Broad head question

[Cougar125]

I made my first kill with my bow yesterday after buying and shooting my bow in the backyard for the last couple of years.  Seeing as how mechanical broad heads were not legal until this year I had always practiced with fixed broad heads.  A few weeks before season I went ahead and switched some of my broad heads to the Rage 2 Blade SC.  Having never shot anything other than a foam target with a broad head my question is this:

Is it normal for a broad head to bend or become misshapen after going through an animal?

[Blacktail Sniper]

If it was a complete pass-thru, it could have possibly hit a rock....

[DoubleJ]

All of mine always look like that, pass through or not.  Bone is hard stuff

[RadSav]

Yes that would be normal.  If we made blades strong enough not to bend on high speed impacts with bone they would shatter.  They would be insanely sharp!!! - But would be too fragile for bone strikes.  Looks like that Rage held up pretty good! 

On average expandable heads have blades heat treated to a softer degree.  Their nature lends them to more breakage.  So they heat treat closer to 50-54Rc rather than the 56-58Rc in fixed stainless blade heads.

[Cougar125]

Ok.  Thanks for the info.  Now I'm on the hunt for replacement blades.  Better to replace and reuse what I can. 

If you had to guesstimate, how many animals can be shot with a broad head before any non-damaged parts need to be replaced due to dullness?

[DoubleJ]

IMO, based not in any small amount on the recommendation of RadSav, new blades every animal, main body reusable as long as it's structurally sound.

[coachcw]

 MY opinion is once a mechanical goes through Ani Mal it's done.

[DoubleJ]

MY opinion is once a mechanical goes through Ani Mal it's done.

Point well taken.  I forgot we were talking mechanicals

[BULLBLASTER]

MY opinion is once a mechanical goes through Ani Mal it's done.

however the rage I used on the opener never hit a bone and stopped in a rotten stump. Still in like new. I turned the collar and touched up the blades for use on my second deer tag. I was expecting a mangled mess.

[Cougar125]

The folding blades look good.  No shiny spots or flat surfaces.  The point is just jacked.  I think it might be from it hitting on something and pulling the arrow the rest of the way out.

[SGTDuffman]

Last year I shot the same head through a coyote one week and a deer a week later, and it didn't look like that. The coyote got hit on the run clipping the back of his humerus before going through everything important and sticking in the ground on the far side. The deer got double lunged from 68 yds and it took me longer to find the arrow than the deer because there was nothing but the fletches sticking out of the ground. That put a couple tiny dings in the blade, but those disappeared when I touched it up on the stone. I was using 175gr Samurais then, I'm using Abowyer Brown Bears this year, we'll see what happens. I don't anticipate any problems. I was messing around with them and I sent it through a speed bag and it punched a hole through an egress window well, that snapped off the very tip, but it fared better than I expected.

[MattySuto]

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

[BULLBLASTER]

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

Do you have experience to back your opinion?
My opinion is still just forming on them. I only have one first hand experience at this point. The head did as it was supposed to.
Even went through the mesh window on my blind without hiccup.
I'm not real impressed with the aluminum ferrules and how hey align in my arrows but the one shot I took did as expected.
Though I'm not sure it did anything better than a fixed head.

[Jonathan_S]

Broadheads are inexpensive enough that I'll retire them after a kill.  Most of the time the broadhead makes its decision by mangling itself up or by being bent/broken inside a running animal.

I shot a Montec through a turkey.  The arrow went into the tall, thick grass and slowed to a stop without ever burying into the ground.  Even that was enough to fold the Montec into a tin foil heap     I thought it was a fluke but it happened again the next year.  I will never hunt anything bigger than a turkey with those 

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

I don't prefer them either but I don't think I'd call them "unreliable"...but hey, it's your  to give 

[BULLBLASTER]

Broadheads are inexpensive enough that I'll retire them after a kill.  Most of the time the broadhead makes its decision by mangling itself up or by being bent/broken inside a running animal.

I shot a Montec through a turkey.  The arrow went into the tall, thick grass and slowed to a stop without ever burying into the ground.  Even that was enough to fold the Montec into a tin foil heap     I thought it was a fluke but it happened again the next year.  I will never hunt anything bigger than a turkey with those 

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

I don't prefer them either but I don't think I'd call them "unreliable"...but hey, it's your  to give 

You have about the same experience with montec as I do. I shot a bobcat with one and it broke and bent to crap. 

[Jonathan_S]

So weird... turkeys and bobcats are tender little animals.

Cougar125...lets see some pictures 

[TheHunt]

I am wondering if a mechanical broadhead will do with elk bones.  Elk bones are much thicker and those bones sure tear up a fix blade broadhead.  I am wondering how they will play with an elk?

[MattySuto]

I am wondering if a mechanical broadhead will do with elk bones.  Elk bones are much thicker and those bones sure tear up a fix blade broadhead.  I am wondering how they will play with an elk?

They won't get through a should blade.... But if you pull the shot to the right an miss the blade you should be in good shape...

[MattySuto]

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

Do you have experience to back your opinion?
My opinion is still just forming on them. I only have one first hand experience at this point. The head did as it was supposed to.
Even went through the mesh window on my blind without hiccup.
I'm not real impressed with the aluminum ferrules and how hey align in my arrows but the one shot I took did as expected.
Though I'm not sure it did anything better than a fixed head.

Yes I hunted with Bow in NY for many years where mechanicals are legal... Rages where the new hot thing when they first came out and I have personally had issues with them deploying or only 1 side opening up and
If you had a pass through you couldn't reuse the tip cause it would bend... So if you bought replacement blades you might as well but new pack of broadheads..... I have had them deploy before impact I have a buddy who had his broad head not even deploy on impact an chased a white tail like 8 miles.... These are just my stories on rages but some people swear by them ... Maybe I just bought a bad batch... I mean there's a cool saying .. Rage in the Cage you have that going for us...

[MattySuto]

Broadheads are inexpensive enough that I'll retire them after a kill.  Most of the time the broadhead makes its decision by mangling itself up or by being bent/broken inside a running animal.

I shot a Montec through a turkey.  The arrow went into the tall, thick grass and slowed to a stop without ever burying into the ground.  Even that was enough to fold the Montec into a tin foil heap     I thought it was a fluke but it happened again the next year.  I will never hunt anything bigger than a turkey with those 

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

I don't prefer them either but I don't think I'd call them "unreliable"...but hey, it's your  to give 

You have about the same experience with montec as I do. I shot a bobcat with one and it broke and bent to crap. 

I have had my Montecs bend .. The carbon ones did ... The stainless steel I have had no issues with them ... I switched to the Havocs and I'm very impressed with them... I haven't killed an animal with them but I blew through my target at 50 yards with one ... Then shot a field point at 20 yards and didn't blow through... We shall see ...

[BULLBLASTER]

It's a Rage what do you expect..... There not reliable My   

Do you have experience to back your opinion?
My opinion is still just forming on them. I only have one first hand experience at this point. The head did as it was supposed to.
Even went through the mesh window on my blind without hiccup.
I'm not real impressed with the aluminum ferrules and how hey align in my arrows but the one shot I took did as expected.
Though I'm not sure it did anything better than a fixed head.

Yes I hunted with Bow in NY for many years where mechanicals are legal... Rages where the new hot thing when they first came out and I have personally had issues with them deploying or only 1 side opening up and
If you had a pass through you couldn't reuse the tip cause it would bend... So if you bought replacement blades you might as well but new pack of broadheads..... I have had them deploy before impact I have a buddy who had his broad head not even deploy on impact an chased a white tail like 8 miles.... These are just my stories on rages but some people swear by them ... Maybe I just bought a bad batch... I mean there's a cool saying .. Rage in the Cage you have that going for us...

good to hear first hand experience.

[Cougar125]

I have no complaints with how the RAGE 2 Blade SC performed.  I'm sure the deer did.



Entry



Exit - One of the blades went completely through a rib on entry.  No bones on exit.



Took the bottom out!

[SGTDuffman]

I am wondering if a mechanical broadhead will do with elk bones.  Elk bones are much thicker and those bones sure tear up a fix blade broadhead.  I am wondering how they will play with an elk?

I'd guess not well. My buddy shot a ~500 grain set up with a 150gr VPA 3 blade out of a 70# Mathews into an elk shoulder and it stopped dead in it's tracks...the broadhead, not the elk. The elk trotted a few steps before the arrow fell out. I was down at the bottom of the hill when he did it, I saw his elk trot by about 120 yds across a draw in a clear cut. If it weren't for a little bit of blood, you wouldn't have known he was shot. There wasn't a hitch in his step. Spent all day looking for him, hoping the penetration was better than it was.