Hello everyone. I am having a horrendous season. I shoot a mathews dxt (very light, very fast, and due to the short brace height, a realatively unforgiving setup). I pull 62 pounds, have a 29 inch draw, and a rip cord fall away rest. I shoot 28-29 inch arrows. But I practice religiously, and am confident in the bow. at 40 yards with my 3 blade rage broadheads, I can hit a 4 inch group every time. The rage broadhead is where my problems started. I used to shoot grim reapers with light arrows and had major penetration issues on whitetails, so I heavied up to a st axis 400 28 inches long, and switched to rage, due to all the great hype surrounding them. however, the penetration issue got worse. I stuck 3 doe in the ribcage, and got a clean pass through on only the one 15 yards away, with the other 2 being only 20 and 30 yds. and to top it all off, I drilled a monster 4x4 at 25 yards right in the boiler, and had NO BLOOD to follow, because my arrow only went in 3 inches! then, being fed up with the rage heads, I switched to muzzy 100 fixed heads. When I shoot at 20 yds, It's dead on, but I move out to 30 and my arrows are all over the place! I called a few local pro shops, and they said my bow is out of tune, but I can match a bare shaft shot to a fletched arrow shot perfectly out to 30 or so yards! Am I underspined? Too Heavy? Are the rage heads ok or not? I really hope someone can send me in the right direction!
A .400 spine at 28" should be good, it's not THAT fast and a 7" BH is actually decent. Bare shafts shooting tight is much easier than grouping BH's, and BH's will accentuate any form flaws exponentially. Have you BH tuned your bow, is there any consistency to what your arrows are doing at 30yds that varies from 20??? If not, the first thing I'd check is for fletching contact. Fletching contact has driven many an archer crazy until he fixed that specific problem. I recommend you have someone watch you shoot or film yourself shooting and see how your form is. Open hand, good follow through, not torquing the bow, etc. A good going over and you may find that the problem is a relatively easy fix. ' And in all honesty, they are likely right. Shooting FP's is just the beginning, to FINE TUNE a bow, you need to screw some BH's on and get them to shoot to the same spot your FP's do. Check out this link, it's probably the most thorough step by step BH tuning guide I've seen.....And it's been viewed over 80,000 times for GOOD REASON..... http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=539460 Good Luck!!!
but an easton 400 spine is more flexible than a carbon express 350, correct? I'm not sure on that one. In regards to my form, Ive been told that I have a solid form, but who knows. video would probly tell the truth. Havent bh tuned, just switched heads last week. I have given up on this season and am GOING to have problems resolved before next year. Which direction should I go with broadheads? a heavy arrow and a mechanical? or a medium weight arrow with fixed heads?
In my opinion, if you haven't BH tuned your bow, then it's not TUNED!!! I know a couple target shooters that make $$$ shooting their bows, that will actually take BH's and BH tune their target rigs, to make sure they have as good of a tune on their bows as possible. As for which arrow/BH combination to use, if you've had penetration problems, then you should be using a GOOD fixed BH. As to this above, you probably hit his shoulder blade. You're bow has plenty of energy that it should EASILY punch through a near side rib if you hit the "BOILER," deer aren't made that tough.
Bladed broadheads can sometimes fight your fletching trying to guide the arrow from the front as the fletching is doing the same from the rear. Muzzy's do normally shoot good. As OHbowhunter said, you need to tune it with broadheads. Good luck!
Realistically, I probably wouldn't recommend that head for the type of energy your bow is producing. I'd be much more likely to recommend something like a Slick Trick or NAP Nitron.
Wouldn't it make sense for broadhead companies to make large fix blade broadheads just for tuning your setup. Heads that would be less wind resistant and would show any flaw in your set-up. Just a thought, I'm trying to get a better understanding on tuning myself. Thanks
I would try 2 things....bh tuning, and possibly a stiffer shaft. I personally like mine a tad stiff, and you are probably right on the edge with a 400 spine. If that was "my" setup, I'd be shooting a 340 spine. My .02 on the bh's....stick with the muzzy's, or get some slick tricks. I'm not a big fan of the rage heads. They don't do anything a good fixed head can't do, except possibly fail. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get it worked out.
