Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
10-02-2002, 02:46 PM
#11
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jacksonville Fl USA
Posts: 533
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
CG
I had to reply - not my style but this warrants it..
My first thought is this : You said you shot a coyote in the neck, and the head. The neck shot at 20 yards, the 'eye' shot at 8...who in their right mind makes neck and head shots with a bow ? I am sure others will agree. I am a pretty good shot - not the best in any token, but better than a lot. I used to shoot chipmunks in the summer at 20 yards with blunt tip arrows for practice - hit 6-7 of 10 shots...so Im not bad I guess... my point is I would never try that shot.... its useless....And if you were not aiming at the head or neck...and you missed that bad on 2 animals.. yu REALLY need practice or a shotgun....
My opinion is you must have a VERY untuned bow...Have the sights way off... have VERY bad luck, or your nose is growing VERY long....
Really CG, I shot a mechanical last year - first time. I used a shockwave broadhead. I took a quartering too shot at a 240 pound deer - a northern deer, a walking shot (yes he was moving) no shot deflection, no bent blades, and a pass through.... and 25 yard recovery. I shoot a Fred BEar Code bow at about 65 pounds....
My main gripe is you complaign about these heads but I have to wonder what kinda person makes head shots or neck with bow at 8 or 20 yards ??? Please no offense is meant here - Ya gotta admit it looks bad... As far as the elk...no comment on it falling on the arrow.....
Just my 2 cents worth... Id love to hear others reply to this....
Tom
Dont take this personal CG... but Im a pretty serious outdoors guy, be it my fly fishing, bow hunting, you name it.... I take it serious... it seems to me something is very wrong. I really am sorry to hear of your misfortune, but Id like to see whatsgoing on here before you post that these products dont work when THOUSANDS of people are very succesfull with them... One failure I can see....ANYTHING mechanical is prone to failure... but numerous times ??? If Mechanicals were all that bad, the Game Commisions of various states would have outlawed them already....
Edited by - eightwgt on 10/02/2002 15:57:59
10-02-2002, 03:20 PM
#13
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jackson, Missouri
Posts: 7,051
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
Wow, CG! I gotta admit, I haven't followed your postings enough to know if you're a straight-up fella or not, but this thread makes me wonder...
I know you'll take offense at some of the responses you're going to get on this one, and it's certainly not my intent to start a personal attack on you -- not in the least. As eightwgt said, it's not my style. And I know you said you had no perceived agenda or vendetta against mechanicals, but honestly, someone who did and was trying to cast doubt on that tool wouldn't admit it in the same breath as his "data" anyway...
Rather, I'd just like to compare your stories with the hundreds and hundreds of successful usages reported by literally scores of other hunters on this board and elsewhere. I have never had a mechanical fail on me since using them, and I have had shots blast through shoulder blades of some very, very tough Illinois whitetails. I have also watched as my mechanical nearly split a hen turkey's neck into. Hard or soft, it doesn't seem to matter.
As far as the "tip of the Snyper was bent fully 90 degrees," I gotta admit, that one just makes me wonder. I went to Rocky Mountain's website, www.rockymtbroadheads.com, and clicked on Snyper. Rocky Mountain provides some good photo footage to explain how their head works. One of the things I noticed is that the end of the ferrule duplicates the shape of the tip, and comes right down to the end of the blade -- thereby reinforcing it, and, I would think, not really allowing the blade to bend at a 90-degree angle. There's just not enough of the blade exposed. Maybe your pictures you said you would post will clear this up, and I sincerely hope they do.
And to think that type of failure would happen as a result of a neck shot (I'll let eightwt's post speak for my thoughts on these shot placements)... I just don't think the neck of a dog is tough enough to bend metal. Sorry, just calling it like I see it here. Maybe I'm wrong, but a twenty-yard shot at a horse's neck shouldn't damage one of these heads, much less a small dog.
Again, not meaning to stir up a hornet's nest with this one, and for all I know, you may be an outstanding guy. And I hope you are. The stories just don't match up with anything else I've ever heard about mechanicals.
I know you'll take offense at some of the responses you're going to get on this one, and it's certainly not my intent to start a personal attack on you -- not in the least. As eightwgt said, it's not my style. And I know you said you had no perceived agenda or vendetta against mechanicals, but honestly, someone who did and was trying to cast doubt on that tool wouldn't admit it in the same breath as his "data" anyway...
Rather, I'd just like to compare your stories with the hundreds and hundreds of successful usages reported by literally scores of other hunters on this board and elsewhere. I have never had a mechanical fail on me since using them, and I have had shots blast through shoulder blades of some very, very tough Illinois whitetails. I have also watched as my mechanical nearly split a hen turkey's neck into. Hard or soft, it doesn't seem to matter.
As far as the "tip of the Snyper was bent fully 90 degrees," I gotta admit, that one just makes me wonder. I went to Rocky Mountain's website, www.rockymtbroadheads.com, and clicked on Snyper. Rocky Mountain provides some good photo footage to explain how their head works. One of the things I noticed is that the end of the ferrule duplicates the shape of the tip, and comes right down to the end of the blade -- thereby reinforcing it, and, I would think, not really allowing the blade to bend at a 90-degree angle. There's just not enough of the blade exposed. Maybe your pictures you said you would post will clear this up, and I sincerely hope they do.
And to think that type of failure would happen as a result of a neck shot (I'll let eightwt's post speak for my thoughts on these shot placements)... I just don't think the neck of a dog is tough enough to bend metal. Sorry, just calling it like I see it here. Maybe I'm wrong, but a twenty-yard shot at a horse's neck shouldn't damage one of these heads, much less a small dog.
Again, not meaning to stir up a hornet's nest with this one, and for all I know, you may be an outstanding guy. And I hope you are. The stories just don't match up with anything else I've ever heard about mechanicals.
10-02-2002, 04:00 PM
#15
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jacksonville Fl USA
Posts: 533
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
CG.....
I read your post, and replied... but thinking more and more... You Shot a coyote, and then WITH THE SAME BROADHEAD shot at another animal ??? Thats unethical - purely so...
Also as mentioned... I do not se HOW A COYOTE'S NECK COULD BEND that tip...
Did ou read 5sots review ? He shot it through a STEEL DRUM, and PLYWOOD... Wat d you think is harder ? Coyote neck, 1/2" plywood, steel drum ??
5shot - if you rad this what was your steel dum and lywood result on te Snyper ? Did its tip bend 90 degrees ??
10-02-2002, 04:07 PM
#16
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Palmyra PA USA
Posts: 292
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
Those types of failures (lousy penetration and broadheads flying apart) are similar to what I experienced years ago with Miniblasters, and exactly why I switched back to fixed blade heads.
10-02-2002, 04:10 PM
#17
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Vernon Hills IL USA
Posts: 382
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
[quote]
"Well it didn't take very long to be called a liar"
I never called you a liar, nor do I hold that view. I took your post about the elk very seriously and indeed went on to test the ferrule of several broadheads in concrete. While the ferrule of the Snyper was the only one to break it was also the only one whose tip embedded and remained in the concrete. The result that you indicate on the coyote neck shot, well I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it just doesn't seem even remotely possible. Something would have to be very, very wrong with that head for that to happen.
"Well it didn't take very long to be called a liar"
I never called you a liar, nor do I hold that view. I took your post about the elk very seriously and indeed went on to test the ferrule of several broadheads in concrete. While the ferrule of the Snyper was the only one to break it was also the only one whose tip embedded and remained in the concrete. The result that you indicate on the coyote neck shot, well I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it just doesn't seem even remotely possible. Something would have to be very, very wrong with that head for that to happen.
10-02-2002, 04:54 PM
#18
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lingle WY USA
Posts: 527
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
Again I'm not trying to bash mechs. Thousands of animals have been taken with mechs and I'm sure that ther will be millions more....I'm just relating my experience on 4 animals....
As far as my ethics on shooting coyotes...Yes I took head-on shots at both coyotes (no I wasn't aiming at his eye, I'm not that good)and no I would not take a similar shot on a game animal...I also take running shots at coyotes with a rifle which I would not do on a game animal....This is not what this is about...I bet 90% of the guys on here would take a head on shot at a coyote at less than 20 yards if the opportunity presented itself...
I agree with all of you!!!! What happened with the tip bending and coming apart, SHOULD NOT OF HAPPENED!!!!! I've heard the stories of these heads blasting through both shoulders and burying two feet in the tree behind it and I expected the same result!! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!! What I'm relaying to you is the truth exactly as it happened.
eightwgt,
Various state Game and Fish agencies HAVE outlawed mechs....I don't think that is right but they've done it.
I would like to be the first to admit that there very well may heve been something wrong with a particular "batch" of these heads....I don't know....that is why I'm send it to Rocky Mountain..because I want to know too!!
"What we do in this life echos an eternity"
Edited by - cg on 10/02/2002 18:00:02
As far as my ethics on shooting coyotes...Yes I took head-on shots at both coyotes (no I wasn't aiming at his eye, I'm not that good)and no I would not take a similar shot on a game animal...I also take running shots at coyotes with a rifle which I would not do on a game animal....This is not what this is about...I bet 90% of the guys on here would take a head on shot at a coyote at less than 20 yards if the opportunity presented itself...
I agree with all of you!!!! What happened with the tip bending and coming apart, SHOULD NOT OF HAPPENED!!!!! I've heard the stories of these heads blasting through both shoulders and burying two feet in the tree behind it and I expected the same result!! IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!!! What I'm relaying to you is the truth exactly as it happened.
eightwgt,
Various state Game and Fish agencies HAVE outlawed mechs....I don't think that is right but they've done it.
I would like to be the first to admit that there very well may heve been something wrong with a particular "batch" of these heads....I don't know....that is why I'm send it to Rocky Mountain..because I want to know too!!
"What we do in this life echos an eternity"
Edited by - cg on 10/02/2002 18:00:02
10-02-2002, 04:59 PM
#19
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Katy TX USA
Posts: 35
RE: Mechanical BH-75% failure rate!!!!!!!
I have been shooting NAP Spitfires with GREAT results. I recently took a 150-pound Capybara in Argentina with a 125-grain Spitfire. Pass through shot. Blades fully opened. BIG hole. I also trusted a Spitfire to take two Blackbuck Antelopes in Argentina.
I would have no qualms at all about taking a Spitfire to Africa to take some of the smaller deer-sized plains game there.
I have also taken several whitetails with both a Shockwave and a Spitfire with excellent results.
However, I will say that I would not use expandables on such big animals as elk or larger. Fixed blade cut-on-impact is the way to go when you get into the BIG game like Elk, Moose, Buffalo, etc. in my opinion.
Not only have I been impressed with the Spitfire broadhead's performance, but also with it's durability. It's a tough head for a mechanical. Clean it up a bit, swap out the blades, and it's ready to go again in most instances.
The same with the Thunderhead. I have found them to be very durable, very reliable, and very SHARP! Great broadh heads!
I would have no qualms at all about taking a Spitfire to Africa to take some of the smaller deer-sized plains game there.
I have also taken several whitetails with both a Shockwave and a Spitfire with excellent results.
However, I will say that I would not use expandables on such big animals as elk or larger. Fixed blade cut-on-impact is the way to go when you get into the BIG game like Elk, Moose, Buffalo, etc. in my opinion.
Not only have I been impressed with the Spitfire broadhead's performance, but also with it's durability. It's a tough head for a mechanical. Clean it up a bit, swap out the blades, and it's ready to go again in most instances.
The same with the Thunderhead. I have found them to be very durable, very reliable, and very SHARP! Great broadh heads!