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Mechanical broadheads

Old 10-20-2010, 07:12 PM
  #1  
Fork Horn
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Default Mechanical broadheads

I've never used them and was wondering what do you want from your bow, in order to get the best results from them? High poundage? High FPS? Or a mix of both with a heavier arrow to give it more kinetic energy?

Was looking at a new bow and was thinking about giving the rage's a shot.

Thanks in advance guys.
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Old 10-20-2010, 11:52 PM
  #2  
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I have not personally shot mechanicals because I am old school and don't believe in them. However, my Dad has shot several different models and this is what I think.

If you are going to shoot the traditional over the top mechanical I would use a high poundage bow (min 65-70) that shoots pretty fast (280 fps +). The problem you are going to run into with traditional mechanicals is pass through. If you are shooting low pounds and/or a slower fps the arrow may not pass through. Since the entrance hole is so small and no exit, the blood trail will be next to nothing.

Recently my Dad started shooting the Rage and even I was impressed. He is shooting at 59# with an arrow speed of around 250-260 fps. He shot a doe a few weeks ago and the arrow passed through. What impressed me was, even if the arrow didnt pass through the entrance wound was 2". There was blood at the site of impact. I don't get that with my fixed blade broadheads.

Mechanicals take alot of the tuning problems out of the equation. Makes shooting simpilar. Now that I have seen the rage in action, even I am thinking about giving them a try.
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Old 10-21-2010, 12:40 AM
  #3  
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I have shot both mech and fixed blade heads off and on over the years. Despite shooting a bow that is only hurling a 380ish grain carbon arrow at about 260 fps I have only had one mechanical head fail to pass completely through a deer. That was a 230 lb 11 point and I hit the offside shoulder bone squarely on an angled shot. Quick note: I have had several fixed heads not pass through deer because of hitting the offside shoulder as well. Didn't matter they all died.

In my opinion people have problems with mechanicals for two primary reasons.

1. Some use them as a quick fix for an untuned bow. A mech head may hit with your field tips no matter what but if your bow isn't tuned you are still bleeding power as your vanes work to stabalize your arrow. TUNE YOUR BOW, or have someone do it for you that knows how. Good arrow flight or the lack of it is the reason people with very similar power levels often get such vastly different results using the same head.

2. People use a size cutting diameter that is just too big for the power level of their bow. Don't listen to any BS about the IBO speed your bow is rated for. Almost no one actually gets those speeds from a bow set up for hunting. Shoot your bow through a chronograph, weigh your arrow and calculate your level of kinetic energy using the FPS and weight you get. Many think that it is the energy needed to open a mechanical head that reduces their penetration. I disagree. The power needed to open even a fold from the from head is minimal. The real culprit in my opinion is the cutting diameter of some of the heads out there. It just flat takes a lot of energy to push a 3 blade head with a 2 inch cutting diameter through a deer. It would take a lot of energy to push a 3 blade fixed head that wide through a deer too. It's just that no one makes a fixed head that big because of how hard it would be to tune from a modern compound.

When some people head to the woods guilty of both of the above some truely abysmal results often follow.

If your bow isn't generating kinetic energy levels up at least close to 70 ft lbs then stick to a mech head with a cutting diameter less than 1 and a half inches. Two good ones are the Rocket Steelhead and the 1 3/8 cut Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper makes a larger cut head as well so take note of which you are ordering.

From almost any modern compound that is properly tuned a good mech head of modest cutting diameter will give good service.
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Old 10-21-2010, 06:14 AM
  #4  
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Poundage of bow is really meaningless especailly when comparing speeds of 2 different bows. You could have have a 60# speed bow shoot faster then a #70 non-speed bow. My bud has an old Martin set at 82# and my 2 year old bow is set and 68#'s and the speeds aren't very close.

Depending on your DL and what poundage you shoot at-- the 300+ IBO rated bows will fine for the mechanicals(generally speaking here). IF you buy anything in the 60-70lbs range and your DL is 27+ and is rated 300+(prob be fine 280+ but who buys a new bow that slow) you will be good to go with mechanicals. Not saying you need to shoot over 300 or near 300 just trying to cover a broad range of speeds/bows.

I shoot a bow IBO rated at 335fps. I have a 30" DL and have bow at 68lbs. I use close to a 500 grain arrow and get pass thru's plus about 6" into the dirt. I honestly never chrono'd the arrow so I cannot tell you what speed I am acutally shooting. I use a 2 blade Vortex BH that opens to 2.5", I will have a hard time finding a traditional head that will do what those BH's can so its not a tuning issue with me its purely performance. I bought some rage this year cause I am having a hard time finding the Vortex brand anymore but I have yet to try them out.

Last edited by Duckbutter48; 10-21-2010 at 06:29 AM.
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Old 10-21-2010, 09:25 AM
  #5  
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If you can launch a 400 grain arrow at 280-290 feet per second you should not have problem with the 2 Blade Rage passing though on broadside shots and quartering away shots.

I would stay away from the over the top style mechs.

Last edited by LKNCHOPPERS; 10-21-2010 at 09:27 AM.
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Old 10-21-2010, 05:58 PM
  #6  
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Misswampgod i also shoot vortex broadheads best broadhead ive ever shot, also had problems finding them after cablelas stopped carrying them try this place there quite a bit cheaper than cabelas alos.http://www.fsdiscountarchery.com/
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Old 10-22-2010, 12:57 AM
  #7  
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i shot the muzzy 3 blade the first year i bow hunted and i switched to the 2 blade rage and i swear by them now. i wont use anything else unless i am hunting from a ground blind and i use slick tricks but i havent hunted in a ground blind in 3 years i like being up in the tree. last year i stuck a doe and had a 3 ft wide blood trail to follow. i stuck a doe yesterday the shot was high but exited perfect and had a good blood trail shot a buck 30 mins before i shot my doe and made a liver shot on him only found a couple drops of blood but found him piled up about 300 yards the 2 inch hole that it puts in them sure does a number on them. herd some good things about the blood runners too that would be the only i would switch to personally if i was going to switch. here is the doe i shot last year with the 3 foot blood trail shot her at 35 yards with the rage 2 blade i think you can see the hole in her with this pic
Attached Thumbnails Mechanical broadheads-mydoe.jpg  
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Old 10-22-2010, 09:02 AM
  #8  
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I have nothing bad to say about the Rage 2. Did the job for me last year. Shot a nice 10 pointer and it only went 20-30 yards before it fell over dead. and the blood trail the best i have ever seen with any given fixed or mechanical
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Old 10-22-2010, 09:40 AM
  #9  
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I started out using Thunderheads, switched to Rage and then went back to a fixed blade-- G5 Striker. For some reason people get really defensive when the subject of Rage broadheads comes up. I'm just letting you know what my experience with them was.

In the process of taking my arrow out of the quiver and nocking it, many times the blades would open. Which made me nervous that the vibration from the string might cause them to open in flight. Now a lot of guys will say it's operator error or whatever. That's fine.

My thinking is simplest is almost always best. The nice thing about the heads i use now is that I just don't think about my broadhead at all. There are plenty of other things to worry about when a buck is walking into your shooting lane!
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Old 10-22-2010, 09:59 AM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Brian K
In the process of taking my arrow out of the quiver and nocking it, many times the blades would open.
I've found that if you avoid using a foam-lined quiver, that doesn't happen. I use a quiver that only holds the arrow by the shaft (the broadhead doesn't penetrate and rest in any foam...it's just held by the shafts) and have never had the blades open up. Once you open and close them a few times, it seems like you need to replace the O-rings...so avoiding having the open taking them out of the quiver seems to keep the O rings in good condition.
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