fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

I have been using mechanical broadheads in my crossbow, but last year i had a bad experience on a quartering away shot. I have always had good luck with mechanicals but I am wanting to try a fixed blade and I am thinking about trying the slick trick 100gr 1" broadhead. From what I have read you just screw them on and they are on the money. Anybody tried them in a crossbow? Or is there another head I need to try?

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

the slick tricks are nice heads. I've never shot them in any bow or xbow but they get great reviews.

My dad uses G5 Stikers and Tekken IIs in his Horton and they performed very well over the last two season for him. We're both gonna try Reapers this fall. It'll be my first foray into mechanicals.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Hey dude, it's me again. I'd like to give you some info based on my 35+ years of experience. I've not used the Slick Tricks, but I have looked at them and like the way they are designed; especially how the blades lock into the ferrule. There are many good heads that would work with your crossbow, however none can guarantee that you just screw them on and you're ready to go. They all have to aligned with the shaft of the BOLT so that they are as straight as possible. If they wobble the slightest bit then the blades will catch air and the bolt will plane off course. Anybody or any ad that would tell you otherwise is just blowing smoke.

So no matter which broadheads you ultimately choose be sure and align them well with the bolt.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

I went to slick trick's website and those heads are supposed to have some type of washer that sits between the insert and the broadhead that you can adjust to get the wobble out, but a friend of mine let me have to muzzy 100gr 4 blade heads to try and with those there is no washer to adjust. So if I do have a wobble how would i go about aligning it with the shaft? I shot the two muzzy heads, one hits right with the field tips and the other ranges 2"-6" away (from the other muzzy tipped bolt)

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

The washer has nothing to do with fixing any wobble, they put a washer there to hold the blades in place while screwing the head into your arrow. The washers are also made from steel so that the blades won't damage you inserts upon impact. The slick tricks are inherently accurate because they area a one piece head that is machined to tight tolerances from hardened steel. If they wobble there is a problem with your arrow or the insert not being installed straight. A lot of things can cause this, the arrow saw might not be perfectly square, or whoever installed the insert might have left a small burr in the arrow. These sort of errors are harder to spot with field points because they are short, the extra length of a broadhead will compound the error.
When a head is screwed into an arrow the head is alligned with the shaft by the straight portion of theshank that is above the threads. They hold a very tight tolerance on this straight section so as to keep any slop between the arrow and head to a minimum. (A little trick is to coat the threads and the shank of a broadhead with string wax. What little play there might be is removed by the heavy wax. It also helps keep the head from working loose.) If that straight shank was not there on a broadhead, the wobble wouldbe horrific. You see for a thread to work without binding and galling, there has to be clearances built into the threads. This clearance would create all sorts of variable to be induced into the equation.
Now onto your Muzzy's. Keep thinking about what I said concerning the slop between the threads. You received your Muzzies from a friend so I'm going to assume that you personnally did not assemble them. The bad thing with a Muzzy is that the blades are held into the ferrule with their "trocar" tip. When the ferrule is machined the threads for the tip are cut on the front end of the ferrule then the slots for the blades are cut into the tip. If you know anyone who is a machinist ask them what happens when you take an aluminum shaft thats the diameter of an arrow, then starting at the end slice longitudinal slots into it. Depending on whether you have 3 or 4 blade heads, you'll be left with 3 or 4 fingers of aluminum that have a tendency to bend outward and maybe even twist. This is the fun part if your still reading this far into my post, :DNow keeping in mind that using threads for alignment is inaccurate, and that the ferule now has a slight bend and twist from themachining process; at this point on a Muzzy broadhead you will insert the blades into the slots and screw the trocar tip onto the end, using the threads to attempt realignmentof the four fingers of the ferule, the four blades, and the tip itself. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I've personnally checked this using a granite surface plate, vee blocks and a dial indicator. Even when I use this setup to try and achieve better arrow flight, I only get patterns which could be considered "good enough".
Now about Slick Tricks, there's no such alignment problems, the ferrule is solid steel, without that extra tip that screws on. Everytime that I've spun an arrow with a Slick Trick installed, it has spun perfectly. And yes, I use the same dial indicator on them also.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Thanks for posting. That makes a lot sense. I am hoping to get the slick tricks in the mail today and get some target time in to check them out. The sad part is that I am a machinist doing tool/die work so maybe I should have looked into the design of the heads before I started posting, but Im glad that you did. So in the future I will know to look at the design and not the reviews. Machining the aluminum head the way you explained cannot be good, there is no way muzzy could hold a tolerance anywhere close to the slick trick ferrule. And I did read all of your post but when you started comparing of the muzzy vs. slick trick machining process I couldnt help but laugh because I machine for a living.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Frankie, Glad you read the entire post without falling asleep. I tend to over anylize, over think, then ramble on; but like me, your a tool and die maker so you understand. :D

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

There's no question that the design of the slick trick would be more uniform than the design of the muzzy.

BUT

There also no question of the effectiveness of the Muzzy. Not many broadhead makers have been around as long as they have. AND they probably account for more deer than any other two makers combined (no facts to back it up, just my thoughts).

Are they the best designed, most tech advanced NO WAY! Are they deadly affective.. ABSOLUTELY! If you want a good head for a better price then muzzy will be tough to beat. Are there better heads? Without a doubt! But not for $20 a pack!

That being said, i don't use them. I did kill my first deer with one, but have move on to other heads.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Don't get me wrong, Muzzy makes a good head. It's just that every head has to be tested because you will get one that flies bad once in a while, most times just switching arrows will solve this. I have no problem getting them to fly with my field points, but my groups are always larger with these heads than anything else that I've tried. Keep your shots under 30 yards and it'll probably never make a bit of difference. A lot of emphasis is put on spinning our broadheads to make sure that they're straight, what our eyes perceive as straight would surprise you. We spend a lot of money on arrows that meet straighness specs, mine are .003" over the length of the arrow and Muzzy's typically run out by .004" to .006" just at the tip.

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Dont get me wrong, i'm not being critical of you at all!! I work with aluminium machining also but one engine blocks not stuff for the shuttle ;) There's little doubt that muzzys tend to fly worse than the newer heads. I'm just saying they cant be overlooked as far as performance to price!

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Been shooting muzzy's for 20 friggin years... NEVER had anything but great arrow flight!!! Every one spinns perfect!!!

I've shot every size from 90's to 130's...

Not a better broadhead on the market as far as I'm concerened...

If your having prob with Muzzy's flying... It's prob not the broadhead;)

RE: fixed blade broadheads in a crossbow?
 

Longbeard, I respect your "20 friggin years" but I have to disagree with your claim that every one spins perfect. In my 17 years of experience I have never seen any broadhead company make perfect broadheads 100% of the time. Certainly not Muzzy. I know they are good heads but I have seen too many of them not spin true even after double checking the arrows straightness and squaring up the inserts.

With regard to the steel washers on the Slick Tricks. Yes they are there to retain the blades and to protect your arrows insert but if you screw your ST on and it wobbles slightly you can defenetly loosen the broadhead, spin the washer slightly and instantly straighten out any wobble it may have.

Every bow hunter needs an inexpensive arrow spinner if they are going to shoot broadheads, mechanical or fixed.

I don't know about you... But I'm not shooting my bow at atlanticc city for thousands of dollars lol...

I'm shooting at a deer at 15-20 yards 99.9% of the time...

My Muzzy's have never let me down if I do my part...

As far a spin test... If I have one that spins a little funny... I've fixed the prob by heating up my insert and just turning is a little...

I guess you cant do that if you shoot carbons huh???

A friend of mine had to use a crossbow after shoulder surgery 4 years. When practicing with his broadheads, they planed all over the place, so I gave him some of my slick tricks to try because I heard they plane, even at high speed. They flew just like his fieldpoints. We were both impressed. He didn't get a shot at a deer that year, but we've used them ever since with compound bows and they live up to their reputation for perfect flight and devastating wound channels.

Tried to set n Xbow up for a friend, when I thought it was good I added 100 grn thunderhead. It was anybody's guess where it was going. I'd stick with whatever head is the most forgiving.

Before having to go the a Xbow (I'm 82) I used Muzzy's and had excellent luck with them. As the Lord blessed me with more birthdays I lightened the draw weight and shortened the draw length until I felt more comfortable with a cut-on-contact head. When I went to the Xbow I tried the Muzzy's but they did not fly consistently. Tried Grim Reaper and Slick Tricks. Both shot well, but ST's were best. Had been considering going to Rage, but am going to stick with the slick tricks. I had nothing but good results with the Muzzy's, and never had to worry about losing a blade. Did often sharpen the new blades. By the way, there are plastic washers out there that ou can put between the BH and arrow to help align the head if necessary.

I purchased an Excalibur Phoenix package that included 150 gr field points which I have found to be extremely accurate: even shooting off-hand I can expect the bolts to group within 1" out to 30 yards.

In preparation for hunting season I purchased the Excalibur recommended 150 gr "bolt cutter" fixed blade broadheads: shooting off-hand I am able to group within 3" out to 30 yards. They are not quite as accurate as the field-points but plenty accurate enough for hunting.

While the crossbow would likely remain accurate to 40 yards and beyond, I have no intention of shooting over 30 yards: the noise from the shot is so loud (compared to my Hoyt compound bow) that I am concerned about the deer "jumping the string" before the bolt arrives.

Practically, 30 yards is plenty for my typical opportunities. I took my first deer with the crossbow (a doe) with a broad-side shot at 15 yards on my second day out in the early PA season. It was a double lung pass-through with a massive entry and exit wound from the bolt-cutter broadhead: I found the bolt with the broadhead buried in the dirt the next morning. The doe ran about 35-40 yards and then collapsed.

As with the compound bow, distance estimation is critical for the crossbow: I used the 20 yard cross-hairs for the 15 yard shot and hit about 1 1/2" higher than I aimed. However, the crossbow accuracy with the bolt-cutter broadheads gives me confidence that I will make a kill shot (it also helps that there is very little left/right deviation with the crossbow as compared to a compound bow shot with less than perfect form).

I use Slick Tricks in my Horton - they fly exactly like field points. No complaints here, but each x-bow is different, so you have to see for yourself. I've also used mechanicals, and had success with both types of broadheads. Shot placement is key. I've found too with x-bows, because they are so much louder than a compound, long bow or recurve, deer tend to jump the string easier so you have to be much more careful.

Hello!
I also agree 100% with Rev (which is hard to do, doesn't it?
Goood luck!