broadhead reviews

[Anschutz]

I've taken 3 deer with a bow with three different broadheads. 2 fixed and one mechanical. I'm a huge proponent of practicing to a range much further than you would ever think of shooting at game and have your bow tuned as close to perfect as you can get it. My first deer with a bow was a one by none (unicorn as my mom called it) at about 15 yards with a 100gr thunderhead. I had tuned my bow poorly and didn't account for a quartering too angle. Hit a few inches off where I was aiming and hit the liver. I waited a while kicking myself for making a poor shot and failing to confirm everything before I went hunting. Nonetheless, I ended up centering up the liver and if it weren't for thicket blocking my view I would have watched him bed down. The second deer I took was with a NAP Killzone and I had it shooting very well out of my bow. Again the shot was short on a small doe which stuck around after two misjudged yardages (I thought she was a larger doe) She was quartering to me and this time I accounted for this and the arrow entered just behind the shoulder hitting the center of the first lung and the rear of the second. I watched her go down within 30 yards of where I was. The third was with a Magnus Stinger 4-blade (cheaper, sharpened on my sharpener and then honed with extra fine sandpaper, overall my favorite head) on a fairly large bodied NY 7-pt at 24 yards lasered after the fact. I had switched to a SpotHogg TommyHogg and leave it set to 35 yards when hunting. It was near dark and I was already tying my bow up to get out of the stand when I heard something behind me. After getting an arrow in, stopping the deer, finding my peep then pin, and settling behind the front leg in the lower third of the body, I let fly. I watched the lighted nock go higher than I was aiming but still a good lung shot, sparks flew from hitting a rock and I watched the deer fall after maybe 45 yards. The blood trail was better than the Thunderhead deer and the body cavity was filled with blood upon field dressing it. Overall, I don't like switching broadheads based on what I'm hunting so since I live in CO I'll stick with the Stingers in hopes that I can get an elk this fall/winter. Sorry for the Novel.
-Zach

 

[TackDriv3r]

Have you guys tried the Steelforce Sabertooth Titaniums or Steel? It shoots pretty flat than field points or mechanicals. It seems like it has spin drift to fly flatter. I used the number one pin up to 25 yards, and number 2 pin from 30 to 35 yards. With other broadheads or mechanicals I had to use number 1 pin for up to 10 yards, number 2 pin from 20, and number 3 from 30 yards. Blades from the Steelforce looks pretty massive. Will try them on hogs before rifle season begins so I won't scare away any deer during the rifle season. It should work real good for elk or moose for you guys.

http://imgur.com/a/icbVh

 

[41mag]

For me it comes down to penetration and accuracy. Not so much different than when using a rifle.

In the areas I hunt I might be shooting at a 80# doe or a 350# feral hog in the same afternoon. I don't want to take any chances on something not working like it is supposed to. When I got back into this a decade ago I was hunting hard and heavy with one of the best friends I have ever had. He had years more experience with bows and using them than I did so I sort of leaned hard on his words. One evening he was sitting a stand he had waited a month for the wind to get right. Well actually it was the opening morning of rifle season but he had been seeing a huge buck and wanted to take him with his bow. For reasons unknown to me he had switched up his broadheads to something a coworker swore by and had hit his buck square on the shoulder as it turned at the drop of the string. To be honest I have seen some sick hunters in my years and I knew when he came out of the woods he had screwed the pooch.

We went over and over things and the sad part was he had a rifle with him but simply knew he had hit the deer hard and was waiting on it to drop when it faded into the thick woods. The deer lived and we saw it a couple of more times, and it was literally a beast of a buck. It also learned from the encounter.

What came of it was my friends obsession to never have that happen again. While it might have been a fluke once in a lifetime shot he took it personally. We reviewed about everything on the market and shot who knows how many different broadheads in the process into all sorts of head smashing bones and from multiple angles and distances. We came up with the best all around heads being a short bladed cut on contact with a chisel point on them. The thing was most of these type heads are priced out of our budget in most cases so the one we actually settled on were the Slick Trick Razor Tricks. With a simple modification to the tip to give it a small square sharpened point they blew through most anything we shot them into including the big shoulder bones of a hog. Much to our surprise the then owner of Slick Tricks, jumped on this as well and incorporated it into his factory produced blades. Not that we inspired it, but we were in contact with him discussing things about them at the time.

Unfortunately they have now dropped those heads from their line, but they still will remain a go to product for me for a long time to come. I haven't found anything else that flew as straight, clipped right on through, and left things dropping usually withing 4-7 seconds of being hit as these things do. The doe I shot weekend before last piled up withing 30yds. I have shot multitudes of feral hogs and yes I have ruined quite a few blades hitting large bone, but overall most of the time they simply slip right through and I get more damage from what they hit on the other side. Usually the ground.

All this isn't to say these are the best thing out there. What I will say however is it is hard to beat a sturdy built actual cut on contact head for penetration. Accuracy is another matter as individual tuning and speed does play into some heads accuracy. However if things are dialed in proper, a razor on the front will trump a sharpened steel point time after time. I have recently tried some of the newer Viper Tricks and feel that they are about as close to getting the performance of the Razor Trick as one might come when using a machined point head. They DO penetrate like a hot knife through butter, but I just haven't fallen for them yet. They may come into the swing of things later on as I tune up another bow, but for now the Razors have a good future with all three I have at the moment.

 

[Korhil78]

For me it comes down to penetration and accuracy. Not so much different than when using a rifle.

In the areas I hunt I might be shooting at a 80# doe or a 350# feral hog in the same afternoon. I don't want to take any chances on something not working like it is supposed to. When I got back into this a decade ago I was hunting hard and heavy with one of the best friends I have ever had. He had years more experience with bows and using them than I did so I sort of leaned hard on his words. One evening he was sitting a stand he had waited a month for the wind to get right. Well actually it was the opening morning of rifle season but he had been seeing a huge buck and wanted to take him with his bow. For reasons unknown to me he had switched up his broadheads to something a coworker swore by and had hit his buck square on the shoulder as it turned at the drop of the string. To be honest I have seen some sick hunters in my years and I knew when he came out of the woods he had screwed the pooch.

We went over and over things and the sad part was he had a rifle with him but simply knew he had hit the deer hard and was waiting on it to drop when it faded into the thick woods. The deer lived and we saw it a couple of more times, and it was literally a beast of a buck. It also learned from the encounter.

What came of it was my friends obsession to never have that happen again. While it might have been a fluke once in a lifetime shot he took it personally. We reviewed about everything on the market and shot who knows how many different broadheads in the process into all sorts of head smashing bones and from multiple angles and distances. We came up with the best all around heads being a short bladed cut on contact with a chisel point on them. The thing was most of these type heads are priced out of our budget in most cases so the one we actually settled on were the Slick Trick Razor Tricks. With a simple modification to the tip to give it a small square sharpened point they blew through most anything we shot them into including the big shoulder bones of a hog. Much to our surprise the then owner of Slick Tricks, jumped on this as well and incorporated it into his factory produced blades. Not that we inspired it, but we were in contact with him discussing things about them at the time.

Unfortunately they have now dropped those heads from their line, but they still will remain a go to product for me for a long time to come. I haven't found anything else that flew as straight, clipped right on through, and left things dropping usually withing 4-7 seconds of being hit as these things do. The doe I shot weekend before last piled up withing 30yds. I have shot multitudes of feral hogs and yes I have ruined quite a few blades hitting large bone, but overall most of the time they simply slip right through and I get more damage from what they hit on the other side. Usually the ground.

All this isn't to say these are the best thing out there. What I will say however is it is hard to beat a sturdy built actual cut on contact head for penetration. Accuracy is another matter as individual tuning and speed does play into some heads accuracy. However if things are dialed in proper, a razor on the front will trump a sharpened steel point time after time. I have recently tried some of the newer Viper Tricks and feel that they are about as close to getting the performance of the Razor Trick as one might come when using a machined point head. They DO penetrate like a hot knife through butter, but I just haven't fallen for them yet. They may come into the swing of things later on as I tune up another bow, but for now the Razors have a good future with all three I have at the moment.

I used the viper tricks to kill my bull elk at 80 yards while it was bedded. Had to shoot him in the front of the chest as he was facing me when I got up to him. The arrow was buried inside him past the nock. He ran 30 yards and fell over dead. Give them a chance, they are my go to broadhead now.

 

[41mag]

I can appreciate the story and it sounds on par with what I would expect from them.

I have three different bows, which unfortunately the only thing in common between them is how well they shoot the Razor Tricks. I have at least a dozen of them mounted up and ready to go on three different arrows. That said all they do most of the time is sit in the case in the ready.

I have a brand new dozen of the Viper's sitting in the archery drawer of my cabinet. I pulled two packs off the store shelf when they hit the scene and did about all I could to get them to shoot as well as the Razors. While I DO admit I could probably do some tuning to get them there, at the moment and for a while to come I have a hard time making up my mind to do so.

Now my oldest grandson is going to be 15 Thanksgiving, and working his tail off to get up to around 40-45# of draw weight with his new Diamond Infinite Edge. He has already started knocking the fletching and nocks off with only about a month of shooting. I told him while groups are great, he had to have something else behind those light arrows to get into the vitals of anything, and that he was to start off working on the hogs.

I have his bow set up with 125gr tips and when he gets up to weight, I will screw on those Viper's for him. I have already honed up the tips on a half dozen just a touch with my smooth sharpening stone. They are now nice and smooth with a tip that scratches thumbnails like a fish hook should. Once he reaches his poundage mark I feel sorry for the hogs.

That was something I DID find with using all of the other Trick heads. Just a minute or two with that smooth stone made a big difference in how well they punched through. Not anything drastic at all, simply shining it up and cleaning up the tip so that it was nice and sharp. I initially used the 100gr Standards with my first bow, then moved up to the Magnum and when I got my Admiral I used the Griz Trick. Still after using those each for a couple of year I gravitated to the Razor like a moth to a candle.

Once I manage to use up the remaining ones I have I really will have no choice to find something else to use as they have unfortunately discontinued them.

 

[clark270]

The never ending thread . Just like last year slick trick magnums.

 

[sp6x6]

Put another Phat head ,through you guessed it 6x6

 

[Capt RB]

I used thunderheads from late 80's till 2003. Went to Pike co Ill and tried a 4bl muzzy 100. After some testing I settled on the 90 4bl head and have not lost a deer since 21 in total. 6 coyotes also met their demise from that head. I know other heads work as well or better for the guys shooting bigger game. These heads shoot the same as my field points out to 75 yds which is as far as I shoot. Once they don't do the job asked of them I will change. I have a lifetime supply with 10 pkgs unopened and a dozen in the quiver.
My wife has a light draw weight and she is using the steel force 100's. If they flew from my bow I'd use them but the tune is different than my field points = a pita

 

[Wedgy]

Was hunting with my buddy last season and the buck jumped just as my buddy released his Montec and he clipped it on the far leg ham with one of the 3 blades. Had this been a mechanical I don't think it would have even cut him, which probably would have been better. It bled pretty good at first but then started closing up and clotting when he would bed down. We had to get back for his sons birthday so we pushed the buck. Each time we bumped him out of a bed the wound would open up blowing out a big clot then start flowing again. Over 3 miles and four hours later we caught up to him when he ran out of blood and couldn't get up. Had we not pushed him it probably would have healed up, it was barely a graze. I've cut myself worse. It was a bad shot but it happens, something to think about.
I use NAP Spitfires but they always seem to break a blade or 2 when I hit a pig so I think they are a bit fragile but they fly like my field points to 70 yards so I stick with them. Plus my girlfriend and another buddy shoots them so we can have extras if one runs out. Pretty sure there are much better options available but until I run out I will stick with these.