Wow, where to start. First of all if a Rage head failed to open it would pass through a deer more easily as it would remain a much smaller, slimmer diameter. I'd love to hear the explanation on the physics behind how an unopened Rage would reduce penetration. Sorry but that doesn't even begin to make sense right off the bat.

Second, if I had a dollar for every "perfect hit" claim on a difficult to find deer that when eventually found turned out to be "Uh Oh", not so well hit. I could take everyone in this thread out for lobster and have money left over to leave a nice tip. Sounds to me like you hit the shoulder bone. A direct hit on the shoulder bone (despite what many think) will typically stop even fixed blade heads. Standard Rage heads have a huge 2 inch cutting diameter that probably would not make it through that bone unless fired from a very powerful set up.

Penetration issues are affected by where you hit the animal, how well tuned your bow is, and the amount of kinetic energy your bow is generating. Without knowing these things I can't really go any further.