Swacker Broadheads

[CouesBuckhunter]

@reganranch, yeah my goal in life is to own a good piece of land up north, one way of achieving that goal is to become a mechanical engineer and work for Boeing up in Washington, where Im closer to Montana.

[CouesBuckhunter]

@AZLance, I bet thats not the only thing that you're gonna swhack this year!

[reganranch]

@reganranch, yeah my goal in life is to own a good piece of land up north, one way of achieving that goal is to become a mechanical engineer and work for Boeing up in Washington, where Im closer to Montana.

 

Right on man thats super cool. My bro is in his sr. year of petroleum engineering at Tx A and M, we definetly need more engineers in the U.S.

[Flatlander]

I hate to say this for fear of getting ripped but I did have some concerns with the Sonorans after my hunts. I actually lost elk on both hunts, both were cows. The first one was due to a bad shot, I hit her in the shoulder and only got about 3 inches of penetration. My fault, no doubt about it. The second shot was a little high but still what I would consider in the vitals. I only got about 5-6 inches of penetration and the arrow came back out. Unfortunately we ran out of blood in a very short distance and sere never able to recover the animal. I was only 16 at the time with a fairly short draw length and I was shooting a bow with below average KE. I think that perhaps with my setup i was just not producing enough KE to open the broadhead and get good penetration. Like I said, I don't want to get blown up here, I am just pointing out a situation where I believe this BH may not be the best choice, and that would be in bows with low end KE.

[reganranch]

Yeah man if you want optimal performance out of any product you cant be throwing a tennis ball at a fully grown elk with like 45-50lb draw weight, you need to crank that bow up and throw a Javelin at it 60 or more.

[Flatlander]

I was 16 not 10. I was shooting 60 lbs but a 60 lb bow in 1998 was shooting like 240 fps, nothing compared to today's bows. Still after those two experiences I switched to fixed blades and haven't ever looked back.

[reganranch]

To each his own. Coues Buck Hunter your dad's a Bad A## and engineered a solid piece of equipment.

[Elkhunter1]

I was 16 not 10. I was shooting 60 lbs but a 60 lb bow in 1998 was shooting like 240 fps, nothing compared to today's bows. Still after those two experiences I switched to fixed blades and haven't ever looked back.

There is a recomended minimal amount of KE printed for most mechanicals.

[GotBowAz]

I wouldn’t hesitate to use a Swhacker on a deer. I wouldn’t use the older Sanoran on anything. Absolutely no entrance hole which is why I assume they (your dad) went to the Swhacker. Same issue EPEK had too. They now open on entry. But my concern isn’t on a little deer, it is on a big tough old bull elk and a 1 inch entry hole on such a large animal is not very big which is why I was asking. I want a BIG blood trail on a tough to kill Bull. They can go a long ways on those long legs even on a great double lung shot.

GBA

[ready2hunt]

You should check out some of the pictures ELKHUNTER1 post in a thread I started "Mechincal vs Fix Broadhead."

 

The entrance holes on the animals were so big I was convinced they were exit holes until I was corrected. I'll be the first to admit that I have not killed an elk with a bow yet however, I am pretty convinced by actual kills that they entrance holes are quite large. Again everyone has their own opinon.

 

I have seen plenty of elk while calling that have scars that were clearly made by broadheads (mechnial or fixed) many of them were perfect shots in the vitals, obviously nothing is a garuntee.

 

 

ELKHUNTER1 or anyone else........Are there any videos on testing the shwackers penetration? I looked on youtube but didn't find to many. For example there are videos posted where people shoot broadheads through barrels or balistics gel or even layers of wood to demontrate durability.

 

I know that we are not hunting steel barrels and wood but they are always interesting to see and compare. Just curious

[GotBowAz]

I havent seen it but I will check it out thanks!

 

I mentioned this before, the only real horror story I have heard was a guy I know shot a Javelina in the shoulder with one and the head feral bent on impact. The blades did not deploy as a result, blades were bent too. I call that not only a fluke as any head could have but also horrible shot placement which happens.

 

GBA

[azman]

GBA

 

The old sonoran is exactly the same as the swhacker. The only thing that has changed is he is making a 100g 2-inch cut head. I have shot more than 60 animals with the head over the years and have never has a problem. I have taken several elk including bulls, antelope, many deer including a 190" mulie, fox, lion, turkey, javelina, rabbits, etc. I have also shot a huge 350+ black bear in the chest when he was sitting up on his butt facing me. I shot a bear a couple fo years ago where the arrow zipped right though it and hit the ground littered with rocks. There was no damage to the head. I had no issues in getting through his tough chest bone and burying the head in his spine. The head was in good shape and the blades were still razor sharp.

 

As far as the entrance hole. On all the animals that I have shot had a hole greater than one inch. If you were to take time to think about it as the arrow hits the animal it pushed the hide in a little providing a hole greater than one inch. I have not had a hard time tracking any of the animlas that I have shot.

 

There are severl videos on the swhacker website showing the head being tested in gel after it went though sholder blades and hide. Rick aslo has a series of videos talking about the head and why he designed it the way he did.

 

Let me also say that I would never hesitate to use this head on any animal that I will go after and I will never change.

 

Robert Forrest

[Elkhunter1]

The only thing I can add to what I have already said is the coues I killed in 2010 was hit in the spine (missed judged yardage). It took me over 20 minutes to dig it out. I literally had to separate the vertebrae to get it. The head was undamaged.

Not the biggest but my first with a bow.

[GotBowAz]

I am getting jest of the Schwacker leaving an entrance hole, I believe I said this. This is why I am asking these questions. I would prefer if it was a little bigger that is all. I can see by looks of the design it is going to leave a hole as the trip wing blades have to stretch the hide initially as they are being flipped open. It’s design ofthe wing blades being ahead of the pivot point makes that obvious to me.

Also my bad, I was actually thinking about the hyper shock heads with the curved blades that the wing blades pivot at the screw not above it like the Sanoran. They only leave a pencil like entrance hole but otherwise the design concept is very much the same.

Thanks for the info on this head though. I will be taking a serious look at them. Many times I have asked this same question on other forums about this head and nobody would tell me what kind of entrance hole they had, just the exit and it performance otherwise. This led to me believe they didn’t leave much of an entrance hole. I'm sure most of you can appreciate the questioning. If I wasn’t interested in the head I would not ask about it.

GBA

[CouesBuckhunter]

@GotBowAz, its great that your asking, that's how one learns isn't it? Alot of people don't ask and never find out how a product actually works. Thanks for asking, no question is a dumb question.