5 shot

Rocket Ultimate Steel 100 grain

Plywood: 5 points
Steel drum: 3 points
Tire: 3 points
Cutting diameter: 1 point
Accuracy: 5 points
Blades 3 points
Total score: 20.Blade sharpness rating of A

The Ultimate steel is rockets newest broadhead. It has 3 fixed blades with a cutting diameter of 7/8”. The blades are very sharp out of the package. Shaving hair very easily. The heads are a real pain to assemble though, the small blades, combined with the small ferule make for difficult job. It is not impossible though, just be careful so you don’t cut yourself! Accuracy is excellent, in fact I found them to fly as well as any mechanical head I have tried, even out of a bow that was not properly tuned. Up to now everything sounds great, the heads are sharp and accurate, the problem is that sharp blades don’t do you much good if they don’t stay in the ferule! I shot the tire first. The head penetrated one side with several inches of shaft, but lost every single blade! That is the first time I have seen a head loose every blade in the tire. In the plywood the head actually did well, penetrating all the way through with out any blade loss. I would guess that the tip of the head pushes enough material out of the way to help the blades stay intact, but I don’t know for sure. In the steel drum the head penetrated both sides, but again lost all of it’s blades. The blades made it through the first side as the cut marks show, but fell out sometime after getting through. I have had many heads fail the steel drum test, and if the ultimate steel would have been able to hold it’s blades in the tire, I would still consider it a decent head. The problem is it did not. I really think rocket dropped the ball on this one!
I even gave this head a 2nd chance, buying a brand new package thinking the first head I got may have just been a bad one, but that was not the case. I can’t recommend this head, as it is currently made, to anyone. I believe that Rocket has a good idea, but they need to pay closer attention to the small “tabs” that hold the blades in the retaining washer. I feel that this is where the blades are breaking off, and then allowing them to fall out of the ferule. The way it stands now, the ultimate steel is really just an expensive field point. This is also one of those heads that scored better than it should have, mostly because of the accuracy, but an accurate head without blades won’t do anyone any good.



TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

BOW HNT

5 shot I have greatly enjoyed reading all your tests - thank you for all the effort.

In the ad the ultimate steel looks absolutely wicked - and looked to handle concrete blocks without blowing up, - but since there was no penetration the blades probably stayed intact (I think that is the head I am remembering)

Thanks again - Mike

5 shot

I agree, I was looking at the add. A concreat wall just smashes the tip. In the picture both heads are now unuseable. In plywood, I am supprised that the blades stay intact, but the tip has somthing to do with it. Now if Rocket would shoot into a tire and steel drum, I don't think they would want to post those pictures! I really think Rocket has the most misleading advertising in the bowhunting world. It is really a shame too, as they have some very good products and they don't need all the hype tricky adds to sell their products.

TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

BobCo19-65

Thanks for the report 5-shot. The head really looked interesting to me also. But, I'll wait till they improve them. Hopefully they will.

Antler Eater

5 shot, not that it matters but in every case where we used the same media as a test the results were identical. I don't think it is a coincidence. The blades are definitely the weak link. I still haven't heard anything back from rocket on what I sent them (I don't expect to either).

If you think about it the problem wouldn't be that hard to fix. For example Rocky Mountain locks their blades in a similar fashion and they are as strong as most anything on the market.

5 shot

Antler, I agree. The problem could be fixed without much effort I think. I figured I would give them the benifit of the doubt and pick up another pack of heads. I don't see two of us getting "bad packs" from differnt places at differnt times. I think we just got some poorly made broadheads! I am going to try and take them up on their offer of "your money back" if you find they are not the toughest broadheads you have ever tried. Not so much becuase I want my money back, but becuase I want to see what will happen, and if they stand behind the products. I will keep everyone posted. I want to thank you again for sending me the first head to try, to bad they didn't do more testing of their own before putting them on the market. At least they got the blades sharp this time.

TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

moonge

another nice review 5 Shot. I got to check these out for the first time tonight. I didn't shoot any & only saw them. Has your season started yet? mine starts next Sat!