Last year was my first year bowhunting and I was fortunate enough to take a deer. I used gametracker mech broadheads. The double lung shot penetrated through the far side of the deer but the arrow did not pass clear through. After reading much on the internet, I wonder if I am getting enough KE/poundage out of my setup to be shooting mech. broadheads? I dont want to get in the mechanical vs. fixed debate, but am merely looking for opinions from guys that use mech' s if my setup is suited for this. I think that dead horse has been beaten badly enough. I did, however, like the way the mechanicals shot and would like to continue to use them but not at the expense of subpar penetration.
My setup is as follows. shooting 60# draw wt., 29" epic easton carbonaeros, 29" draw length, and on a video range the arrow speed registered at 240 fps w/ 100 gr. heads. The specs on the epic carbonaeros (400' s) show that they weigh only 237 grains. I then went over to the www.bowjackson.com website to figure the KE and was coming up with real low figures (around 40)...man that seems poor (i added 100 grains to the arrow wt. for the KE formula to acct. for the head...I guess thats how you do it?). I had read somewhere that it was not recommended to use mechanicals with less than 50#KE. So now that I' ve confused everyone and myself, does anyone else use mechanicals with setups similar to mine? Or am I the only dummy. I would appreciate any responses.

I would take the poundage up to 65 or 70....if your bow will go up and you can pull it....and maybe drop the head weight to 85gr. Then you should pass through easy.

If you nothing else, lower the grains to 85 and that will help some.

Ozwalt,
I' m gonna help ya out here.

You have the 237grs correct for your Epic400.......but you forgot the nock,insert, and fletching!

Add: 21grs for the insert
13grs for the Nock
and if you have 4" vanes another 25grs for these.

Your total finished shaft weighs approx: 296grs!! Add in your 100gr point weight and your finished arrow now weighs just about 400grs!
THAT' S A BIG DIFFERENCE IN HOW YOUR KE WILL PLAY OUT!

396grs at 240fps = 51 ft lbs of KE

still not a tank killer but way different from your original thoughts........plus shoot thru a REAL chronograph because those ones attached to the video hunt systems stink. The one I use is 13fps SLOWER than the 2 actual chronos I shoot my bow thru.

Your numbers may even be BETTER.
In any event you are still on th low side for mechs........if you do insist on using them try the proven penetrating models with modest cutting diameters like the Rocket " Steelhead" or R.M. " Snyper" , NAP " Scorpion" etc..
Don' t go near the large cutting diameters.
The new style of fixed heads on the market like that Wasp " Boss bullet" sound like they would be up your alley as well. According to 5-Shot they penetrate like heck and are very inherently accurate.

Keep everything tuned well...bow and arrows also. When you get toward the marginal side of the KE levels you can' t afford to lose any because of poorly tuned equipment.

When mechanicals first came out the failure rate was high. Manufacturers didn' t give any guide lines to follow when using thier product. Everyone soon realized that more KE was needed in order for the mechanicals to fully open and be used proficiently. At that time, a minimum of 55 ftlbs of KE became the recommendation. With the evolvement of new mechanicals, that guide line has fallen from the way side but I feel it is still a good recommendation when talking mechanical heads. That' s not at all to say that lesser bows can not effectively use them, however shot placement is critical.

NO!! Is that simple enough.

How does this setup sound??
Easton Epic 400, 27.7 inches long, 4 inch vanes.........100 grain NAP Scorpions with a Hoyt cam and 1/2 Protec XT2000 set on 69 pounds shooting 284 FPS..........soewhere around 66 fpds of enery i think

Thanks much for the helpful info. Matt, thanks for the technical info...I never thought of adding the component weights........as you can tell I' m a newbie to this archery business. All I know about it (which aint much) ive picked up on this board over the past year.

........So I really appreciate all your help. And uh David Mill........I' m not following, your answer is much the same as how my wife normally responds to me.

Well Matt sure helped you out! If your Ke is in the 50 ft/lbs range and your bow is tuned properly I would say their are a few heads that will work well. The Rocket Steelhead 100, the Rocky Ironhead XP, The Vortex mini-max steel 100, Rocket Nail driver, and the Rocky Snyper. If penetration is the biggest concern all of these heads will get the job done, but I think The Ironhead XP would be the best choice of all when considering a head for a lower KE setup.

3DThunder, YUP.... you can go kill a Chevy with that horsepower.

Thanks for the recommendations. 5-shot, I have loitered on your website...that' s some very interesting research you' ve put together. Did you get a Govt. grant for this? Just kidding, thanks for your work though...really helpful.