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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

^^^^^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