I am thinking of getting the spitfire broadheads because of all the praise on this site. I used to say I would never get mechanicals because I heard sometimes they don' t open. I understand that these have to open in order to go in. My question is how do these heads perform on severe or not severe quartering away shots? Shoulder shots? Obviously I will not intentionally shoot for the shoulder but sometimes mistakes happen. Thanks for the help-Sam

I hunt with and have shot quite a few deer with Spitfires. The truth is, they are risky on severe angled shots. I have seen a buck just last year that my friend shot and 1 blade hooked on the hide and opened before fully entering the deer causing a brutal 12 - 14" gash along the outside of the ribs. He ended up killing that deer 1 minute later when it circled back through his area and stopped for a second at a recent scrape. If you saw the wound it left you would have thought that buck would have had some serious problems down the road. The shot he took was a very steep angled shot .. but 1 he put exactly where he was aiming.

My point is that they shouldn' t be used on very steep angle shots. I' ve seen a Magnus fixed and a Muzzy do the same thing on deer and would suggest passing up a very severe angled shot regardless the broadhead.

I can attest to their lethality on broadside shots and slightly quartering.

Any more recomendations?

Nuge,
I' m not going to give any recommendations on Spitfires for you until i hear what your bow set-up is.
Arrow weight and speed.........or at least your bow,draw length and weight.

While a high quality broadhead, NAP' s Spitfire is NOT a head for everybody.

I have a 28 inch draw, im shooting carbon express terminators at about 240-250 and my arrows are about 28inches at 13 grains per inch. I have 100 grain tips. Any other mechanical advice?

Nuge,
That' s the problem with understanding what equipment is appropriate for each set-up.......and I don' t mean to pick on you, I promise, but " Abouts" shouldn' t be acceptable when it comes to understanding your gear. The more you understand about how it works, why it works and what it will do , the more informed you can be about purchases such as broadheads.
I promise to do my best to give you good advice, I need some more info though, and the reason I ask is that the Spitfire is NOT the best choice for low speed/low KE set-ups. They open fairly slowly and have a fairly large cutting diameter that needs a good bit of energy to get he most out of them.

Carbon Express doesn' t make an arrow that weighs 13gr/inch? The highest is 12grs /inch and those are the Terminator HUNTER 6075' s
What are your arrows exactly? The difference between a 9.5gr/inch shaft and a 12gr/inch shaft is BIG when you get to the finished product.
Have you actually chronographed your bow or are you just guessing?

Matt, I don' t know where I got the 13 I was just typing that up fast didn' t realize everything had to be exact.

I have a 28 inch draw
I have 28 inch arrows at 9.5grain per inch w/100grain tips.
I was chronoed at 225 and then I cranked my bow up 10 more pounds and added 1 inch in to my draw length so I assumed it was around 240.

How much KE is requiered for these heads? What is the formula for KE? thanks -Sam

Nuge,
Your arrows finished (If you are shooting 4" vanes) should weight just about 410grs.
At 225fps and 410grs your KE level was originally = 45-46ft lbs.

If you have upped the draw weight by 10# AND the draw length by a full inch you should be looking at MORE THAN 240fps. Probably more like 250fps +/- which = approx 57-58ft lbs of KE
That' s not bad and its plenty to shoot thru any whitetail you will come across.

That said ,I cannot recommend the Spitfires for your set-up. Sure on a close up perfectly broadside shot they should get the job done, but to get better performance and enough penetration on a consistent basis you need an easier opening, smaller diameter head.
I would recommend you look at the heads with a more modest cutting diameter.......if you like NAP products the " Scorpion" is a much better choice for you. Very sharp, opens quickly and has a cut on contact tip. That would be my choice for your set-up.
Of course there' s always the other proven good penetrators like the Rocket " Steelhead100" or the Rocky Mt. " Snyper" .

I wouldn' t personally shoot the 1.5" diamter " Spitfire" unless I was at or above around 65 ft lbs. of KE (Which I am!)

Matt,

The advise pertaining to KE and mechanicals you are giving the Nuge is great. However, you are using " abouts" to use your words when calculating the Nuge' s speed and KE in my opinion. I have been at this for the better part of 15 years now and in my opinion (everybody does have one ) if there is any doubt pertaining to potential performance of a mechanical head due to lack of KE, then the best way to go is a fixed blade broadhead hands down. While I agree that there are mechanicals that open faster and have smaller cutting diameters that would work more favorably with a lower KE setup, why chance it when you know a fixed head will do the job every time. This is not meant to be a fixed versus mechanical argument, but with what we know at present about the Nuge' s setup, a fixed blade design is going to work for certain.

Jim,
Point taken.........it' s been a little like pulling teeth to get enough info to even form any opinion.
I guess the jist of my advice is that (I think I can tell already that Nuge is gonna try a mech regardless of what anyone says.....I just have that feeling) And if I' m right (Am I right Nuge?) , if I' m right, I want him to at least be using the ones that will give him the best chance for success given what I do know.

So given your good point Jim........yes Nuge if you are in doubt, and it does seem like there is a little doubt still there? A good fixed blade head is always the safe bet. If you ARE going to try a mech do yourself a favor and don' t stray from the styles I mentioned.

The rest of my advice Nuge: Weigh your finished arrows on a scale........shoot thru a chronograph and then you' ll know. And knowing is half the battle.