# What type of broadhead do you use for bowhunting whitetail?



## njsimonson

*What type of broadhead do you use for bowhunting whitetail?*​
Fixed4368.25%Mechanical2031.75%


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## njsimonson

Slogging through my broadhead options before I make a choice. You've never let me down before. Looking for your thoughts on the old debate of fixed versus mechanical. Let me know what brand and how many blades do you go with. Thanks.


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## AdamFisk

After having a couple blades fall off on the mechanical Spitfire XP's while pulling it out of the quiver, I will never shoot anything but fixed, at deer. I have shot Rages into some targets and have never had any problems, but I still wouldn't trust them on a big buck. They are used for turkey hunting. This year I'm giving the G5 Strikers a try. They fly excellent out of my bow and are 100% steel where as most others have steel blades, but aluminum ferrules (don't know if that matters but their commercial is convincing :lol: ).

I have some buddies that swear by Magnus Stingers. I have no experience with them but they get good reviews. I'm sure BBJ can fill you in on these. Hell, he even sells bows because they won't shoot these heads the way he wants. :eyeroll: :wink:


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## kvernum3

spitfires. you cant beat them. fly great and huge exit wounds.. even on sub par shots. I blew all the way through a shoulder with them last year. total pass through 55 lbs. bow.


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## Rugger09

I use to use Crimson Raptor broad heads and they worked really well but after i shot a deer and went down to get my arrow. The impact on the ground broke off one of the mechanical blades and this has happened everytime the broadheads have hit the ground. The first time i just thought it was a rock that it had hit in the field. I now shoot Rage broadheads. In my opinion they are pretty sweet.


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## jason_n

muzzy all the way :beer:


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## Jmnhunter

i wanted to stick with fixed but i had problems with flight after 15yds (thunderheads) switched to the rage last year and they have worked great for me (i missed a couple deer last year  a couple times and the blades held up fine, just cleaned them out and resharpened them :thumb and i got to see what it did to the doe i shot last year too.


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## huntin1

Fixed. Have benn using Thunderheads for a number of years. Started with 125 grain, dropped to 100 grain when I went to a lighter draw weight. Have had excellent luck with them, both flight and performance.

huntin1


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## barebackjack

AdamFisk said:


> I have some buddies that swear by Magnus Stingers. I have no experience with them but they get good reviews. I'm sure BBJ can fill you in on these. Hell, he even sells bows because they won't shoot these heads the way he wants. :eyeroll: :wink:


:thumb:

The ONLY broadhead company with a FULL lifetime guarantee. Cant beat that. You can wump one of those suckers into a brick wall, send it back, and theyll replace it, no questions asked!

Fly great, super tough, and one of the sharpest out of package broadheads there is.

FYI......I FINALLY got that DXT to shoot broadheads well. Apparently your cam timing with that bow needs to be EXACTLY spot on precise. Like within 1/1,000,000,000 of an inch! :lol:


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## goatboy

Been shooting the same mech. for 15 years now and never a failure.
I just think the 2" cut being almost twice that of a fixed blade is a HUGE advantage. That and the fact that they always fly true.

I've always liked Wasp heads, heck 6 for $35 is a great buy! Fly good and are sharp out of the box also, same for Muzzy.


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## ProDucker1187

I have shot muzzy's for years but I switched to rage two seasons ago and they fly awsome and they hand out alot of damage.


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## NDTerminator

No matter what the goatee wearing BBD dudes and the good looking perky blonde gal say on TV (or even Chuck Adams, for that matter), too much can go wrong with mechanicals and so much has to go right for them to work as designed that I'm not comfortable with them. I've tested a number and between sheared blades and failure to deploy issues shooting into broadhead targets, I don't trust them on game.

Replacable/fixed blades are great if you get a type that locks the blades in the ferrule. (hint, don't bother with the Cabelas FX unless you enjoy constantly checking the arrows in your quiver to see if all the blades are there...) I love the sadly now discontinued Wasp Hi Tech Cam Lok 100 grains and will shoot the ones I have until I can't find blades for them anymore. Killed a bunch of game with them, including driving one nearly through both gristle plates on a 300 pound hog. Of the replaceable blades currently available I like the Wasp Boss SST and Magnus Stingers best.

I much prefer a strong resharpenable fixed blade like the Magnus 2 blade and 3 blade SS Snuffer. I put a chisel point on the Magnus 2 blade and after a couple passes on the G5 sharpener they are pure murder. With a lifetime garantee and costing about $27 per 6, you can't go wrong...

Never tried them (the thought of paying $30+ for three broadheads gives me hives) but I bet the G5 and NAP Hell Razor are great too...


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## ImpalaSSpeed96

100 people, 100 different opinions. There are a lot of good broadheads out there though. Ones I would shoot w/out question are the Stingers, Muzzy, G5 and Rage. And I'm sure there's even a few more out there that are stellar. Muzzy makes a great broadhead though that is very affordable, unlike some of the others mentioned.


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## bearhunter

as for mechanicals being the main reson for use because of better accuracy. get your bow well tuned and any "real" broadhead should shoot fine. my muzzys t-heads stingers all shhot great to 70 yards which is way further than i would shoot at an un-wounded deer.


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## spanky27

On a slightly different note, I'm going to be purchasing a new set of broadheads soon. I've used both fixed and mechanical, been successful with both, but have been disappointed in the durability of mechanicals. Most have been one kill, and done. There are pluses and minuses to both. Anyone know of a durable mechanical? If not, I might try the Sonics this year...


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## buckseye

I shoot mechanical broad heads, I'm to stupid to tune a bow or piano so I have to buy stuff that works right out of the box. My reason being fixed blades have less aerodynamics than a mechanical blade. :beer:


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## djleye

Slick Trick 100 grain


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## Nick Roehl

G5 Striker 100gr.


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## Albert A Rasch

Fixed: Muzzy Phantom MX 100gr

I started way back in the seventies with fixed and I haven't had a reason to change.

Albert
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## goatboy

Did you choose a head?


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## hunt4P&amp;Y

Just shot my Snuffer SS's tonight I didn't have to move a pin from field point out to 70 yards. Fly the exact same as my field points! IMO that is awsome!


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## njsimonson

> Did you choose a head?


I went with the Rage 2-blade expandable. They open on contact and just rip the daylights out of my target. Have had zero failures in 20 or so test shots with the actual blades (have to sharpen them now) so I am confident they will perform in the field. They fly like field points out to 40 yards, and I feel comfortable with that. The practice blade groups with my field points nicely. Just 1 week to go! Thanks for all your advice and discussion, as always.


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## CrabClaw

Good call with the 2-blade rage. It's such an advantage having a blood trail that looks like someone dumped five gallon buckets of red paint all over, especially early season! Good Luck to you and Watchem Fall!!


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## ICE'EM

RAGE RAGE RAGE!!! no questions asked for me anyway! Last fall my buddy had two deer drop on the spot with no spine shots. No joke they are nasty broadheads. I have shot a couple of deer with them myself and even if I hadn't seen them drop i wouldn't have had any trouble finding them because they leave one big blood trail. However I truely think if practice with your bow and know where to place it properly you should have no problem taking down deer with any of these broadheads mentioned


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## Trapper99

jason_n said:


> muzzy all the way :beer:


THATS RIGHT! IT'S HARD TO STRAY FROM THE FOUR BLADE!


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## hunt4P&amp;Y

ICE'EM said:


> RAGE RAGE RAGE!!! no questions asked for me anyway! Last fall my buddy had two deer drop on the spot with no spine shots. No joke they are nasty broadheads. I have shot a couple of deer with them myself and even if I hadn't seen them drop i wouldn't have had any trouble finding them because they leave one big blood trail. However I truely think if practice with your bow and know where to place it properly you should have no problem taking down deer with any of these broadheads mentioned


This is interesting to me, this past week I was having a conversation with a guide, and an outfitter, both had made rules that clients coulden't use Rage heads on there hunts. Elk, black bear, and mule deer.

I haven't shot them, but they were talking like they were the biggest piles made.

Interesting to hear that they are good!


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## AdamFisk

hunt4P&Y said:


> I haven't shot them, but they were talking like they were the biggest piles made.
> 
> Interesting to hear that they are good!


Obviously,opinions are like a$$ holes, everybody has one. Depends who you talk to. The guides clearly had bad experiences, Ice'em had a good one. Personally, it only takes hearing a couple horror stories about a product for me to stee clear of it.


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## ando_31

Fixed! My personal experiences with mechanical broadheads have been a nightmare that still haunts me 6 years later.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y

AdamFisk said:


> hunt4P&Y said:
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't shot them, but they were talking like they were the biggest piles made.
> 
> Interesting to hear that they are good!
> 
> 
> 
> Obviously,opinions are like a$$ holes, everybody has one. Depends who you talk to. The guides clearly had bad experiences, Ice'em had a good one. Personally, it only takes hearing a couple horror stories about a product for me to stee clear of it.
Click to expand...

Yes he said in experience he had lost more with them then they had recovered.


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## dakotashooter2

Since I am a hunter of opportunity I stick with the fixed. Bear razorheads to be exact. I carry 3 arrows and on any given day may shoot at rabbits, squirrels, racoon, coyotes and so on and so forth. My broadheads take a beating but with a file and stone they are back up and running in a few minutes.


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## HUNTNFISHND

I tried the expandables when they first came out. They just didn't seem durable enough and I had no confidence in them. Will it open on contact? Will it hold up after hitting bone? Will I get enough penetration? Will I get complete pass thru?

I prefer a fixed blade, cut on contact, resharpenable head. At least when I send a fixed blade thru a deer I know it is doing damage. Never have to worry if it opened on contact or not. A fixed blade eliminates alot of variables to me. KISS!


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## ICE'EM

This is a Rage 2 blade just to show how nasty they are when deployed correctly!!!!! Its an antelpoe doe shot at 35 yards.


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## ando_31

The bottom line is hardly anything can go wrong with your fixed heads. Murfy's law will come into play sooner or later with mechanical heads. I've only hit two animals with mechanical heads and had issues with both shots.

I should have learned my lesson when I shot an antelope buck broadside behind the shoulder only to have the spitfire head somehow manage to change the path upon entering the animal. The arrow came out the belly and the antelope expired after running about 400 yards. I figured it was a fluke and the mechanicals named "evolution" or "revolution" would solve the problem with blades not opening correctly.

The next year I shot a monster muley from 10 yards with lightweight carbon arrows and those evolution or revolution heads with my mathews bow at 70 lbs draw weight. The shot was poorly placed up high in the shoulder (buck fever I presume). I heard a loud thwack and watched the muley run away with 99% of my arrow hanging out of him. I hope to this day that the arrow fell out and he lived, but never saw him again. Many things came into play with that shot, buck fever, light arrow, mechanical broadhead, a very large deer with thick bone structure, but I can't help think that had I been using fixed blades with a heavier arrow that the deer might be on my wall and I wouldn't be writing this sob story. There is no way to say for sure that the heavier setup with fixed heads would have paved the way for even less wall space in my house, but at least I wouldn't have this "what if" floating over my head when I think of that giant.

I now use the heaviest carbon arrow I can find (which at the time of purchase still weighed less than aluminum arrows) and a 125 grain montech one piece construction broadhead. I've only shot two deer with this setup, both behind the shoulder, but I doubt I'll ever go back to playing around with "fancy equipment" that is made only for "the perfect shot".


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## Bernie P.

Fixed only for me.I would never trust mech heads.


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