HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

I'm shooting 125 muzzy 4-blades. (total arrow about 455 with 3" vanes) I've taken several deer with shotgun, but although I've bow hunted several years I've never 'hit it hard' or shot a deer with bow...until friday. It was my last chance before I went back to college. A nice 4 point presented a broadside shot at dusk. It was a meat or no meat situation so I took the shot. At 55yards in an open field I hit about 2" higher than I should've. He turned and run directly away from me and I could see that my arrow only went in 4-5"!!!!!! Did I have the misfortune of squarely hitting a rib or is this normal for long shots. (I shoot a 60# Feathermax (IBO#310) so I *guess* that I'm sending 455gr at 235fps) It wasn't a nice hollow "thump" but neither was there a "snap" quality to the sound. Should I continue on or move down to a 100 cut-on-impact? This kind of shot (open field 40-50y) will likely present itself again because the of area and way I hunt. I picked 125s so I'd have a nice FOC (it was something between 10-11) and 4 blade cause I honestyly never thought penetration would be an issue with my setup. Now I'm thinking it may be time to re-evaluate things.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Probably to far away and you lost some energy and u said u hit high, u could of hit the sholder blade or its possible you lost alot of energy and got stuck in the ribs. Its gun season right now so screw the bow lol im dying for some meat right now. But after this back to bow.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

As far as technical advice Im not your guy, but did you find him? Im not trying to start anything, I was just wondering.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

i took a 260 lbs + 8 pt a few weeks ago with a 4blade 100 gr muzzie. The arrow went completely thru the deer and only had a small bend in one blade. the deer ran 30 yds and dropped dead. not much blood for the first 15 yds but then good blood after that.
Insatiable

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

I found a group of hair about 10 yards from where I hit. Clean hair, no blood there or anywhere else. Never found a single drop, let alone the deer. I feel horrible. It didn not hit shoulder blade. It was too far back. If the arrow had gone through no doubt I'd have gotten the far lung. Like said though it was about 2" high so heart would've been iffy. Left-to-right though is was ON only options are Rib or simply too little KE.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

My guess is definitely way too little KE down range, especially at 55yards. You are shooting a pretty heavy arrow at quite a low poundage draw weight. I've shot quite a few animals at the 45+ yardage and never had any problems. Actually the only one that didn't pass through was a 140lb hog. I shoot a Razortec at 72lb with a 419gr. arrow. My KE is somewhere in the low 70's. I shot a doe at 52 yards with a Magnus Stinger 4 blade and it passed through completely and stuck in the ground on the other side.

Good luck with your decision.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Shouldn't be shooting at anything at 55 yards if you have no idea what your setup is capable of.........guessing on live game usually doesn't work out very well.

Arrow ran out of steam.........and Muzzy's suck.......both of which are strictly my opinions.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Dang, that sucks that Muzzy's suck considering I just bought some 100gr 3 blades. The shop's owner shoots them and said they've worked great for him for 5 years. Why do you say they suck anyway? If they're that bad, I need to know why and change.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

I hunted the last time with my 125 4 blade this year. Going with a 100gr 3 blade head. I never hunted
with the second blade in them anyway. Had better arrow flight and like you wondered what kinda
penetration one would have with 4 huge blades. Never had a problem with my "2" blades.
Good luck to ya

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

^^^^^Just go ahead and buy those muzzy's. You'll love'em. I've been hunting
them for years and if your bows set up properly you can go through both
shoulders if you want to.NEVER had failure. Thats my .02;)

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Maybe switch to 3 blade for now. My bow is so old i cant pull back the 70# on it. But i can on the new bows. Since u have the low poundage move down to 3 blade 100 grains.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Even at that yardage and that poundage I would think you should have gotten better penetration. I would guess you hit a little higher than you thought and went into the loin muscle. With a high hit and single lung you would not get a good blood trail either. Chest cavity has to fill up before it starts running out the hole. Bow tune also could have a lot to do with it. At that range if your arrow doesn't hit square you will lose a lot of energy and penetration will suffer greatly. I use a 125gr 3 blade muzzy and have been very impressed with them.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Soilarch,that is so far,just think how much K.E. a shotgun slug loses at 55 yards,if you only hit 2 inches high ,Congrats thats a heck of a shot, you deserve that deer,,good luck the rest of the season,i hope they come closer for ya...............

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Ok I have a question. How the heck does someone discern that a hit is 2" off at 55 yards. You would be lucky to tell that it hit the chest at all nevermind if it is 2 inches off your aim point. Heck your sight pin probably covers more area than that at that range.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

The average Male usually guesses "larger" or "bigger"..I'm too surprised it was only 2" high.
Hech, I woulda said atleast 6";) No really, we can only comment on what he told us. We weren't
there and under the "Perfect" circumstances one "could" asertain just how bad the
"miss" was....arrowdeflection, trajectory...the sun in relation to venus.....;)Sorry

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

If anyone else has any of those Muzzys they dont want send them my way Ill take them off your hands.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Hey Sharkey...i wont giv'em to ya but I'm selling 2 sets.
I'm still shoot'em though. Look in classified. Back to original
programming.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

You don't seem to have the setup to make a clean kill at those ranges. Keep em shorter.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Have you ever been hunting? Or played High School or College Sports...at big moments everything seems to slow down everything's clearer. I saw exactly were my arrow hit (it was 4:00 with light overcast). When I say 2" high I meant 2" above what I would consider the top border for a "clean kill shot". I hadn't thought of removing 2 blades. I may try that and see how drastic the POI change is with the practice blades. The tuning may be an issue as well. Honestly I figured if I was getting good groups at 40yards with arrows all parallel my tuning fits were over...maybe not

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Ok, I'll weigh in here.
First, I shoot 90 gr. 4 blade Muzzys. Always have and probably always will. Excellent penetration. Always a pass through, even when hitting bone.
Only one exception, when I made a bad shot on a deer almost directly under me. I hit backbone and rib and still went all the way to the bottom of the cavity. Dead deer in 70 yards.
Second, I would never take that long a shot with a bow.
I've practiced at 45 yds, but it would have to be mr. right for even that long a shot.
Not to criticize, but at 55 yds, a deer can make a lot of movement before even a fast arrow reaches him.

That arrow had to be dead in the water to only get 4-5 inches!!!
The broadhead isn't the problem.
I've got too many 4 blade Muzzy kills to believe it was the broadhead.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

See my post here

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1258688&mpage=2&key=?

I have since resharpened that Muzzy 125 grn 4 blade broadhead and have killed a med size hog at about 30yds. And resharpened it again ready for the next animal that makes the fatal mistake.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Tuning can also be an issuewith penetration. If your arrow fishtailed at all, you would lose some penetration because it did not hit the deer squarely.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

The arrow should no longer be fishtailing at 55 yards. The vanes would have stabilized it by then. The real issue here is that we have a person shooting at his first deer at 55 yards with a bow. I think most of us would never shoot at a deer that far away with a bow regardless of how experienced we are. I shoot thousands of arrows every summer from various situations with my Razortec at 68 pounds and I refuse to shoot at any animal beyond 30 yards. Yes, I have taken practice shots at 40, 50 and even 60 yards but I am way too inconsistent at that range. And like somebody else said, the deer can move alot on a 55 yard shot! Not to harp on the issue but really try to keep your shots below 30 yards and you will have much better luck. Not to mention our obligation to the animal to only take shots we are sure about....

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

2 inches over what you would consider the top of the kill zone would mean you hit it in the loin muscles. They extend down farter toward the chest than most people think. With that kind of hit you would only get a few inches if penetration. Goes through the muscle then into a dorsal spinal process.

RE: HELP!! Muzzy 4 blade penetration?
 

Only use on side of the practice blade also. Not any changes
with me between practice and blades. You have to get the 2 blade kit. It's a ferrel size "blade" to flll the gap. Good luck to ya.