Iron Will Vane - Personal Feedback

[Christopher.Reed]

Let me start off with a disclaimer; I love Iron Will products and use their inserts, collars, field points, and broadheads.

With my trust in their other products I decided to order their vanes as soon as they were in stock and wanted to provide some feedback on real world use after shooting with them for a few weeks.

1. Noise: The people i was shooting 3D with last weekend claim that the IW vanes were noticeably quieter than the TAC vanes, I couldn’t personally hear a difference while shooting.

2. Arrow Flight: I haven’t noticed a difference here but then, what negligible difference there could be is well within my personal margin of error as an archer.

3. Durability: This is where TAC’s stand out IMO. The Iron Will vanes simply don’t hold up well to the rigors of daily shooting. In the picture below there are two arrows that have had Iron Will vanes on them for three weeks and one that has had TAC vanes for 8 months.

Conclusion: My Iron Will vanes will be sitting on the peg board until until it’s time to broadhead tune. Operating under the assumption that they are indeed quieter, that could provide an advantage in hunting situations but I will be fletching with TAC vanes for practice arrows.


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[9.1]

Were you shooting a whisker biscuit or were the arrows just going through targets?

 

[Christopher.Reed]

Shooting a drop away, the wear is from the fletchings going into or through the target.


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[Bump79]

Personally, I'm just not a huge fan of the AAE materials. This sounds odd as they are so popular but I generally didn't find them to be as durable as the ol' blazer. My favorite vane so far is the Easton Diamond 280 - it's a soft material but more quiet than the Max Stealth. It sticks extremely well & is stupid durable. I don't hear much about it but it's the same profile as a Max Stealth & steers great.

It's interesting hearing the potential gains in would be down range velocity. John Stallone also tested vanes with a Labradar and found that this profile was the most efficient but it didn't group quite as well. With this material maybe it would.

 

[TheViking]

I have no experience with the IW vanes. But I will say this about the TAC vanes - they can be slightly touchy to fletch, but making sure you have your jig set right and cleaning them properly, it isn’t an issue.

Some TAC vanes I have put through 3D targets got a little ripple in them, but never tore. Go home and hit them with a heat gun or a blow dryer and they instantly go back to their normal form - pretty slick!

 

[Roughwater]

You might take a look at the DCA Super Sabre vanes. Reviews are really good. I just ordered some so I really can't speak yet to their durability just passing on to you a potential option.

 

[CB4]

I have some sitting at home but waiting on new arrows to build to put them on. To me it sounds like you need to invest in a new target. Obviously a lot harder of a material like TAC vanes will hold up better when consistently going through a target. However vanes aren't designed to go through dense material over and over.

 

[MattB]

Shooting a drop away, the wear is from the fletchings going into or through the target.


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sounds like time for a new target.

 

[Jacob Chapman]

Anybody else try them out? I'm going to be putting together a new system for the year & am stuck between the Iron Will vanes & Super Sabres.

 

[Keener22]

I’ve enjoyed my IW arrows (I got 6 of the custom arrows) so far and they’re out performing what I was shooting before by about 3” of penetration. Granted that’s not because they’re made by IW, but it’s still good to see and hear when they hit the target.

My vanes have been good and holding up perfect so far. I would say it’s because your vanes are going into the target. Not sure any vane would hold up to that.

 

[Christopher.Reed]

I’ve enjoyed my IW arrows (I got 6 of the custom arrows) so far and they’re out performing what I was shooting before by about 3” of penetration. Granted that’s not because they’re made by IW, but it’s still good to see and hear when they hit the target.

My vanes have been good and holding up perfect so far. I would say it’s because your vanes are going into the target. Not sure any vane would hold up to that.

TAC vanes hold up to it.

As I mentioned in the original post, I will still be using IW vanes for my hunting arrows.

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[big44a4]

You might take a look at the DCA Super Sabre vanes. Reviews are really good. I just ordered some so I really can't speak yet to their durability just passing on to you a potential option.

I have some super Sabre and they aren’t as quiet as griff X 3.0. Out to 100 I didn’t see any difference in flight consistency with groupings etc. so for me I’m going to stick with Q2i griff X 3” in a 3 fletch. Also a lower profile so get more clearance to shoot further in addition to being noticeable quieter than sabres and slightly more quiet than max stealths. All shot in 3 fletch out on same arrow and same bow.

 

[Christopher.Reed]

sounds like time for a new target.

While this is true, targets don’t seem to last long as I shoot daily with with a 31.5” DL and 80lb limbs.

While it’s not optimal, I currently have a Morrell high roller (3 months old), in front of a blackout (6 months old), with a bag target behind it (9 months old) and my field points generally get lodged in the bag target. I’m thinking a blob might be the final solution based on feedback I have received but am certainly open to suggestions.

Back to the original point of my post; the IW vanes don’t suit my current circumstance, for practice, because of their lack of durability when compared to the TAC vanes and there are probably others in the same predicament.


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[Eastonsgrandpa]

You might take a look at the DCA Super Sabre vanes. Reviews are really good. I just ordered some so I really can't speak yet to their durability just passing on to you a potential option.

They are fantastic. I’ve seen a significant improvement in group size since getting them. Steer broadheads very well. I did find that adhesion was a little finicky though so I started running a q-tip with acetone on the base of each one. I went with some Loctite 401 and now they are on strong.

 

[DKlaty]

Could anyone point me in the direction of some reliable testing that has been done for arrow flight noise levels? I'll be curious to see what comes out with the data testing for IW.

 

[Cameron.25]

While this is true, targets don’t seem to last long as I shoot daily with with a 31.5” DL and 80lb limbs.

While it’s not optimal, I currently have a Morrell high roller (3 months old), in front of a blackout (6 months old), with a bag target behind it (9 months old) and my field points generally get lodged in the bag target. I’m thinking a blob might be the final solution based on feedback I have received but am certainly open to suggestions.

Back to the original point of my post; the IW vanes don’t suit my current circumstance, for practice, because of their lack of durability when compared to the TAC vanes and there are probably others in the same predicament.


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Sorry to derail, but you might wanna check out matrix targets. They're spendy but they stop my 500gr arrows going 300fps everytime, even with broadheads. Don't even come close to the fletchings. I used to use those same morell dice targets and they wear out super fast with my setup, even with target heads

 

[Bump79]

Could anyone point me in the direction of some reliable testing that has been done for arrow flight noise levels? I'll be curious to see what comes out with the data testing for IW.

There's a few out there on YouTube. Chris Bee did some, John Stallone did some actual velocity testing and put some spreadsheets together, Innovative Sportsman I think & DCA arrows might have one

 

[camelcluch]

I want to try these but the durability is a real issue.

 

[stan_wa]

I have noticed that my iron Will veins will cut one another if I shot them close to each other I am helical 3° so that may be exaggerating the problem

 

[Pramo]

I like iron will stuff and use their heads, collars, and I’ve had the vanes on for week now. The durability is not good compared to blazer, max stealth, pro max, and heat. A pass or two through a target and they look rough will try a heat gun to fix them but haven’t had to do that in years with vanes.

Going to do some more testing but probably just use 4 fletch heat or 3 fletch blazer to make life easy.