mechanical broadheads success and failures

[creed_az_88]

Just wanted to get a list of what has and hasn't worked on elk. Its no secret that many people believe that mechanicals are a bad idea when elk hunting but I feel that they have their place so if you feel the need to badmouth mechanicals please save it for another thread. Let's hear what's worked and what hasn't worked for you. I'll start with my experiences.

I have personally seen two bulls lost with well placed shots(video proof) with the original two blade rages. Both had poor penetration. The fault in my opinion was the equipment used to push the broad and not so much the broad head so it wasn't exactly a broad head failure. Light arrows, short draw length and an older, slow bow.

The only other bull I saw shot with a mechanical was a complete success and it was shot with a rage hypodermic. Broad head performed flawlessly.

[GreyGhost85]

i videod my friend shooting a corsican ram in the shoulder with a rage broadhead, 2 blade older style. he shoots a fast bow, and was pushing a 400grn arrow around 320fps. sheep was 46 yards away, and the broadhead bounced off. it broke the shoulder just from the shock, but zero penetration. the video was on youtube and he got so many threats from Rage reps that he pulled it off when it had around 100k views.. i personally have never shot an expandable. there are enough things that can go wrong in that moment of truth, why shoot something that you cannot be 100% positive that it will do it's job?

[Norteno]

i videod my friend shooting a corsican ram in the shoulder with a rage broadhead, 2 blade older style. he shoots a fast bow, and was pushing a 400grn arrow around 320fps. sheep was 46 yards away, and the broadhead bounced off. it broke the shoulder just from the shock, but zero penetration. the video was on youtube and he got so many threats from Rage reps that he pulled it off when it had around 100k views.. i personally have never shot an expandable. there are enough things that can go wrong in that moment of truth, why shoot something that you cannot be 100% positive that it will do it's job?

We want to see the video! Is it still out there somewhere else?

[1denogean]

sure would like to see the video

[John O]

I like these:

 

 

[creed_az_88]

Do you prefer the two or three blade

[Antmo23]

I have made the switch to the Gravedigger from Muzzys. so far i like them, they fly great, i just need to push them thru an animal now... they are a hybrid head, if they don't open, they are a 1" single blade with 1/2" bleeder blades. I like that built in "failsafe".

[azhuntnut]

I have never been a fan of expandables due to failure on javelina. This past January I decided to let my son try the Grave Diggers with the on contact tips during his javelina hunt to see if they have improved. His bow is set at around 38 pounds. He made a less than perfect shot on a pig at 10 yards and got a full pass through. Since it was a little back, I gave the pig about an hour and went find it. The only thing that saved us from a long search was one of the huge expandables caught the edge of one of the lungs and spit it open.

I have heard they have been using the chisel tipped heads on the big pigs in Texas with great success. If they can put down one of those pigs, then I think they would work on elk. I personally prefer any broadhead that is a cut on contact tip. It takes much less kinetic energy to penetrate than a chisel tip. David

[HUNTnTAT2]

Seen a nice bull hit with a rage.... That's all i saw.....

If I were to shoot a mechanical it'd be a Swhacker.

[ready2hunt]

I have Never had an issue with my broad heads.....I just can't seem to hit the animal

[ready2hunt]

+1 to the video.....let's see it

[HuntHarder]

creed_az_88 lets see the video of a well placed shot and not a dead animal.

[creed_az_88]

I'll see if I can come up with it. I don't own the footage I was just along on the hunt.

[Flatlander]

+1 on the video

 

I lost two elk shot with Swhackers, I was shooting lighter tackle then, one shot hit the shoulder and did not penetrate well and the other was back. It was enough to convince me to switch to cut on contact. I am not a fan of the way a Swhacker opens after it begins to penetrate. Lots of people on here like them, and I have watched lots of videos of them being used successfully.

[AZHUNTER05]

I've shot two bulls with the two blade rage, and both bulls died within eye sight. Both pass throughs at 34 and 51 yards with a 364grn arrow. I shot my last bull with a swhacker at 50 yards and it only went 30 yards and piled up.

 

I haven't shot a elk with a gravedigger yet, but I have killed a pig with one and I was very impressed with it. If I was going to shoot one of the three, I would go with the gravedigger hands down. No o-rings, massive cutting surface, and extremely accurate. The swhacker is a close second, but the head of the broad head normally bends after shooting it, making the broad head unusable. Other then that I really like the swhacker.