Best Single Bevel Broadhead?

[roosiebull]

I think the benefits of single bevel are often overstated and that there's not a hair's breadth of difference between them in terms of actual performance on animals.

I agree having shot them quite a bit. The biggest con for me is they are a pain to pull from a target, and I have seen no pros to outweigh that con.

I do like kudu, but would like them more if they were a double bevel. They are fine, but lack the magic that they are made out to have

 

[MattB]

Theres a couple of things I have in mind that I consider advantages; those being the ability to carry a sharper and longer lasting edge as well as continuing to spin while cutting because of force only being applied in one direction. Evidence suggests that you can see one full rotation while cutting out of a single bevel per 16 inches and arguably cause that much more damage. Obviously, not to say a double bevel of any other kind can't get it done, but as a personal preference its where I have desired to move.

?

 

[Dennis]

Tuffhead single bevel broadheads are my current choice. I made the switch to increase steel quality, edge retention along with increasing structural integrity of my entire system. Very happy with results.

You might want to check out the Ashby Foundation 2021 and 2022 Supplemental Reports on broadheads testing.

 

[98XJRC]

I'll also recommend the Kudu Point heads. I switched to the Contour Plus from the standard in 2022 to help possibly provide better blood trails. It's made some difference, but not night and day. Blood trails are better but still minimal however, all animals have expired in under 100 yards from the shot and what blood trail there is has lead me to all of them.

 

[Nick Muche]

After running into some issue with lighter arrows and mechanical broadheads this year

I hear you there. Ran into some issues myself, need a bigger freezer and more wall space.

 

[roosiebull]

I'll also recommend the Kudu Point heads. I switched to the Contour Plus from the standard in 2022 to help possibly provide better blood trails. It's made some difference, but not night and day. Blood trails are better but still minimal however, all animals have expired in under 100 yards from the shot and what blood trail there is has lead me to all of them.

Out of curiosity, what size are you shooting?

The 125’s with bleeders have seemed pretty decent for blood on the ground in general, 100’s have been among the least blood on the ground of any head I’ve been around with a sample size of 10-12 elk I’ve tracked shot with them

The 150’s with bleeders are a pretty nasty head, and if they were double bevel, I would probably not shoot another head. Even without bleeders, they made a nasty wound.

I shot a bull 2 years ago with a 125 contour + that was the only outlier, but I assume it deflected pretty bad. I had some salmonberry leaves and ferns fall between my string and riser when I came to full draw, and when I shot, it was really loud when my string ripped through. Bull was 34yds and it was 6:45 pm when I shot (last week of Sept) so light was starting to fade in the timber

Saw him duck hard, but lighted nock told me I was fine, well below the spine, but higher than ideal

Long story short, the arrow had to have deflected up pretty severely because he didn’t bleed a drop/smear/anything… it certainly didn’t go in a straight line from the fletchings, or he would have been dead pretty quickly

Don’t think I can blame the head for that, but I have seen a couple tips bend on impact, which can redirect the angle of penetration

That bull has become my white whale and have had so many close calls with him the past 2 years… last Friday of this year’s season had him at 62yds for minutes quartered away, but had a cow between us and couldn’t close the gap, and was not willing to shoot that far, especially at that particular bull… I have seen kudus bend, I don’t know if that bull was a 3rd time or not, only found the back half of the arrow, so a little bit of shaft and that head are somewhere in the brush.

The biggest reason I want to kill that bull is to hopefully solve the mystery of what happened, how he didn’t die that night.

 

[Beendare]

I appreciate the response. So would it be a better broadhead than a double bevel of the same size/shape?

Yep, double bevel is a more supported edge.…and you get better penetration without the spin.

Funny how some claim its better….when over thousands of years of knife work DB has evolved to be the king. If you do go SB, the thin bevel- a less supported edge needs to be a much higher quality of steel to maintain the same sharpness of a lesser DB.

Either way…they are both 2 blade BH’s which is THE most efficient design and easiest to touch up.

 

[bpurtz]

Another vote for Kudu...

 

[98XJRC]

Out of curiosity, what size are you shooting?

The 125’s with bleeders have seemed pretty decent for blood on the ground in general, 100’s have been among the least blood on the ground of any head I’ve been around with a sample size of 10-12 elk I’ve tracked shot with them

I use the 125 gr head. 1st buck with the standard 125 head was on me as I hit high lungs and he filled up inside the chest cavity. 2022 buck had a decent blood trail with the 125 gr+, however he died in sight so tracking was more or less just to confirm broadhead blood trail. My 2023 buck was a quartering to shot from an elevated position. The arrow punched through the scapula and then exited out the bottom of the chest cavity. I believe the broadhead caught the heart due to the exit location, however I quartered in field and did not remove the organs for inspection. The blood trail was dime and nickel size spots every 4-6 feet. The arrow did not pass through initially and appeared to be hung up by the fletching's as I found the arrow 20 yards from where he was shot missing a fletching. He passed out of sight, however again didn't go more then 80 yards.

I like knowing that I have the ability to take the quartering to shot if needed and knowing that I will get the results I need while shooting the SB.

I did have tip curl on the shots in 2021 and 22, however both of those where a result of the arrow hitting rocks after going through the buck.

 

[Nw2]

I’ve heard good things about the iron will heads, might want to give them a look

 

[bullet225ho]

I've shot both Iron Will and Cutthroat. Both in the 200gn variants. My experience with Cutthroat is on whitetail. Clean kills and on one doe I did see a bit of edge chatter. This was through the top of the shoulder and out the other shoulder. The Iron Will I have taken 4 white tail, cow and rag horn elk. The cow was hard quarter too at about 20yds. Arrow entered at the back of scapula and exited through opposite rear hip. Never found the arrow. One white tail I shattered the ball in the shoulder/leg connection with little to no damage the the head(resharpened and still using) Rag hone was higher in the shoulder and complete pass through. minimal edge roll. I'm still using all Iron Wills that I've killed animals with and found the arrow. All Iron Will have been pass throughs so far. Up to 6 now. So to me....money well spent. Blood trails from any broadhead is hit or miss. Get a low exit hole and blood will be found....high hit.....regardless of exit...good luck finding blood. I will say regardless of blood trail a very sharp single bevel in the right place will take down animals quickly. My setup is 67lbs, 31" draw, 278fps, 525gn arrow.

 

[Evasal]

The cutthroats

 

[Hunting_Oregon]

I have seen very good results from the kudu. My brother loves to shoot bulls quartering to and the kudu breaks everything in its path. Only down side with single bevel is they are extremely hard and dangerous to get out of a target. If you are not careful they will seriously cut you.

 

[entropy]

I've used Kudus for a couple of years. My last two shots at cervids, unfortunately, both wound up spining the animal on the first shot, and required follow up shots. Following stories related for perspective on the "bone-breaking" quality of SBs.

The first was a small whitetail buck. Pretty sure he jumped the string on me, although it was in Michigan in December, and I was COLD... so it also could have been a not great shot. Arrow blew through the spine, but didn't completely pass through, and wound up breaking while he thrashed. Got another arrow in him immediately. I was surprised that the broadhead wasn't terribly chipped up by that, and actually still spun.

The second was an elk in CO. I crawled on hands and knees for an hour to get close enough to him to shoot him (he was bedded). He got up when I was 32 yards away, and I had to make the shot from my knees in a gap. Not sure what happened, but I saw the arrow go high and left. It wound up anchoring him, though, and I was able to get him down for the count pretty quick. When I got up to him, the first arrow was still in him, and pulled out pretty easy. The broadhead was bent at about a 30 degree angle, maybe 3/4" from the tip, and in total the arrow probably only went in four inches or so.

Moral of the story; elk bone is not like whitetail bone. Personally, I don't think either of those situations end up differently with a DB head. Might end up differently with a mech.

I've killed several other deer and a coyote with the Kudus. Nothing went over 100 yards from impact. I use the ones with bleeders.

Above some posters are saying that a SB edge is not supported the same way a DB edge is. While that's not incorrect, it's a matter of degree (literally). Kudus are a 40 degree SB, so the total included angle of the edge is 40 degrees. That's the same total included angle as IW uses on their double bevels (20 degree angle each side/40 degrees total). Having used both, I personally don't see better durability out of IW 40 degree edges vs Kudu 40 degree edges. YMMV.

Where that can become an issue with SBs is on some of these heads that have 20-25 degree bevel angles. Those probably won't stand up to a lot of abuse, no matter what steel you make them out of.

 

[doc holiday13]

As of right now, i prefer IW SB with bleeders. If I went without bleeders, I would move to a cutthroat to save a few dollars. This only stems from a full pass through on a deer, through the vitals using a double bevel 2 blade. The exit sealed up and the blood trail went away within 20 yards. A SB might have prevented that but I'll stick with the bleeders for now.

I did put an IW through a vertabrae on a smaller deer this past season and it broke the spine. No edge chipping, rolling or chatter. Still shaving sharp

 

[InteriorAKPopsicle]

great thread - checking out the Helix in our local shop today got me searching on here and found this!
Looking to rebuild my arrows on the Easton 5MM Axis 300 spine for my 70 pound and 28.5" draw.
Good discussion and points around!

 

[Trial153]

Take a look at the single bevel trifecta heads. They are fantastic.

 

[shaftslinger]

I've only ever used ironwills and you get what you pay for. I'd like to try something a little cheaper like cutthroats or the new magnus heads.

 

[TX_Diver]

Haven't put one through an animal but have been happy with the flight and durability of the cutthroats. I put a few into the dirt, trees, a steel table leg, etc. when I was trying to broadhead tune before my form was even remotely good and the heads held up great.

 

[WI-Carcosa]

Have used grizzly stik massai 200g, iron will 200g SB, and Tuffhead 200g. Only one I haven’t killed a deer with yet is the Tuffhead but I would recommend all of them. Tuffhead is my favorite as it is a solid head and easier to sharpen. The bleeders that you can get with Tuffhead and iron will are very nice to help with getting a little extra blood trail. Iron wills most durable in my experience and most difficult to sharpen, grizzlystik least durable of 3 but sharpens fairly well. Tuffhead 2nd most durable from testing and easiest to sharpen. That’s my front runner for this next hunting season.

I have had good luck with single bevel, but agree that the double bevels provide similar performance in the grand scheme of things. Most important is your arrow flies well and the broadhead is scary sharp.
Killed 3 with grizzlystik single bevels all zipping pass through into the ground. Iron will was a 9 yard frontal and arrow was hanging out the back ham. 30” draw 684g total arrow weight.
Pic below of my brothers whitetail buck from 2021 quatering to with a 200g massai. Split scapula and broadhead is back in the quiver. This one did not fully pass through. 525g 30”.