Broadheads Poll
Massachusetts
Contributors to this thread:
I'm going to try and keep this as basic as possible. For those of you that shoot FIXED blade broadheads... 1) Do your broadheads hit the target in exactly the same spot as your field points at every distance? 2) If NO, you're done. If YES.... what kind are you shooting and are they 3 blades or 4 blades?
Yes to all. 3 blade muzzy 100gr when shooting compound. Single bevel grizzly 125 grain from recurve. Old bear razor heads from longbow. Use 100 grain fieldpoint. Razor Head without bleeder is 110-111grains Tekoa
Used to shoot 3 blade montecs, they flew just like field points. Picked up some single bevel grizzlystik massai's this year. I'll find out this week how they fly.
Uh oh, touchy subject. I discovered the Wensel woodsman, and never tried anything else. Fly perfect, devastating hole, and a blood trail Stevie Wonder could follow.
With the options today I would be surprised if people are shooting poor performing broadheads. General knowledge about bow/arrow tuning is far better than in the past. Tekoa
Slick Tricks yes but for my new bow I’m thinking of trying something different. I’m narrowing down to Wicked Trick, Exodus, or Tooth of the Arrow XL.
Yes... have shot 4-blade 100 grain Muzzy Phantoms for a few years with great success.
I just bought some 4-blade 100 grain Dead Ringer Butcher Fixed Blade Broadheads from Dicks Sporting Goods to try out. They are virtually identical to the Phantoms... cost less... fly great... hit exactly where field points hit.
I use Slick Tricks, 100 grain. Fly great. Used to use Thunderheads but I like the low profile ST.
Yes. Three blade muzzy and three blade wasp drones have been tested. The muzzys are probably ten years old. 100 grain. Tested to 40 yards. I spent a bunch of time tuning the bow this year after buying new strings. First time in my life I feel very comfortable shooting fixed blades. No mechanicals for hunting this year means one less possible point of failure to me. I truly believe it is all about tuning your bow, and not much to do with the type of fixed blade you are shooting. Pete
Have used Rage 3 blades for years. Tried Slick Tricks last year at a target. Only took one shot and impact was way off from the field point. Went back to the Rages for the rest of the season.
Realized how forgiving mechanicals can be and also discovered that I have some serious tuning to do before this season starts. Gonna try the tricks again after tuning.
Slick trick 125 magnum ..if it doesnt hit exactly where the field point does its pretty damn near close..
Zwickey eskimo 125..very little fussing around to hit the same as a field point, but fussing around is half the fun
My favorite broadheads out of the recurve are; Grizzly single bevel 2 blades, Wensel Woodsmans 3 blades, Bear 2 blade razorheads, Zwicky delta magnum 2 blade, the heavier , the better, mount them up and let them rip. From the compound days; NAP 125 Thunderheads 3 blade, Muzzy 3 blade, Slick Tricks 4 blade, all must be tuned to bow.
My broadheads hit right where my field points do out to 50 (my practice limit). Montecs, 3 blades.
Cool some trad guys (Tekoa, Come November and I'm sure others) weighed in so hopefully I can pick their brain. Not to derail your thread but I'm tuning 2 dozen new shafts (11/32 tapered POC) this last 2 weeks I finished up.
1. wensel woodsmans - what lbs are you drawing on recurve or longbow to shoot these hunting effectively? I am shooting 52#s. I think the recommendation is for 3 blade 60#s or better ?
2. Heads like the woodsmans (100 grain) or woodsman elites (125 grain) for glue on. Are you optimizing shafts for best FOC with these are shooting as is. The 11/32 tapered shafts i just fletched and finished shooting great with 125 grain heads but looking to test a few to optimize FOC which upping heads to like 190 or 200 grain or ? would leave these out. Do you find a big difference in hunting effectiveness (impact) by optimizing for FOC with heavier heads or no? Thanks
And in my compound days I did like the Montec 3 blade, to contribute to this :)
Bow and spear
Personally I never was able to get wensel woodsman's to fly right. Plus sharpening was challenging. But some guys swear by them. I swore at them. I would be very surprised if you can get high FOC to spine correctly with cedar shafts.
Are those tapered cedar from wapiti? Those are sweet cedar shafts. I just stained up a dozen yesterday. Spine came in +/- 1 pound and weight +/- 5 grains. Extremely straight out of the box.
Good luck
Tekoa
Thanks for the input Tekoa. Yes Wapiti, very few needed some help. See, I listen to advice :)
Montec G5s. They're stupid accurate.
Yes all have the same p.o.i. out to 60 yds. 150 gr. Magnus 2 blade buzzcuts and 125 gr slick trick standards.
B&S, I have had 3 pass-thrus with Wensel Woodsmans broadheads shot with my 45# recurve. If you want to boost the weight of WW installed on cedar, add solder or lead pellets inside. I sharpen them easily on a sheet of sandpaper and ceramic stone.
Hey B&S. I’m shooting the screw ins on production shafts. I recently bought a lighter bow, and never had any issues with weight versus accuracy. My age now exceeds my draw weight, and that sucks! The vented blades used to whistle at 70#, now are quiet at 45#, but still shoot the same. As far as FOC, I never worried about that. My shot opportunities, and shooting skills, are both for relatively close range! A well placed arrow will do the job.
Thanks Fisherick and Come November! Damn world gets me overthinking things . Thanks team
Tooth of the Arrow broadhead. All one piece gonna give it a try this year.
Slick Trick 100 Mags. They shoot to same poi as field points out to 40 yards for me. (As far as I've shot them). I've shot and killed four deer with them. Hit one high, not the heads fault. Slick Tricks fly well and penetrate. I'm only shooting 56# draw. Are they the best fixed blade head? For my setup they seem to work well. As always YMMV.
I heard a guy say once he would shoot a midget holding a jack knife if it flew good. What it comes down to is find what works well, keep it sharp, the rest is up to you to finish the job.
How do you get the midgets to hold still?
Notme's Link
mrw, this might explain how
https://youtu.be/_MfawHIMmYI
Man I don't know what my issue is then. Clearly I'm in the minority. The reason I asked this question is because I have not been able to get my slick tricks to fly with my field points for 3 years now. I've tried 2 bows, 3 releases, 2 different arrow types, different fletching, countless "tuning sessions" both on my own, with a friend, and with different bow shops and no one can get these things to fly exactly with my field points. 0-25ish yards no issues but getting out to 30 yards I always have flyers. I've wanted to use these slick tricks for so long but its time to try a different fixed head. If that doesn't work, back to mechanicals I guess.
Which size Slick Tricks do you use? The bigger ones are more finicky but the standards should fly well.
I honestly don't know now that you ask. I know its 100 grain 4 blades and I got the only ones that were available in Deep Six. I am definitely going to switch to 3 blades for the next fixed heads I try. I feel like 4 blades and 3 vanes are just fighting eachother too much. Plus no 2 arrows are going to line up the exact same way in regards to vanes/blades unless I buy all new arrows and re-do the inserts.
BWB, since I've never had a problem with POI of field points and mechanicals I've never really spent any time tuning the bow beyond what the shop did in setting it up. But my desire to try the Slick Tricks and my experience with that first shot mean that I definitely have some tuning to do. I sure hope I don't fall into the same situation that you did with not being able to get the Slick Tricks to fly well.
Dan - Yes, Slick Trick mag's 100grn. (I think I remembered correctly, yes = fly's the same correct?)
Note - I only carry one of these for shoot through mesh if I choose to hunt out of my pop up blind, my other three arrows have big expandable's.
Just got in my new heads same as the one above but a little bigger and an improvement on sharpness. Slick Trick Mag on steroids!
Big are you using high quality arrows with low variences in straightness. I used to shoot the cheapo ones (like 6 thousands variance,.. new ones are like 2 thousands of an inch) my first year but recently upgraded to Easton gold and they are nice,.. Big dif in how straight they are,.. still not top top end!! My guess is any out of alignment is hugely magnified by fixed broad-heads Ps i shoot mech hypodermic
Seems like you have it all right so reaching for the moon here,..
Study arrow varience amounts when buying them,. Could be a factor,.. maybe? Maybe? ?
mrw's Link
Spike, stop biting your fingernails! .
Don't be afraid Bigwoods, try this: https://bowtecharchery.com/3-easy-steps-for-tuning-fixed-blade-broadheads/
https://youtu.be/UiYA1ijrwow
Couple others, somewhat similar:
https://www.wasparchery.com/blog/tuning-your-bow-for-broadheads
http://www.bowhuntingmag.com/tactics/tactics_broadhead_flight/
Come november stole my line!!! lol
Been shooting woodsmans for at least a decade. they fly great, super easy to sharpen to hair popping sharp, and are bombproof. not to mention the hole and blood trail.
thats for all my tradbows that I'm currently shooting, recurves and longbows. heavy carbon arrows, with borderline EFOC...125 gn glueon WW, 100 grain steel adaptor (75gn adaptor with piece of a 20 penny nail glued inside), and 50gn brass insert. no doubt about penetration with this setup.
when I shot selfbows and bamboo backed osage bows with cedar or lodgepole shafts I prefered magnus IIs or STOS - 2 blades. hard to see in the photo, but the tree behind me was painted with blood at least 4 feet up from severing her aorta...man those wide mangus where good.
in the off chance I sully myself with my bowtech (lol) I shoot carbon steel Montecs.
Mrw I’m biting my nails in anticipation of monsta going down with the little bow and big heads. No just kidding this job is killing me lol.
Mrw I’m biting my nails in anticipation of monsta going down with the little bow and big heads. No just kidding this job is killing me lol.
I practice with the same broadhead and arrow setup as the one I am hunting with. 3 blade fixed. One set is dull and the other is used only on live targets. I shoot 6 layers of cardboard + or - a few and a second backstop of more cardboard.
Other arrows of different spine and weight, with field points, are just for form and I aim at the same spot and let them go where they want to go. If consistent then all is good.
I shot Slick Tricks for years with great success but when they jacked the price up I switched to Wasp drones and am very happy with there performance. They are strong sharp and affordable. Best of all they come with three sets of extra blades
Fran I believe they went from $30 to $40 but they packaged 4 instead of 3 heads so essentially it is the same price which is still cheaper then a lot of heads.
Brad I like the look of those tooth of the arrow heads. I almost bought a pack last year.
I shot my grizzly massai heads for the first time tonight. I think my groups were actually better than my field points, must be the added rotation from a single bevel head.
FRAN! I was starting to think about shooting you a PM to see if you were out there and doing well. I still want your dang meatball recipe - those meatball sandwiches of yours at the tree saddle event were unreal.
Spike, those things look awesome. Irony is shooting the smallest bow but the biggest fixed blades :) I'm excited for you to have a clear shot and be able to show us how things have worked out on a deer.
Joe I have both sizes and they are solid and these new ones are razor sharp. They also have a sharpener now. I’m gonna try them this year but I also have some Exodus coming to see which flys better. The small Tooth of the Arrow are very accurate. Hopefully the big ones are to. Will, I think this is the year provided work cooperates with me as I have 10 V days to use.
Joe, I hope those work well for you. 175 grain?
Yeah, they are heavy ones. They should pack quite a punch.
Will I am doing well but have been busy with home repairs as of late. When I get a chance I will post the meatball recipe.
Shot my new heads today and yup hit good.
Now just for that deer to walk by...!!
Really liking these heads still sharp too.
BW I have to say from my experience with fixed heads the most accurate out of the package was 3 blade slick trick. Shot exactly like my field point out to 35 yrds. My max is 30 yrds at game so it is a solid fixed blade in my opinion. Good luck on your broadhead surch
My bad.. It is a 4 blade..
Yes they hit exactly where my field points hit out to 40 yards (my max practice distance). I shoot Steel Force Phatheads in 100 grain and Steel Force Phathead S.O.B's in 100 grain both are considered 4 blade heads.
I was at Cabelas this weekend, and with a lot of points on the card, I opted to try some Grimm Reaper Whitetail Specials... I've debated a few years, and just had wander lust after shooting rage variants mostly for a long time now. So... I have to change my vote. My primary hunting arrows will have the grimm's on em, and Ill be saving my rage extreme's that are left from last year for either swapping back if I dont like what happens should I get a deer early with the Grimm's or if I miss a shot or two and run out of good heads.