Zwickey Single Bevel Bhs-Pros and Cons

[SuperK]

With hunting season winding down, how many Tradgangers out there used Zwickey single bevel broadheads this year?  What were your results?  What did you see as pros and cons?  Did you notice an increase in penetration?  Did you observe "S" shaped exit wounds?  How about bloodtrails? Any bone splits?  Were they better or worse than the  broadheads you used to use?    Are you planning to use them in the future?  Any other observations (with any kind of single bevel bhs)that you would care to share?  Thanks for your time.

[Pinecone]

I've been using single bevel Grizzly heads for years and experienced amazing results with them at times...including beaking deer ribs on an entance and shattering a leg bone on an exit.  This year I paid more attention to the S shaped hole and yes, it was definately there.  At my poundage (usually 44# to 48#)penetration has always been excellent.
As for blood trails, I've always had enough blood to follow when necessary, although the trails have not been as heavy as when I use Muzzy Phantoms w/bleeders.
I plan to keep using my faithful Grizzly BHs in future years.  No reason to change something that has worked so well for so long!

Claudia

[toot]

Helpfull info for me, Claudia..

Thank You...

Toot

[ISP 5353]

I bought some this year because I liked the principle of them.  I never hunted with them, because I could never get them as sharp as I wanted and I broke the tip off of one while shooting it into a soft target.  The broadheads, out of the package had almost no bevel at all.  I do not have access to a grinder to put a proper grind on them and it took hours of file work to even get a couple of them close to having an edge.  I may try a different brand, but I just don't have hours to spend trying to finish the manufacturing job on a broadhead with only hand tools.  Maybe the manufacture just rushed these into production too soon or quality control had a bad day.

[Pinecone]

ISP...I think that there is a tutorial on sharpening the Grizz. on one of the forums.  I only use a file and although it made me crazy trying to get the technique down, once I finally "got it", I found it to be pretty simple.  It does take a bit of time to set the bevel initially, but once you have it, the heads require little effort to resharpen.
I'm shocked about your experience with tip breakage.  I've used the same heads for years and they have proven to be virtually indestructible.

Claudia

[Ontario Longbow]

This was done with a Eclipse left wing bevel out of a 54 lbs Widow,,Frank

 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/4297432frank/NY2008039.jpg

PLEASE do not post images that are wider than 640 pixels - thank you.

[Ray Hammond]

This horse has been beaten to death and beyond in recent months.

Why not do a search for "single bevel" and you will see twenty five threads come up...look at the ones with the highest numbers of posts.

Then, if you still arent satisfied with the data you reach there, resurrect that thread by responding to it and asking what else you need to know?

[owlbait]

I think your post is valid. Good time to ask when it is fresh in many minds and ACTUAL results can be referenced. I was hoping to try some STOS single-bevel but did not receive them in time. The picture of the Eclipse seems to show what the expectations were. Wonder what the difference would've been with the double bevel?

[Ray Hammond]

I did not say his post was not valid: What I said was that rather than take up bandwidth rehashing what has been at least 25 threads over the last several months including posts that have many photos like the one here, that he might be able to get more information faster by visiting threads already done on the subject.

The difference if that broadhead had been a double bevel would have likely been that the broadhead would have STUCK in the bone because it was not spinning and the bone would not have been SPLIT as it was by the rotating action of the single bevel.

I shot a hog at approx. 12 to 14 feet with a grizzly 190 just behind the ear canal and into the brain where it ended up lodged at the back of the eye socket- it split the 200 lb hog skull as it entered. The bone at that point was around 5/8 inch thick. The hog was DRT- no shaking, no quivering, DRT.

[Pat B.]

I'd bet the double bevel would have worked in much the same manner.. In fact, I sheared the heavy bone just below the scapula on a good sized pig a couple of weeks back with a double bevel Eclipse 145.  
I see the threaded portion of your steel broadhead adapter broke off.. Sure hate to see that. I use them too..

[Mike Gerardi]

A CON to any broadhead is bad shot placement.

[Jason Jelinek]

I saw S shaped entrance and exit holes on the doe I shot this year.  I got nearly a complete passthrough (if it wouldn't have stuck in the side of the hill it would have passed through completely), and the broadhead rotated 90 degrees through the animal.  I was shooting a 625 grain arrow with 23% FOC.  My friend basically shot the same setup as me and he also got a pass-through with s shaped entrance and exit wounds and the broadhead rotated 90 degrees through the animal.

[SuperK]

Sorry to beat a dead horse to death.  That wasn't my intentions.  I was just trying to see what experiences; good or bad, that YA'LL have experienced...personally!  Sometimes "things" don't measure up to all its said to be.  I shot a Zwickey No Mercy LW single bevel broadhead into a buck that my buddy killed with a rifle.  It was hanging up by its rear legs and I shot it at approx. 10-15 feet with a 45 lb. recurve, poplar arrow (510-520 grains) and matching left wing feathers.  FOC approx 12%.  I was trying to hit the deer in the shoulder blade.  I hit a little lower, right where the shoulder blade tapers into the leg bone.  When the arrow hit, it made a loud crack.  The arrow did not break. The arrow went in only the length of the broadhead. I was able to remove the broadhead by wiggling the broadhead back and forth.  This was not what I was expecting.  I was just trying to see if anyone else had experienced "less-than-expected" results while hunting or if what I saw was an exception to the norm.  I'm sorry if I didn't "word" my question properly.  Please accept my apology.

[Steve O]

Don't they use RW on those single bevels so the head wants to tighten on the shaft when it hits something rather than unscrew and lose that energy?

Don't worry about your "wording"...there is a lot of information if you do a search, and THAT is a good tool to know about.

[Jason Jelinek]

I don't think the Zwickey No Mercy are built the same as Grizzly's.  After the first 1/4 of the head the blade goes to single thickness (much thinner than a Grizzly) and just doesn't have the bevel surface area for the rotation that the Grizzly has.

The No Mercy has a lower mechanical advantage than the Grizzly, meaning its wider and shorter, requiring more work to get it through.

Additionally, Ashby has found that 650 grains seems to be the heavy bone threshold (regardless of deer or water buffalo, heavy bone is heavy bone), so the arrow might have been a little light.  Apparently FOC has little effect on bone penetration only soft flesh so the 12% FOC wouldn't be any better than 24% FOC on this hit.

I'm by no means an expert on this, but the combination of these 3 factors may have led you to your result.

Jason

[rascal]

I used 125 grain Eclipse single bevel broadheads out of a self bow that I made this year.  The draw weight on the bow came in a little lower than I anticipated and it settled out at a mere 38# at my draw length.  I used a POC shaft with no modifications to weight so Im sure on the light side of things.  I sharpened the blades first with my pedestal grinder to establish an angle that satisfied my sense of "sharp",then on to some file work and finally on to a stone to get them razor sharp.  I wont say they were the sharpest BHs that Ive ever had but they were passable and probably had as much to do with my inexperience with single bevel as anything else.

Long story short I managed to put the sharp end of my arrow into a nice buck this year at about 18 yards.  The buck was approximately 170 pounds and I managed about as close to a pass through as possible without actually going through him.  I think when he lurched forward at the impact of the arrow he managed to shatter the shaft into 3 pieces (at least thats how I found the arrow).  Fletch end of the shaft laid where the shot took place and the other two parts were recovered while field dressing.  The broadhead broke off with just 1/2 inch of shaft left and a piece of shaft about 6 inches long in the chest cavity.  The BH stopped just under the hide on the off side of the shot.  I think what broke the arrow and stopped its forward progress was the shot placement, one side was just behind the leg and the other just forward of the off side leg.  The deer traveled less than 50 yards total, he was ABSOLUTELY dead in less than one minute.  I saw the whole thing from my stand and he kicked just one time after going down.

This is by no means conclusive evidence that single bevel broadheads are the absolute best design possible but Im sure gonna do a lot more research with them.  (By research I mean hunting if that wasnt clear hehe) I would certianly recommend them at this point but as with most things your mileage may vary.

[SuperK]

ttt

[Bonebuster]

My ten yr old got his first bowkill this past fall with a left bevel Zwickey No Mercy.

He was shooting a forty pound compound, with a four hundred twenty grain arrow. He centered the lungs, breaking a rib on the way in, and passing between the ribs on the way out. (pass thru)

The deer only went forty yards and was down...blood all over.

The cutting edge did NOT hold up, and was curled in severely. Not the tip, the edge. I would say the damage to the head occured upon entry, when it broke a rib.(between ribs on the way out)

Next year, he will be shooting a broadhead that contains steel that is harder. I feel the edge should have held up much better than it did.

Beat to death or not, the question was specific.

I feel the edge did NOT hold up as expected.

In addition, the commonly referred to "s" shape exit was NOT present. The entry hole was much wider than the cutting diameter of the head.

We did use left wing fletching, with a high FOC carbon arrow.

I honestly feel the No Mercy heads we had, were much softer than the several dozen Deltas that I have, and have used for years.

JMHO.

[SuperK]

Anybody else use'em this year?