17 replies to this topic

[Buck_Slayer]

I have been a fixed blade muzzy shooter for years. In a perfect world I would much prefer a fixed blade because you don't have to worry about the blades not deploying.

It's always been a struggle getting fixed blades to shoot right. I would have to spend a lot of time paper tuning my bow and making adjustments and sometimes I could get them to shoot same as field points and sometimes I had to re-adjust my sites for broadheads before deer season.

It seems that there is not really any tuning you can do to a crossbow. There's no arrow rest or knocking point I can adjust. And I can't adjust the draw weight. It's because of this that I'm very interested in going with a mechanical broadhead with field point flight. The only thing that scares me is the mechanical blades not deploying properly or how it will work if you hit a rib bone. However I like the idea of not worrying about my broadheads shooting different in a hunting situation.

Again I would much prefer to shoot a fixed blade, but it appears that the only way you can "tune" your bow to shoot fixed blades properly is by adjusting the arrow (weight,FOC,length maybe,fletching,etc). It seems like this could get kinda expensive trying different arrows/fixed broads getting the right combination. I would like to avoid that so I'm leaning towards a mechanical.

Can I get some insight from both mechanical and fixed blade shooters? What are your experiences? Thanks so much!

[Aimo]

Hi

When i baught my xbow the dealer told me to use mechanical broadhead ..there some designed special for xbow..and i got a deer with my meatseeker last season..it was low shot, got the bottom of the lungs and hit the shoulder with passthrough..My concern is always  is the broadhead will stay close during the release?? now i got rage 3 blade and grim reaper and i m ging to try it as soon we got some sun in Michigan

[robertyb]

Why worry about it Clint? I shoot field points most of the year. Just before hunting season opens I pull out my broadhead target and screw in my G5 Montecs. Mine shoot a little left and a tad lower than my fieldpoints. I adjust the scope a few clicks and the broadheads are dead on. I do not shoot field points again except into a discharge target till the season is over usually. Then I simply readjust again.

I messed with my verticals for years getting a bullet hole from both till I decided it was really not worth the effort when it takes less than two minutes to adjust sights.

[hankenhunter]

robertyb, on 28 January 2012 - 08:36 PM, said:

Why worry about it Clint? I shoot field points most of the year. Just before hunting season opens I pull out my broadhead target and screw in my G5 Montecs. Mine shoot a little left and a tad lower than my fieldpoints. I adjust the scope a few clicks and the broadheads are dead on. I do not shoot field points again except into a discharge target till the season is over usually. Then I simply readjust again.

I messed with my verticals for years getting a bullet hole from both till I decided it was really not worth the effort when it takes less than two minutes to adjust sights.

X2 All my target shooting is done with broadheads.I have a set with dull blades that don't penetrate my target as deep and make for easier removal. My motto is, shoot what your going to kill with.
Happy shootin,
Hank

Edited by hankenhunter, 28 January 2012 - 08:51 PM.

[Buck_Slayer]

Yeah thats what I've done the last couple years with my vertical bow. Which is ok as long as it shoots straight. The problem I've had sometimes is the fixed blades would cause the arrow to kinda "whip" thru the air. This is not ideal for good penetration. But I could tune the bow to correct most of this. Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to do this with a crossbow. Most likely I will have to just experiment.

[H&S Archer]

The most "forgiving" fixed head I have personally tested are the Ram Cats. It is real designed for penetration and accuracy.

[dropzone]

I shoot 100gr 4 blade muzzy's out of my crossbow and haven't had a problem. Best advice I can give you is take your time with the arrows and check that they turn true. If the broadhead isn't square with the shaft it will not shoot straight. Using a mechanical broadhead hides slight imperfections in the insert. If you take the time a square the insert so the broadhead spins true it will pay off in the woods. Now you will get some arrows that no matter what you do will not shoot with field tips for those arrows I would use for back yard shooting or as a discharge arrow.

[Buck_Slayer]

dropzone, on 30 January 2012 - 10:20 PM, said:

I shoot 100gr 4 blade muzzy's out of my crossbow and haven't had a problem. Best advice I can give you is take your time with the arrows and check that they turn true. If the broadhead isn't square with the shaft it will not shoot straight. Using a mechanical broadhead hides slight imperfections in the insert. If you take the time a square the insert so the broadhead spins true it will pay off in the woods. Now you will get some arrows that no matter what you do will not shoot with field tips for those arrows I would use for back yard shooting or as a discharge arrow.

This is part of my concern. I'm personally not equipped to square up inserts, nor do I know how.

There are a couple mechanicals (new for 2012) I'm wanting to check out still but I will most likely go with a fixed blade. I guess worst case scenario if I can't get them to shoot right I can try and sell them and get some of my money back.

Thanks for the info so far.

[FuzzyFultz]

dropzone, on 30 January 2012 - 10:20 PM, said:

I shoot 100gr 4 blade muzzy's out of my crossbow and haven't had a problem. Best advice I can give you is take your time with the arrows and check that they turn true. If the broadhead isn't square with the shaft it will not shoot straight. Using a mechanical broadhead hides slight imperfections in the insert. If you take the time a square the insert so the broadhead spins true it will pay off in the woods. Now you will get some arrows that no matter what you do will not shoot with field tips for those arrows I would use for back yard shooting or as a discharge arrow.

I agree with dropzone, no matter what you shoot, you need to tune the arrows first. Invest in an Apple Archer spin tester. A G5 squaring tool and tune the arrows. Once you get started you will understand the concept behind what he is saying. I have bowhunted for many,many,many years and still I learn something ever now and then. The folks here taught me about arrow tuning and I since have done so and they are absolutely right I always did as you and paper tuned and shot mechanical broadheads for years. But I  always wanted a good fixed blade broadhead. I always did my own fletching and repairs and arrrow wraps and all that. But have now started getting a little deeper into arrow building. I found the Apple Archery spin tester on the bay for $24.00. The G5 squaring tool is a little higher. You can still square the inserts even after they have been glued in from the factory.

I was amazed at how much the big brand arrows where out of tune. The factories glue them ASAP and in the box they go. I since have bought some 2219 aluminum Easton shafts to build my own. I was surprised at how crooked some of the Eastons where right at the end of the shaft. So I just cut the most out of the bad end and straightened the shaft right up. I cut them with an 8 dollar small pipe cutter for automobile brake lines. Then squared the ends and built the arrows. Have a shoulder injury and can not shoot right now, I can not hardly wait to try the shafts.

Next I barrowed my brothers weigh scales and weighed the Carbon Express crossbow arrows and the 2219s I built. Carbon Express = 449.5 grains and the 2219 = 452.4 grains. So next on my list is an arrow saw and a decent set of slide scales.

I shoot the G5 Montecs and have no problem at all in my vert bows or my crossbow. I really like the G5 Montec 100 grain 7/8 inch cut. They are very deadly and very accurate. These broadheads are defiantly spin tested. I found two arrows that did not spin perfect and thought sure it was the broadheads. It was not, it was the shaft inserts out of round from the factory. I fixed the arrows and replaced the same broadheads, they spun perfectly.

Edited by FuzzyFultz, 31 January 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[Terminal-operator]

Clint,
The mechanicals are the best if you are just going to buy and go. The Spitfires and Rages shoot the same as field points. And I'm sure there are many other mechanical heads that perform well. I said that I wasn't going to spend tons of money on different broad heads but didn't want to have to keep adjusting my sights because today a might want to shoot a few field points and didn't want it to become such a pain that it took the fun out of shooting. Well, hundreds of dollars later, that I didn't have, I have found that the G5's and the Slicktricks shoot the same as field points. The Rages may be noisy out of your Ventilator. The Spitfires are a good head. You will always wonder if they are going to operate properly though. I do. It is not a problem "most" of the time. But man, starring down at a Booner wondering if you head is going to fail, is very distracting to say the least. The Slicktricks have never failed to fly straight. All of the arrow squaring devices are certainly worth it..But there is a small investment and a learning curve to overcome. IMO it is the way to go...But, buy and fly, these other options have worked for me.

[CageCracker]

Buck_Slayer, on 28 January 2012 - 06:07 PM, said:

I have been a fixed blade muzzy shooter for years. In a perfect world I would much prefer a fixed blade because you don't have to worry about the blades not deploying.

It's always been a struggle getting fixed blades to shoot right. I would have to spend a lot of time paper tuning my bow and making adjustments and sometimes I could get them to shoot same as field points and sometimes I had to re-adjust my sites for broadheads before deer season.

It seems that there is not really any tuning you can do to a crossbow. There's no arrow rest or knocking point I can adjust. And I can't adjust the draw weight. It's because of this that I'm very interested in going with a mechanical broadhead with field point flight. The only thing that scares me is the mechanical blades not deploying properly or how it will work if you hit a rib bone. However I like the idea of not worrying about my broadheads shooting different in a hunting situation.

Again I would much prefer to shoot a fixed blade, but it appears that the only way you can "tune" your bow to shoot fixed blades properly is by adjusting the arrow (weight,FOC,length maybe,fletching,etc). It seems like this could get kinda expensive trying different arrows/fixed broads getting the right combination. I would like to avoid that so I'm leaning towards a mechanical.

Can I get some insight from both mechanical and fixed blade shooters? What are your experiences? Thanks so much!

[CageCracker]

I shoot a muzzy 100 mx3 and use 2 inch Fuson Vanes 20 inch bolts tune the heads to the vanes good to go

[poindexter]

I shoot Spitfire Maax mechanicals and don't have to make any adjustments.  I just make sure the feild points I shoot are exactly the same weight of the mechanicals.  Use a scale and don't rely on the packaging. I use a scale I bought from Harbor Freight on sale for $10.  It weighs in grams, ounces, and pounds.  you can convert the grams to grains, there are convertion tables on the internet.  I just weigh them in grams and make sure they are the same....works for me......Poindexter.....Ps. I have not had a Spitfire malfunction.  Pass throughs on all my kills and bones are not a problem....I shoot with a Buck Commander by Barnett

[Stalker]

I have gone to mechanicals after shooting Muzzys 100 and 125 three blades I wasn't satisfied with the consistency. They didn't fly any thing like my field points.Carbon express and Rage 2 blade fly like my field points.The Rage comes with a Practice tip so you dont have to sharpen blades and tear up targets like a fixed blade. The ce and rage have always performed as advertised for me.There are a lot of great mechanicals out there that will do the job and for me a lot more accurate without all the tuning issues.

[georgiaboy]

I use the slicktrick mags out of my excals...shoot same poi as my field tips. I use spitfires for my mechanical head, shot a 142lb boar two yrs ago with a complete pass through breaking ribs along the way...don't worry about a spitfire...one tough head.

[old bowhunter]

Parker Bushwacker with Parker Hunter arrows. Took the Muzzy 125 3 blades that I used for vertical bow screwed them in , small scope adjustment put in sharp blades + 2 deer down. Think a lot depends on the crossbow  and speed. The Bushwacker doesn't shoot at the speed of light that some want, but it doesn't seem to bother the deer and not a lot of problems setting up broadheads. Tried some Bear Razorheads I still had and always had problems with and they shot great out of the crossbow, so go figure.

[Johny D]

I know with my vertical bow the rages fly just as adverised. I have killed a couple different deer with the three blade rage and never had a problem. One deer was shot in the guts and only ran 70 yards. However, I think if you can find an accurate fixed blade that would be the way to go. Len at long range hunter recommends a certain type of fixed blad for the tac 15 saying that it was the most accurate fixed blad he had worked with. I wanna say that the brand was phat head.

[MUSKRAT]

I talked with a Technical Rep who does all the broadhead and mechanical head testing for Excalibur, and this conversation was last January, 2012.  That being said, he was very satisfied with Boltcutter Broadheads, but was MORE impressed with Excals Mechanicals.....EXCEPT....He cautioned me that when using the mechanicals to be very sure that the animal (in this case we were talking whitetails) should be standing broadside to the shooter, and/or quartering away....BUT NO MORE THAN QUARTERING AWAY.  I asked "why"....and all I could get out of him was that "mechanicals do 'funny-things' when a deer is at such an obtuse angle that the mechanical will not reach its intended efficiency.
That statement pushed me right back to my plan to use the Fixed Blade Boltcutters. And from all I can gather from other techs at Excal, the Boltcutter Fixed Blades will not be a problem out to 25 yards.  Beyond that yardage, as you all probably know, lots of variables start playing into an arrows flight.
In my own experience and habits, I have yet to take a whitetail beyond 25 yards, and frankly don't expect to.  The day may come when I will regret saying that....but, it will be a definite exception to my experience.  Just my .02 cents, and I hope it helps 'some'.  And by the way, I have spin tested some mechanicals, and saw enough wabble to really upset me....I could hardly believe it, but there it was.  Go figure?!