Archery Broadheads and Points

In the early 80's, the bow manufacturers were creating much faster compound bows, which changed the types of broadheads to be used. The earlier compound bow with speeds of about 200 feet per second (fps) would handle the large cutting diameter and heavy tips of about 125 grains or more. In other words the arrow would not plane out or fly erratically.

Today, with the faster speeds of the compound bow (250 fps and up to about 340 fps) the larger broadheads will tend to plane out and fly off course with no way of correcting the flight of the arrow. Trust me; I tried just about everything to correct this problem. I really liked the idea of having a big cutting surface and large hole that the broadhead made on impact.Times have changed and so have I.

Today I shoot a broadhead that is much lighter and the cutting surface is smaller in diameter. I have three broadheads that I have been using for about 15 years and these are 100 grains; Rocky Mountain, Muzzy and Thunderheads. The reason I have stuck with these brands are very simple, they work for me. They are all razor sharp and center very well on my arrow.How do I know they center themselves on my arrow? A simple and easy way to check this is to spin the arrow by placing the point on a hard surface and holding the shaft between my pointer finger and thumbnail just below the feathers and spinning the arrow by blowing into the vanes or feathers. By watching the shaft of the arrow while spinning it, it will show if there is any wobble or the broadhead is off center.

To correct this problem, many times all you have to do is turn the broadhead about a ¼ of a turn to make sure it is seated properly on the end of the arrow shaft. If this does not correct the problem, replace the broadhead with another. If this does not correct it, then you may have to replace the screw in (female part) of the arrow.

But always make sure the arrow spins true in your fingers. This will allow the arrow to fly true. When this has been done correctly, I have never had an arrow fly untrue due to this problem.Mechanical broadheads fly very true, but they do have their draw backs in my opinion.

When they open up on contact they have a very large cutting diameter with large or long cutting blades that tend to break off or falter on impact. This style of broadhead is changing almost daily, and for this reason I do not totally put them out of my mind. But first they must prove to me they will not break or falter under severe testing. By this I mean shooting into a piece of ½ inch plywood. I've seen the tests done and have drawn my opinion.There are many different styles and makes of archery broadheads and points.

Just a few of these are;.A) Small Game Points.B) Big Game Broadheads including the Mechanical Broadhead.

C) Special Turkey Broadhead.D) Fish Points.E) Field Points.

When choosing a broadhead or different style of point, choose one that fits your need of choice. If you are practice shooting, choose a field point at the same amount of grains you use for hunting. Or maybe you are target shooting for competition and need a very light one to increase your speed.

For small game hunting you might want to consider using a judo point or blunt tip arrow head. These are made to have knock down power and less likely to get lost in the weeds or brush. For turkey hunting they make special mechanical broadheads that are blunt on the impact and razor sharp for cutting after the impact.Fish arrows have many different styles of points and barbs. Some of the tips screws on, some are locked into place and some are mechanical.

My personal choice is the mechanical style. They seem to hold the fish very well and are easy to release.Your choices of using the different styles of archery broadheads or points are totally up to you. I have given you some of my favorite choices that have worked very well for me throughout my bow hunting years. I'm not saying these are the only choices to make, but these work for me.

Happy Hunting and Straight Shooting!.

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By: Ted Lake