Any reason to switch to mechanical broadheads?

[badshotbob]

I will be entering my 29th season as a bow hunter. For the most part I've used two types of broadheads - the old Razor Back 5's, and mostly Thunderhead 125's when they stopped making the RB's. Killed plenty of deer and have never had an issue with arrow flight, to my knowledge anyway (I've missed my share of deer as well but I've never blamed it on broadhead flight problems but rather user error ).

I used a mechanical once and wound up loosing that deer. It was a neck shot and the blades did not open for whatever reason (I managed to recover the arrow). I found that deer during gun season a week or so later and the entrance wound would have been deadly if a blade had any chance to do it's job.

I haven't paid too much attention to mechanical development over the past few years, so I'm wondering if there has been any new technology that may convince me to change.

I know, don't change what's not broke, but curious nonetheless.

[ltpelham]

RAGE they will open with no problems (well i have no issue) and thjey leave 2.5 inch gapping hole...i have great thing bout grim reapers to they both fly great and leave good holes.

rage is a rear deploying broadhead so you get the big on on entrance and exit

[silentassassin]

I shoot mechanicals as a matter of personal preference but will be the first to say that if isn't broke there is no reason to fix it. If your fixed blades are shooting well and you have confidence in them then stick with them. Now that being said, a couple of things stick out to me. You said that you hit the deer in the neck. I am assuming that you didn't intentionally shoot for the neck. Also, you said you made "your share" of misses and or bad shots which is what I would again assume the neck shot was a bad shot and I don't see blaming the mechanical for not doing it's job when you made a bad shot. However, you did mention that the mechanical didn't open which brings me to my next point and question. How long ago did this happen with the mechanical and what kind was it?The reason I ask is that 5 or 6 years ago my friends and I did some pretty extensive testing with mechincals on everything from apples and oranges to steel drums and never once did we have a mechanical fail to open. We had a bunch that were closed when we found them, but all of those were a case of the broadhead opening and then closing again when it came to a stop. Not saying that is the case here but I have killed a bunch of deer with mechanicals and been around a bunch of deer that were killed with mechanicals and I have honestly come to the conclusion that I am just as likely to run a broadhead through bigfoot as I am to shoot a mechanical into something and it not open.

[formula1]

No need to change IMHO. You using great heads now!

But if you want to try something new, try a SlickTrick or a GrizzTrick for a change of pace (see www.slicktrick.net). You'll still be shooting great fixed blade heads.

[brucelanthier]

If I were to shoot a mechanical it would likely be the rage 2 blade. I have not yet seen any real reasons to convince me to use a mechanical though.

[MGH_PA]

I have no doubt the newer mechanical designs of today work very well (assuming you're shooting a proper setup). My Slick Tricks serve me well, and will continue to do so. I see no need to change as of now.

[Gundeck]

Silentassassin, I noticed that as well and was hoping that the whole neck shot thing was a bad shot.

[kwilson16]

I use the Rage 2 blade because it has drastically reduced the length and difficulty of blood trailing. I spend less time recovering my deer which means I disturb my hunting area less. Penetration is excellent and reliability of timely blade deployment has been 100%.

[pigiron]

ORIGINAL: badshotbob

I will be entering my 29th season as a bow hunter. For the most part I've used two types of broadheads - the old Razor Back 5's, and mostly Thunderhead 125's when they stopped making the RB's.).

I've been bow hunting since 1985 and what you've just described is almostmy exact senario.......I still have a few ofthe razorbacks laying around.

Actually during one season, I did shoot thosehuge Andersons. Quite impressive to look at, but that's about it.They flew like a wounded goose. Muzzy four blades accompanied a few hunts as well. Thunderhead 125s were key though, and I always went back to them.If I didn't switch this year to Rage, I would still be shooting TH 125s.

As I stated in an earlier thread, I was luredto Rageby the pics of those gaping entry and exit holes. Just last night I killed a doe at 28 yards. It was an absolute amazing blood trail. Found herabout 20 yds from my arrow.

All in all I'm 90% soldon Rage two blades. The only downfall I could find is that I noticed that the actual broadhead flys ever so slightly different than the practice head. I don't know if anyone else had this happen, but to give me a piece of mind, I superglued three of the broadheads to keep them from opening. I just use them for practice now, and don't have to worry about replacing o-rings.....It's the targets that I'm replacing now.

I do wonder though how much heavier the glued heads are. I only applied a few drops.

[minnesotadeer]

No. I like my fixed blades and they shoot well. Give her a shot to see if you like them AFTER season is over in my opinion. If you have everything dialed in, I wouldn't mess with it until your deer are on the ground and tags filled.