# Mechanical broadheads for traditional??



## Onwardoutdoors (Oct 16, 2016)

Ive been shooting trad for a while now and have always shot magnus stingers and have had great results, but I have always wondered about shooting mechanical with  my trad bow. Before I swapped to trad I only shot mechanicals and always had better blood trails than with my fixed blades. So my question is...... Is there not a mechanical that will work for trad?


----------



## dm/wolfskin (Oct 16, 2016)

You can play with it and see. I doubt if many or any on here would use a mechanical. I wouldn't myself.


----------



## Onwardoutdoors (Oct 16, 2016)

I have some left over from my compound days I will shoot a few groundhogs and see how they preform I guess


----------



## robert carter (Oct 17, 2016)

Most trad bow set ups will not generate the energy needed for a mechanical. If you want better blood trails get some Simmons or snuffers maybe a Magnus I. They been working great for years. I personally would not hunt with a mechanical from a stickbow. RC


----------



## Curvebow05 (Oct 17, 2016)

I'm not crazy about the idea of mechanicals with traditional equipment however, after using them exclusively with excellent results for many years from the compound, several companies make some with good performance from lower speed bows. The rage 40ke for example is designed to give great performance from bows shooting under the normal threshold. Do they fly great? Absolutely. Did I kill a bunch of chili bowls full of venison with mechanicals, absolutely. Is it worth paying $40 for three heads that have to be replaced after one animal? No way, Muzzy's are great for the money. Zwickeys I hear are excellent and I am trying to find some to see if I like how they perform this year. I've been shooting Stingers because it was what I found without buying online. To each their own, just ask if it's worth it. Why change from the ones that have proven worthy? I'll give you one scenario and leave it alone. I was shooting a PSE XForce GX slinging a 430ish grain arrow down range at 318 fps. Wicked fast, I cracked a beautiful 3.5 yet old 8 pt a touch low and forward. Leg bone split, bled like a stuck pig(probably not the best analogy) and never died. Once I found the arrow I realized quickly that I got penetration up to the end of the ferrule, where the BH snapped off. Threaded end still in the insert. At the angle I was, had I been shooting something even like a normal classic muzzy, I would've cut the front of that deer's heart. I spent 9 hours tracking that deer, busted him 3 times trying to maneuver in for a second shot, and never saw him again. Had I had something that was more apt to bust through some bone (plan for the worst) I would potentially had much better results that day, the last day of my 2012 season.


----------



## Jake Allen (Oct 17, 2016)

I like a head I can shoot into a sand pile a dozen or so times, sharpen it with a file then go an kill something rank with it. I have no interest in shooting a $15 a piece, use it once and throw it away broadhead.


----------



## deast1988 (Oct 17, 2016)

Only one I'd consider is a phat head CensoredCensoredCensored.


----------



## deast1988 (Oct 17, 2016)

S.o.B. From Stell force


----------



## robert carter (Oct 17, 2016)

My longbow smokes at about 170 fps. The beauty of my equipment is there is nothing in question. As Jeff said. I can practice with the arrow I`m gonna kill with and hit it with a file a rock and its ready for killing. Several times.If anyone even sees a twinkle in my eye considering a mechanical from my longbow you have my permission to slap me as many times as it takes.RC


----------



## Mudfeather (Oct 17, 2016)

One thought...what would be the advantage out of a trad bow?? blood trail is determined by sharpness of the head and shot placement primarily... I use to shoot stingers and they were not as sharp as I get my zwickeys and the stainless was next to impossible for me to get shaving sharp...

I can see some advantage with the compound...I actually shoot the rages out of my vectrix... Most shoot them because compounds can be a tad touchy to tune so they fly like the field points...With a trad bow if you get a bare shaft flying where you are shooting it at 15 yds...then you cant put enough blade on the front to make it outsteer 3 feathers on the back...????


----------



## sawtooth (Oct 17, 2016)

nope. I got no use for them.


----------



## Onwardoutdoors (Oct 17, 2016)

Well, I have determined to stay with a fixed blade. I smoked a groundhog at 40 today and the blades did not deploy to the full extent. On this note, Besides the ole faithful stingers whats a good fixed blade to shoot?


----------



## Mudfeather (Oct 18, 2016)

Different people will like different heads...I think it mainly has to do with the steel they are made of...One friend loved the Ace heads because he could get them shaving sharp with just a file...RC is going to tell you to shoot a wide head and he like the Magnus and Sharks...I dont kill near the critters that the 2 guys mentioned above kill but I use the Zwickey Delta and No Mercy heads...

A head that you can get shaving sharp is better than a wider duller one...


----------



## Todd Cook (Oct 18, 2016)

Most of the old standards are good choices for trad bows. I've had good luck with the Magnus1 and the woodsman 3 blade. I like a steel soft enough to file sharpen. I've got some of the old red 160 grizzly heads I'm about to try. I like them but the steel in them is much harder than the others mentioned so I'm still figuring out the best way to sharpen them.


----------



## Todd Cook (Oct 18, 2016)

Also, I've killed a couple with the big snuffer(160). I don't always get as good of arrow flight with them or I would probably use them all the time. You talk about making a hole in something! They will flat empty a critter.


----------



## oldfella1962 (Oct 18, 2016)

I use Zwickey Eskimo because they are solid and easy to sharpen. Rage and other expanding broad heads look flimsy. I just get the feeling that the blades would bend or break if they hit bone. Maybe they don't, but I guarantee an Eskimo won't.  That and I use a low draw weight recurve - I need all the penetration I get and it's not worth losing that penetration for a slightly larger wound channel. Two lungs beats one lung every time IMO. So adding up the pros and cons, fixed blade is the way to go. That said three blade fixed is a good compromise between a better wound channel and penetration and will fly exactly like a target point.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Oct 18, 2016)

I like Zwickey Eskimos if I'm shooting store-bought heads.


----------



## Jake Allen (Oct 18, 2016)

I like about any wide, cut on contact head as long as it is a Magnus 1.


----------



## dm/wolfskin (Oct 18, 2016)

Anyone using mechanical heads with traditional bows will have trad ghost from the past to put a spell on your bow. Don't do it.


----------



## robert carter (Oct 18, 2016)

I think the best kill anything broadhead would be between the woodsman and any two blade.I shoot fairly low poundage and like the grizzly single bevel as well. Thats what is in my quiver now for the next deer I run across Lord Willing.  RC


----------



## oldfella1962 (Oct 19, 2016)

Onwardoutdoors said:


> Well, I have determined to stay with a fixed blade. I smoked a groundhog at 40 today and the blades did not deploy to the full extent. On this note, Besides the ole faithful stingers whats a good fixed blade to shoot?



Hmmm.....a groundhog? Maybe the broadhead went through so fast (spent so little time in the groundhog) or met so little resistance that it didn't have time to deploy? 
So that gets me to thinking - if you shot a deer dead center in the lungs but just by chance didn't touch a rib could that same thing (not expanding) happen? I think it would be cool to scientifically test this theory if it hasn't been done already. Slow motion video, x-ray machines, chrono testing, etc. could prove very interesting.


----------



## Southern Cyote (Oct 19, 2016)

How about some DRT'S . They're expensive but they come real sharp.


----------



## Barry Duggan (Oct 19, 2016)

I wouldn't even shoot them out of compound much less a trad bow, but that's just me.


----------



## Al33 (Oct 19, 2016)

Here is something you might want to try. I recently bought them but snapped off the bleeder blades because they made it harder to insert into my quiver foam and with a 1.5" cutting diameter I don't believe they are necessary. I suppose leaving them in would provide you with a better blood trail, ie, bigger holes. The heads come razor sharp but even so they are a breeze to resharpen. I am liking them a lot.


----------



## KevinK (Oct 19, 2016)

OK, I couldn't resist commenting on this post. I started first with a compound then just recently switched over to trad. Look at the recent history of archery from the 1960's to today. The market has followed the working man and how much time he had to devote to this sport/hobby. Back in the day we worked a 40 hour week and didn't have a 1-2 hour commute each way to work, maybe didn't work as many weekends (if any). Fast forward to today. Yep, we work a lot more hours, weekends, travel and commute isn't what it was back then. Archery is a sport that takes time, even more time for traditional. So technology gets better. Hey, buy this recurve put sights on, it takes "less practice". Buy this compound bow that is actually 55 pound draw but feels like 30 pounds at full draw (even less time investment required). Now you "Need this mechanical broadhead, it looks cool" that shoots exactly like your field point guaranteed so no broadhead tuning required (even less time required). OK the catch is you need a 60-70 pound bow to deliver the required 55 lb + KE to get the blades to deploy. But guess what, you don't have to practice much. In short, it's a marketing ploy trying to keep up with the changing lifestyle culture of the modern hunter that probably makes more money than the hunter 40-50 years ago but works longer hours and has less time to devote to being better at his craft. The guys that need the mechanicals are essentially golfers, you buy more expensive clubs your score gets better, etc. Another thing to consider, ethical kills. Mechanical broadheads can and do provide ethical kills but think about shoving a 2, 3 or 4 blade coc BH through a beef roast and then the same size roast pushing a mechanical BH through it. The COC cuts, the mechanical rips and creates trauma. Yes, maybe more blood, less chance of clotting but probably more painful, if that matters to you. Not nearly as quick as a gunshot wound(trauma but quick) but not the sharp clean cut of a razor sharp COC. Mechanical broadheads I am sure will be getting more efficent but require a lot of wasted energy to deploy. Just my $0.02 and hope not to offend everyone. Oh and the reason I switched to trad? I work in a high tech field, life is complicated, I wanted my free time to be "simple", "basic" and "reliable". When a "good" engineer designs a machine he/she keeps it simple, yet effective to last longer with fewer points of failure.


----------



## gurn (Oct 19, 2016)

Ok never had the urge ta shoot ah mechanical form ah longbow but if I just had ta I think it would look somthin like this
https://jet.com/product/Grave-Digge...chery-3-Pack/0aeddb5a2fcc4dbba6de2891873fd5ff


----------

