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Outdoor life broadhead test

Cool read. Ive used fixed blades historically(Magnus) but shot my buck this year with a SEVR 1.5 and was pleased with its performance.
 
Outdoor Life's own chart verifies the lack of penetration, as it goes down their list. :rolleyes: Just past half way down the list, mechanical broadheads nearly double the force needed for penetration. No thanks!

I'll stay with cut-on-contact broadheads, high FOC and heavy arrows. :cool: I want a pass thru shot and don't want to waste the energy loss by using a broadhead with a low mechanical advantage. 2 holes are better than 1.
United Blood Trackers have statistics that show 59% of all pass thru shots are recovered vs. 21% of all non-pass thru shots.
 
BowhunterXC said:
Outdoor Life's own chart verifies the lack of penetration, as it goes down their list. :rolleyes: Just past half way down the list, mechanical broadheads nearly double the force needed for penetration. No thanks!

I'll stay with cut-on-contact broadheads, high FOC and heavy arrows. :cool: I want a pass thru shot and don't want to waste the energy loss by using a broadhead with a low mechanical advantage. 2 holes are better than 1.
United Blood Trackers have statistics that show 59% of all pass thru shots are recovered vs. 21% of all non-pass thru shots.
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I disagree. There wasn't a lack of penetration by any of the heads, so the test didn't verify that at all.

What it did was measure push force through three mediums (doormat, foam, leather). While there are some clear winners, I don't know how that translates to deer, exactly. I mean, one of the tested substrates is doormat. Which of these materials is the equivalent of what game hide, if any?

Nevertheless, I don't fully agree with your conclusion on mech vs coc here as I see more nuanced data.

For example SEVR 1.5 actually outperformed the outstanding QAD Exodus through Leather and tied it through Foam (as did the SEVR 2.0).

G5 Deadmeat V2 actually penetrated leather with 2/3 force of the QAD Exodus.

In Ballistics gel, LUSK Archery had 8" penetration for 100gr QAD Exodus heads but only 7.5" with Iron Will 100gr Solids (both single and double bevel). Yet, total push force of the Iron Will broad heads was 1/2 of the measured total for QAD Exodus heads in the OL testing.

COC broad heads are great and there's plenty of reasons to keep using them, but I'm feeling a bit skeptical of condemning mechanicals based solely on this OL testing.




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I'm just surprised in an OL article Rage didn't pay enough to get a top recco. I guess that says how they view magazine advertising dollars. Used to prioritize the traditional media, and you could find good honest stuff on youtube. Now the top youtubers are all on the payrolls so the traditional media is actually putting out decent stuff? I may have to subscribe!
 
Well, like so many other SH threads, this one sent me down a rabbit hole I didn't know existed.....I've been a speed (FPS) junkie for years when it comes to my bow. This report https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/results is saying I would optimally be shooting a 650gr+ total arrow weight for hunting Whitetails. I never would have considered scrubbing that much speed in exchange for penetration. Hmmmmm, got me rethinking EVERYTHING!! LOL
 
Crawdaddy4 said:
Well, like so many other SH threads, this one sent me down a rabbit hole I didn't know existed.....I've been a speed (FPS) junkie for years when it comes to my bow. This report https://www.ashbybowhunting.org/results is saying I would optimally be shooting a 650gr+ total arrow weight for hunting Whitetails. I never would have considered scrubbing that much speed in exchange for penetration. Hmmmmm, got me rethinking EVERYTHING!! LOL
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@Crawdaddy4
Don't get discouraged. :) There's more to it than shooting a 650 grain arrow, especially for whitetails. THP (The Hunting Public) has several videos where they discuss the success of heavy arrows, but most of them are shooting what the Ashby Foundation chart shows to be a "B" class arrow weight. Which is considered "acceptable" for whitetails, mulies, black bear and antelope.

Personally, I'm shooting 57# @ 29" DL with a 520 TAW. My arrows are tipped with Grizzly left single bevel broadheads and I feel very confident of getting a pass-thru on a whitetail, this fall. :cool:

The 650 Total Arrow Weight arrow gets mentioned for 100% pass-thru on hitting bones in African large game animals. African large game animals have hide thicknesses that we don't have to contend with here in North America. Then there's the heavier bone structure of African large game. :rolleyes: Let's face it, they're dealing with an entirely different type of large game animals. I wouldn't let this "spook" you off...rather, take in what will work for you and let the rest go. :)
 
If your not already blowing thru deer with ANY fixed head at ANY weight consistently you have a problem!

For a deer hunter to look at the Ashby report and model their set up after it is laughable unless your shooting 40lbs or something.

If your test isnt on live animals its pretty much useless. Im not talking a couple of deer Im talking dozens, hell you dont even get a good feel for what a head is capable of until youve run the gamete of different hits with it.

I'll take my recovery rate with 2 inch mechanicals over fixed heads any day.
 
This was a good test but so many other better coc heads out there to rate as well like VPA’s, Grizzly’s, Woodsman, etc. I think Elk Yinzer hit it on the head. No pun intended. I gotta go to work!!!
 
push force vs hitting at high speed after firing from a bow has been shown not to be as correlated with penetration as one would hope...i don't have a citation but this has been discussed for a while various places

As a data point, Lusk Outdoors on Youtube (great channel) has done a lot of penetration testing using a rubber mat, then MDF, then ballistic gel layered (not an animal but closer to one than a push test).....and no broadhead has ever came close to penetrating twice as far as a QAD Exodus. In fact, they might get one more inch. Lusk's tests are the best I've seen, it would be great if he incorporated animal parts in his tests though and also fired more shots to take averages for penetration, etc.
 
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Rg176bnc said:
If your not already blowing thru deer with ANY fixed head at ANY weight consistently you have a problem!

For a deer hunter to look at the Ashby report and model their set up after it is laughable unless your shooting 40lbs or something.

If your test isnt on live animals its pretty much useless. Im not talking a couple of deer Im talking dozens, hell you dont even get a good feel for what a head is capable of until youve run the gamete of different hits with it.

I'll take my recovery rate with 2 inch mechanicals over fixed heads any day.
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I have a very short draw. 10 years ago I was just trying to shoot a light arrow to get higher FPS to make up for my draw. I was not getting pass throughs and it was a problem. Started upping my BH weight first. Then got heavier arrows. Then added inserts. Switched to single bevel. Got heavier BHs still. I don't care what my FPS is now I know when I let go of that arrow it's blowing through that deer. The unexpected benefit has been that my bow is incredibly silent now. The unexpected downside is if I shoot an animal on the ground I'm kissing that arrow goodbye unless there's a tree directly behind it.
 
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