mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Got a new bow and carbon arrows. What type of broadhead would you guys recommend? Mechanical or standard. Also what about weight , 100 grains or 125?
Thanks

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Your information is too vague. Are you shooting enough energy to adequately shoot a mechanical?

There truly is no reason to not shoot a fixed blade head. With a properly tuned bow, matched tune arrows, fixed blades will and do fly with field points so accuracy is not a reason to shoot mechanicals.

So what are reasons....well shortcuts to a poorly tuned bow, poorly tuned arrows...possible larger cutting diameter depending on model....

Yes they can and are effective, just be sure of the reason you decide to swing towards mechanicals and not a quick fix for bad equipment.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

If shooting a VERY fast arrow, even the most determined tuner may still have problems tuning a large diameter fixed head (assuming they want a large diameter...were talking 300 fps-ish and 1 1/4" head or so).
Also when windy the mech heads DO have an advantage.
Modern mech heads kill deer as dead as anything...and usually just as cleanly.
Personally, I have had good luck with mech heads but am still shooting fixed head as the mech heads are frowned upon buy some of the " old guys" . when in Rome...

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

With the quality of most carbon arrows, you may have a darn difficult time getting fixed blade heads to shoot straight. You' ll likely find only a few arrows out of a dozen that will consistently shoot fixed blades, and that' s with the premium shafts. You won' t find that many with the low end stuff. I think that' s the main reason mechanicals have gotten so popular.

Mahly 13 is right. Most of us ' old guys' (I prefer to think of us as ' experience enhanced hunters' :)) frown on mechanicals. I know mechanicals work, when they are checked out to make sure they function properly and the blades are sharp, and the arrows are tuned right and when the bow is tuned to shoot accurately, and the shooter uses that accuracy to put the arrow where it should be. But after 45 years of bowhunting, I know that just because something SHOULD work doesn' t mean it always WILL work in the woods. Stuff happens.

You have to do the same things as far as sharp blades, tuning and proper shot placement with fixed blades, but there isn' t any worry about whether they will function properly. When the blades are always open, you know they will be open when they' re going through the animal.

But if you go mechanical... First and foremost, make sure you' re shooting enough bow. Most mechanical broadhead manufacturers recommend a minimum of 50-55 ft lbs of energy. Take time to be absolutely sure the things work. Most of the mechs I' ve bought to test have not been good, even top name brands with good reputations. The blades would not open on their own and some wouldn' t open even pulling on them with pliers. I had to remove the blades, clean them out and remove burrs from the pivot holes in the blades before they' d open up. That also means they can get dirty and sieze up again. So check them out before hitting the woods. EVERY time.

Otherwise, you could be here at some point during the season with yet another story of ' mechanical broadhead failure.'

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I can just tell you my personal preferences on mechanicals and carbon arrows.

First off, I used mechanicals for a season on aluminum shafts. This was about seven years ago, and I' m sure that there has been a lot of advancements since then. But, on the mechanical heads that I used, I found that the heads were just not strong enough. I shot two deer with the heads, and on both heads, I had broken blades. Granted, both deer were dead, but....Another problem that I have with them is that the were just not strong enough to take repeated practice with. Practicing with field point is good enough for some folks, and I will admit that the heads that I used did fly pretty much the same as field points. But I like to practice with my exact hunting setup. I just can' t afford to keep replacing the mechanical heads after practicing with them a few times. So, probably as you could tell, I pretty much use mechanicals exclusively.

Now on the carbons. I used carbons also for one year with muzzy' s. I was never happy with my groupings using carbons and fixed heads. I did take two deer with them, and both were pass throughs, but I like to stay with what works well for me, and that is aluminums and fixed heads.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I don' t have a problem getting my 27.5" Thunderhead tipped Beman' s to fly like darts @285 fps. Making sure your bow is properly tuned is the most important. Then tune your arrows to the bow.

Arthur P, I remember when some " experience enhanced hunters" told me that carbons bounce off deer or they blow up when they hit deer. Funny, I never believed them and I' ve proven them wrong at least a couple dozen times. I will agree that some of the low end carbons are junk. However, I think for the most part carbons are more finicky because of their light weight moreso than tolerancing issues. Oh, and when you' re shooting those telephone poles I just can' t imagine anything workind very well....:D;)

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

And that very well could have been one of my problems with them. I was using 3-d select 400, uncut. I believe that they were 32.5 inches long. I have heard of others with long draws with the same problems that I had, but only know that they didn' t work for me.

Untuned bow, nahh, definetely not the problem.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Jason, I wouldn' t know about how carbons perform on deer because, like I said on the other thread, I' ve never gotten them to shoot good enough with a broadhead to even attempt to hunt with them.

In the early days of carbon arrows, I was shown quite a few carbon arrows that had ' blown up' in a deer. A lot of us ' experienced enhanced' hunters won' t keep trying something that crapped out on us, so if some of those guys had bad experiences then it stands to reason they' d say that. Never have heard the bit about carbons bouncing off of deer though.

But my phone poles have worked good enough to put together a pretty impressive collection of tournament trophies and I' ve eaten pretty good using them.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I have to think that spine and tolerance gets way out past 30-31" then?

BobCo, I hear the same things about you long draws! Just can' t get those carbons to fly....for the better anyway. Where' s Frank, he' s a long draw too....and shooting carbons last I knew.

I honestly wasn' t trying to start anything, just relaying my experiences. I have seen broken off/shattered carbons in deer....the pultruded carbons, but by no force other than the deers' own. Bouncing -- it was a long story when I was at a local shop and just a noob! Kept me away from carbons myself, for at least 5 years. It might have been a mech tipped carbon at that....I think even then I suspected lack of K.E. -- or not enough uuummmpppffff, as I so eliquently reffered to it then! I see nothing wrong with your phone poles....I just can' t imagine seeing arrows that long in my quiver. How long are they, 33" ?

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I shoot 28" Goldtip XT 5575 and have been shooting them for about 4 years now tipped with a Thunderhead 100. So far i' ve never had a problem with this set up as far as grouping or performance on deer. Before the carbons i use to shoot Easton Eclipse 2413 with the same head and with the same results, good grouping and death on deer. I can shoot either but have chose to stick with carbons because they are with out a doubt more durable imo. I like both so if i ever saw the need to go back to aluminum i would do so without hesitation and be just as confident with them as i am with carbon.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Jason, yep. 33" . Even aluminum nowadays, all I can do is glue an insert in a full length shaft and fletch it up, and there' s my arrow. Spine does get a little picky with long arrows, but you just have to go with the flow and shoot the logs. If we were both shooting a 65 pound single cam bow, you at 27" arrow and me at 33" , you could shoot a 2213. I' d have to go something like a 2317. I had a 90 pound compound in the 80' s that I had to shoot a 4" overdraw with 29" 2419' s to get the right arrow. Wasn' t incredibly speedy but when that arrow hit what I was shooting at... WHAM! :) The club advised me that bow wasn' t welcome there any more when I broke the legs off a brand new McKenzie deer on a solid 10 ring hit.

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RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Sorry, but I really don' t know what you point is.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Well, maybe he' ll come back and clear up the mystery.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I am " old school" too, like Arthur, but..........I changed to carbon 4 years ago. I still use alum for indoor 20 yd. spot targets, but outside the carbon rules. Took me years to change over but glad I did. When I went to carbon I was using fixed heads, and you couldn' t pry them away from me, flew good out of carbon too, but.... seeing the damage, and bloodtrails the mechs did, and my eyes ain' t gettin younger, I switched to mechs with carbon shafts, and the pass-thrus are still there, plus I have a bigger blood trail to follow. After 38 years of lugging a bow around, I switched to the " new way" and glad I did.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Mechanicals work. I won' t say they don' t. I do say they require extra attention before each hunt to make darn sure they work. Do not just take the things out of the package, screw ' em in and go hunting or you' re begging for trouble.

As for me, one of my long standing night before opening day rituals is to get all my gear laid out and ready, then uncork a bottle of wine, kick back and hone my Magnus heads to a razor edge. I' d be totally jinxed and wouldn' t be able to hunt if I didn' t do that! :)

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

THE trick to good fixed blade flight with carbons is getting the arrows cut PERFECTLY square. The average Joe Blow taking 3 seconds per arrow on the cut off wheel ain' t gonna get it right THAT often. I also do NOT trust who ever cuts the arrows at the factory. G5 has a neat little device that lets you square your arrows after Mr. Blow attacks your arrows.
I personally shoot 29" arrows and will only accept my tuning if I can get Muzzy 3 blades to hit the same group as I can with field points out to 40 yards (NORMALLY will only shoot 30 yards). And by " the same group" I mean I have to shoot the broadhead first so I don' t wreck the other arrows. Basically an " OK" group for me is that 5 arrows fit inside your finger and thumb (when you make an " OK" sign) at 40 yards.
Not GREAT...but OK.

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RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Navy, either it is your writting style that I am having a hard time understanding, or I am having some major brain farts. Cause I really don' t see what you are getting at. Do you mean me personally? Or people in general, cause it sounds like you are addressing me. If that is the case, then let me explain a few things. I can accept everything that you have mentioned. However, whether I choose to use them or not is up to me. I personally use a compound bow, easton xx78 aluminums, 135 grain 5 blade innerloc fixed broadhead (an additional 50 grain weight), and a release on my compound, on my recurve and longbow, I shoot fingers, use xx75 aluminum arrows, 145 grain two bladed magnus, no sight. (those are for my hunting setups)

Do you mean compound bows, releases, carbon arrows??? If you mean mechanicals broadheads, I already talked about my bad experiences with them. I actually did try them and didn' t like them as much as fixed blades. They killed two deer for me, so I guess that they worked. But, I don' t like the cost of them, and can' t afford to practice with them as much as I would want to. They are also not as strong as I would like. That' s personal choice why I don' t use them anymore. But I wouldn' t say to someone not to use them if that is what they like to use.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Navy, I was really holding back my true opinion about mechanicals in the interest of not raising a stink, but since you insist....

Bob is a little more kind and lenient toward mechanicals than I am. In my experiments with the things, I' ve come to the conclusion that a few are good but most are junk. A few of the junkers can be cleaned up and fixed up by someone that' s handy with tools and made functional. And, like Bob, I can' t afford to keep throwing good money after bad, especially when we' re talking $6-10 bucks APIECE for the stinkin' things!

By contrast, most fixed blade heads are good, and there are only a few junkers that creep onto the market from time to time. You can go with the incredibly high priced models or you can do just fine with very inexpensive ones. I can buy a whole dozen Magnus or Zwickey glue on heads - and insert adaptors for my aluminum arrows - for what 3 of the cheaper mechanicals cost and they' ve worked perfectly for me ever since I' ve been hunting with a bow. Even with a compound.

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RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

I understand what you are saying Navy, and you make a good point.

But, don' t be too surprised if you see the single cam being a thing of the past in few years to come. I know it will be for me very soon anyways. My next bow will be a regression back to eccentric wheels. Geez, maybe I' m turning into one of those old guys who doesn' t like anything anymore[X(][X(][X(]!!!

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Navy, we didn' t have to wait very long for a single cam bow at all. There was one by the mid-70' s called the Graham Dynabow. Martin bought the rights to it and had it in production for quite awhile.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

LUCKYBUCK..........Don' t try mechanicals unless you have a high KE.(over 60) and your bow and arrows are perfectly tuned. They are fabulous tips if you have a set-up for it. Bloodtrails from a 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" diameter mechanical are amazing! If you' re at all not sure about your KE, or tuning, or if you' re going after bigger game then Deer, stick to Fixed!

Good Luck!!

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

Here in Washington State, Mechanicals are illegal so we have to shoot fixed blade heads. But as an old timer fixed will always tip my arrows. My first broadheads were Bear Razorheads. They were terrific then and probably still are. But I prefer my 3 blade 100gr Thunderheads.

RE: mechanical or standard broadhead
 

A lot of states do not allow hunting with mechanicals and I personally preferr Fixed blade heads I would have no problem using a Rocket Steelhead Or a GKF Demon on whitetail but anything larger than a WT I would use a Fixed blade 125 GR Deadhead.
but the main thing is shot placement.;)