I'm curious to find out any pros/cons or differences between 2 blade, 3 blade, or 4 blade broadheads. Does it just come down to a personal preference? ...or does one give an advantage over the others? It seems the more blades you have, the more likely you are to hit an organ, but do the higher number of blades make it less likely that you'll get a pass through when, say, contacting the ribs?
It is my understanding generally,with the larger diameter 2 blades there is more drag which can led to not having a pass through. I believe it comes down to personal preference, I wish I had the money to drop $35 a pack just to see if I would consider hunting with them.
It's my opinion that the 4 blade 1" plus cut leave the best hole to drain blood. We take about 50 or more big game a year with archery and those 4 blade heads just seem to bleed with better consistancy. The two blades exit more, but they don'e seem to bleed as well. A four blade with a pass through is ( has been) about as good as it gets.
I am having great success with the 4-blade slick tricks. The two blade expanders have not worked as well due to angles of impact at times.
It is 100% personal preference. A bigger diameter BH (mechanical 2 or 3 blades) will help with a further back shot in the guts, while a small 4 blade fixed head will be safer for a hit contacting the front shoulder scapula. Either way if you put the arrow where it needs to go, any BH on earth will provide excellent blood trails and put an animal down fast. It comes down to blade sharpness, and picking a BH side that is realistic for your bows energy output. For my personal use, I shoot Rage 2 blades. Have had great success with them, even on tracking jobs where blood wasn't present due to a quartering shot being plugged by the intestines, the deer went down less than 50 yards away. It is WEIRD how huge of a gash a 2 blade can leave. I don't understand how a 2" cutting diameter can create a measured 5" clean cut gash through internal organs?!
That's a little misleading. Giving similar sizes, 2 blade will out penetrate 3 blade which will out penetrate 4 blade etc.. That said, size does matter as well as mechanical vs fixed. Other than that, it's strictly personal preference and my thought mirror Tembry's post.. currently I shoot 2 Blade Rocky Mountain Snypers which is the original Rage as well as Slick Tricks, 3 blade Muzzys and Rage.
Stick with 4 blade slick-trick magnums, for the price you cant beat em and they fly like a field point. I have seen what the 2 blade rages do to deer when they work key word "Work" they put a massive hole in a deer similar to a lightfield slug. thing is the design of the 2 blade rage sucks, they can deploy early, and if the angle isn't perfect and you hit bone/ribcage the deflect like a damn frisby because one blade has a tendency to deploy earlier than another, and on top of that if your able to shut fixed blades out of your bow and get them to pattern, i would never consider shooting a mechanical in the first place. not only just rages but in all mechanical broad heads you take that risk of them failing or not operating correctly just because of mechanical design. like all mechanical things in the world today, they have the risk of failing. But im not completly bashing mechanicals cause there are alot of good ones on the market, the one i like the most is meat seeker by rocket i decided to go out on the limb and try a mechanical this year earlier in the season and was very pleased with the results., i have yet to here anything really bad about those. rages on the other hand you either love em or hate em' . im just not willing to take that risk of mechanical malfunctioning even though the chances of it not working properly aren't very common, its still a risk i won't take unless i have to. but one i wont give rages a chance after seeing them fail two times, one deploying early, the other didn't deploy correctly on contact while filming hunts. i have heard of several incidences of it happening with rage 2 blades. so if you can manage to shoot fixed blades, i would give both slick trick mags 100gr or 100gr muzzy 3 blade a try, have had great success from both, and have yet to hear anything bad about there performance besides that muzzys have a tendency not pattern as well as the slick tricks. good luck to you, and anyone correct me if im wrong or you have a different opinion, i just have heard more bad then good about 2 blade rages in my area.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I think my best option is to pick one to try then over time perhaps try others to see what works best for me.
More blades, less penetration. On the other hand, more blades more cutting surfaces. With compounds, it doesnt matter but with traditional gear, I stick with two blades.
I may be wrong but if you put it in the boiler room it doesn't matter the blade count? Also if your bow is tuned properly, wont they all fly how they are supposed to?? I have 8 different heads right now and it doesn't matter what I screw on the end of my arrow, they hit the same spot. 3 different mechs and 5 different fixed blades. I could be way off on those two assumptions.
Ultimately, I tend to agree with you, Sticknstringarchery, but since I'm new to all of this I am looking for whatever information (and any advantages) I can get. Looking forward to getting out to hunt for the first time ever next season, though I may try for some pig in the next several months to start with.
A situation to consider is how you hunt. When hunting from above the entry is usually higher on the animal. With that if you do not get an exit, you end up having to fill the body with blood before it can reach the hole. The wider you're blades, the less likely you will penetrate as far. It's a well accepted fact that 2" wide blades ( or more) don't penetrate as easy as 1.25" or smaller width blades. If you have enough power to drive a 2" plus expandable through your intended target then you're golden. If you don't know, or cannot, then the smaller width is clearly a better option. Now if you're hunting from above and get an exit that will be low on the body making an exceptional blood flow out of the cavity. Four Blade heads make a gaping hole that will pour blood out. Because all four blades meet in the center you have these four loose flaps of skin that are difficult to clog with fat and tissue. 1.25" two blades penetrate better then anything, but are often the most difficult to make fly well. The short wide 4 blades are usually the easiest to make fly like a field point. Of course Mechanicals are almost always gonna fly like a field point but they are also the least reliable and the biggest risk for a broad head.
I've shot many different heads over the years and I feel for the most part any head out there will do the job as long as the shooter does their part. In general when talking off the same bow a 2-blade will out penetrate a 3 blade as a 3-blade will out penetrate a 4-blade and so on. However the cutting width certainly makes a difference, a 1" cut 4-blade will out penetrate the same shot with a 2" wide 2-blade in most cases. No days though the equipment is so fast and efficient I think penetration has become a moot point in many cases. With that said I use mostly 3-blades and some times 4-blades. I have shot deer with 2-blades and while they certainly did the job, they never put as much blood on the ground as the 3s and 4s for me. But yeah, it mostly comes down to personal preference and will very quite a bit just as other equipment does
I think it really comes down to personal opinion. The most important thing is making a lethal shot. I have killed deer with Rage 2 blade, Thunderhead 100g and Slick Trick 100g. I have never been able to blame a broadhead for not recovering a deer. After switching to the standard Slick Trick 4 blade this year I am completely sold on them. They are a very small broadhead that leave a nasty hole.
I have the NAP Bloodrunner 3blade and Spitfire 3 blade. Haven't shot a deer yet but I carry a couple of each in my quiver. No wind = Bloodrunner becauseits a nice combo of fixed/mechanical head. Heavy wind =Spitfire because the mechanical head is very narrow and will (hopefully) not be as affected by the wind. Oh hell, I just want to get back into a treestand and get a deer in range.
