I' m in the same boat. I use Muzzy 4 blades for deer and Rocky Mountain Snyper mechanicals for turkey.

well you asked for it so here is my 2 cents. I have shot both fixed and mechanical broadheads and am still undecided on which i like. i have shot quit a few deer with the fixed and had some that i didn' t recover with a fixed. shot a nice 8 point square in the shoulder, got about 4 inches of penetration and never found him. shot a nice 6 point quartering to me with about 8 inches of penetration - never found him, 2 does with pass throughs and never found em. sorry about all these experiences but they definetly made me a better hunter as i learned from my mistakes. killed many other deer with fixed head but those were some examples of a fixed blade with poor results. some hits it wouldn' t of mattered what head I used. by the way the fixed head i used was a thunderhead 100 gr, 28 inch beeman ics 400, 60lb draw. switched to the spitfire last year, shot 1 doe through one lung and come out gut. found her next morning but very poor blood trail as hole plugged by intestines. also had same result with fixed head. this year, shot 1 doe with spitfire. first shot spined her. had to get down out of stand and finish her off. 2 shot was on ground level and I got a glancing blow off her chest. had to shoot a 3rd arrow at her to finish her. i shot a buck with the shock wave, quatering away, arrow entered left high behind shoulder and exit hole front right chest without pass through. so heres a summary

1. doesn' t matter what type of head you shoot if the shot angle is bad or you hit the shoulder in the knucke joint
2. you won' t always get a good blood trail if your arrow exits through guts
3. the mechanicals I have shot can give you a glancing hit unlike fixed, although I think the shock wave has eliminated that problem with the blades opening very easily and not requiring as much KE as the spitfire
4. mechanicals will give you a bigger hole and more of a punch with the hit unlike the slicing through hot butter with the fixed blade
5. mechanicals shoot exactly like my field points unlike my fixed which tend to fly low and right
6. like someone else stated earlier you can kill em with a field point if the shot is placed right so just shoot what you like and pick your shots carefully as we owe it to the animals we hunt to make a clean ethical kill!!!!

Has anyone shot the Scorpion XP by NAP. This looks like a good mech broadhead. It seems as though it would get a little better penetration than the Spitfire. I was just curious.

TBO

I have to stay away from mechanicals, especially after watching Outdoor Life Network the other day. On a hunting show, a guy shot his arrow, and it flew like a curve ball from the top MLB pitcher in the world series. It turns out that one of the blades opened during flight and the arrow was really off target. It was wild to see the wacky flight the mechanical misfuntion caused.

Fixed blade for me.

I shoot a Mathews LX with Easton Carbon Evolution 400 spine and 100 grain Spitfires, I could not be happier with them, I have taken one deer with them this year, and it was a complete pass through, with a great blood trail, but on the other hand I shot a buck earlier this year, and got about 6" of penetration with Thunderheads, I am glad I made ths switch!

I would just watch with mechanicals, this year I had a shot at a nice 6 pointer around 24 yards, and when I drew back and released I didn't notice a small branch in the way and w/ the Rocket head the blades opened on impact of the branch and nosedived right under the deer. Other then that I have had no problems with the Rockets except they seem to be quite dull out of the box.

Kyle

, how did they know that only one blade opened? The same thing would've happened to a fixed bladed head too, so moral of that story, is clear your shooing lanes! That pretty much sums it up!

I have killed quite a few deer with Thunderhead 100 grain fixed blade broadheads. All have been complete passthroughs with the exception of one shot that was a direct spine shot that dropped the deer in its tracks.

Almost all shots through the kill zone only have to pass through the rib cage. This should not be a problem whether fixed or mechanical.

The mechanicals add a significant unknown factor that I don't wish to deal with, and that is the chance of malfunction causing gross innacuracy.

My vote is for fixed blades shot from a paper-tuned bow with the vanes aligned with the blades on the broadhead.

From reading the replys about mechanical broadheads it sounds like someone has not made the perfect one. What if a mechanical did not loose KE, could be shot at any angle, has large cutting diameters, was stronger than any fixed broadhead, and flies like a field point? Would you use it to shoot any game in the woods? There are negatives to anything you hunt with, shot placement and skill can't be purchased. But if you have the skill the better tools this can only help you.


P.S.
I have seen the broadhead I just described.

Fixed blade here! Also, while a mechanical head may possess larger cutting diameters because of wider opening blades, if the shot is perfect their is not problem.

While perfect placement is not always done, an arrow too light will also not penetrate as deeply with any head!