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Defective Mechanical Broadhead

all4s

all4s

Life Member
I shot a deer oct. 29 with a mechanical broadhead. It was a straight on shot one I have practiced many times. The arrow went in just enough to kiss the heart. I recovered my arrow only to find that two of the blades did'nt open. There was no sign of bone fragments. I was still hunting with out my quiver and holding onto my two arrows. Any thoughts as to why the blades did'nt open?
 
All4s, I had the same thing happen to me last weekend with a rocket steelhead 100. This is the 4th deer I shot at with one of these and the first time all the blades didn't open. It was a very close shot, only 3 yards from the tree. My guess is that the arrow was going super fast and the angle of penetration was not ideal to open all the blades. Needless to say, there will be a set of expanding broadheads for sale on Ebay soon...
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If your arrow only went in enough to "kiss the heart", you may not be shooting enough poundage to effectively use a mech. head. We recomend 60 lbs min. to go to a mech. and would feel better with 65 to 70. Did the retaining rubber band slide all the way down the arrow, or was is it still at the head? Very puzzling indeed.

Good luck.
 
My bow is set at 60# and that should have been enough. The rubber band did slide down the shaft. I think the arrow would have gone in much deeper if the other two blades would have opened, there was just to much resistance. I don't know? I expect human error but won't except mechanical error. I'm not a buyer of mechanical blades again! I liked them because I still hunt with out a quiver and they don't grab grass etc.. thus the blades stay sharp I thought it was perfect.
Hunt on All4s
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Did you guys recover your deer, I'm assuming not based on the story. I wonder if they might have opened but closed when the broadhead came out.

TreeRat - I'll take those steelheads if the price is right.
 
I am with you on that OneCam. Not a mechanical shooter myself, but have heard many stories where they close when they come out of something that they had opened on the way in.
 
Are these blades supposed to lock when they come open? If not, they will likely collapse back into the shooting position as they pull out. Just my opinion on expandables I have looked at.
 
If the deer was not recovered, and the wound inspected to prove this, I will have to say that the blades closed upon removal of the arrrow.
 
i agree with iaarcher. i used mechanicals on turkeys this spring and the arrows would pull out and the blades would all be closed. personally, i'd rather have a broadhead that doesn't close up and continues cutting when in the animal...that's why the miniblasters are in my junk broadhead box.
 
I like a broadhead that I'm confident will go where I aim. When I started using mechanicals this was a fixed blade issue. Since that time I have seen alot of deer harvested by a group of guys that all use mechanicals with no problems. Marginal hits are marginal hits with mechanical or fixed blades. Hit them were they are supposed to be hit and you will have a quick harvest. I remember thinking the same thing with the blades closing on pull out when we first started using them. But as they were hanging and I inspected the hole I realized if they didn't work I wouldn't be inspecting the hole. Use what makes you feel the most confident but the first step is a good hit.
 
Yes, I have the backstraps in the freezer, that is why I'm on this site every day because my tag is filled and I'm still birdy. When I found the arrow one blade was open and it was obvious that it had done it's job. The other two blades were closed all the way. I opened each blade with out any unusual resistance and noticed that the blades were only spoted with blood. When I processed the deer it showed only one slash through the brisket. I now think that the frontal shot at the brisket is alot like a quartering away shot where as the brisket has has curvature. I believe one blade opened first and pulled the shaft in that direction allowing the other two blades to slip in without any resistance?
 
Interesting subject. I remember wrestling with this topic when contemplating a broadhead change some time ago. I was having touble with grouping while using fixed blades. My bow was in tune but will have to admit I just recently learned about tuning you broadheads to your fletching. I too, shoot steelhead 100's and can tell you this - I have probably shot 15 or more deer with mechanicals (some sptifires, but mostly steelheads) and don't beleive I have ever had one fail. I have failed to kill twice but that was because of poor shot placement (both times too high - imagine that). I agree with centraliowa - I feel much more confident when I feel good that my arrow will hit where I am aiming - not to mention that I have never had one not open. With the steelhead 100's there is only 1 1/8 inch cutting diameter I believe, so the blades are not very long. Usually the arrow only needs to pull out an inch or less for the blades to retract to the fully closed position. But you mention that there was only one "slice" through the entrence wound. That is odd but an odd entrance point as well.

**I will give a $1.00 more than One Cam for those steelheads!
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Sorry I have not logged in for a while. I was not able to find my deer. It was a sharp downward shot where I aimed for the top of the nearest lung. I was unable to see the arrow impact which may be due to the closeness of the shot. The deer ran 25 yards and stopped and I could see blood dripping out of the exit wound in the white hair under the lungs. He walked another 30 yards and bedded down. 45 minutes later, he gets up and starts walking away so I give him 4 hours. There was decent blood until he bedded down where I only found a softball size pool. After this there was none and I looked on my hands and knees on the trail I saw him walk. It rained that night but a friend and I looked for several hours the following day but found nothing. Unlike every other deer I shot with these heads, the rubber band was no where to be found. Usually it is about 12 inches up the shaft. There was blood and some fat up and down the arrow shaft and one blade. The other two were clean and the arrow didn't stick in the ground at all (which is also unusuall) but was just laying on the grass. The blades never had a chance to retract since the arrow never really went backwards. There was also no hair on the ground but only a couple strands on the arrow. I obviously missed the lungs completely since he was moving almost an hour later. I can tell you I will never attempt that type of shot again. I always replace my blades after each hit or miss so I know all the blades were functioning properly. I shoot 70 lb and a 30 inch draw which made it hard to tune the fixed blade heads. I did a lot a research before selecting the steelheads but I cannot afford to let this happen to me again. Onecam, email me at [email protected] if you are still interested. It will save me the hassle of e-bay.
 
Treerat,
I also had trouble getting regular head's to fly out of my bow,I could not get them to fly no matter what I tried,here's what I ended up doing and they fly like field point's now!!!!!! #1.I Turned my bow down from 70# to 63#s,You do not need the poundage for broadhead's and they are easier to tune at slower speed's.
#2.Put on a trophy taker rest,The best thing I'v ever invested in!I had CIA put this on for me,it's kinda tuff to get on without a bow press.
#3.Put on 5" fletching with as much helical as I can get on my carbon's.It does not matter how much helical you put on the arrow's with a drop-away rest,the more helical the more stability you get on broadhead's.
#4.I made sure that my bow was as tuned as I can get it,by this I mean tiller and knock point ect,ect.
What I ended up with is a bow that for the first time ever shoot's field point's and broadhead's(Thunderheads)the same without moving my sight's.The drop-away rest I believe made most of the difference.
Is there anyone else out there that has had good luck with the trophy taker rest or any drop away as far as being able to shoot broadhead's again?
I would also like to ad that my confidence level is two fold now that I can shoot the head's that I trust and have had fantastic success with!!!

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Dejavu Dog! what were you thinking? this happened to you about a week ago and you gave it another chance. You said you were going to put them heads up on ebay. It's not your shot placement that was bad it was OUR choice in heads. If you are a profecient shooter and I'm sure you are, these shots are attainable. I don't recomend anyone take a shot they are unsure of. I'm just pointing out that there are more kill zones than just behind the front shoulder.
Hunt on All4s
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I actually picked up a pack of Muzzy 4 blades and moved my sight to accomodate the changed flight. Was a hectic week trying to get my bow ready for the weekend. It was all for nothing since I didn't see any shooters. Now for the task of getting these to shoot like my field points out to 35 yards!
Buckhunter - thanks for the tips and I will give all of these a try. I would like to hear what more people say about the drop away rests since I am still a little skeptical.
 
i have a trophy taker fall away rest on my bow. i absolutely LOVE it. i'll admit that there was a time about a year ago that there was NO WAY in HELL that i was gunna try one of those new fangled drop away rests but then someone let me use one just to try it out. i think that if most guys went into a store and just asked if they could use one for a hour they'd end up walking out with it. this is what i suggest to you. i have better arrow flight and it's almost impossible to torque your bow when shooting. that was a problem i had with my old rest when i was hunting or shooting with bulky clothes on. granted a fall away is not a cure all but man, i know i'm a lot more confident now than i ever was.
 
Head-on and straight down shots are "attainable" but are'nt we looking for a high percentage shots? One lungers and head-on's are like neck shots to me, I'll let other guys take and learn from them.
I've shot Spitfires for many years. Perfect? Nothing is. But I do know they will close with their own monentum when the arrow stops. Even if dropped from 2" I've never had one not fully open. Penetration requires a heavy arrow not just a fast bow. 500gr arrow weight is the ticket.
Common! It's an arrow! Shoot the lungs or nothing. Don't have your deer lay bedded for hours until it dies. Then waste it because the guts were in it all night. Sorry to rant like this but I've had a belly full of piss poor shots taken by some locals here.
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Treerat,
As far as the drop-away rests go I can tell you that I absolutely love mine. I bought my trophy taker in the spring and took some digital video of it while shooting to ensure the vanes were actually clearing the rest, and they did. The only thing I can advise is to make sure the lanyard from the rest to the cable is attached properly so there's no chance of the lanyard to slide and cause the rest to not come up all the way.
CRITR
 
Treerat, A shot at 3 yds OK. Then he stopped after 25 yds-Why not a followup shot at 28 yds? Probably a better percentage shot when broadside. I shot one Sun that stod 20yds away for over 10 min with the crease of his shoulder right next to a tree 3 inches in diameter. Could I have made the shot? probably but I waited and he turned to walk away and then stopped and started back my way thru a shooting lane at 18 yds. The arrow tipped with a Spitfire entered high behind the shoulder and exited at the last rib on the other side. He ran 35yds and looked around and then made a made dash of 3 leaps thankfully the direction I needed to drag and expired. I love it to not have to follow a trail just watch the work we do with an arrow!!! Sorry on the start of this put 2 diff posts together in the wrong way-- Still like high percentage shots and watching the arrows work at their best!!
 
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