A long time ago when I didn't shoot as much poundage, I bought 75 grain Wasp High Tech Hammer Broadheads. Is a 75 grain broadhead heavy enough to hunt with? I shoot 28 inch Gold Tip arrows and a Fred Bear Epic Extreme at 64 pounds. I was thinking a 90-100 grain broadhead would give me better penetration and a better chance for a pass through. I am thinking of buying heavier broadheads. I would like to know what y'all think? Any recommendations?
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The weight of the broad head depends on what spine arrow you have no use putting a big head on an arrow that is borderline weak.
I use a Muzzy Phantom SS200gr broad head connected to a Beman ICS Hunter 400 spine 28" arrow with 4 Duravane Predator fletches for a FOC of 23.8% out of my Black Ice set at 59lbs 28" draw.
I usually start off with what size head I want to use then build an arrow around it so I end up with a perfectly spined arrow.
I take out the 2 bleeder blades which gives me 200gr.
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I think aussie guy is going a little overboard with his set up, but to each their own. A 75 grain head is fine, what you need to look at is over all arrow weight and speed to see what kind of KE your getting. The only thing about a 75 grain head is its hard to get a good FOC. Two years ago I was shooting easton axis 400 arrows with a wasp 75 grain boss bullet. My FOC was around 10% I believe and I could have shot through a deer length wise if I wanted. I was getting about 75ft-lbs of KE.
You don't mention your exact arrow, so we can't give you much guidance on your current setup.
Aussie-guy is right when he says you should design an arrow around a broadhead. Light weight heads are not as stable as heavier heads. They don't penetrate as well. They lower FOC and many will not be as durable. For these reasons, I always choose a heavy tip and then pick an adequately stiff arrow to hold that tip weight.
Can you kill a deer with a 75 gr head? Sure, under the right situation, with the right conditions. However, it will fail under more situations than a heavier head will. Once I release an arrow, I want it to have the maximum chance of finding it's mark and penetrating fully.
It's true that with today's hunters, many consider 100 gr heads to be normal and anything heavier to be an excess. However, studies are proving that heavy is better and even heavier is even better. There are guys putting 300-400 gr (and more) on their tips and successfully taking very large game. There is no such thing as shooting "too much" arrow at a whitetail. Too little and a shoulder bone may leave you feeling pretty "down".
A lot of things come into play in a great Hunting arrow setup, spine, weight, FOC, etc. All else being correct I prefer my hunting arrow to have a minimum of 12% to 15% FOC. That's hard to get with a 75 grain broadhead. I'd rather be at 20% than 10%
I am pretty sure the gold tips are 5575's which have a .400 spine. The actual arrow length w/o the tip is 26 1/2". With broadhead, inserts, nock and vanes, I am probably around a 320 gr arrow. I chrono'd the bow with 80 gr field tips shortlyshortly after I bought it and it was in thelow 280's if I remember correctly. I am in my late forties and CRS( Can't Remember Crap)syndrome seems to be happening on a regular basis. I have since gone to Blazer vanes and a drop rest, so it may be a tad faster. I am considering going to a 100 or 125 gr broadhead. I will verify this infowhen I get home from work today and repost. Thanks for all of your responses. I am on the black powder part of this site quite a bit. This is truley an awesome site!! Thanks again.
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ausie is right imho, and straightarrow too - i'd pick a good weight head - and have someone on here run your setup and help you design arrows around it. if you don't want to buy arrows - someone could run your setup and arrows and tell you what weight head would be best. its been found that 19% and over foc really helps w/ broadhead flight, and penetration.
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Broadhead weight
