ORIGINAL: Matt / PA
LIke all NAP heads they sport nice quality razor sharp blades.......really nice blades on the Spitfire.
I only have one deer shot with one and it was a very short track job but yes it was probably the smallest entry wound I have seen on a any deer I've shot with mechanicals which is darn near 30 or so animals.
The retention clips are quite stiff and it takes some force to get em opened which I'm sure along with the rounded blade tips contributes to the delayed opening and incompatibility with lower energy set ups.
I would feel confident using them on game with my 70+ft lbs of KE but for consistent pass throughs I don't think I'd want to be too much below that level.
To tell you the truth, if I were to use them I would possibly remove the retention clips entirely and use a rubber band style blade retention ala Rocket to increase the speed that they open on entrance. I wish Rocket heads had blades comparable to Spitfires for sharpness that's for sure.
If you buy a pack of them make sure you take each head out of the package and check each and every blade for the force it takes to open. If any seem especially sticky make sure you try to tune it so that they all open together and with as little force as possible.
I've taken 16 deer with mechanicals, 12 of those with Rockets. The discontinued Gold Tip Gladiator made a good entry hole, but offered a lot of blade surface area (wind plane). I had a heck of an entry hole with the Mar Den Mini Max 2'' but made the mistake of using the head with about 58# of KE and I did not get a pass through. However the entry hole was full open, the size of an old silver dollar (no kidding) and the deerleft a heavy blood trail. The entry holes I've gotten with Rockets have not been so good, the discontinued Miniblaster 3L made a decent entry hole if pushed past 280 fps. The regular Miniblaster hasn't made a good hole for me when shot in the 280's and 290's. I've pushed the Wolverine past the 280 mark with resulting small entry holes. Rockets packaging advises the use of two o-rings when shooting above 300 fps. I am not going to use two o-rings because I think I would get a pencil size entry hole at 311. Likewise I'm not going to use just one since the directions call for two. My solution is not to use the Rockets.
I have 75# of KE. I've got 6 arrows with Slick Trick standards ready to go, fly great; but,the Spitfires offer more total cut and a 1 1/2'' exit hole should leave a lot of blood. I've used the Slick Trick once, last year. The Spitfire would be something new, I think I'll give them a try; if I don't like the result then I can fall back to the ST.
