razorcap performance

[shield cut]

does anyone have any experience with Razorcaps on big game such as Elk or Caibou? I am planning a trip for 08 and am curious to know how these performed on bigger game. I will  be using a 56 pound Quest @ 29 with a finished arrow of 560 to 600 grains.

[Ray Hammond]

caribou are what I call thin skinned game. You won't have any trouble with caribou and razorcaps or wensel woodsman heads.

Elk? Wayne Hoffman went to Africa and shot all sorts of big plains game there with Razorcaps and had passthrough's on every animal including kudu so I would say go for it.

Personally, I shoot elk and other bigger big game animals with two blades- shot placement and sharpness of the head are the two most important things to watch.

[shield cut]

thanks for the input. I guess my major concern on the Elk would be the bow weight. Is 56 pounds enought to push a razorcap through with a 560 to 600 grain arrow?

Why did you choose the 2 blade head for your elk hunting?

[Ray Hammond]

well, you are rigth around 10 GPP of draw...and you are shooting a 29 inch arrow..if you draw it a legitimate 28..and the bow is a modern recurve with good performance stats.. I think you should be ok. A heavy arrow gets you all the juice out of your bow that you can get from it, makes the bow quieter- in short, there's a lot of good stuff about heavy arrows and only one negative- they begin to arc more dramatically than lighter arrows beyond 20-25 yards.

If you shoot trad anyway, and are limiting your shots like most, then why would that really be an issue anyway?

There's lots of negative to light arrows- noisy, more easily deflected, tough on your bow, much easier for the animal's body to stop its forward momentum because of its lighter mass- all the things you should be working to get away from.

I started out shooting two blades...back then there weren't really any 3 blades except for bodkins and Hill's Hornets, stuff like that, that really didnt perform well at all.

I now shoot Grizzlies but up until 2000 I shot Magnus 1's. Big bone is the reason I chose two blade heads. You've got all kinds of things working against you with the bigger animals-

skip angles on quartering shots(not penetrating at all but skipping along the ribcage and exiting in places like the armpit, brisket, etc)and big bones- I've seen what big bones can do to broadhead tips and penetration...don't like em..Grizzlies spin INSIDE the animal until they contact bone...enough energy behind them gives them the chance to "bust" through larger stuff by splitting it open.

You might want to read the Ashby reports on TG to familiarize yourself.

[Arrow4Christ]

I'd do it...but then again, I'm the guy who's shootin' 160gr. Snuffers at elk this year, so don't count on me. Never shot an elk either.

[Ray Hammond]

I actually think the WW is a better head than the RC is...its less expensive, it sharpens nicely, and if you are using carbons  you can use the glue on with a steel adapter to increase mass and do the weight forward thing on the lighter carbons to help you get to the mass you are looking for, and the carbons will help your penetration issue as well.

[Arrow4Christ]

less expensive, but the RC takes like a minute to sharpen with a ceramic rod.

[bushwood]

I am no experts by any means! But, I have taken Elk, Moose, Caribou and Bear with traditional gear. I have only shot 3-blade broadheads once and it was on Elk, and they were Razorcaps.

 Let me say first that I was extremely impressed with the Razorcaps ability to sharpen quickly and hold an edge. Much better than the WW in my humble opinion.

 Here's what happened. I shot a bull Elk on a hard quarter away at about 7 yards, I could smell him! Upon impact the arrow turned on the last rib and followed under the skin all the way forward to exit in front of the shoulder on the same side. I would have never known what happened but the bull ran out about thirty yards and stopped when I bugled. I am a firm believer in getting as many arrows into big game as possible, no matter how confident you are with your first shot. Long story short, the second and third arrow were in the lungs and he fell within 50 yards.

 Upon inspection we discovered the first arrow's path and were floored! I would have bet all the tea in China that the first shot was a killer. We also had the kill on film so once we saw the footage we confirmed the theory. There was a perfect slice over 30" long down the side of that bull. That arrow just slid right under the skin for almost 3 feet.

 Needless to say, after that I went back to the 2-blades.

[Ray Hammond]

That's what I'm talking about Bushwood- I call that "skip angle"....just sliding along the bone and exiting without cutting anything important.

"""skip angles on quartering shots(not penetrating at all but skipping along the ribcage and exiting in places like the armpit, brisket, etc)""""

Thanks for adding your personal experience in this...

[shield cut]

Great info guys thanks for taking the time !!

[sticbow]

that's why I like to put as much weight forward on my carbons as possible I have a 100 brass insert 165 glue on interceptor and 125 steel adaptor..this is just my 2 cents..when hitting a quartered away all the nose weight keeps pushing forward with little weight in the shaft behind..I have always thought that when the weight is put into the complete shaft it would be more likey to deflect or have the nock end swing wide as the tip enters the skin.
  does anybody understand what I am trying to explane???? I have seen this happen shooting targets at an angle..