Just looking for opinions regarding the broadheads they use with their crossbow. I am considering changing to mechanical from Thunderheads but am concerned with the penetration depth. I have tried Rage a couple times and had 50% pass through. I like having the exit wound, on the opposite side for a better blood trail.
Should I stay with fixed blade or try the mechanical again?
I switched to the Magnus Stingers this year, but am shooting them out of my compound. The 4 blade version 125 gr. They had the big main blades and two little bleeder blades. Total arrow weight is about 430gr. They fly straight and hit hard. I didn't have to do any adjustment after taking off the field points. They were sharp out of the package, but I still touched them up a little after I shot them in the target. Very easy broadheads to sharpen. I still need to test them on a deer, but I have zero doubt they will pass through with an accurate shot. I shot Schwackers the past few years and got several deer, they did the job, but from my experience they last only one shot, the blades get damaged way too easily and it wasn't always a passthrough. I switched because I wanted more potential for a passthrough and something that lasts. I also watch Ranch Fairy and plan on moving up to 500+gr at some point in the future, I just didn't feel like spending money on arrows and inserts right now.
I've been following the ranch fairy stuff for almost a year now, some great info out there that needs to be heard by everyone. The entire industry has been pushing lightweight arrows for maximum speed for far too long now.
I would like to see states implement minimum arrow weights in the future. With the data the Ashby Foundation has collected, it shouldn't be too hard to convince states to do this from an ethical standpoint to reduce wounding animals and getting more pass throughs to recover them. There will be big pushback from the archery industry as advertised bow speeds will go down. We have minimum broadhead diameters and minimum draw weights, but arrow weight is just as important.
My Magnus black hornets 125 grains arrived this week and I am impressed! Razor sharp out of the package, they were blowing right through my target and buried themselves into the dirt, I have never had this happen with other broadheads. My poi was 1 inch over and 1 inch down compared to my field points. Adjusted the site and hit the same hole at 20, 30 and 40 yards. Very impressed with this. I wish I would have switched to these on day 1 of bowhunting 15 years ago. Very heavy duty and well built. They make Muzzy and Rage look like cheap flimsy broadheads. Lifetime warranty on Magnus too, you can't beat them.
After watching many field trials of various broadheads I ended up purchasing expandable ones from China. Took a long time to receive them but they look identical to one of the most popular brands and putting the two together it is almost impossible to see any difference. Also how can you go wrong with getting 20 heads for $18.00. You would be hard pressed to get one or two name brand heads for that cost. No replacement blades available and no packaging, as well as no advertising keeps the cost down. I will let everyone know how they perform this year.
my opinion on broadheads for Xbows, you should be shooting adding a 200+ grain insert to the front and then pick your head. get a bolt at about 550 total grains and head brand is irrelevant. when you pick a head, your question should be, "can i put this through a leg bone with out it blowing up". if your answer is yes, that head will be a good one. the issue with a bolt is they are too light. I personally would add as much weight to the front until my FPS was down to 300. If that means a 700 grain bolt, you can take down and elephant. you can shoot one quartering to you and put it right on the leg bone and pull the trigger with NOTHING to worry about. Some will think i'm nuts, most know i'm nuts, but really doesn't make a lot of sense to shoot a 320 grain bolt at a deer. you've heard of all the penetration issues. Take care of that issue before you walk into the woods.
I am weird and use both a compound and crossbow because I like options haha. I started with Montecs in my compound because I got more pass throughs. I started using them in the crossbow and they have been fine for me.
The one thing I notice is that the crossbow in general results in easier to no tracking jobs. Same heads in both bows, but just the speed or whatever of the crossbow makes the deer react differently. Usually I blow through them and they don't even know they are shot. I actually had 2 just stand there for a few seconds and fall over. Others jump from the noise and just sit there and fall over. That has happened with my compound, but only 1 time out of many deer. With the crossbow its very common for me.
I use 3 blade Muzzy 100 or 125 grain heads. They fly true for me. I started with a crossbow following shoulder surgery some 12 years ago using a borrowed Barnett crossbow. That was was a low end basic model my BIL used following shoulder surgery. I have since upgraded to a Ten Point. The Barnett harvested me 5 deer over the years, yet to take a shot with the 10 Point.
Bullman. I have never not had a pass through on the deer I have shot with the Swhacker mechanical s. I made a poor shot on a doe last year by hitting dead center front shoulder. I shoot for the heart/lung area like all responsible archers do. Broke the offside shoulder and arrow exited toward front of deer. She dropped on the spot. My crossbow shoots 380 fps. The longest shot I ever took was 43 yds (ranged after the fact). Got a complete pass through both lungs. That buck did travel more that 100 yds with just enough blood trail to follow. All other tracking jobs have been less than 20yds. Check the Swhacker website for a better explanation of how they work. I shoot the green ones pictured. I noticed Swhacker now makes a model that open similar to Rage type mechanical s.
