PSE TAC 15 crossbow - which broadhead are you using?

[jon.henry755]

Hi Twanger,
What you're stating about the different vane types when using field points makes perfect sense in my book. The different types of vanes all apply more or less drag to the rear end of an arrows shaft, but they don't perform steering control. Steering is a front end element and with field points there really isn't much steering control taking place.

As soon as you move to a fixed blade broadhead, the broadhead takes over steering control and the drag on the rear of the arrow shaft applied by the vanes can compliment the steering control or can cause it to fly much worse by conflicting with the direction of the blades.

The combination you described sounds like an exceptionally good pairing. I'll be interested in hearing how this combination works for you when you move out to 60 yards or further.

Keep me posted, this is good stuff!

Jon

 

[Twanger]

It's interesting...
With the Rocket Steelhead Mechanical broadhead I tie the blades down with Dental Floss when I want to practice with my vertical bow.
This keeps the blades from opening, and getting damaged or dulled.
With ten wraps of floss knotted several times between the wraps they will last several shots.
My arrows fly 268 fps, weigh 420 grains, and that amounts to 67 ft-lb of KE.

The dental floss doesn't even last one shot with the Tac15.

I'm going to have to look at using rigging wire.

 

[jon.henry755]

Hi Twanger,
Most mechanical broadheads can't be used with these crossbows due to the enormous amount of force created by the violence of the launch process. In over 90% of the cases, the blades will fly open as the arrow is leaving the crossbow.

Some makers of mechanical heads have created a heavier gauge of rubber o-ring that stops the blades from flying open. To go fro zero to 405 fps per second in a short 15" or 16" power stroke is an unbelievable amount of force.

This is exactly the same reason TAC15 arrows were having a major problem with vanes shearing off during the launch sequence.

Regards,

Jon

 

[Twanger]

Jon - I doubled up on the O-rings for the 3 deer I shot with the Tac15 at the end of the season. If a blade opens in flight with these heads the effect is truely terrible on the trajectory of the arrow. Since all deer were hit where I was aiming, it gives me some confidence that the blades are staying closed in flight.

Do you know if anyone is using G5 T3's?
I have a buddy that loves them, but shoots a 10-Point.

 

[jon.henry755]

Hi Twanger,
There's a single o-ring that's made just for the torque of these newer crossbows and it's just heavier duty than the old ones. They seem to work fine and would be less bulky for your situation. i also know that the Spitfire 85's or 100's made for crossbows and they definitely won't open before hitting their target.

Super 91 has extensive live field testing on the Spitfires. This year alone he took at least 7 deer with the 85's. They shoot exactly the same as your 85 grain field points. No adjustments needed at all.

When building new arrows from shafts, I would strongly suggest changing your nocks to "Firenock D's" from Firenock.com.

I would also suggest not building anymore arrows unless you buy and install "Carbon Express Bulldog Nock Collars" Size CXL250. These collars will give the back end of your arrows the strength and toughness needed to withstand a lot of abuse. They are what is needed to keep the arrow shafts in perfect roundness, otherwise they quickly get warped into an oval shape.

I stay with the PSE Dynavane 3-D low profile vanes because they work! I do however switch up the vane colors to my own liking. I often use two upper white vanes and two lower of another color.

If using the Bulldog Nock Collars, they are applied using a standard slow setting Epoxy Cement. You can easily use more or less Epoxy to balance the weight of each arrow shaft down to the 100th of a grain, if you're careful.

This is the easiest way to perform the final weight balancing on a batch of shafts. Always find your heaviest arrow in the group and install the collar on it first. Add the least amount of glue possible and insert the nock immediately.

Whatever the finished weight of this arrow comes out to be when you weigh the arrow all others will be brought to this exact weight, so write it down for each successive arrow yo build.

Regards,

Jon

Regards,

Jon

 

[Twanger]

You guys are great!

I was hoping to match the heads used on my vertical bow if possible.. I.E. if it doesn't compromise performance too much. I do suburban deer removal and kill a lot of deer a year, so having interchangable parts between the bows would result in cost savings.

The ferrules of the Rocket Steelhead XL are so tough that I can kill many deer with each head. I just have to sharpen or replace the blades. The replacement blade are pretty cheap... Far less than a new head.

 

[jon.henry755]

Hi Twanger,
Some day we can talk about suburban deer removal. I live in the suburbs and have spent most of my life hunting suburban areas.

The only problem is I have no idea who hires or pays for suburban deer removal? Is that private or public sector?

Jon

 

[Twanger]

Jon - I'm the director of a group called Animal Connection Deer Management Team.
We do deer removal using vertical bows and crossbow in suburban Maryland.

We provide this service free of charge, though we do accept donations from landowners to help defray the cost of corn, feeders, cameras, and batteries.

We have a small group of 8 guys, and remove 50-65 deer per year.
About half are donated to feed the hungry.

 

[Twanger]

After starting up a new broadhead thread, I then spotted this one.
Sorry for the duplication.

Here's sa little more about what I'm doing.

So I made a few practice heads with my Rocket Steelhead XLs. I took a dremel with a cut-off blade and notched the back of each broadhead blade pretty deep, and then took some copper speaker wire and wrapped it around the head, going through the notch of each blade, and then twisted it down tight, and lastly superglued over the whole mess. I also ground off the tip of each blade a little since they are originally swept forward.

I'll have to post a picture of these and the regular head.

These home-made practice heads are very durable and have not opened after many shots into a foam target. They also fly more or less like my field-points (with the caveats in the other post). So, in summary I've had from great results to "just ok" results... say around 2" groups at 30 yards on one day, and on another day I had 2-3" grouping out to 80 yards.

For hunting I've doubled up on the O-rings that hold the blades down. The new black O-rings are quite robust... much tougher looking than the old beige ones. So I'm hopeful that these heads will not open in flight. I've considered a tiny dab of superglue where the O-ring touches each blade. That would really keep them from shifting during launch and in flight, and with 150+ ft-lb of KE I'm sure they would still open just dandy.

 

[WildWillie]

Twanger -

You looking for more members to your group ? I live in Reisterstown (Baltimore County) and am always looking for more places to hunt locally.

WildWillie

 

[Twanger]

Maybe next year WildWillie - I've got 4-5 new guys in the queue this year, which is about all we can handle.

 

[WildWillie]

OK Twanger -

Put me in for next year.

WildWillie

 

[Twanger]

Send me a note in the spring and we'll talk!

back on the OP...

here's a picture of my Rocket Steelhead XL 100gr home-made practice head along side a standard head.

Standard on the left, wired-down blades on the right.