Mechanical Broadheads

[Buckrub]

It's not an image law. It's an illegal barbed arrow law.

Good law.

That explains everything

[Ray]

Apparently there is some sort of report coming out from Ashby in the next issue of Tradbow on Mechanicals. I have no idea if it will be a comprehensive report or a critical one or maybe both. Either way he is definitely an authority on broadhead studies and what comes out will be interesting to a lot of people.


Buckrub it is loud and clear that the only thing you will accept as an explanation is that it is now legal. I understand that. If it was up to me I would never make them legal. I don't think there is much more to discuss there and I have not intended to explain to you specifically anything other than how I view things. Not as if you have to view them my way but just so you can comprehend how someone else thinks. A couple of your remarks are confusing but I kind of get your message I think..

[boneaddict]

as stated we all know that the arrow post hit tells everything!

Well Hoyt, if you quite shooting those deer after hours or closer than a 100 yards out, you should be able to tell where your arrow hits. LOL   

You essentially proved my point of it encouraging people to go beyond their means. 

[huntnphool]

if you quite shooting those deer after hours or closer than a 100 yards out

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

He (HSS) seems perfectly capable, but I object to encouraging others that might not be so capable, I mean after all he has shot a lot of game over the years with his equipment and is familiar with it (his equipment) and after all,  results mean everything. 
I don't mean anything I am just joking. I am sure he has harvested a lot of game over the course of his hunting career and I mean no disrespect.
I just don't like advocating the practice of the long shot.
What you do in the woods often affects only you, but how you talk about it in public affects ALL of us.
If we (archers) advocate the new technology and ability to shoot at increasing distances we might lose our "primitive weapon" status and be forced to hunt with the "modern" crowd and I for one do not want to try to find a camping spot when EVERYBODY is out there, it is bad enough with the Labor-Day weekend crowd!!!!

[huntnphool]

I mean after all he has shot a lot of game over the years with his equipment

 Well I can't wait to see which one of the 5 point blacktails he tags this year, quite the dilemma having to choose between 5 of them.

[timmyg]

I was watching a hunting show on Versus this morning, and the shooter shot pretty far back due to equipment tangling on him before the shot.  He was pretty concerned that he would have a hard time tracking the animal.  The whitetail went about 50 yards and died.  There was a lot of blood and he claimed that without the Rage mechanical's cutting diameter, the animal may have been lost. If the product is so inferior, why do so many folks use them outside of WA state?  It's not like they are cheaper by any means.  I think the Rage is a good product, and again, if legal in WA, I would choose to use it.  Seems the only one who posted and had experience using a mechanical was shooting through some brush, which most times isn't a good idea anyway in my opinion.  In that case the mechanical may have saved a wounded animal. Seems like HSS is getting a lot of flack on this post, and most of it isn't related to his opinion about mechanicals (which is the topic).  Couple weeks left, keep them flying ladies and gentlemen.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I mean no offense to HSS, although he seems to be able to take a ribbing.

[Ray]

There are non mechanical broadheads which can achieve great wound channels

The broadheads you speak about are inferior because they are barbed. That seemed more than obvious to me. Nobody has really much else to say until they provide one which is unbarbed. That is the law and I don't see it changing whether or not you like it.

I also believe that moving parts in a broadhead are probably not a good idea. I have not even spoke to that yet but they must be inherently weaker.

[boneaddict]

I question not being able to practice with an item or having limited practice before hunting with them.  Experience tells me that no matter what a manufacturer claims everything flies a bit different.  For instance, satellite came out with practice broadheads that supposedly flew like broadheads but didn't tear up your "block".  They are full of it.  They fly nothing like satellite broadheads.  There might be folks willing to flip the bill to practice with their mechanicals but I bet there are alot that aren't.  I wouldn't want to flip the bill with how many times I shoot a broadhead.   Again, I have never had a desire to shoot them, so just shooting form the hip with hypothesis.

[AKBowman]

Mechanicals are terrible for penetrating anything of significance at any significant yardage (over 25 yards) The mechanical uses the inertia of the arrows velocity to expand the blades. Inertia that a fixed blade uses to penetrate. Mechanicals work amazing if you are on Versus channel sitting 15 yards away from your target with a perfectly broadside shot. In that case there is plenty of inertia to spare using a large proportion of it to open the blades and then to shove a 3" hole through the target. Unfortunataly at more realistic yardages in the real world they dont pentrate worth a crap and unless you put them in between rib bones dont work well. I found this out forst hand last year when my two hunting partners ended up having to borrow broadheads from me when their mechanicals failed to open. I wont get into the details but it was not a good thing. Not good.

[EastWaViking]

I have used mechanical broadheads in Wyoming, they are nice, I guess, but if your bow is tuned right your muzzy's or what ever you shoot, should shoot just like your practice points anyways.  I do keep a couple arrows tipped with rocket steelheads (mechanicals) for the extremely windy days that happen time and again in Wyoming.  On those days I put away the fixed broadheads and use the steelheads and my 20 yard pin only.  (less wind planing... in theory at least)  
 
If mechanical broadheads were legal in this state, I probably still wouldn't use them because there is no real advantage, and more to go wrong.  IMO

[Ray]

Those were the other points (RE: Failure to open) which I have heard about from other people. Thanks for providing some first hand experience on that.

[rooselk]

I agee with others that because of the barbed point rule alone, which I support, expandables should not be legal in Washington (and unless things have changed recently I believe Oregon also has a similar regulation). The thing that is not often considered is that in most states where expandables are legal the primary game animals are whitetails and turkey. I don't care what anyone says about the advancements in technology, expandables are simply not suitable or reliable for larger, tougher game like elk or moose.

In the same vein I'm sure there are also a few rifle hunters out there somewhere who believe that it should be legal to hunt big game animals with a .22. Even so, just because a .22 is lethal and might be effective under the right circumstances in the hands of someone with the right skills, that doesn't mean that it should be legal. The same thing applies to expandable broadheads.

[Ray]

I'd like to understand how a broadhead with moving parts is stronger than others which are made with single pieces of multiple pieces of non moving steel. That doesn't sound like it adds up to any advantage.