Years ago, I tried the Muzzy's. I used them for a while with a compound and thought I'd try the with my longbows. They worked great with the compound, not so much with the longbows. I shot 3 deer in one season with them, and while they did kill, the penetration was awful.
With the Zwickeys, I consistently got two holes, even shooting on quartering shots. On broadside shots, the arrows would zip right through. The first deer I shot with the Muzzy's was a 2.5 year old buck. When he ran off after I hit him, I thought I'd hit his shoulder bone on the way in, as most of the arrow was still hanging out of him on the entry side.
He did end up dying within about 50 yards, though. I did get both lungs, but it didn't come out the other side. The next two deer I shot were does, and I did get complete penetration, but just barely. I decided to go back to the Zwickeys after that for big game. That was with a lemonwood bow, pulling around 50-55@30". The Muzzy's were on an aluminum shaft and the Zwickey's were on poplar shafts.
My Dad and I also did a test on a big boar hog he shot with a .22. I shot it with my compound setup (Browning Mirage Hunter 90, 65@29, overdraw, aluminum arrows weighing 400 grain, maybe less; my lemonwood bow with the poplar arrows and Zwickeys, weighing around 550 grains; and one of my hickory self bows (around 60@30), trade points, and hickory shafts weighing around 850-900 grains.
The self bow with the trade points penetrated the most, punching all the way through both of the shields. The arrows almost came all the way out. The Zwickeys from the lemonwood bow, also punched two holes, but the arrow stayed in him, about equal amounts in and out. The compound with the muzzy's only got about 6-8 inches total penetration. I screwed on a 100 grain magnus tip and did get two holes, about like the lemonwood bow got.
It was a big hog, too, with thick shields. I took some polaroids of the whole thing. I'll see if I can dig them up.
We figured that the compound was shooting twice the speed of the selfbow. I do believe a much heavier arrow would have helped in the penetration department with the Muzzy, but I really believed they are meant to be shot with much higher velocity than can be generated with a traditional bow.
If you think about it, there is a reason chisel points aren't very commonly used among traditional bowhunters, other than on fish, or small game (they make a superb squirrel head). It's not because we oppose the idea, it's because they don't perform as well.
Don't take this as me saying don't use them. Use what you want. I just thought I'd pass on some personal experience and maybe save you a long tracking job. At any rate, if you do use them, I'd like to see if your results are the same as mine.
Topic: Chisel style heads (Read 454 times)
