Narrow versus wider broadhead

[Randy Cooling]

This is from my latest copy of Africa's Bowhunter.
The article was by Ricardo Longoria.This was the authors note at the end of his article.
 
   "I hunted my Cape Buffalo with a 77 pound Harrison Black Wolf Longbow shooting arrows in the 1,025 grain range. I used a narrow broadhead, but found that as long as the hit was in the "sweeet spot", a wider broadhead would have worked and not have had any penetration problems.I actually feel that the lower angle of attack on the narrower broadheads allow someof the tissue to slip around the blade instead of being cut. The higher angle of attack on a wider broadhead such as a MagnusI is more deadly in my opinion.
     I concluded after my hunt that a high performance traditional bow with a minimum of a 75 pound draw in the hands  of somebody with a least a 28 inch draw is adequate for a Cape buffalo,if hitting the proper spot.If one hits the overlapping ribs, 90 pounds or more would probably be necessary.Arrows  should be as heavy as one can get to fly properly and with a narrow shaft diameter.I used Forgewood shafts on the Cape Buffalo and was very pleased with their performance.The only thing I would change from my setup is to have a much wider broadhead that would hopefully cause the animal to expire more quickly.A double lung hit with a narrow broadhead was not enough to bring the Cape buffalo bull down immediatly,as I would of liked."
    In my opinion a lung hit is a lung hit.I would rather use the little narrower broadhead and be prepared for a rib hit.Last august I killed a Water buffalo and watched it tip over on the run at 200 yards.This is the only dangerous game animal I've ever shot and I don't think I would want a bigger head than the 160 grain Grizzly that I was using.

[waterone]

BTW, this is the link for Africa's Bowhunter - why can't we get all these mags in the US, Africa, Australian?

  Africa\\'s Bowhunter  

chuck

[Markus]

Originally posted by Randy Cooling:
 the narrower broadheads allow some of the tissue to slip around the blade instead of being cut. The higher angle of attack on a wider broadhead such as a MagnusI is more deadly in my opinion.

Imo this is more caused by a lack of the broadheads sharpness after going through the ribs than caused by a lack of cutting width.
I get the ABH since it came out about 3 years ago. Ricardo is quite hunting often and writing a lot of articles for that magazine. Lucky guy.

I love the look of his arrows.
 

[Rick McGowan]

I count Ricardo as a friend of mine and we have traded arrows, heads and information. He does have a lot of experience and I agree in principle with most of what he says. I do not agree about using the wider head on buffalo though. I did use a wide head, a Magnus 160 on the first buffalo I shot and it did not penetrate the ribs. I learned a lot from that expensive mistake. I don't think a buffalo with a slightly bigger hole though the ribs is going to expire any faster. I shot one with a 160 Grizzly across the top of the heart and in went down in 17 paces. On a buffalo you are never going to get a passthrough, so you need to get all the penetration you can, it ain't the only thing, but if you don't get enough penetration then nothing else is going to matter. Where Ricardo and I disagree, is that he thinks the sharper angle of the blades is going to cut more than the longer lower angle of a 3-1 head. He has a point, but the 3-1 head also has a longer cutting edge and penetrates easier. AS long as they are sharpened properly I will have to go with the 3-1 head on animals like buffalo. Rick