Long ago I made a decision to stick with fixed blade broadheads. In large part because I was a traditionalist at heart and a kinship to the past. But lets take a peek at broadheads today, vanes vs feathers  and straight, offset or helical fletch.

Stone – Can break- Razor sharp Needs skill to make, use, and sharpen (knapp).

Steel Zwickey 2 blade below-  Needs to be  sharpened.  Very Strong and proven. not always perfectly centered. Needs Larger feather or vane in offset. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/nsearch/?q=zwickey+broadheads

Trocar Tip Muzzy 3 Blade – Razor Sharp – Perfectly aligned Ferrule

Comes with practice blades.

My favorite for deer and Africa Plains Game.

Muzzy One – All one piece

 

G5  Montec Nice Look. Resharpenable

I just love how the triangular shaped flint and/or steel looked.

 

In today’s society there is a lot of salesmanship that sells the latest and greatest. That is ok, and that is how most of us moved from recurve/longbow to the Compound Bow. Accuracy with sights and Power! The 2014 study below suggests accuracy between the two fixed vs mechanical is statistically insignificant and both need some level of compound tuning for broadhead fixed or mechanical vs fieldpoint. Below is the popular Rage Hypodermic  Mechanical Broadhead

The mechanical allows you to;

Use vanes that are smaller, straight or slightly offset due to less steerage from the head

Reduce arrow planing since the ferrule and exposed blades are lower profile.

More forgiving in an untuned bow.

Provide a wider entrance and exit wound.

But why would you not tune your broadheads? Salesmanship does come in to play.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2014/11/broadhead-test-fixed-blades-vs-mechanicals/

Yes the entry wound from a mechanical is gaping and can leave a great blood trail. Visually from the exterior the wound is stunning. But death comes from hemorrhage inside. I think with a powerful bow the mechanical that opens properly will create more vital tissue damage than perhaps a fixed blade.

Yet the fixed blade head is a failsafe head, always for the most style, “Cut-on-Contact.

How much damage does one need to humanely kill a deer? The fixed blade head has been doing it for thousands of years. The  bottom line is that both have advantages and disadvantages and, ceteris paribus, both kill humanly. It is a  shooters choice! Lower poundage to say 40 pounds may risk a  mechanical not opening. In that case a fixed blade broadhead is perhaps a better choice.

From a practice standpoint with your broadhead, I believe it is essential to prove in your broadhead at game distances. Today’s mechanical is very costly to give one up for practice. I like a  strong ferrule and both practice blades and hunt blades with the purchase.

Vanes vs Feathers

Feathers are traditional, vanes are plastic and are not as affected by rain and wetness of the forest.  Vane below. https://www.lancasterarchery.com/arrows/arrow-components/vanes.html?p=2

Today synthetic vanes are winning for non traditional archery meaning longbow and recurve traditional shooters still prefer feathers but compound bow hunters and shooters are big on small synthetic vanes.

Consistent arrow spines and concentricity in aluminum and carbon are for all intent, near to ideal today. Some vanes today are already attached to a sleeve that can be slipped on the arrow and heat shrunk right then. Like this Bohning Tiger Blazer QuickFletch from Midway USA.

https://www.midwayusa.com/s?userSearchQuery=arrow+vanes&userItemsPerPage=48 

 

Traditional Turkey Feather 5 inch Helical Fletch

Size and Fletch/Vane offset and helical style are often Traditional vs Compound. Helical fletch is used to spin the arrow with a broadhead that is often not true to the shafts centerline, like a Bear Razorhead with a glue ferrule or a Stone point. Thus the arrow will not plane as much.  Click the words below to read this interesting series of articles…

http://archeryreport.com/2011/07/helical-straight-fletch-accuracy-repeatability/

 

Along with all of the above don’t forget to calculate your FOC Front of Center balance point.

https://www.goldtip.com/Resources/Calculators/FOC-Calculator.aspx

 

Good Hunting!