Arrow Penetration....

[Felix40]

After I shot an NAP Spitfire through an elk at 78 yards, and watched it fly across the drainage behind, I decided that penetration doesn’t need to be my main concern. Since then I’ve pretty much only shot mechanicals(from the compound) with no complaints. I shot one through a small mule deer at 45yds and it sliced all the way through the off side leg bone at the elbow and passed through. The leg was only being held on by a little skin.

I really like knowing that my arrows are going where I want them even with a little wind and stress. It hasn’t been my experience (passthrough vs passthrough) but if I had to give up a few inches of penetration to always hit where I want, I would do it. Even an elk only takes like 16” to get to the vitals from any reasonable angle. With a compound I’ve never had less than that.

The only real weakness I see with good mechanicals is shooting through vegetation. Tall grass or willow leaves scare me enough to keep a fixed blade available.

 

[Bump79]

After I shot an NAP Spitfire through an elk at 78 yards, and watched it fly across the drainage behind, I decided that penetration doesn’t need to be my main concern. Since then I’ve pretty much only shot mechanicals(from the compound) with no complaints. I shot one through a small mule deer at 45yds and it sliced all the way through the off side leg bone at the elbow and passed through. The leg was only being held on by a little skin.

I really like knowing that my arrows are going where I want them even with a little wind and stress. It hasn’t been my experience (passthrough vs passthrough) but if I had to give up a few inches of penetration to always hit where I want, I would do it. Even an elk only takes like 16” to get to the vitals from any reasonable angle. With a compound I’ve never had less than that.

The only real weakness I see with good mechanicals is shooting through vegetation. Tall grass or willow leaves scare me enough to keep a fixed blade available.

If you like the Spitfire check these out.. They launched them as Truglo but then switched it to the Titanium NAP Spitfire. Same head just clearing out the old name.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BCW5T5V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Felix40]

If you like the Spitfire check these out.. They launched them as Truglo but then switched it to the Titanium NAP Spitfire. Same head just clearing out the old name.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BCW5T5V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That’s interesting for sure. I just like the spitfires because they are sharp and stay closed/don’t rattle without needing rubber bands.

 

[doc holiday13]

The bow setup plays into it as well. Someone with a 32" draw pulling 75lbs and sending 500+gr arrows above 300fps is alot different than someone with a 28" draw at 60lbs sending an arrow 125-150gr lighter going 275 or slower.

This

My friends wife killed a 300" bull last year with a 44# bow and she has a 26" draw.....shot placement wins every time

 

[Bump79]

That’s interesting for sure. I just like the spitfires because they are sharp and stay closed/don’t rattle without needing rubber bands.

Yeah if they just made the blades not have a hole in it for the retention but another divot I'd say they would be one of the best.

 

[5MilesBack]

Yeah if they just made the blades not have a hole in it for the retention but another divot I'd say they would be one of the best.

Ya, I haven't done any testing yet, but that hole might be interesting after shooting them angled through 3/4" plywood, and 2x6's. I'll see.

 

[Billy Goat]

Holes??

When did Spitfire get holes in the blade?
Or these truglo titanium things I got a bunch of that I haven't even looked at.

 

[MuleyBuck]

This is what I've found as well. Shooting broadheads for me is like what some guys do with building loads for bullets. I find some I want to try and shoot them a PILE. I work from home now so I can shoot out to 70 at the house to get myself up and moving as a break. I bet I have pushing 2,000 broadhead shots per year. If you shoot enough - you'll notice that some heads just seem to hit behind the pin more often. That shot where you go oooofffffff pulled that one! But it still hits on average that's the head that makes my quiver. Some heads like the popular long unvented solid heads are very unforgiving. Will they fly? Sure. Will they plane off more if you didn't have perfect execution? Yep.

There absolutely are fixed that fly well and make that for me. To be fair - Slick Trick Standards do fly really well. I'd rank them pretty high on my list for fixed heads.

I too test a lot of different broadheads and I agree with you on some fixed flying like field points and others not and wind drift etc. But I’m not fully convinced on the forgiveness portion for poor form or poorly executed shots.

When you’re at the range and you target panic yank a field point execution is flies just as far off as when you did it with a good flying broadhead, it just happens way rarer, because it’s way easier to not do that when you don’t have an expensive broadhead on the end of your arrow.

Take a good flying fixed broadhead, like an Exodus, a TOTA, a Slick Trick, etc and purposely torque your bow as far as you can left or right and then hold it steady and shoot it at the target with a field tip. In my tests, I’ve actually sliced fletching off the field tip arrow (learned my lesson multiple times not to shoot that one first…). Bow hand torque on a well tuned bow doesn’t seem to make a difference.

There are some pre-shot, subconscious yanks of the bow hand though that have a big affect on arrow flight and POI, but they have a real similar impact with field tips as well.

I do agree though that some fixed do amplify those issues people have. Good conversation