Piston Points
 

I was in the pro shop the other day and was talking with the owner who just got back from his elk hunt. He told me about these new broadheads he was using and how he thought they would end up being the best selling broadhead of all time. This guy has a very good pedigree, so naturally I was intrigued. They are called Piston Points (they are in the Cabelas archery catalog), and are a three blade mechanical. As the name implies, they work on a piston concept. When the tip hits the target it pushes in the piston which expands the blades. It looks like a very clever design. The blads are really thick and the blade as a whole is very rugged. He showed me the one he used for target practice. The only thing wrong with it are grooves on each blade where they hit the tip while extracting the arrow from the target. He has talked with the company numerous times providing feedback and the only complaint he had was that the blades were difficult to sharpen because they have a curved edge. He did kill his elk with these heads this year and was incredibly impressed. I'm hoping they come out with a 125 gr model. I might seriously give these things a "look see" for next year.

Has anyone out there had an experience with these heads? If so, what are your thoughts?

RE: Piston Points
 

I'd really have to run these heads through so many tests before I would trust that design. I wonder if they'd open on paper or the thinnest hide areas on whitetails for those, just off shots? Before I checked out the picture on Cabelas' website, The first thought was "Plunckets (sp) Bloodtrailers"...and they were bad news.

I really don't know much about these Piston Points, they do look large. Anyone know if 5 Shot did a test on them?

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I asked the shop owner the same thing about performance on thin-skinned animals. He said they were tested extensively on pronghorn, but he had no first-hand experience with that. The design appears like it would avoid the skipping and bouncing of other mechanicals. Upon deployment they function just like a fixed blade (or so it looked like to me). I would be interested in any tests as well.

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Those were complete garbage. Ashamed to say I lost a deer to one of those many years ago on a really good hit.

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Are you guys messing with me? I literally just posted this up this morning for WKP Todd. Might answer a lot of the questions you're asking yourselves......

http://www.huntingnet.com/fieldjournal/fieldjournal_detail.aspx?nID=738

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Oh, and I believe they were "Puckett's" Blood Trailers, and yes, they were junk!

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Cool test man. Good read.

And they were indeed Pucketts.

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My cousin swears by them..I've never tried them..Results??

His group took 5 bears out of 6 hunters all using that broadhead..his was the largest at just over 400# sow

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That's one heck of a review and that's why I asked. Interesting....perhaps if I can't find my Snypers I'll consider them. That's what it takes, a good review or realistic one.

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Awesome Justin. Thanks!

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How is this for a trial run of the Piston Points. Killed her this morning in Iowa....

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Venison for the freezer....

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From the Cameraman's perspective - this doe is in big trouble!

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That's awesome, congrats on the doe. She's a fatty!

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I tested them for my website as well. I found them to be a solid head overall. They are not the last word in mechanical heads but they do work.

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I didn't know they were junk. What was wrong with them? I have four that came with some arrows I bought a while back, and they shot fine. I never took them hunting though.

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Do you have the link tothis hunt that you video taped? I would like to see it.:DWhat camera are you using? I recently bought a AGD-DVX100B and I love it. I still have a lot of learning to do..:)

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We got a couple dozen packs of them in at the shop and I looked at them closely last night. Overall, they seem like a good head. The only thing that catches my eye is the width (not thickness) of the blades seems to be fairly thin as compared to a Rage or other large diameter head and I would imagine where they fall short in 5-shots testing is durability. I'd be surprised to see them do well in the steel drum test. I know the owner ofour shop shot the heck out of them the other day though and super glued one in the closed position just tosee how they flew (so he didn't have to use lots of rubber bands) and they flew right with field points out to 50 yards. They did seem to hold up well to Todd's plywood test as well in his journal entry, so I'm sure they will work well and are a good head. I still don't know if I would move away from my Rage's for these but they do seem like they would get the job done.

RE: Piston Points
 

You will be able to see the video when our next DVD comes out! Sorry - that's how I afford to continuing to do this - but it will be available in February. We filmed it with a Sony PD-170, which takes beautiful footage!

As far as strength goes - they are stronger by design from tip to shaft. Simple physics.....

RE: Piston Points
 

They fail often leaving nothing but a puncher wound. DO NOT USE THEM.


Nice big FAT doe TODD...congrats.

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Ok, I'll keep my eye out for it. Do you have more hunt on that DVD?

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Geez Rob.. I loved my Pluckets Bloodtrailers but I must have been the only guy who bought them as I think they have gone out of business. Sorta funny how the broadhead thats working for you is the best one out there but I guess they all will do the job if you hit the target.
The pluckets were odd. The blades moved but they were not a mech.

RE: Piston Points
 

I disagree. They were mechanical heads. The blade retention system was bad. They used a small plastic sleave to hold the blades in flight. It took a lot of energy to cut through the band and sometimes it wouldn't happen at all.

I found out the hard way...

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8pt - "Do have more hunt on that DVD"....

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. We have a current DVD out - "Beyond the Kill", which has a variety of stuff showing our entire season; including: shed hunting, velvet footage, scouting, stand set-ups, and of-coarse - kills.

Our next video is currently in-production. We will include the same type of stuff from our first DVD except it will be all new, and the "kills" we are still filming (this season).

Hope that answers you're questions.

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I'm sorry, I misspelled.[8D]What I meant to say was, do you have any more hunts on your DVD besides the one of you shooting the doe.

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None of the Pluckets I used ever required a band of any sort so there must have been more than one style. I'm going back to the early 80's. and mine were not mechs. The aluminum body of the head had to have been close to 2 inches long to handle 4 blades.
I never had a failure of any sort including blade retention but like I say if you hit the target with ANY head it's gonnawork.
Plucketts is gone now and we have so many choices it's overwhelming and I doubt there is one BEST broadhead. I do like my steelheads and sure don't see a reason to change especially at my self imposed max range of 30yards. Knock em down guys..

RE: Piston Points
 

PS.. You can see the Bear kill I posted and the other4 on DVD as well... coming soon!

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Here are some pics oftwo "Puckett's" broadheads, that came with some arrows I bought a while back. I shot them at my BLOCK target, and they shot just like my field points.:)

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Picture #2

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Picture #3

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Color is wrong but that is the same basic blade design. Mine had no moving parts except the blades could be moved. Mine were about 20 years older than yours Mike.
I thought they flew great from my old Darton SL50 as well as my old High Country High Calibur.

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Your Puckett's didn't have moving parts? [:-] Are your Puckett's broadheads fixed blade?

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8pt, they are the ones we are refering to as JUNK and I have quams about saying that. Sorry but I'd discard them or use them for small game.

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I won't use them if you guys think they're junk. I didn't know. I'm using my Spitfire for deer hunting, and I think they are made much better than the Puckett's. I guess I'll just use the Puckett's for target practice. Thanks for the advice.:)

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If the general opinion is junk them that is what you should do MIke. I just never had any trouble with them and they worked on deer just fine. They were not a mech Mike but the blades did move. You could put all the blades facing forward or as I thought they were supposed to be which wasblades pointing to the back. They pivoted where the pin connected them to the broadhead shaft.
Keep one in your quiver for yotes and such.

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Ok, will do. ;)

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Agree 100%

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Great review justin I enjoyed the read,will they be avaliable in a 125gr weight? pls pm me if you know I would like to try them.

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If they come out with 125gr heads, I will have found myself a replacement for my Rocket Steelheads...;)

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I love the idea of these heads. I bought some. I shot them in a morrels broadhead target and they didn't open.
Sometimes the rubber band didn't even break just rolled off the back of the blades and I could reuse it after I pulled out the arrow.

Are they not supposed to open on a broad head target? I can't concieve of any way these heads wouldn't open but they didn't.

This disheartened me and I am shooting slicktricks, but I would love a larger cutting swath :D