100g brass insert broke on big buck!HELP!

[PAPA BEAR]

not tryin to be hard on you but you really need to get a good ethical shot or let em walk.we all get excited and lose our common sense sometimes.i've done it a few times,got lucky and found the elk but was very ashamed of myself for not waiting a few seconds more.i speak from experience trust me on that one.worst one was a 5x5 bull that i ended up tracking at least a mile before i finally found him bedded and put another arrow in him.i beat myself up good that day.

[amar911]

As others have said, that is not a good angle for a shot. But to address the arrow situation, the best solution I have found for an arrow that will maintain its structural integrity during most impacts is an Arrow Dynamics Hammerhead or Hammerhead Lite with a 100 grain brass insert and an aluminum collar that have been glued in with marine grade, slow-set, high-strength epoxy. I have never had any impact from any angle of shot cause one of those arrows to break. The fact that the arrow does not break does not mean that you will get sufficient penetration to kill the animal if you strike heavy bone or other barriers to penetration, but at least you are maximizing your chances of a kill when you take a good shot and just hit something you didn't expect.

Allan

[Covey]

I'm in aggreement with the bad shot angle. No matter how big the buck is, a fella wants a good broadside or slighty quartering away shot. No problem with the arrow! Jason

[BigJim]

The brass insert and threaded broadhead are much stronger than the shaft itself. I'm shure that its breaking didn't impede penetration, nor will any woody or aluminum be able to withstand the type of force it took to break that insert.

If that set up failed, you can expect anything else to be even more inadequate.

BigJim

[erierik]

I agree on shot angle,my son shot one quatering to,doe,we tracked for 250 yards,found deer with arrow just thru leg/shouder bone and into top of heart barely...about 6"penetration.He learned a good lesson.He was lucky that time.

[stalkin4elk]

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=070146#000000
2-2009 THE PERFECT ARROW This thread really discusses building an arrow that can handle angled impacts. Also review Ashby reports for great writing on angled impacts. Hope this helps.

[bttsj1]

I know the angle was wrong. Is a quartering away angle wrong?  No, but its an agled shot. I never thought that the brass insert was the weakest link in my setup. Oh, besides the shooter himself.
The angle was very slight & I was on the ground. I believe that I would have had more penetration if the insert hadn't broken & the hit would have been fatal. Got to build a stronger setup. Shooting this setup is just as "unethical" as taking angled shots.

[BigJim]

How do you know that the insert broke on contact? You recovered the arrow but not the buck. If the broadhead is stuck in the bone and the arrow is struck from the side, it would be much more likely to break rather than breaking while driving straight forward or even glancing forward.
I have driven field tips, and broadheads into trees and off rocks. I have bent the threaded ends of points all with arrows sporting brass inserts by bows with draw weight no less than 82lbs and have never had a brass insert fail. Now, I never came in from the side and tried to break the insert sideways while it was stuck in a tree or the like.
Not everything may be as it seams.
Just a thought, Bigjim

[Kip l Hoffman]

1/4ing shots to you are always tough.  15 yards should have been a piece of cake, but that may have been the problem.  it was so close that you didn't pay quite the attention to the shot that you should have.  When you say you went "a little high" I wonder if you hit the neck bone or perhaps the top of the spine.  Shoulder blades even on big bucks are rather soft compared to neck back or leg bones.  With only 3.5" of penetration, i question that you killed him.  I suspect that two animals leaned a lesson in the woods that day.  Keep the same set up and hope you get another chance.  I have nev

[Hookeye]

How do you know the arrow broke while driving  and not after stopping?

Angled shots all the same? Cmon man, don't let your upset be placed anywhere other than where it needs to be.

If you want to play that lack of logic game, of demonizing all angled shots to make yourself feel better, buy a rifle.

[vtmtnman]

It comes down to shot angle.

[Bill Carlsen]

It also involves short range shooting. Animals that I have shot at at close range get startled at the shot and duck. If they are further away they will more likely look in the direction of the sound of the shot before they take flight. I bet on this shot the deer was moving when the arrow struck and my best guess is  you hit bone pretty solidly and when the deer finally got its feet under him that whole insert and broadhead had so much tourque on it and it couldn't take the forces put on it. I can't imagine an insert breaking. I've shot them into basement walls with out damage. I have had broadhead adapters break, however, which is a whole different thing. Do you have a pic of what was left of the arrow? It might give us a better understanding of what happened.

[wingnut]

Dang Texas deer duck and spin on everyshot.  What looks like a center lung hit often is a broken back or complete miss.  If you hit vertibra and not spine it's not good.

I had this happen with wood shafts on a bear in Saskatchwan.  Arrow hit a rib on the way in and snapped behind the broadhead.  Last time I used Chundoo.

Mike