Broadhead Failure...

[NDTerminator]

All the pictures being posted of broadheads that have broken or bent badly on impact with critters/bone have gotten me thinking...

Why is it this seems to happen on a fairly regular basis with Trad and the broadheads we tend to use, where it is nowhere near as common with compounds and the replacable & multiple blade broadheads commonly used there.

I don't ever recall having a broadhead ferrule break on game I shot with a compound.  A couple minor bends and a couple instances of a single blade breaking yes, but never a complete failure.

It would seem with the higher speed of the average compound, this would be much more common than with Trad....

[Bear Heart]

shot placement

[overbo]

I differ on that opion.I've had many heads not fair well durring my compound years.Ferrules snap in 2.blades broke and lost.Even had a expandable resemble more of a candy cane in shape after a meeting w/ a 80lbs does shoulder.

[ishiwannabe]

Arrow weights.

[jrchambers]

i have been using a couple different broadheads for a while, one i liked was the razor cap i use the 175 model due to the tougher ferrule,but i just saw a razorcap that a friend shot through a bear and when it contacted the bait barrel it absolutly fell apart, all three blades were split in diferent directions, this all happened after a pass through an animal, now i know most every one will say it already did its job but it still failed even after that much energy taken.  then to think about the same broadhead on a moose rib or not to mention leg or shoulder, made me wonder.  oh yeah he was shooting a compound,

[tradtusker]

iv found different, i think a there are a LOT more failures with compounds, i have broken countless  broadheads when i shot a compound, it was a regular occurrence, mechanical blades snapping of all the time. ferrules bending or breaking, 2 blades bending.

iv gotta really work at wrecking my Magnus or Zwickey 2 blades now

[bayoulongbowman]

ha ha ....Ive seen it both ways , I use to work in the largest bow shop in Louisiana, trust me , it goes both ways!!  

[Guru]

Same here..I'm with overbo and tradtusker....seen way,way more failures with buddies compound BH's than the one's most of us use...

I believe you'll find that your personal experience is diff. than most...

[stick_string]

My .02 cents but.... I dont think you hear about it as much with Compound shooters, cause honestly...they dont talk as much as this group    

(one of the reasons I love the gang...everything is scrutinized because we typically do it harder, but are more proficient)

[Molson]

And don't forget to put it in perspective.  A few dozen pics of broken broadheads is but a drop in the bucket and hardly an accurate representation.  Any head can fail for a variety of reasons, the least of which is found in the manufacturing.

[SlowBowinMO]

My observation has been your typical "trad" style head is a lot tougher than the usual component type heads used by most compound bow shooters.

[frassettor]

I always thought that the heavier the arrow weight the better  :confused:  I know there is some point where it works against you when there is to much weight...at what point that is, I would sure like to know

[hormoan]

I agree with Tim, as I was one of those wheel shooters for years. And really cannot remember one replaceable blade head. Or especially mechaically heads not losing one or more of its blades on deer. And thats around 25 heads with failer. But they all killed  the deer with failure?

Today I shoot solid two blades like the Abowyers.

[Molson]

Originally posted by frassettor:
I always thought that the heavier the arrow weight the better   :confused:   I know there is some point where it works against you when there is to much weight...at what point that is, I would sure like to know

A heavier arrow is always better where penetration is concerned. If your broadhead breaks on a hard hit, then you applied the maximum amount of force that particular head could take on that hit.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Most of my hunting partners shoot compounds. In the (no exageration) hundreds of big game animals they've killed, I can't remember a single broadhead ferrule failing.

[Gray Buffalo]

out of our almost 20,000 memmbers its not much more then .05% that we are talking about.

[xtrema312]

I have had a couple two blade heads get rolled up points from bone or hits in the ground after pass through.  I have seen a couple expandable failures.  I have shoot muzzy broad heads for many years and about 50 kills with never more than a bent replaceable blade even on hard bone hits.  I have muzzy heads that have killed 6-8 deer still in the quiver and other than ending up on the wall with a rack I have never had to retire one.

[Orion]

Been using cut on contact two and 4-blade heads for 40 years, slightly rounding and now tantoing the tips;  Never had one fail.  Have seen a number of my compound buddies lose blades in animals, and no, they didn't always get the animal.

[NDTerminator]

Thanks, I was purely curious on what other's experiences are in this area.

I've not yet had a Magnus 2 blade fail, although I've seen a couple slightly bent tips after hitting the ground on a pass through.  Shooting a 45# Matthews, my wife blew a Magnus 100 grain clean through a big old 4 point in November.  Chopped ribs in two with no damage to the broadhead.

My gut instinct is that Trad broadhead failures are probably a factory of the much heavier arrows we usually use putting a ton of stress on the broadhead when it hits bone.

For the record I'm a proponent of lighter weight arrows (10-11 GPP) on medium sized game when hunting with my recurves, and lighter weight 2 blade broadheads...

[Guru]

Originally posted by NDTerminator:
For the record I'm a proponent of lighter weight arrows (10-11 GPP) on medium sized game when hunting with my recurves, and lighter weight 2 blade broadheads...

10-11gpp lighter weight?????