[Swamp Hunter 92NC]

Read some things about higher speed crossbows affecting broadhead performance like fixed blades not flying very true or higher chance of early deployment but wanted to ask the wonderful experts here about their thoughts and experiences.

Is there a rough FPS number where you should try to stay below if you’re just using the crossbow for hunting? I know the rep I spoke to at Magnus told me the black hornets shot best at 370fps or lower.

I’m pretty excited about shooting the Magnus black hornet ser razor this year but plan on experimenting with some different mechanicals too

 

[trailcamguy]

I've had my best fixed blade accuracy tops out at about 360fps, give or take a little. My Truglo Titanium mechanicals I expect would shoot well 100fps beyond that and not open until impact.

 

[Rit]

No problems with crossbow rated Grim Reapers or Seat xmag

 

[Huntersthompson]

I've had my best fixed blade accuracy tops out at about 360fps, give or take a little. My Truglo Titanium mechanicals I expect would shoot well 100fps beyond that and not open until impact.

I believe the higher the launch speed the tighter the truglo mech stay closed being rear deploying.

 

[SEW]

I believe the higher the launch speed the tighter the truglo mech stay closed being rear deploying.

I believe that the TruGlo 4 blade expandible will become accepted as one of the top broadheads. As a recommendation from Vaguru, I tried them. As always, he was correct.

‘The first year or so, the blades were fairly free in movement, but being rear deploying, they stayed closed at launch and inflight. Then, performed beautifully bringing a quick, merciful kill. I‘be only used 1 broadhead for the first 3 kills and it’s ready for its 4th.

I just bought 3 more packs. They are improved: no more loose blades.

Low profile, mechanically foolproof, extremely sharp, devastating wound channels! Worth considering.

 

[Iron Duke]

I believe that the TruGlo 4 blade expandible will become accepted as one of the top broadheads. As a recommendation from Vaguru, I tried them. As always, he was correct.

‘The first tear or so, the blades were fairly free in movement, but being rear deploying, they stayed closed at launch and inflight. Then, performed beautifully bringing a quick, merciful kill. I‘be only used 1 broadhead for the first 3 kills and it’s ready for its 4th.

I just bought 3 more packs. They are improved: no more loose blades.

Low profile, mechanically foolproof, extremely sharp, devastating wound channels! Worth considering.

I bought … 3 packages early in the pandemic. I have a lot of 3" NAP-FOC and Spitfire Edge/Maxx/XXX ready to go; but like the performance and potential performance of the TruGlo. Killed a few deer with them but nowhere near enough to get a good feel for them. I was concerned that the shutdown, and devastation these gestapo politicians & bureaucrats were inflicting on the economy, that broadheads might be hard to get come hunting season. I want to give the TruGlo a solid run this year and see how it performs over the long haul.

 

[Sod Buster]

It’s not about the speed. It’s about the arrows & heads.🤙

 

[Generator]

IMO, one must consider the broadheads influence on the arrow it is coupled with. Many well balanced broadheads shot from well tuned crossbows will not consistently hit the POA. I have shot the same broadheads, fixed and mechanical, on multiple arrows with scattered results. Arrow spine matching, straightness and squared ends are required prior to evaluating any/all broadheads. Again, my experiences.

 

[allNitroedup]

I like these broadheads out of the Nitro XRT and Vapor RS 470.
NAP Slingblade, NAP DoubleCross and my favorite is the SEVR’s. I’m ordering the new SEVR Robusto 2.0 to try out soon. The reason I like SEVR over the others is the blades lock open when they’re deployed.

 

[robertyb]

I prefer the Hypodermics because the blades do not lock and I am able to pull them from my Blob target easily when the blades reverse without damaging the target.

 

[allNitroedup]

I prefer the Hypodermics because the blades do not lock and I am able to pull them from my Blob target easily when the blades reverse without damaging the target.

SEVR comes with a set screw to lock blade for practice.
Very little damage to the target or broadhead and pull out very easy.

 

[llbts1]

I'm looking at the Thorn broad heads. With my limited experience, these seem like they should fly consistent. Has anyone had any experience with these?

 

[jon.henry755]

This thread contains plenty of good reliable recommendations about some reliable brands of Broadheads anyone interested could buy and test. What I see that appears to be sorely lacking in every response is the information that teaches less experienced shooters the information they need to learn to understand "why"?

I"ll start it off, but you experienced guys please feel free to join in and do a little teaching like we used to do in the old days, please.

As arrow speeds exceed about 360 fps. Air friction plays more and more of a roll on a Broadhead, therefore any design flaws become magnified.

The primary difference between field points and fixed blade Broadheads is in the fact that field points do not have steering control of an arrow. The shaft and vanes have guidance control. Any "Fixed Blade Broadhead" always takes over steering control from the front, so the guidance system has totally changed from your target points. This has both Pro's and Con's about it that we can discuss later.

Due to the fact a fixed blade is considerably larger than a closed up mechanical head of equal weight it's subject to much greater air friction and the higher the velocity gets with speed increase the more these factors multiply. At a certain point when enough air friction occurs most fixed blades heads will begin to either take on a Frisbee type of an effect or they will just begin to veer off coarse. Notice I said most! This is due to either poor designs or aerodynamically imperfect designs.

For the record there are a number of Fixed Blade Broadheads that fly excellent up to 400 fps. Beyond that speed I honestly don't know because I don't own anything that shoots any higher in velocity than that, so I haven't tested them.

So, back to broadheads. Mechanical broadheads only have one significant advantage over Fixed Blade heads. They were originally invented to fly identical to field points of equal weight due to the fact they are not supposed to interfere with steering control of an arrow, in the same manner your target points don't.

We've had a lot of very bad designs of mechanical Broadheads that don't live up to that advantage. Those that work as intended are almost as narrow field points and have a aerodynamic shape that allows them to fly as true as your field points of the same weight. Therefore unless they are faulty and deploy their blades prematurely by all rights they should fly true for as far as your field points will.

So the faster the velocity the more deviation a shooter should expect due to the forces of friction acting on a large broadhead. Some of you out there also think if your arrow is moving faster that you have better killing power in terms of penetration. This is completely false. Penetration is much more a factor of weight than speed. The formula includes both of these elements but mass weight is the largest factor, so it's really about how much weight you can throw and then how fast.

There's much more that can be added and said on this topic but I've stated enough to get the ball rolling for now.

Jon Henry

 

[Rit]

I never had a problem with blades opening in flight or failing to open on impact. I shot them from my Vent 150 and 175. Accuracy was spot on. I shot them from the Aculeus 460 and killed deer and turkey. I kept getting cracked arrows. I thought it was from arrow going into ground and hitting rock. It happen in blob a few times. I thought I had bad arrows . Jerry from South Shore Archery sent me new arrows no charge. I had it happen again but this time arrow didn't crack it had a pin hole in side. The higher KE from the 460 was causing the bleeder blades to open further and hit side of arrow. I called Jerry and asked him what I owed him for the arrows and he said Merry Christmas. Never had a problem with the slower bows.

 

[Rit]

Forgot to say NAP Double Cross was the head.

 

[Iron Duke]

Good information … in post #13. One thing I want to point out to the newbies who the post was aimed at: "penetration is not an issue with crossbows!" Even the lightest and fastest arrows permitted by the crossbow manufacturer would blow through a Buick. My point being; don't get hung up on additional arrow weight for penetration. Most hunters are running arrows between 400gr and about 450gr.

 

[Generator]

I'm looking at the Thorn broad heads. With my limited experience, these seem like they should fly consistent. Has anyone had any experience with these?

I have used the Thorn broadheads (100 grain only) and they perform as advertised. The practice clips are a very nice feature. They are expensive and as stated above, today we have many very good broadheads.

 

[llbts1]

Thank you Generator

 

[jon.henry755]

I never had a problem with blades opening in flight or failing to open on impact. I shot them from my Vent 150 and 175. Accuracy was spot on. I shot them from the Aculeus 460 and killed deer and turkey. I kept getting cracked arrows. I thought it was from arrow going into ground and hitting rock. It happen in blob a few times. I thought I had bad arrows . Jerry from South Shore Archery sent me new arrows no charge. I had it happen again but this time arrow didn't crack it had a pin hole in side. The higher KE from the 460 was causing the bleeder blades to open further and hit side of arrow. I called Jerry and asked him what I owed him for the arrows and he said Merry Christmas. Never had a problem with the slower bows.

When I stated that we’ve had many poorly designed mechanical broadheads what you described is just one example of that. As our crossbow speeds have increased we continue to uncover more and more flaws in the arrow components we use.

just look at vanes Asia an example. We’ve learned they need to be stiffer in order to avoid the noise caused by vane flap. We’ve learned that on higher speed crossbows using lower profile and stiff vanes prevents wind shear from stripping vanes from your arrow shaft.

Broadheads have their own list of malfunctions and weaknesses. This is why the terms cheap and good don’t seem to play well together very often.