but build much heavier then deer.

I understand the debate between mechanicals and fixed blade heads. I definitely fall on the side of the fixed blades at this moment. However the writing in on the wall as they say. The NAP and the rage are darn good and dependable. Not to mention field point accurate and they make astonishing huge gashes entry and exit.

The one mechanical I was disappointed with that gets a lot of press was the Schwacker. Those only make a small entry and penetrate the worst of them all. If they exit they make a huge 2" hole, but the entry is just a little 1/2" opening. I cannot see a shred of a reason for why anyone would want this small entry design?

Small entry, with shallow penetration only getting you the big 2" exit for great blood flow ***if they exit. If it does not make a 2" entry and a 2" exit then whats the point of using a mechanical?

Anyway, In closing on this rambling commentary on my current opinions of mechanicals. The commercial where Chuck Adams says " it's like throwing an Axe through and animal" Well that is a very well stated observation. When you see that 2" hole through the chest of an animal it does look like an axe must have passed through it!

Here is a photo of the NAP practice tip. It's clearly just as accurate as a field point!
[Linked Image]


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JJ, as our beloved troll from Alaska likes to say...Cut the fluff. If you want a mech head, go Grave Digger. Either the COC or the chisel tip. nolimitarchery.com


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Good information, you put some time and thought into this.

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My field report on the NAP "Rage copy", aka the NAP "Killzone" from last year, and agreed, they work. I found the same tightness in the blade lock, but they all deployed on impact, and exited:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...eld_Report_for_the_NAP_Killz#Post8265856

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JJHACK Offline OP
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I have not shot the ulmer edge.

I did handle one. I was confused by the way the blades toggle back and forth. Maybe something was wrong with it? It was at a bow shop.

Seems like they would fold back rather then stay in the cutting position? I could not make sense of the design. I read on their web site that they will pivot around bones. Why? I want to slice through whatever is in the way. The NAP slices right through ribs ...... Easily.

If your hitting something bigger then ribs you have a problem the broadhead cannot solve.


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The thinking on the swhacker is to have virgin, sharp blades when the head reaches the vitals.

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JJHACK Offline OP
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The Shwacker 3/4" two blade entry, with the more typical reduction of penetration due to the wide cutting surface.

Without an exit you have only that puny entry hole. It's just my view here, other folks may differ. The main reason to have a 2" expandable or similar size is the giant entry hole to flow blood to the ground and make the locating of your game more effective.

In my own personal experience the 4 blade slick trick out penetrates and exits game nearly every time. However the 2 blade 2" expandables almost never make a clean pass through on 125-150 pound game. They sometimes poke out the exit side but it's much more rare to have them blow clean through. Unless nearly a perfect broadside shot.

Quartering away shots are difficult to get them to exit. Probably need a 500-600 grain arrow to increase those odds? Light arrows with 2" expandables are not a good match to get the kind of penetration we all want( expect).


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Thanks for the report JJ.


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Originally Posted by ltppowell
Thanks for the report JJ.


+1

This is really helpful

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I recently shot a large bodied bull with the slick trick. Shooting a 480 gr arrow @ 275 fps I had one hit low in the chest, hit the shoulder as exit, the second, @55 yards hit two ribs, made it to the other side but did not break the skin. I was surprised to but get a pass through.

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Great rite up JJ, very nice to see this kind of real world testing. Your results make me hesitant to use mechanicals on anything larger than deer. I've had good results with the SlickTricks as well, but this year I'm trying the Exodus, hopefully on a moose. Have you had a chance to look at those?

I tried the Rage heads one year, after hearing so much about them. I couldn't put up with the blades falling open all the time, and after shooting a coyote and failing to get an exit I left them behind.

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100% confidence every time. It ain't never not worked...
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I have killed 9 deer with the One rage head. Finally broke a blade - I think it got thin from Resharpening it.




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JJ
The ulmer broadhead is a great broadhead. The reason for the toggle is that it swivels out of the way you of big bones and continues its penetration.
Also a very nice feature is being able to lock the blades for practice and tuning. I switched from rage and they shoot very well.

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NOLIMITARCHERY.COM if you guys want the absolute best mech head out there. It has a 1" cut heavy main blade and 1 3/4" cut mech blades. They penetrate like crazy and leave nasty holes. When mech heads are the desired broadhead the Grave Digger is king. Period. End of discussion


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JJHACK Offline OP
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There are some things many folks don't click with right away using a mechanical head. I have shot these few different models a ton the last few weeks. I've fooled with them at several levels. Took them all apart checked blade sharpness, yeah even had stitches put into my hand because of this relentless desire to see how things work. Nearly ruined my bear season with the damage to my fingers. I had be sure I understood all I could about the designs.

The one common thing about mechanical heads is the power of delivery. A 60lb draw with 350-380grain arrows is not enough. I am not sure if there is a spec on this from the manufactures but from all the sheep I have now killed I can say I would NEVER use a delivery system this light. I had too many arrows not make a clean pass though on these 90-125lb sheep.

Moving up to 60 plus to say 65lb and 440 grain arrows will work good to about 30-35 yards. However if you really want to see what a mechanical can do, 70 plus ( I used 74lbs) and a 500 plus grain arrow will knock your socks off. With this level of power you can see the blood explode from the entry hole at impact.

The weak link or the functional limit becomes the velocity to get extraordinary performance and not destroy the blades at impact. The long blades will twist and bend.

The next issue I have to get my head around is that the big advantage we all believe is a 2" slice going in and coming out. If it's only and entry hole without an exit then did it help? Shot at a downward angle from a tree puts the hole high in the body. Blood flow does not always flow out good from a high entry and no exit.

The logical thought is go down to something like the ulmer edge to 1.5" so with a lower power delivery system can get a pass through. Even with this 1.5" size there is, or at least to me seems to be a penetration reduction. My best thought on this is that it's like a parachute opening at impact. With the 1.5" cut on this design, the blades swivel with the possibility that one blade rides against the ferrule and only one is deployed to cut.

More important is that dropping to a mechanical of only 1.5" with 2 blades gets you 1/4" over a head like the slick trick 1-1/4" cut head, but that fixed blade model has 4 blades. This fixed blade will out penetrate a mechanical from what I have seen 100% of the time. Working perfectly with 60lb draw and 400 grain arrows.

The time spent was great fun, except for the emergency room. I feel a lot better about having this conversation with my hunters now. Rather then just bluntly saying mechanicals are bad. I don't feel mechanicals are bad. I do think you need to put a lot of thought into the delivery system. These designs need some serious power to make them perform with stunning results.

There was a time that I felt mechanicals would eventually take over ( down the road a ways yet) when the designs were more refined and dependable. Now I'm not so sure. There is a need to drive them with high powered bows to get the most out of them. I would not be confident shooting less then 60 pounds and a sub 400 grain arrow.

You guys decide, I'll keep using them on turkeys. There is no broadhead better then a 2" mechanical for turkeys.


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Originally Posted by 280Ackleyrized
[Linked Image]


I see they have a quote from Keith Warren on their site. I can't stand that pompous air bag.

Unique looking heads to say the least, any noise issues?


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Originally Posted by JJHACK


The one common thing about mechanical heads is the power of delivery. A 60lb draw with 350-380grain arrows is not enough.


This ^^^^.

It takes much force to drive these mech heads through something substantial, get them to exit, and have them preform as advertised. I believe that the majority of the failures that I hear about are due mostly to not having enough power to drive the mechs.


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Bow fisher the only thing that has issues with these heads are the animals shot with them. No noise issues


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