They work great, until they don't. Then you are left wondering what happened? I've never had to wonder if my broadheads worked as advertised. But to each his own I guess.
If a mech head is in the cards for you...keep an eye out for the TriFecta. It's a new head a good friend of mine from TX designed. Offers several weights and configurations from a single ferrule. There are some vidieos from ATA showing the heads. They will be in my quiver this fall
They work great, until they don't. Then you are left wondering what happened? I've never had to wonder if my broadheads worked as advertised. But to each his own I guess.
Buddy that hunt with swears by Rage, and often swears at them when they don’t perform.
They work great, until they don't. Then you are left wondering what happened? I've never had to wonder if my broadheads worked as advertised. But to each his own I guess.
Buddy that hunt with swears by Rage, and often swears at them when they don’t perform.
I don't know. I killed a dozen with the standard 2" rage heads and then a like number with NAP 4 blade Spitfire Doublecross mechs and then a couple with the new Rage Xtremes. Never had a failure out of any of them. That's statistically a pretty damn good indication that they will do it the next time as well. And, one hell of a lot better odds than I can get that a fixed head will not plane when the shaft flexes at launch
I shoot fixed blades from 180 to 272 fps without planing at launch.
But i run helical feathers or blazer vanes.
Plus my stuff is set up right
Have only shot 6 deer w mechanical broadheads. Recovered all, zero issues.
I'll take this every time can get it. This is the chest as I opened it and before I removed the heart in the first picture.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/14476186/chest
I have been at this archery game since the 1960s we did not know what a mechanical was back then and we killed deer with all sorts of designs. Today I shoot a Rage . I guess I have killed around 150 deer with everything from Ben Pearson Deadheads, Bolos,Bear,, little Shavers, etc. Hit the deer where you should putting a hole in both lungs and you will soon be gutting it. Really it is that simple. I see guys taking shots with these new Super Duper heads from every angle , purposely shooting them in the guts or worse then saying the bh failed...BS they failed the basics of shot placement. Poke a deer thru both lungs with a sharp stick and it will die.
The first deer I ever killed with a bow was about 1960. Basic 2 blade and the deer went <50 feet, laid down and died. The second one I killed with a bow was the following year, a doe and she died without going anywhere. That might have been the exact same head from the prior year. I experiment with a lot of different heads. NEVER had one fail. NEVER had a Mech head not open perfectly. Never had a fixed blade head fail on deer, BUT I have tested a number of them that did not make to grade for accuracy. I am now shooting a crossbow with power to throw in the toilet so big cut broad heads are of interest. I have seen well hit deer make it a ways when hit with 4 blade heads with 3 inches or so of cut and not put a drop of blood on the ground. @ inch Rage heads very often do not put blood on the ground for about 30 yards. That can make make it difficult to get on the blood once they start to leak.
When I cannot predict accurately if it will bleed, much less how much, I will opt for more cut every time and will continue to test heads that offer a lot of cut to improve my odds until I get to the point that I cannot drive that head all the way through every time. Small fixed heads often (usually) cause good blood on the ground, but that is not good enough for me. I have lost exactly two deer over a lifetime of killing them with guns and bows. Both with bows, both in the same year. One cost me three days of search (much of it on hands and knees) the other two days. One gave me just 3 drops of blood and I never found another drop. The other bled very well and at one point was stopping every 6 feet and dumping 1/2 cup of blood on each side on the edge of a swamp at 10-11 PM when I lost the blood trail until I came back the next day with decent light. I will take a head that can do what that Rage Xtreme did to the heart and right lung as shown in those pictures as long as it never shows me unreliability opening or innaccuracy. With them, even were the blades locked closed and could not open further than the closed position, I still have a pretty decent amount of cut. Had the head that I put through the buck in these pictures REMAINED fully closed, the buck might have lasted more than the under 4 seconds he did, and maybe the blood trail would not have been so gruesome, but he'd have still died and likely somewhere inside 100 yards.
Today anyone can walk into a sporting goods store and have their pick of a dozen or more broadhead designs the worst of which is light years ahead of what we had back in the day. Back then many hits were not recovered because the heads were used prior to being hone to a razor's edge, today both fixed and mechanical come with replacement blades that alone was a huge improvement. Now the novice can tear open the blister pack assemble the heads and go hunting that beats sitting at camp with a file and whet stone.
BTW a few years back I killed a big doe with a long bow and flints I knapped myself...just to prove SHOT PLACEMENT IS STILL THE KEY TO QUICK KILLS!!
Haven't shot the extremes, but I've had really good luck with the Hypodermics the last couple years.
I am leaning towards trying a heavier fixed head next year. Been researching pros/cons and one thing I've seen mentioned is animal reaction from a big cut expandable vs COC (especially on a heavy arrow).
Expandables will great...some of the time.
COC sharp fixed broad heads work great ALL of the time
I used 100 gr Muzzys for 25 years and never really had a problem. About 5 years ago, I bought a crossbow and started using Rage 2 just for kicks. They are some nasty Mofo's. Never had a problem with them opening too soon or not opening. This year I upgraded to the Rage 2+. They're even better. The problem is that they're expensive and either I lose the arrow or the blades get bent. Occasionally I'll retrieve the arrow and they'll work again if the blades aren't bent. Killed 6 deer with them this year. I'll give them a 5 star rating.
i purchased a few dozen China nock-offs they are the same thing as the expensive Rages ,knock-offs were $12.00 a dozen free shipping ,they are made in the same place as Rage Broadheads ,these knock-offs are kinda hard to find now but look around on the internet you might find some more ?
I have been at this archery game since the 1960s we did not know what a mechanical was back then and we killed deer with all sorts of designs. Today I shoot a Rage . I guess I have killed around 150 deer with everything from Ben Pearson Deadheads, Bolos,Bear,, little Shavers, etc. Hit the deer where you should putting a hole in both lungs and you will soon be gutting it. Really it is that simple. I see guys taking shots with these new Super Duper heads from every angle , purposely shooting them in the guts or worse then saying the bh failed...BS they failed the basics of shot placement. Poke a deer thru both lungs with a sharp stick and it will die.
Exactly!
It is impossible for anything to live with two collapsed lungs.
They work great, until they don't. Then you are left wondering what happened? I've never had to wonder if my broadheads worked as advertised. But to each his own I guess.
Buddy that hunt with swears by Rage, and often swears at them when they don’t perform.
I don't know. I killed a dozen with the standard 2" rage heads and then a like number with NAP 4 blade Spitfire Doublecross mechs and then a couple with the new Rage Xtremes. Never had a failure out of any of them. That's statistically a pretty damn good indication that they will do it the next time as well. And, one hell of a lot better odds than I can get that a fixed head will not plane when the shaft flexes at launch
Thats a new one. A fixed head not flying right IE planing... I"ve NEVER had that issue over 100 kills over the years IF you are tuned right.
I have seen enough mechanical failures that it takes more than 10 fingers to count... a couple lead to dead deer. A couple never did. One took ALL day searching as the blades never opened but you just don't give up a hole in the lungs leads to dead close to 99% of the time I"d bet.
Would take a hard quartering away shot with mechanicals?
I sure wouldn't
Thats a new one. A fixed head not flying right IE planing... I"ve NEVER had that issue over 100 kills over the years IF you are tuned right.
I've got an Excalibur Exomax Crossbow and this year I bought some 150 gr Slick Tricks. I shot the same bolt every time. 6" group at 20 yds. Thought I might have a bent bolt, so I changed to a 150 gr field point.... 1/4" group @ 20 yds. Change to 150 gr Schwacker.... 1/4" groups @ 20 yds. Change back to the Slick Tricks..... 6" group @ 20 yds.
Shooting the same bolt every time..... Tell me how to tune my crossbow.
So fixed blades show a problem.
Could be fletching. Could be insert not square.
Mechanicals can lessen tune and arrow stability issues.
Too many think a positive trend seen means they have arrived at perfection.
And then they lose deer.
There certainly is good enough....but a lot of folks dont know what that really is.
I think more FOC to be a good thing. But a lot just want speed speed speed.
Thats a new one. A fixed head not flying right IE planing... I"ve NEVER had that issue over 100 kills over the years IF you are tuned right.
I've got an Excalibur Exomax Crossbow and this year I bought some 150 gr Slick Tricks. I shot the same bolt every time. 6" group at 20 yds. Thought I might have a bent bolt, so I changed to a 150 gr field point.... 1/4" group @ 20 yds. Change to 150 gr Schwacker.... 1/4" groups @ 20 yds. Change back to the Slick Tricks..... 6" group @ 20 yds.
Shooting the same bolt every time..... Tell me how to tune my crossbow.
dunno that answer, slick tricks fly just fine out of the one crossbow I have.
The over 100 kills comment is from compounds and recurves, you can tune them all.
I'm gonna have to say though, IF I had an issue, I'd bet you can tune a crossbow like anything else.
You do have to have enough accuracy to hit with. But I've seen enough mechanical failures to just be stubborn and say, fixed have ALWAYS worked( well old bear heads could bend the tip on a heavy bone and bounce back out but that was learned by my BIL and we quickly relegated them to other use)
Mechanicals came out as bows got faster and tuning became more critical. As such, most shooters do not really fine tune a bow. So easiest thing to do is shoot mechanical heads. Many outfitters and guides will not allow them on hunts due to failures.
Broadhead tuning is not overly complicated but it involves time and effort. Sometimes with the bow, sometimes with the arrows. I am a big fan of bare shaft tuning and with my high performance recurves this means that the most effort goes into tweaking the arrow. Even 1/4" of shaft length with carbons makes a difference. Add to that different weight inserts, different fletching, and even broadheads of same weight but different configuration shoot differently.
As a general rule, I work to get my bare shaft to fly straight and true at 20 yards. With a compound I push back to 30/35 yards Once I get that, broadheads fly well.
With a bow with a conventional nock and long arrows there are things you can do that you cannot with a crossbow. With an Excalibur crossbow the arrow rises in a slot in the fore end and the string stays at a fixed level just above the slot. So, NO tuning nock point. So, NO tuning the rest. So, NO tuning the cam(s). Secondly, the arrows are much stiffer to begin with due to heavier construction. Thirdly, the arrows are much shorter further increasing rigidity.
Arrow vibration (fishtailing) is virtually non existent off my crossbow, at least according to the flight of my arrows that have lighted nocks on them. I can see it readily off my compound wertical bow when an arrow wants to fishtail but even with a lighted nock I do not see it until I get down to arrows too light for the crossbow.
The crossbow is capable of shooting sub 1/4 inch groups at 20 yards with the same arrow from a rest and same arrow orientation for each shot. That's about as good as I can hold it and aim with a decent scope on it.
I can and have tuned my compound bow (Matthews No-Cam) and arrows for bare shaft flight and consistent accuracy, but I cannot begin to approach sub 1/4 inch. Optimizing tuning for a given broadhead is possible but it still will not approach the crossbow's accuracy. With a significant percentage of fixed broad heads that I tried I still could not match field point accuracy with same weight heads without going to stiffer arrows which degraded field point accuracy to that of the broadhead.
My conclusions from considerable testing were that some fixed heads are just poorly constructed. Plain old bad designs. Some were poorly manufactured and if made well in production could be accurate but EVERY SINGLE ONE needed to be tested to be certain of it's accuracy. I could have shot deer with many of them and been successful, particularly holding range to 20 yards or less. But... without testing each head before using it on deer I had to accept the possibility that it might well shoot 3-4 inches off POA at 20 yards. Typical deflection was more like 1 1/2 to 2 inches, but some were much more. Unless damaged, mechanicals averaged under an inch off the crossbow which puts full force of a 220 lb draw weight onto the arrow at trigger release.
The higher launch velocity of the arrow off the crossbow could quite conceivably account for very consistent opening of of the mech heads. Near 500 grains of arrow probably helps as well. That's a lot of thump hitting Bambi. I was extremely impressed with the results of using the Rage Extreme with the crossbow on a couple deer, but I would be careful about testing before I tried to use that much cut on a marginal velocity bow with lighter arrows.