Elephant Penetration Test!!!

[Slider]

What do you think? 

[Todd_ID]

Gotta say that's pretty impressive!  Holy cow, though....310 grain broadheads!!! 

The design is perfect, but the trajectory would suck.  You'd have to mount a second peep just to get to 60 yards with your pins if you started at 20.  Not much doubt that you'd break the toughest bone in an elk and keep on going, though.  I'm liking the look of the Samauri 175 grain broadhead that they have instead of the 310 grain Ashby head. An Axis 300 arrow and 175 grain head would get it to about 550 grains overall.  That would be a bit more reasonable for pin gaps and should still bust any bone in this state if you had the single bevel broadhead with a tanto tip.  Broadhead design is very important when you make an OOPS shot and hit the shoulder blade.

http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/Broadheads-C15.aspx

[Sneaky]

thats awesome, those things slip through that beast like warm butter

[bow-n-head]

I guess if u can afford to hunt Africa u can afford a 90 dollar broadhead

[Todd_ID]

I guess if u can afford to hunt Africa u can afford a 90 dollar broadhead

Yeah, but I would have a big taxidermy bill instead of a sob story about the monster bull that got away on a public land hunt if I would have been using better designed equipment with the same shot placement last year.  At that point I would have paid any amount of money to get through that shoulder blade.  Granted, it would have been much better to have not hit the shoulder, but sometimes stuff happens when you shoot, and there's a good chance that the $30 broadhead would have made it through when the Snuffer SS 3 blade didn't, solely based on a better design.

This year I plan I'm trying to be better prepared for the, "What if's".  I've bowhunted for a long time and always wished for a better mousetrap that COULD help in those rare instances.  Dr. Ashby's work proves, definitively, that there is good and bad broadhead design.  I will be using the heads with the good design from now on if I can figure out how to afford it!  So far, nobody that I've found makes a $10 single bevel two blade in those higher weights that I trust to fly well, so the only option is the $30 head.  My  is that it's worth it.

[Slider]

Todd you might give Silver Flames a try. I have been using them for a couple years. I have used them on Deer,Elk and plains game in Africa. They are the Sharpest broadheads on the planet. You could take a hammer to them and not put a dent in them. They are about 30 bucks apiece. Here is a link.

http://www.german-kinetics.com/html/home.html

[Todd_ID]

That's one thing that I wish Ashby would have tested some time over the years: the bone-breaking ability of the convex double-bevel blades like the Silver Flame.  I've never found anything bad about them, however.  Almost every other head that you research has some negative results, but the Alaska blades and Silver Flames are the only ones that seem to check out clean time after time.  I do like the look of the new Silver Flame XL's!  1.5" diameter: damn!  If it were only a single bevel....  We'll see.  I do know that the popular heads that you see in Cabela's will most likely not adorn my quiver any longer, though.

[bow-n-head]

Funny I personally have seen a snuffer shoot right through a shoulder blade on a bull elk, out of a recurve.

[Hornseeker]

you really have Bow-n-Head? Thats awesome! I have been reluctant to use my snuffers with my trad bows for fear of lack of penetration cause they are sooo big... Good deal... I'll get some tuned up!

Todd... et al... the funny thing is... the best head Ashby has ever tested is the big Grizzly and you can get 6 of them for $26!!! They are 190 grains... throw in a 75 grain steel adaptor and you are only at 265....

I think you'd be surprised at the trajectory with the 300 grain head... Doesn't hurt it too much unless you are out past 60 yards... in my opinion/findings....

[LongTatLaw]

Im guessing you just re-sharpen the silver flames?

I practice with my broad heads (well with same one) but cant afford 200$ for 3 practice and 3 hunt heads

[Crunchy]

Yeah, but I would have a big taxidermy bill instead of a sob story about the monster bull that got away on a public land hunt if I would have been using better designed equipment with the same shot placement last year.  At that point I would have paid any amount of money to get through that shoulder blade.  Granted, it would have been much better to have not hit the shoulder, but sometimes stuff happens when you shoot, and there's a good chance that the $30 broadhead would have made it through when the Snuffer SS 3 blade didn't, solely based on a better design.

Not to hijack but have you shared the story here before???  Shot distance, etc.  I'd like some intel.  I thought Snuffer's were decent heads?

[Todd_ID]

Not to hijack but have you shared the story here before???  Shot distance, etc.  I'd like some intel.  I thought Snuffer's were decent heads?

Haven't shared the story much because I'm not too proud of it.  In Idaho, I called a serious thumper bull in last September.  He stopped at 5 or 6 yards, quartering towards sharp, about 8' elevation change, very steep.  I was at full draw when he stopped and put the shot on the exact hair that I wanted too.  His leg was in the wrong position pushing the heavy part of the shoulder bone forward.  The arrow only got a few inches of penetration.  I never found a drop of blood, my arrow or the elk.  I looked for the remaining 2 days of the season, came back a week later, and then came back 2 weeks later.  I was using 125 grain Magnus Snuffer SS on an Easton Axis.  I've got a theory that the shot may have been too close, i.e., the arrow didn't have time to stabilize into straight flight and therefore didn't have the momentum going in the right direction to penetrate.  I didn't have time to get my video camera set up, and the camera guy had already left for another hunt, so I don't have any video of the shot to know for sure what happened.  I now own a dozen of the 190 grain Grizzly broadheads and 100 grain adapters for a 290 grain head with lots of science behind it that would probably have killed that bull with that same exact shot placement.

[Crunchy]

Wow it hurts a little to read that story.  I was going to try some Snuffers, but might rethink.  What poundage (draw weight)were u shooting?

[WDFW-SUX]

Here are the Ashby heads....

http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/Ashby-Single-Bevel-Broadheads-P147C15.aspx

Im trying out some silver flames this year..and yes they are the sharpest things I have ever seen..even sharper than knives and scalpels

[TeacherMan]

I have to say that was amazing but way to expensive for my taste, I will stick with my muzzy's

[Todd_ID]

My bow is at 72# and 30" draw length for hunting.

[bearpaw]

teach...I am with you on the muzzy's....fairly cheap, easy to find, and pretty deadly.
Went right through my muskox shoulder blade....shot him there on purpose because I had faith in the broadhead. When we went to the south pacific with our bows, my arm got messed up and I only arrowed one animal, but my buddy got 9 animals with his bow including a huge scrub bull that must have weighed 1200-1500 pounds. We were shooting muzzys.

[coachcw]

I've shot the hellfire 150's on a 2419 , that's a deadly combo at 670 grains plus you get the side bleeder . why would you need a heavier combo for that on elk. I switched to fmjs and t-locks to get a little better pin gap. both really work well.

[Todd_ID]

I've shot the hellfire 150's on a 2419 , that's a deadly combo at 670 grains plus you get the side bleeder . why would you need a heavier combo for that on elk.

The simple answer is you most likely don't.  My setup will be 657 grains flying at 239 fps this year.  That should be more than enough for my tastebuds to savor elk meat through the year, even if I mess up and hit the shoulder bone again.