Broadhead penetration test
After reading a thread earlier about the lack of penetration from the Rage 2-blade heads I began to think if there were any penetration comparisons between the different brands. I'm not talking about a test where they're shot through a steel drum or any of the other demonstration videos. What I’m thinking about is a machine that can measure the force required to push an arrow through a medium that simulates flesh and bone. I'm thinking along the lines of a 2" thick block of leather. A test like this would take into account the sharpness of the blade and the angle of the cutting edge. Today’s broadheads are made shorter in effort to improve their flight capabilities but the steeper angle that this generates greatly hampers its ability to penetrate. A lot of people on this site debate how much KE is necessary for adequate penetration and particularly for pass through on various animals. This could be used to rate broadheads before we bought them; similar to an IBO rating on our bows or a spine rating and weight for our arrows. I’m not talking about proving that a broadhead is bad or that one is better than another. I am suggesting that we have a method of determining if we are using the proper equipment.
Considering the fact that we archers tend to analyze the heck out of everything we do and we never seem to stop tinkering with our equipment, it would only seem natural to do this with broadheads as well. We know exactly which spine to use for every poundage bow and every length arrow, why not have a way to determine a heads resistance to penetrate.