Matt's Boar; Fighting Shield; and Busted 75-Grain Adaptor...

[Benny Nganabbarru]

G'day,

A couple of weeks ago, my mate Matt Wright shot this fellow after quite a stalk, with his 66" Black Widow longbow, 70# @ 29", and GoldTip arrows with Zwickey broadheads on those 75-grain steel adaptors. The first shot was a pass-through, and a tad far back. The second shot, after a good run through the scrub to keep him in sight, put the boar down very quickly with a shot through both lungs that stopped dead on the offside shoulder. He went to pull the arrow out, and the broadhead stayed where it was. He cut it out, and we had a bit of a look at the fighting shield. It was nearly an inch thick, and extended right back along the flanks over all the ribs. We surmise that it is the shield combined with the shoulder blades that really prevents many pass-throughs with our heavy gear, whereas we get pass-throughs when we hit them back a bit; the former, whilst lacking in pass-throughs, is preferred for bringing them down quick-smart. Anyway, I digress, as I wanted to share the structural failure of the 75-grain steel adaptor that Doctor Ed was talking about. Prior this, I hadn't experienced such failure, and had brought down some big animals; in future, I'll be making the change to 125-grain adaptors if using carbons. Another mate, Tony Jensen, took the deadly photographs.

Cheers,

Ben

 

 

 

[Matabele]

Wow talk about a clean break, looks like it was cut through! You can see now that its in two pieces how weak the structure actually is, no wonder it broke.

Good move in going over to the heavier 125gr ones. Also I think Ben, Dr Ashby started using the adapters from Kustom King as he said they were built far more sturdier at all weights, including the 75gr ones...maybe something to try if you want to keept the point weight the same.

Great pig tho  

[Ben Maher]

ben, just today set up my first set of carbons. I'm using 100gn
Adaptors ....more to spine them well than anything.(i'm dropping 100gns down from my woodies.) the shot into the offside shoulder is always my preferred shot as i know its going thru the important places. Short of complete pass thru's, my arrows have never faired too well with the shot you describe.(great pig by the way!congrats!)the large boar i took in QLD last year had pads quite similar and wrought havoc on the Ribtek,adaptor and (2018 @ 620gns)arrow in general. Having said that, for years we took to big ol' mud caked hogs with mild FOC woodies,alloys and (mid weight carbons from wheelies). The 75gns may not be as strong as  the 125's but perhaps strong enough(i've only briefly read the Ashby 75gn findings so mayhaps i've jumped in early...oops...but i'm all excited 'bout the new carbons)? Sure looks like it was effective! As we tend to over engineer,perhaps(and i'm more guilty than anyone else!) the comparisons lead us to further and further to better,faster,stronger etc. The breakage of the 75gn'ers is of concern but....an arrow belting into them pads are destined for occasional grief! I have to run and hide....someone found out i'm about to shoot carbons outta my Hills ! Ssshhh

[d. ward]

Thank you Ben real interesting.bowdoc

[Bonebuster]

The only thing you guys are lacking in Australia,
is tracking snow!

Thanks for the heads-up.

Cool photo`s.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

The cat's out of the bag now, Southern Ben! Shooting carbons out of a Hill is a heresy worthy of the sternest retribution!

Mark, in future I'll use the 50-grain brass inserts instead of the 100-grainers; so jumping from 75-grain adaptors to 125-grainers keeps all things equal.

Tracking snow'd be handy sometimes; sand is a bit different to snow, from what I've read.

[Pruneemac]

thats why I shoot Gold Tip and use the internal weights that thread on the back of the insert.

[RC]

Ben, Do you think it broke on impact or from the boar moving his shoulder running? Nice hog by the way.RC

[Benny Nganabbarru]

RC, I think it broke on impact, because by the time Matt put that arrow in, the boar had stopped in the long grass, and went down on the offside flank instantly. The broadhead was found up against the opposite shoulder, but hadn't stuck-in.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Congrats on the fine hog and thanks for the heads up.

[mmgrode]

Congrats to Matt on his hog. They sure are cool critters.  I'm always amazed at the thickness of those shields.  I can only imagine what a fight is like between two mature boars that they would need such protection!  Cool stuff!

[vermonster13]

Congrats on a tough one

[tradtusker]

thanks Ben ya when the good doctor put out his concern i checked mine and they broke in the exact same place so i took them out off all my broadheads and threw them away just use the 125s from Kustom King they are MUCH better

[StickBender55]

I don't use these myself but someone should run a few of these through a band saw and post the results. When all that is holding it together is as indicated in the photo it's not a wonder why they fail, hogs or otherwise.

[dino]

When this first came up I cut one in half.  The adapter came from 3Rivers before these threads came up.  The insert on the right is an aluminum that I cut in half for comparison.  Have no idea the orgin of the alum. adapter. dino

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Those ones look like they've got more beef in them, Dino.

[carparcher]

tough critter.  got to hand it to those hogs.

[trashwood]

really nice pig.  

rusty

[hickstick]

yah dino...those definitely aren't the 75 grn steel adaptors they are selling now.  the hole milled through the middle goes all the way down to the 'stepdown' or shoulder. (and the taper in yours is way longer)

[Dave Bulla]

You can see in the pic of the broken ferrule that the dished area showing in the end of the shaft insert is actually the bottom of the hole.  Looks like there were only a few thousandths of metal around the edge.  Completely undetectable from the outside until it breaks or you grind one down like in the last pic.  

Luckily, it didn't break on impact and wasn't the first shot.