sorry this is going to be long-winded with no pics, but really who wants to see pick of a shot out target and a bunch of arrows? G5 Striker vs. Shuttle T Black Ops vs. Slick Trick vs. G5 Montec vs. Muzzy 3 blade (all 100gr) So I spent most of the weekend testing the 5 heads above on 3 different 31" arrows: Carbon Express Maxima Red 350 with 2" Blazers, Victory Vforce V3 350 also with 2" Blazers, and Beman ICS Hunter 340 with NAP QuickSpin helicals. All arrows were equipped with their respective factory-installed inserts and nocks. I did spin test all the heads and they looked good to go. Note: I did not intentionally align any blades with or counter to the fletch. I just went with however they happened to align once screwed in. I was shooting into a Block Classic target, and for reference point- all arrows shot to point of aim at 40 yards with field tips (more or less - I'm a pretty good shot but I am human.) Before the test, I had only actually personally seen/handled the Montecs and Muzzy. One last thing- for the Muzzy and the Montecs, I actually shot these tests using the practice tip version. Out of the box initial impressions: Striker: Nasty, filthy sharp. Good factory fittings. Everything locks in tight. Not a huge fan of the 2 washer system as they are too easy to drop and lose (yup!) Steel looks good. Tip is razor sharp, perfectly aligned and angled evenly with the blades which follow; and looks like it would absolutely blow through bone. Nice size for a fixed head. Shuttle T: They arrived all loose inside the packaging, which I was not happy about as they were banging around together for who knows how long. I chalked that up to shipping, and moved on. The heads look tiny, but that's more of an optical illusion due to the swept blade design. Blade edges are mirror polished and "sharp enough". Tip is less angled and is more of a punch-through style than a slice-through. The edges of the tip align with the blades but are not on the same angle. One thing I noticed right away - on the first head I picked up, there was a hairline crack in one blade edge. The other 2 heads appear OK. I haven't had a chance to contact the manufacturer yet. Slick Trick: Wow. Impressed with the fitting, sharpness, and simplicity of design. Even the packaging was easy to deal with - no giant fused clamshell. Very sharp tip and blades, edges of the tip both align with and angle the same as the blades. The back end of the blades are sharpened just a bit so if you don't get a pass through that head will absolutely cause all kinds of damage as it gets jostled around in the animal. I cut myself twice on the back edge of those blades. Nice size for a fixed head. Muzzy 3 blade: Packaging is simple, and comes with extra blades inside a protective plastic box, as well as practice blades. You open a package of Muzzys and you know what you are going to get. Fairly simple design, razor sharp blades, and a devastating trocar tip. Bad to the bone, right? The tips are angled the same as the blades, but the edges of the tip do not always align exactly the with the blades. A muzzy broadhead is kind of like a 30-30...it gets the job done time and time again, but everyone is always looking for the new hot and sexy "next" up and comer. I don't particularly like the fact that you need a broadhead wrench to tighten the tip. One more thing to lose. On the bright side of that, there are no washers to lose, so Muzzy has that going for it. Good size fixed head. Montec: Same packaging as the Striker. Nice balance, needle sharp tip and razor sharp blades, gotta love the simplicity of one piece of steel and no washers to lose. Tiny! 1) Slick Tricks: A (scary sharp and easy to put together) 2) Montecs: A (K.I.S.S. but very small) 3) Strikers: A- (great design and sharpness, but 2 washers hurt here) 3) Muzzy A- (packaging and extra blades are nice; don't like the needed b/h wrench) 5) Shuttle T: F (cracked blade and loose in package) General accuracy: I shot all 5 heads on 2 samples each of all 3 shaft brands at both 40 and 50 yards. So obviously I can't go into shot for shot details, but first impression of flight characteristics are this- out of all 5 heads, only the Shuttle T did not shoot to near point of aim. It was consistently 2 o'clock high, usually about 3" at 40 and 4-5" at 50. For whatever reason it was more so on of one of my Victory shafts; the only reason I could think of as to why is maybe the way the blade lined up with the Blazers? They hit that spot time after time, but it's not where I was aiming. Very consistent but not in tune with the other heads. The Slick Tricks were the clear winner here; with every shaft they just hammered home time after time. Even at 50 I was having to change my point of aim or I would have ruined a few vanes at least. The Montecs were right behind, with the Strikers were nearly as good, with the Muzzys coming in last as far as consistency; but perfectly acceptable. We're talking 3-4" variances at 50 yards. Still pretty darn good. 1) Slick Tricks: A+ 2) Montecs: A 3) Strikers: A- 4) Muzzy: B 5) Shuttle T: I (incomplete. Consistent but not to point of aim.) Penetration: Keep in mind this was into a Block target so it's not a great medium compared to ballistic gel, but you still get a general idea of how they compare to each other if not how they would actually do on an animal. Out of all 5, the Slick Trick had the least penetration, usually by 3-5". However, that's kind of expected due to the 4 blade design. Just more metal hitting more stuff. Far and away, the Shuttle Ts had the best. Even though they were hitting the least shot-out part of my target, they routinely buried almost to the fletch. The Montec had the 2nd best penetration, but only by a couple of inches compared to the actual Strikers; even though it was the unsharpened practice Montec (For those that have never seen a Montec practice head, they are just un-honed Montecs. The tips are still very pointy but the blades don't have an edge. I have no doubt if you shot a deer with a Montec practice head it would die fairly quickly.) I chalk up the Montec penetration due to the small diameter. The Strikers had very good, consistent penetration. Even though it was the practice version, the Muzzy nearly penetrated right there with the actual Strikers. 1) Shuttle T: A+ 2) Montecs: A 3) Strikers: A- 4) Muzzy: I (incomplete. Practice blades skewed results, but still performed fairly well and penetrated better than the Slicks) 5) Slick Tricks: B (completely acceptable; but 4 blades hurt here) Durability/useability: Well, point blank the Montec is one piece of steel, there are no moving parts, and nothing to lose. You can re-sharpen the blades time and time again. One head could very well take literally dozens of animals and only need to have the edges touched up between shots before going back into your quiver and be ready to go again. They win going away. Right behind is the Striker. I really hate the 2 washer system, but taking that aside the head is just nasty sharp and strong. The tip is actually an extension of the ferrul, so it is strong as heck and also is resharpenable. The blades are easy to switch and pretty tough. No nicks, just dull after shooting into the target a few times. The Slick Tricks are really easy to use as well and also seem very strong with the tip also being an extension of the ferrul. The blades are very sharp and strong; even after 20 or so shots into the Block 2 of the 4 blades still held a razor's edge. The Muzzy have an aluminum ferrul with the trocar tip, so are not quite as strong as the above. However, I know from personal experience they are plenty tough enough and the blades are easy to swap and super sharp out of the box. The Shuttle Ts are also a one-piece ferrul and tip with interchangable blades, which are easy enough to swap...but I don't like how blunt the tip is, and the blades were loosening up after repeated shooting. They are also not nearly as sharp as the others; although what edge they have seems to hold fairly well. The black finish started wearing off after a dozen shots. 1) Montecs: A+ 2) Strikers: A 3) Slick Tricks: A- 4) Muzzy: B 5) Shuttle T: B- Value: This is kind of a dicey category since heads can be found all over for different prices, so I will just judge on what I usually see these priced at and what I think you get for the money: 1) Slick Tricks: A+ (can't say enough how good quality these are for $23) 2) Muzzy: A (good quality, great price) 3) Montecs: B+ (good quality, mid-high priced) 3) Strikers: B+ (good quality, mid-high priced) 5) Shuttle T: C- (quality was iffy; mid-high priced) to be continued....
Final Grades: I based the final grades on the criteria above as well as just how each head "feels" to me. Despite the fact that they penetrated better than any other head by a wide margin; the clear loser is the Shuttle T. The lack of accuracy I can overlook since they were completely consistent; just not in tune with my bow. I could fix that. But I can't fix cracked blades, or "punch" style tips. When you see how wide the "V" is between blades coupled with the blunt tips and steep blade angle; it seems to me that any quartering shot would have a high chance of glancing off. I have no doubt that these would do the job on a broadside shot, but how often does that actually happen in the field? The Montecs, while they are great for what they are, are just so dang small. I know people use them with great success, but I'm scared away by their size. If G5 made them in 100-115gr 1.25", I'd use them in a heartbeat. But they won't be in my quiver this year. The Muzzy, Slick Tricks and Strikers all performed very well and I would feel comfortable using any of them to take game...but what I'm taking to Idaho for elk this year are the Strikers. While they did not top any of these categories, the Strikers ended up being the best combination of accuracy, toughness, and penetration. I have no qualms shooting these heads at elk out to 70 yards. I can't say the same for the Muzzy because of the accuracy, and can't say the same for the Slicks due to the penetration factor. I really, really like the Slicks and they are now my likely go-to head for deer. No doubt they will leave a great blood trail. But for elk, I'm going with the Strikers- I want that extra penetration! My main hang-up with the Striker was/is the 2 washer system; but that concern goes away once the head is on the arrow shaft. As I said in my initial impression section; these heads are sick nasty sharp and tough. The fact they shoot and penetrate so well pushes them to the top of the list. 1) Strikers: A 2) Slick Tricks: A- 3) Montec: B+ 4) Muzzy: B 5) Shuttle T: C (maybe I got a bad batch) So there you go. Hope this helps some guys or was otherwise informative and not too boring.
Good post, I like the detail. I did a lot of research after a bad experience with a mechanical broadhead. I decided on the G5 Montecs for most of the things you described. One piece construction. Simply resharpen and re-use. No need to monkey with extra blades or washers and whatnot. Like you I wish that it was a slightly larger cutting diameter, but I decided the solid design and simplicity was worth the slightly lower cutting diameter. I have yet to shoot a deer with them, so I am just going off of my own target practice, but I think they should do the job just fine.
Very good post but if the Montec scored in the top for all categories I don't think it deserves a B because if a small cutting diameter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Perfectly stated on the Muzzy... "Good quality, great price." Your results fell almost exactly where I thought they would before I read the entire post. I just ordered the new Phantom SC 125s. So much for a great value... but I am expecting a great COC head with great accuracy.
As for the Montec I said "in the top" referring to it being in the top two at least all the time. And the montecs and strikers only have an 1/8 of an inch difference and even no difference in the 125 models. Being that the Montec scored higher in every category compared to the striker in my opinion 1/8 of an inch isn't enough to dethrone it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
not quite true; check the value category. They tied for third with the Strikers. Even so, I did say that part of the final grade was in how I "felt" about each head. I "feel" the extra size is important, especially since accuracy and penetration differences were very slight. Honestly, I am not super happy shooting anything smaller than 1.25", but then I start getting into 125gr heads and I am 100% sure I don't want to shoot anything that heavy- there's nearly a foot drop in trajectory at 50 yards with my set up when I use 125gr tips vs. 100. So with the Striker I'm already at the bottom end of what I am personally comfortable shooting. Also, (I neglected to mention this specifically) I personally like a replaceable blade system because if you nick or bend a blade bad enough you will never get it out. I just feel the Striker is the best performer across the categories. As I said, if Montecs were a touch bigger, I likely would have leaned that way. It was a good battle, but in the end for me the Strikers had more of what I was looking for.....I will admit that after reading your post and going back through I did do the Montecs final grade an injustice by ranking them tied with the Muzzy...I have revised that but still have them under the Strikers (and the Slicks, for that matter.) If wasn't hunting elk this year; I would have chosen Slicks without a doubt (and still did choose them for white tails.) In the opening paragraph, I probably should have made mention of the fact that I am going after elk this year and therefore the larger, tougher animal is a factor being considered. Again, this wasn't scientific. I didn't test for blade tensile strength, record wind speeds, measure every shot to average variances in penetration or distance from center; or even use ballistic gel. I used my eyes, my bow, my Block, 3 different types of common arrows, and a big backyard. I tried to score categories that all hunters would consider important, and highlight the differences between the heads.
Makes sense. All comes down to personal preference. The test was great and hope the strikers perform well on your elk. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have a set of 3 blade muzzys that I was going to trade in for 2 blade expandables but lately I have been hearing great things about the muzzy 3 blades so maybe I will see how they do on a deer for me
