I've been reading all of these posts of guys who love Rage Broadheads and other mechanical Broadheads. I think a hunter needs to ask himself, "why would I want to shoot a mechanical broadhead? What's the advantage over a fixed head?" The majority answer to that query would have to be true arrow flight right? (More to come onarrow flight later.)I alsoknow someone is going to say that Rage Broadheads make huge holes but that advantage is offset by 2 main problems of the Rage: 1.just beforeyou draw your bow for the shot, you better make sure a blade hasn't popped loose off one of the rubber o rings (this has happened to tons of guys using this headat crucial moments). For that reason alone, I won't use them.I don't like to have to wonder if my Broadhead is ready to shoot when a 700LBbugling Bullelk is coming in fast and there's no time to worry aboutequipment. 2.On occasions when pass throughs don't happen, the fixed blade will continue to work and cut tissueas the animal runs away as the blades won't sway back and forth against resitance as with the Rage. Witha fixed head broadheadYou KNOW it's ready for duty without ever glimpsing at it and you know it's stronger than any mechanical on the market.

Mechanical broadheads should be outlawed in my opinion. They have mamed and wounded more game than they've killed. Broken blades, failure to deploy, premature deployment,chinsey/weak designs,bone deflections,I could go on an on. I've heard guys saying that even the mighty Rage heads don't open on rare occasion. Why take the chance?

Now tothe common sense part about arrow flight. Guys who have trouble getting a fixed head to fly (and have good mechanics, see your pro shop if you don't)are almost always using purecarbon arrows. Carbon arrows arenot a quality product, they still don't have the technology to make a carbonarrow with uniform wall thickness yet, sure,it might be straight but each arrow will flex differently in flight due to thin/inconsistant areas in the arrow wall, that's why broadheads won't fly in most caseswithcarbons when you get over 260 FPS.To combat this problem, you simplycan't beat an xx78 aluminum arrow or a aluminum/carbon hybridarrow like the ACC or the FMJ, try one of these arrows, tune your bow and watch your fixed head broadheadsfly consistant and truefor certain and throw away the toy mechanicalheads once and for all!

Good points man, but we know. Do a search, this has been debated and argued soooooo many times. Obviously, people buy things b/c of success stories or possibly trends. Rage broadheads work, i have seen their effects. There are advantages and disadvantages of both fixed and mechanical, we all know that. When a consumer goes to buy something they haave to weigh out their options.

You have a very good cons list for mechanical bh's. You apparently support the use of fixed blades and you believe your way is the only smart way. On the same note, someone that is an avid fan/product pusher for mech. bh's, could type up an essay similar to yours showing the cons of fixed blades, adn the advantages of mech. Its an endless circle and its all about consumer preference.

I have found that the performancepros of the rage head outweigh the cons and that is why"I" shoot them. And theyDO Work for ME. But i am not generally saying that rage heads are great or will cure everyones arrow flight issues.

And asfar as the aluminum arrows go, we have definately (theMAJORITY) foundby weighing the pros and cons,carbon>aluminum. But you have found/believe that that setup works well for "YOU".

Like i said, you have avery goodideal/theoryand make a verygood point/argument, but the other sides is just asgood
BTW, not trying to argue, or be offensive, just opening it up a little bit.
Derek

Dopler,

I think after reading your post, You may have "converted" me back to at least the fixed blade broadheads. I have tried several mechanicals and I can say that I am not completelysatisfied with any of them. Thanks for your post, you raised many good points.

Blessings.....Pastorjim

Now that's funny right there.

Better not tell that to the hundreds of thousands of animals that have been killed with fixed blades and carbon arrows.

AS for the rest of your argument I am on the same page with you. I shoot fixed blade heads and don't see myself ever going back to mechanicals.

Having said that, there are a great number of mechanicals that are very well made andI would feel perfectly comfortable hunting with. Rocket steel heads are at the top of the list.

Man, several years agoI would have agreed with you 100%. But I've just seen too much to say for certain that any one way is better than the other.

When I lived in GA, my best friend made his main source of income from tracking deer that hunter's couldn't find with his dog. I always went with him when I could. From what I've seen, carbon arrows and mechanical broadheads were pretty much even with aluminum arrows and many fixed blade broadheads. Basically, if you make a bad shot, no amount of broadhead (or bullet for that matter) will make up for it.

It's like anything else, if carbon arrows aren't working well for you, go back to aluminum. If mechanical broadheads aren't working well for you, go back to fixed blades. If you don't like it, don't hunt with it. For what it's worth, I've killed deer with both carbon and aluminum arrows, and both mechanical and fixed blade broadheads. My buddy with the tracking dog still sticks with aluminum arrows and Simmons Land Shark broadheads. To each their own.

I've killed 16 deer with mechanical heads and 6 with fixed. I currently have both Slick Trick mags and Spitfires in my quiver. The Slick Trick mags fly great, but I'll likely use the Spitfires first. I've never killed a deer with a Spitfire and.... might as well make it 17 deer with mechanicals.[8D]

I used aluminum arrow for 2 years before switching to carbon. Now, I've been using carbon arrows for over 10 years, started with the pultruded shafts that had outserts. I'll never go back.

To each his own, but the notion that mechanicals should be illegal is faulty[:'(], I've got 16 successful whitetail kills using various mechanicals (mostly Rocket). Fixed heads can "fail" too. My wife hit a deer in the neck with this popular fixed 4 blade head.

Tell this to the olympic shooters (I believe they have a 60lb and 280 fps max). See if you can find one that was using aluminum. The reason vegas shooters use aluminum is only because aluminum arrows come in larger diameters.

West, Carbon arrows are fine if you're not using a broadhead soit would not affect anOlympic shooter with field tips as much. The only time carbon arrows fly bad is when you have a rudder at the head and tail of the arrow, the two rudders place tourque onthe entirearrow shaft and areas in the arrow shaftthat are not consistant (the weak spots) willflex casuing the arrow to veer off course.This factis not myopinion, it's the laws of physics. Any ballistics expert will atest to this.

Just an FYI, in the recentBejing Olympics, the gold, silver and bronzemedalists allused Easton X-10 pure aluminum arrows.

I personally use Slick Trick 100's, they won't fold up under pressure like the ones pictured in this thread but there are dozens of otherhigh quality fixedheads to choose from. I'm not just saying this stuff just to spout off,I made the mistake of using an expandable once,I hit a beautiful bull elkwith anexpandable broadhead in 2002. I had a 76LB compound bow, I was shooting Goldtip pure carbonarrows, the shot was 17 yards broadside at a bull I estimated to be about 320 inches. The arrow hit perfect, one blade caught a rib and openedcasuing the arrow tokick violentlysidewards as soon as it struck the animal, I only got about 4-6 inches of penetration and I did notrecover the animal--lesson learned, never again. The guide told me the following year that the bull was shot in rifle season, it could hard walk, it was badly infected where I'd hit itand it ended upscoring 333 P&Y, the bull was so badly infected that they threw away all of the meat.I'm 100% confidentthat if I had that shot again with my current setup, I would have harveted that bull instead of wounding such a magnificent animal and having it suffer an entire month before finally being taken.I saw the guide again this year, he told me that this scenariohappened over and over with guys using expandables and finallyheput a restriction on hunters in 2005 barring them from using expandables. He's not alone either, many guides have similair restrictions now and for darn good reason.

Your argument has some merit, however very rarely are these types of issues purely black and white.

I have shot aluminum arrows in the past and for the last 5 years or so have shot nothing but pure carbon shafts for hunting. I would be willing to bet that out of a properly tuned bow, you can not shoot well enough to measure the accuracy difference between your aluminum arrows and good quality carbons. Even using a hooter shooter, you can get carbon arrows to pattern through the same hole. That is not to say that the aluminum arrow is not more consistent from a radial spine standpoint, but that when you put a fixed blade broadhead on the front of it, regardless of what you shoot, the amount of steering the broadhead provides will null out any increase in accuracy from the more consistent spine.

Add to the fact that aluminum arrows have a tendancy to bend. Once that occurs your accuracy is out the window.

I do however think you have a valid point with respect to the expandable BHs with larger game such as elk. For most whitetails an expandable is more than up to the task, but if I were going for elk, I would want the extra measure of insurance a fixed blade head provides. Once again, the world is not black and white and I have seen some cut on contact broadheads have the point curl over and deliver poor penetration.

Dopler-frankly I'm shocked you even posted nonsense such as this! You make it pretty obvious that you have limited experience with the things you are badmouthing. Carbon arrows and expandable broadheads have came a long way since they first came out. Just because you don't like something don't mean they're bad or worthless. I've been a bowhunter since 1974 and have seen a LOT of changes and products come and go. You need to practice what you preach about common sense. To begin with,I wouldn't attempt to shoot a elk with expandable broadheads. Today's top quality carbon arrow shafts shoot a lot better than any human alive can so don't try to feed the garbage that carbons aren't as good as aluminum arrows. Don't believe me-try shooting both from a actual shooting machine side by side. You have to remember that all equipment isn't the same so when using certain equipment,you utilize it to perform best within it's limitations. I've NEVER lost a deer that I shot with expandable head and THOUSANDS of other bowhunters have had the same experience. You shouldn't express your closed mind opinion until you actually experiment and honestly try different things. I try just about everything that comes out on the market and DON'T form an opinion until I know what I'm talking about thru actual experience with said product.