Wicked looking broadhead

[dougedwards]

What do you think of this new Steeforce broadhead?

[kevin k]

Doug they look awesome and very strong i am going to get some to try after seeing them shoot thru steel drums and concrete board there is no way bone is gonna stop them thanks for bringing them to my attention. kevin k

[dougedwards]

Let me know how you like them Kevin. I use 125 grain broadheads trying to keep a good FOC going and Steelforce doesn't make a 125 grain in this particular style. If I hear that they shoot well I may opt for the 145 grain version which would put my hunting arrows at 430 grains total. Even if I have to move my pins for increased drop at longer ranges it might be worth it to shoot such a devastating broadhead.

Doug

[wilmsmeyer]

Broadheads come and go. One thing that doesn't change much is the energy they provide...usually you only have a certain weight and a max speed which determines that....and bone is a tough medium for any broadhead.

Almost every broadhead design works great on "soft" angles and I'm sure this one will too. However, a broadhead is a broadhead and there is no magic with bone. Avoid bones.

The "kickers" on this head suggest to me that a hit on a bone from an angle will cause the arrow to "kick" towards the weak side as the strong side digs in, and impede straight line penetration.

In my experience a rugged simple 3 blade design...no frills....is hard to beat and will (might) drive straighter then the fancy, ones.

With our bows and arrows, soft targets are the key....

The only bone I would ever feel I could defeat is the shoulder blade. It varies in size and density depending on deer age/sex/size. The other bones...like the spine, are rugged and it's a crap shoot with ANY broadhead as to if a broadhead can do the job.

Gotta avoid bones with arrows.

[dougedwards]

Mar 10, 2010 23:33:40 GMT -5 wilmsmeyer said:

The "kickers" on this head suggest to me that a hit on a bone from an angle will cause the arrow to "kick" towards the weak side as the strong side digs in, and impede straight line penetration.

<snip>

Great point

[sw]

Mar 10, 2010 23:33:40 GMT -5 wilmsmeyer said:

and bone is a tough medium for any broadhead.

Almost every broadhead design works great on "soft" angles and I'm sure this one will too. However, a broadhead is a broadhead and there is no magic with bone. Avoid bones.

The other bones...like the spine, are rugged and it's a crap shoot with ANY broadhead as to if a broadhead can do the job.

Gotta avoid bones with arrows.

I shoot a Strikeforce x-bow. It has some "power"!! I shoot a 438g arrow/broadhead at 383'/sec. This season I shot a doe in the scapula at 30 yds with the SF . My broadhead is a 125g Thunderhead, a great broadhead! It didn't penetrate far and I lost the doe. This is with >100'lbs of energy! Arrows and bones don't go well or haven't for me.

[sagittarius]

Have shot Steelforce broadheads for years with my compounds, Doug.
Would use them with my Scorpyd but the manufacturer of the vanes on the arrows I use recommends the NAP Nightmare because of the flight.
When I get my next crossbow, I'm getting some more Steelforce.

[sw]

I was sent 2 175g Slick Tricks/field points to test. Ideas on these? Too little FOC won't be a problem, especially on the 312g 20" Red Hots.

[dougedwards]

My brother-in-law uses the cheap Allen broadheads from Walmart. I think they are less than $5 each and you can't convice him to use anything else. Placed in the chest of any whitetail almost any sharp bladed broadhead will perform.

I didn't know that there were Slick Tricks in 175 grain. Many of the guys over in Archery Talk love the 100 grainers. I just don't like installing the blades into the ferule which is why I have stuck with Magnus Stingers. But honestly I don't think I have ever found a broadhead that will shoot exactly as my field points at really long range. I always have to make some adjustments.

Doug

[artjr338wm]

Wilmsmeyer makes a excellent point and does so with simplistic perfection.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone what so ever, but IMHO with to days archery equipment, especially with equipment such as broad heads, manufacturers spend more time designing their products with the intension of "harvesting" bow hunters than the actual game we hunt.

My friends and I all have used plane Jane 3 bladed fixed broad heads to kill all our deer for over the last 25 years. None of them we use cost more than $35 per six let alone per 3. Two of us use Nap T-Heads and two of us use Wasps. My personal favorite is the three bladed BH made by Wasp, the Wasp SST Boss. I like it because it is assembles dirt simple, it's blades are scary hair popping sharp, it flys great, and it is almost indestructible. By indestructible I mean I have accidentally shot it into the steel unistrut I used to hold my HM archery target to gether with, shot them trough steel 55gal drums and steel garbage cans, and even a few tires, and with out exception my wasp BH remained in one piece and never lost a single blade. Best part I bought mine on sale for $29.99 per six, so I bought seven packs. I have killed my last 8 or 10 deer with them all dbl lung pass th roughs and every one left what I like to call a "Ray Charles" blood trial.

As already said by Wilms, any well made fix bladed BH put in the lungs/heart will kill any antlered animal in North America. Like all hunting it is all about shot placement, but shot placement is the god of killing when it comes to archery. There is no BH I know of that can help you when you make a marginal shot on a deer, especially a large mature buck, particularly a hit it in the paunch were there is almost nothing there for a BH to cut and cause a quick death.

I have no doubt all these new Bh designs work well and kill deer and even elk, but any better than say a T-head or a Wasp, or a Muzzy? doubtful at best. They definitely will do as good a job for quite a bit more $$$ though, of that I have no doubt.

[dougedwards]

Good points Art. I think that anyone who has bow hunted to any extent has experienced an unrecovered animal even though it seemed to be a good hit. Sometimes we tend to blame the broadhead for not doing it's job. Maybe we seem to need to blame something because it surely is a sick feeling to lose an animal after a lot of hard work and preparation.

Us bow hunters are always looking for something that might alleviate the pain of what feels like failure in the hunting field. New broadheads are produced with 2 1/8" cutting diameter and our ears and eyes perk up. We want a quick kill and recovery and are always looking for an edge toward that end.

However I think that the real problem isn't with the archer or the broadhead. The ever popular whitetail deer is an animal of very quick reflexes and capable of moving more than a foot by the time the arrow reaches it's intended target. Most of the time I can hit a softball sized target at 70 yards but am also very capable of missing a deer altogether at 25 yards. But when I don't miss and still don't recover my deer I have a tendency to wonder what happened???

Thus we blame the broadhead and continue in our search for the new and improved best of the best. Probably just human nature to do that but it is part of what makes hunting fun and exciting IMO.

Doug

[sw]

Doug,
I think you are correct in your accessment. Art, I have long held to the belief that almost any currently made broadhead will work adequately if it has proper placement. I do also feel that some broadheads allow a little more forgiveness(1 3/8" cut vs 1 1/8" cut, 4 blades, etc). With powerful x-bows even larger cuts can be handled. I am likely to go back to my 1st broadhead which seems to have most of what I want - 145g Super Razorhead.