Can someone give me a quick rundown of the supposed advantages of the various types of broadheads? Why mechanicals over fixed blades?; Why the pointy tipped broadheads over the cut on contact broadheads? Why the fixed (Montec type) over the replaceable blade broadheads?
I'm not asking about any particular brand, I'm just trying to get a handle on the theory behind the various configurations. (My own theory so far is that they probably all work and at the end of the day it doesn't make any difference--tho I admit I have nothing to back that up.) Thanks
Readers digest version and I'm sure others will have more to add;
Mechanicals are well liked because they fly like field points without the need to properly tune your bow. That isn't to say that you shouldn't tune your bow properly, mechanicals just fly like field points. They also offer a large cutting diameter which is always nice for large wound channels. When using a mechanical head you'll need to shoot a bow that creates sufficient KE in order for the blades to properly deploy.
Cut on contact fixed blades are nice because they're sharp and do exactly what their name implies; they cut on contact. COC heads allow people with a shorter draw length or a lower pundage bow to acheive better penetration than they would with say mechanicals or chisel tip style heads. COC style heads are usually easily resharpenable.
Chisel tip style fixed blades such as Muzzy offer bone crushing strength. Sometimes harder to tune than mechanicals or COC style heads, they are usually stronger than either style. While you can often times resharpen these head's blades you'll find its often easier just to replace them all together.
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Washington Hunter you are exactly correct. Mywayno you are also right that they all work. They do all work when the correct shot angle are taken. For example i would not take a hard quartering away shot with a mech. head for the fear of it glancing. I am sure that some designs are better suited to handling this problem, but i would still shy away from this shot. The quartering-to/facing shot are low percentage bowhunting shot regardless of broadhead choice. But if this shot is taken it should be with a COC or chisel tip head only just for the fact that they are a much more stout design. I myself like the fixed blade heads for the fact that i like the must rugged gear i can find and the reliability of heads such as the Muzzy and the Simmons Sharks are top notch!
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To carry it further, you have mechanical heads, replaceable blade heads, and low profile heads.
Dan covered the mechanicals pretty well. The only thing I would add is alot of people use them as a bandaid for a poorly tuned bow. I personally shoot mechanicals, but my bow is well tuned and I shoot them because of their massive cutting diameter. Mine are 2".
Replaceable blade heads are just what they sound....Muzzy is one, Magnus Stingers are another. Some of the heads in this category can either have the blades changed, or sharpened, such as the Magnus Stinger.
Low profile heads are catching on quickly because while they are a fixed blade head, they fly like darts because of their short profile. While they fly beautifully, they offer a small cutting diameter, usually less than 1". Heads of this variety would be the Slick Trick, Sonic, and Wasp Boss Bullet, just to name a few.
There are probably more broadheads on the market than any other piece of archery equipment. Choosing one is often a difficult, ardious task. But armed w/ the proper knowledge makes choosing one easier.
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Low profile heads are catching on quickly because while they are a fixed blade head, they fly like darts because of their short profile. While they fly beautifully, they offer a small cutting diameter, usually less than 1". Heads of this variety would be the Slick Trick, Sonic, and Wasp Boss Bullet, just to name a few.
There are probably more broadheads on the market than any other piece of archery equipment. Choosing one is often a difficult, ardious task. But armed w/ the proper knowledge makes choosing one easier.
I think you hit the Preverbial nail on the preverbial head I would say.
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U guys hit it right on. I like both mechanical and fixed. I actually shoot Sonics, slick tricks and rage mechanicals. They all fly nice with my bow and so far no problems. But like the other guys said there are tons to chose from, so you might have to spend some $ figueing out which one suits ur needs best, best it will be worth it in the end. Hope this helps!
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Thanks, guys. I was interested in learning about the low profile heads. Is there a rule of thumb as to when a "regular" profile becomes a low profile? Where do the Montecs fall? I get the sense from the various threads that the slicktricks are really popular, but being a newbie, I think I need something that gives a fair size cutting diameter.
Tricks are available in 2 sizes, 1" Standard or 1 1/8" Magnum. The 1" Standard is so named because the 1" 4 blades will blow as big a hole as the standard 3 blade head. The 1 1/8" Magnum will blow a bigger hole than the best selling 3 blade heads, lots of former mech shooters shoot them for the flight and hole of a mech with the strength and penetration and reliability of a fixed. Other low profile or super short heads cut less, but not a Trick.
Don't jude a broadheadsperformance ability by the overall size alone. There are many broadheads on the market that are quite large but cut a small diameter hole and there are many that are quite small overallbut cut a huge hole.
Overall large heads with a small cutting diameter would include Steel Force, Magnus stinger and others
Overall small heads with a very large cutting diameter would include Slick Tricks, Muzzy MX4 and others.
Also consider how many blades the head has. A 3 blade with a 1-1/8" cutting diameter will not cut as much tissue as it is passing throughas a 1"diameter four blade head. Convert them to a two blade head and the three blade would have a cutting width of 1.68" while the four blade head would have a cutting width of 2 inches.
Then consider how much KE you are getting from your arrow. If you can't get a broadhead with a vary large cutting diameter through the animal than that huge cut does you no good. On the other hand if you ae generating 70 or 80 pounds of KE then you will be able to put even the largest head through any deer.
Slick tricks, which are by far my favorite head,have one of the largest cutting diameters of any fixed blade head yet penetrates like a head of much smaller size. While it may be 1-1/8", which seems pretty normal across the board, you have to consider that it has 4 blades instead of the typical three. Convert it to a two blade head and it translates into a 2.25" cutting width. That's only1/4" smaller than the Vortex 125and a half inch smaller than the Hypershock 125. That's a whole lot of cutting going on. Now convert it into a three blade head andit would havea 1.5" cutting diameter.
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Low profile heads are catching on quickly because while they are a fixed blade head, they fly like darts because of their short profile. While they fly beautifully, they offer a small cutting diameter, usually less than 1".
I'm not sure how small these things get, but be aware that the DNR may regulate how big the diameter must be for legal deer hunting gear.
IL requires 7/8", but I can't imagine choosing something smaller than a 1-1/8" anyway.
I use the Muzzy 3 blades for whitetails, but would consider mechs for soft targets like turkey where penetration is a non issue and the added shock of the mech opening up is a benfit to drop the bird on the spot. I might switch to a COC head for massive tough animals like elk.
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Newbie questions on broadheads
