Starting to think about broadhead selection for my first season of bowhunting, and of course discovering they are almost as controversial as rifle bullets!

The quarry will be the local whitetail herd. On the board at my archery range the regulars post a log of their kills. The smallest from this fall weighed in at 58 lbs. and the biggest was 188 -- next to which someone wrote "Ya right!"

I am shooting a Hoyt Ultra Sport with Gold Tip arrows and 100-gr. field points, and I'm very happy with how it shoots when I do my part. (Nailed the vitals on the 40-yd. coyote 3 times in a row Sunday.) I use a horizontal peep and caliper release and the current draw weight is around 52 lbs.

Basically I want to keep it as simple and foolproof as possible, and that means the least possible re-tuning. If anyone's found a broadhead that shoots well in a similar rig, and kills well, I would be tickled to hear about it.

I'm not particularly worried about cost, since I figure I don't worry much about that for hunting bullets that can't even be reused ...

Suggestions?

John there are as many broadheads on the markets as there is bowhunters or at least it seems that way. I would try any of the fixed 3 blade 100 grain broadheads. Myself I shoot a Darton Maverick set on 70#, my arrows are 3-49 ACC's, and my broadhead of choice is the Zwickey Eskimo with bleeders.
The Zwickeys weigh approx 125 grains plus but fly like darts and you can't beat thier penetration. The only draw back is that you have to sharpen them but then again that can be a plus because you don't have to buy replacement blades. But like I said any of the fixed 3 blade heads will work fine, I would stay away from the mechanicals shooting only 52# because I feel that it takes at least a 60# bow to make them operate correctly and have the penetration needed.
What ever broadhead you select the key to good broadhead flight is having your bow tuned with perfect arrow flight. Good Luck and welcome to the best sport in the world.

John, Cabella's has some really good heads with their brand name on them. Extremely stong and cheap.

John,
I would use the 100 grain Muzzy's as I believe these are one of the best around. Starting out i would stay away from the Zwickies or an other fixed blade broadheads for a couple seasons so you can work on your shooting and stalking skills and not worry about the razor sharp broadhead that you MUST have to be fair to the game.
If after a season or two you feel like experimenting with different heads, you will have an idea of what you want and can then learn to sharpen as well.
I personally have been shooting Muzzies for over 15 years and havn't had any problems getting them to fly with a properly tuned set-up and correctly spined arrow.

Good Luck!

Muzzy 100 grain.

You can tune with their practice blades.

I second the vote for Muzzy 3-blade 100 grain broadheads. I have a Hoyt Magna-Tech single cam bow. Poundage is 58 lbs. Muzzy broadheads fly true.

I stopped using the Muzzy for one reason. I shoot very strong bows and always hit the ground after going through deer. The Muzzy kills very well, but I break them in the ground. I have never used one more then once on deer. I can't afford new heads every season. I shear the threads the point screws onto and the point is driven back over the blades actually cutting the point. Other then that, they are very good heads. They say bad to the bone but not bad to the ground.

That's interesting but I have never had that happen. Here's a story for you. A few days ago I finished my practice session on bag targets and decided to do some impromtu "stump shooting". I like to test myself on estimating distance. Well, the first thing I saw to shoot at was some of the bones from one of last season's deer harvest.

I took aim at the femur and figured it at 25 yards. Oh yeah! Direct hit and the arrow was wearing a Muzzy practice head.

I went to get my arrow and found it broken. The bone was cracked but the force of the hit snapped the arrow and not the broadhead. I hate when that happens!

Take a look at the B52 and Montec broadheads from G5 outdoors. They are all one piece construction (even the threads). They sharpen and resharpen well, are incredibly durable, and fly great. I have taken several deer with both types, and they always performed perfectly.

MUZZY is a nice choice, but I think the last box of broad head I bought were 100 grain thunder head and that was 6 years ago...and I got 2 left, so I guess I better get out there and pick up some more

John- since you're shooting a 100grn field point on your Hoyt and you want it to shoot the same- I agree that the 3-blade 100grn Muzzy would be the best head for you.



I hunt with two bows- a 64"/55# Palmer takedown recurve and a 1980-Quadraflex 55# 2wheeler with 50% breakover.

I shoot the same 2117 XX78s with 125grn field points out of both bows and I have only hunted with 2-blade 125grn Zwickey Eskimos since the late 60s.

When I was in high school in the 60s I saw the Zwickey rep do a demo shooting Eskimos through concrete cinder blocks. Incredible- it hardly even dulls the point!

..killed alot of animals with those broadheads- they go right through bone!! I've always gotten complete pass through with both bows- great blood trail...

I'm using the same 2dozen Eskimos I bought in high school in 1967. I carry a little file and a diamond edge tool to keep an edge on them. They are very hard carbon steel and take an incredible edge!

I bought a couple dozen Zwickey Eskimos in 1981. I still have most of them. Damn near indestructible.

Sounds funny too me!!!!! I have a good buddy that shoots a Mathews Safari at like 90 or 95 pounds with Muzzy heads and has NEVER had that problem. He averages about 6 to 10 animals a year. Has been to Africa 4 times and goes to Kansas every other year. Never even one problem with ANY of his pass thrus on game. I was reading this the other day and saw bfrshooters thread and asked him. He says hes never heard of such things happening.

I should have kept all the Muzzy's and taken a picture of them. We have a lot of rocks and stones in the ground here, hard to miss them. Only two broadheads give me trouble in the ground. The Muzzy and the satelite titan which is the worst head I ever shot. I hit a stone on a pass through with this thing and curled up the tip like a sardine can. That wasn't too bad of a problem so I thought, until I took a pair of needle nose pliers and unrolled it like soggy butter. That is not a head to hit bone with. I wrote the company and told them although it is a nice design, the metal in it is no good. I never got a response.
I have never broken any NAP, Rocky Mountain, Cabela's or Magnus heads on stones. Yes I have messed up blades but a new one fixed it, the others were re-sharpened. What can I say? It depends on conditions. I like the Muzzy and it sure kills. But it doesn't like stones, even small ones. Those little threads with the splits to hold the blades just are not strong enough for a stone. Bones won't hurt them though. If your conditions are better then here, I would recommend the Muzzy. I was NOT saying it is a bad head.
I have a Thunderhead I use for practice from the treestand that is still in one piece after over 100 shots in the ground. (shootin at a milk jug.)

I will use Muzzy broadheads for the simple fact, they work well for me. I bought 3 packs of six each and use them all the time. If I loose one on a pass through I just use more. I have lost arrows after a pass though. The arrows digs into the ground and gets covered by the under brush, and I can't find them. I mostly hunt from the ground, so I don't get the downward angle which would let the arrow just stick into the ground and make it easy to find. But I do not plan on changing anything because I am successful with ground hunting.

I use thunder heads. I set up my hunting arrows I pick the 8 best that spin truest and practice with the Other 4. Everytime I shoot at game I kiss the arrow good bye. I do not expect to get the arrow at all (in on piece)and the head is ussually toast. Once in a while you get lucky and the arrow is laying on the leaves. Mostly if they spin pretty true they go into the practice bin. During the season I replace my blades at least twice even if they were not shot. I do not care whos head you shoot, you smoke a rock at over 200fps it is gonna be f-ed. I use Thunder heads becuase I caught a bunch on sale a few years ago and they shoot really well and make big holes. The 20 or so bows I have tuned the Thunder head has never given me any trouble. I have no problems with any other heads, but if it ain't broke don't fix it