doetrain

When I purchased my first arrows and broadheads the brand of broadheads I bought were Grim Reaper. They are suppose to open on contact with the Deer but when I found my arrow after I hit my Buck they seemed to not have spread out. Is this possible? And have any of you used this brand and had this happen? Or do they close back up once they pass through the hide?

kevin1

Mechanicals can be unreliable and don't work any better, find a cut on contact head that works for you.

mbmrang

I have yet to use mine on a deer, but according to the target, every shot has the blades closing back up. The blades will close back up in the sudden stop. you can see where the blades were cutting on the way in and cutting on the way out. Bad thing is, I will need a new block pretty soon. I have fired way too many different broadheads through it getting my bow in tune.

iSnipe

I wouldn't gauge what the broadhead did by it's appearance "after" entering the deer, but by looking at the cutting done while it made contact with the deer. Hopefully you'll see a nice large entrance wound.

And YES, it is very possible for a broadhead to not open up. In fact, it's one of the most complained about feature lack of expansion... the other being lack of penetration.

All mechanicals have a weakness in my opinion. It's their possible lack of ability to open up simultaneously and are susceptible to lack of penetration on quartering shots. If blades open up individually, the blade that makes contact first will open up first. This would be the closest inside blade that makes contact first on the quartering shot. I know a guy, who matter of fact, used a very similar broadhead style, the Wasp Jackhammers, and had the worst year in his life wounding deer with them. He never knew why, but I learned years later it was due to his quartering shots that had lack of penetration. This was a common complaint from many mechanical broadhead users. To this day my favorite broadhead is a mechanical. They don't make it anymore, but I have a few left for myself.

iSnipe

uncle matt

I see no need for mechanical broadheads. Any well placed shot with a good fixed blade will do the job just fine. Mechanicals are just another thing that can and eventually will fail.

salukipv1

The only mechanical I'll use is a 2 blade rage.

superstrutter

I've been using Spitfires for almost 10 years now and they haven't failed me. Every deer I have shot has been a complete pass through with the exception of one, and that was my fault. There is no way they can't open.

teedub31

Put a RAGE in the Cage. Dead dear no questions asked.

DeerandbearhoG

yup! never saw a post anywhere about a rage broadhead not penetrating or losing a deer.

bowhuntingfanatic

untill last year i would of never used an expandable broadhead. i had sucess with fixed blades and the way i look at there was no reason to change. untill i found by self board one day and bought some 3 blade rage heads. i did some of my own tests. the result were great. huge entry holes and huge exit holes. i shot my very nice 10 point days after buying them and will be using rage for years now. the above mentioned 10 pointer was very slighthy quartering away, a shot that is not perfect but with the hoyt and rage combo the arrow blew right through the buck with a double lung shot. the blood trail was remarkable. he ran about 50 yards and fell over. when i field dressed the deer, it was remarkable what his lungs looked like, they were shreeded.
most of the heads on the market today will do the job, fixed heads or expandables if properly tuned. for me the most important thing is to have confidence in what you are shooting. if you have worries about your heads try some other heads untill you find something that you have no doubt in. fixed blades or expandables.
doing your own tests on heads can be a bit pricy but it is a fun and you can learn alot shooting into different materials.
good luck hunting