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Hi,
How do fixed blade broadheads fly out of a crossbow? I have been told they can be not as accurate as fieldtips, which is why I started with mechanical blade broadheads. Is this true? Does it depend on the broadhead design?
Thanks for the help,
kstockfo

A fixed blade head needs to be very straight in order to prevent planing. The faster the bow the worse it can become. Because a crossbow advertised as a 330 FPS bow will pretty much always produce that give or take a little and a vertical bow will almost always produce substantially less because of poundage, draw length and arrow weight you need to pay more attention to it with the crossbow.

Because you have full IBO speed with the crossbow and the arrow weight is generally heavier, there s much less reason to consider smaller cut on contact fixed blade heads. A crossbow with a very large cut mechanical has enough more momentum that it can much more easily drive a 3 inch or larger cut all the way through Bambi. Last year I killed to 1 1/2 year old does with a 3 inch total cut NAP Spitfire Double Cross through center punched lungs at 20 yards, and still had enough snot left to drive it full length into dense sand out of a 330 FPS bow. I wouldn't worry about a 4 inch cut mechanical if I had one. I haven't seen flight issues out of any of the big mechanicals I have tried, but I have seen issues with fixed blades.

I'm shooting g5 Montec CS broadheads out of my xbow which is approaching 440fps. They are shooting great out to 50yds ... haven't tested them any farther. If you are convinced you should be using a fixed blade like I was, there are a few that seem to get better reviews than others. G5 Montecs, Slick Tricks, and RamCats all seem to be well liked out of the faster xbows. Those would all be great broadheads to start testing with. German Kinetic Silverflames also get great reviews but are almost twice the cost as the others. I love the solid 1 piece machined ... no fail design of my Montecs. I'm a believer in keeping it as simple as possible to help eliminate or avoid any mechanical failure. I will say though, there is one mechanical broadhead that has been getting my attention and that is the VIP Veteran. If I were to make the switch to mechanicals I think I'd try the Veterans 1st. I'd suggest finding a broadhead that your xbow shoots well regardless of fixed or mechanical and run with it! Too many times archery hunters put blame on broadhead performance when in reality shot placement could have been better. Put that arrow and head in the boiler room and everything else will take care of itself. Let us know what you come up with. Good Luck!

Good post - and I'll add that the alignment is not just with the broadhead, the insert and the broadhead have to be as straight in the bolt shaft as well.

A lot of problems are avoided by going to an archery shop with a good reputation for quality work the first time. 99% of my issues with arrows and bolts have happened at a chain store, including Cabelas. Usually it's a young "tech/pro/lodge" person cutting or gluing without proper training. Some stores have stood behind their work, and some have not.

So what?

At the IBO crossbow speeds, ANY variation in the alignment, broadhead tip, or insert alignment will show up pretty fast. If you are not numbering your arrows/bolts, you should be. I was surprised how often the "flier" turned out to be the same one. Usually, when I took my time and looked at the flier, I could find the reason.

Fixed blades have more surface area exposed in flight, and are more prone to "plane - aka fly" as they catch the wind. Mechanicals have less area exposed, but they need to be crossbow-rated or designed, or they can pop a blade open on the shot and then they will plane like a mofo as well.

OP - you are going to have to try some different broadheads with your set-up and see how they perform.

RickyBobby's Montecs are a good compact fixed blade design, but I've had them fly weird with very little variation in the tip and blades in my practice heads. I'd try the Slick Trick standards first, they seem to shoot well in every bow and crossbow I've tried them with.

I personally use the Rage X-bow 100 grain heads, they've not failed me, and have cut stupid large holes in and out. I've changed from the o-ring to the shock collars, no issues yet, but I shoot close range on deer.

Something none of us have mentioned yet but t may be very helpful to you:

When an arrow leaves the bow t flexes. That flexing changes the angle of attack of the broadhead into the air. It may be a small amount or it may be large. That will be determined by the spine of the arrow and the acceleration of the arrow. a recurve will produce maximum acceleration instantly and a compound less quickly. Heavier heads will cause more shaft flex Stiffer shafts will flex less.

All of it must be matched to get the best accuracy. It works the same way with field points, but the magnitude of the effect is normally much less.

Try the mechanical Spitfire points. They took me away from fixed and Rage broad heads. I shoot the 100 grain ones. They are spot on at the target with the 100 gr field practice points.

Thanks everybody for your help so far! All of it is appreciated.

The arrow you choose will have a huge impact on FBH flight as well. As mentioned, BH/insert concentricity is a huge factor, but another huge factor is there is not much you can do in terms of tuning a crossbow like you can with vert bows. Even some of the high end Xbows don't shoot FBHs well due to tuning issues. The single most significant thing I've found in my tinkering to combat this issue has been by going to very high FOC. The increased FOC weight allowed me to overcome some tuning issues and get great flight with FBHs in some of my Xbows and seemed to have improved accuracy in all of them. While I like BEEs among others, I was able to take less expensive shafts such as GT L2s and by going with brass inserts, 125 heads, plastic moons, and very light 2" low pro VTs to increase the FOC to well above what many will claim as acceptable and get outstanding accuracy from even 350-380fps Xbows. I still would have to weed a few out due to spine differences, but it was still worth it as accuracy is even better than my much more expensive arrows. Combining the high FOC arrow combo with good heads suchs as Slick Tricks made for a very accurate and lethal combo.

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