Fixed Vs Mechanical - Why??
 

Hello,

Seriously diving into my broadhead selection for this season to put a positive approach on a hopeful successful harvest.

The following fixed broadheads are in my arsenal which do not give me piece of mind.

1) G5 Montec
2) Grim Reaper Fixed Hades, 4 Blade


Looking to make the jump to a mechanical type.......possibly to a rage hypodermic or sevr titanium 2.0 as looking for maximum cutting width possible.


Thank you for reading,

Stevey
:)

Iron Will.

But I have used Grim Reaper Razorcut and Tooth Of The Arrow standards with tremendous success in the last 15 years.

Norm

Used the G5 Montec for many years, won't change from them.

Easy to sharpen, nothing to go wrong with them, and they group like my field points.

Also, I've got a dozen and they are paid for. :)

Started with Ramcats and despite many guys not liking them they worked quite well for me, only thing was the screws kept coming loose. Switched to tooth of the Arrow and just got a new setup at the end of last year so I need to work them back yet and see how they fair

Have used both fixed and mechanical. I prefer fixed they don’t get caught on grass and trees making them open when you won’t want them to. Fixed works all the time every time with no moving parts and no bs shock collars or tinkering to deal with. Currently using tooth of the arrow, elk died one shot full pass through don’t see any reason To try anything else right now.

Broadheads
 

Moose, elk-Fixed 2 or 3 blade VPA, Alien archery SV2 or Alpha 292 or Ashby.

Bears, deer , speed goats-Mechanical or fixed. Bears usually rage hypodermic/trypan 2.3". But for these animals any head you shoot accurate double lung and goodbye.

Elk are tough so I like to smash bone w a heavy FOC arrow if I can, if something happens and placement becomes less than perfect.

I've always struggled getting fixed blades to fly well, I suspect my shooting form could use some coaching. That being said ramcats fly perfectly true and I've been super impressed with them on both moose and elk. Don't like how they are big in quivers though which can make them annoying when grabbing an arrow.

Come November deer season I usually switch over to grim reapers.

Both heads have performed very well for me. Never and issue. Both impact exactly the same as field points which is also handy for practice and switching back and forth through the season.

Sent from my SM-A715W using Tapatalk

Grizzlystik, fixed Single bevel. I've personally seen what these broad heads do and just how durable and sharp they truly are. If there is a bone in the way, I would NOT want a flimsy mechanical, that's for sure. I prefer the reliability of no moving parts.

https://grizzlystik.com/shop-the-goo...roadheads.html

Check out "Lusk Archery Adventures" on YouTube.
He tests a ton of different broadheads and has developed standardized testing methods that seem pretty good. One of the more scientific testers I've been able to find. He also posts spreadsheet summaries of broadheads he has tested.

From a personal standpoint I've only used mechanical and had good success on WT and Mule Deer.
Just this season I saw a major penetration issue on a bull elk with a mechanical broadhead from a high-energy setup. May have been the specific mechanical head that was the issue. In any case it got me thinking about my own setup and potentially switching to fixed heads.

Whats wrong with the G5?
I use these and as Twisted said they are super easy to sharpen, and in my experience they blow right through elk.

I used it on an elk, great pass through, found it in a bush 15 yards away on the other side of the elk when it zipped though. Easy trailing job. Did a few passes to sharpen it up again and took an antelope a week later with the same broad head, pass through again. Although they are small, still sharp and back in the quiver.

My experience too....moose then a deer a few years ago.

Fixed G5s
 

Fixed - 100%

I do not see the argument for mechanicals at all.

I do not see a significant accuracy benefit relative to fixed.

So why risk a mechanical not opening?

Most people can easily tune for fixed on most rigs.

G5s have taken many animals and tend to tune well on most setups, to be honest most people take G5 and simply spin them on and go hunting as they tend to fly like field points.

That being said I may try Iron Will this year as the oldest may be using my G5s on his rig for his first serious Bow hunt.

The Carbon Steel versions of the G5s are a little harder steel than the stainless and can be made a little sharper.

I shoot blackwidows and PX2 fixed blades and my son shoots NAP killzones machanicals and they have never failed him many moose and elk on them broadheads.

So I was out on the ice chatting with a forum member here and we got on this subject, I only seen a mechanical once fail with a buddies set up.
We were mule deer hunting and on stand, that day it rained on us, sleet and a bit of snow as the temps dropped below freezing.
A nice buck came within shooting distance and he sent his arrow off just to hit the deer and not penetrate deep but looked good though, the deer just took off and well never fell over as we watched it go well over 100 yards.
So we come together for a discussion and when he pulled an arrow out of his quiver he found water that had frozen, like solid hindering his arrow from opening up....i pulled out my arrow with its fixed blade and started the search and yup after 45 minutes I found him injured as he stood up I placed the arrow and our hunt was over.
Now my buddy was a headstrong mechanical broadhead type fella in which we had many sit down conversations and I was the ya but what if one of those completely fails, does not open etc and we went a few years with his success until that day....he now runs fixed broadheads.

I try to never introduce any points of failure to anything. Mechanicals just seem like exactly that. I also get great performance out of my fixed blades so why bother.

Man you are 100% correct. The amount of elk killed by Montecs and VPA 3 blades that I know of is a pretty high number. I also know of lots of elk lost due to failures.

But Expandables for bears and deer sub 30 yds is devastating. Thats only reason I use them there. But I always say, if a 2 blade Ashby or silverflame works on a cape buff, clearly you can use it for any animal on earth.

Here's a good reason to use Cut on Contact broadheads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2oiQtMZJ94&t=187s

I carried both mechanical and g5 in my quiver one for deer one for elk.

Confession time... I hit a cow elk a little further back then I wanted with the g5. I had a chance with a second shot. Knocked a mechanical grim reaper and took a second shot. The g5 was a clean pass through at 45 yards. The grim reaper only penetrated about 8 inches into the rib cage from 10 yards. Yes a big hole, but destroyed the head, and not a pass through.
I only have the g5s in the quiver.

Yes technically the mechanical worked. But it was a 10 yard follow up shot as well.

Shot placement is key, this is great thanks for all the input.

Has anyone had good results with the annihilator broadheads?

I killed an elk a few years ago with them. Worked good, but to be fair it was a typical 8 yard shot. It penetrated well and the kill was clean. They flew pretty good too. I have some still, if you are interested shoot me a pm and maybe we can work something out.

Norm

My G5 montecs never fail to open.

I bought a set to try out, they are pretty neat-looking. Haven't had a chance to give them a whirl yet. Work is just crazy at the moment.

The standard size (as opposed to the XL) had me worried at first with respect to minimum legal cutting diameter, but they are just big enough (will not pass through a 7/8" ring).

Looks like fixed broadheads for the win!

:argue2:r upI’ve got a few elk and a couple moose with mechanicals and all the animals died fairly quick. Also a pronghorn with a fixed that didn’t make it far. Shooting hypodermics and g5s. Made a not great shot on an elk with the hypodermic and it died quick.

Fixed.
 

One bonus to a fixed head is if your arrow breaks off and a piece of the shaft and BH is in the body cavity it will continue to do damage when the animal moves. Vrs a mechanic may close up inside. Obviously it will do damage as well. My biggest bear I shot with a litl 100 grain nitro back in 2003 the arrow broke off inside him and his insides were just shredded.

Fixed
 

I have run fixed since I started 20 something years ago. Run Muzzy 100s and now slick trick standards. My piece of mind is based on risk of failure in respect for the animals.
the Hunting public did a youtube video on mechanicals spanning a bunch of years, i think 6 months ago. Most of them have gone to heavy cut on contacts. It's worth a watch.

slick trick
 

fixed is by far the preferred for reliability, you just need to shoot them prior to hunting to ensure they are shooting like darts. Elk, moose and bear, no problem with regular slick trick, magnus are bullet proof as well but more finicky to tune.