funny, I looked on your site yesterday for a review on these ... one of my most favorite heads, got one in my quiver along with the Exodus Full and GR 1 3/8 Razortips
Hunted with these or the standards for years and somehow, even today, I always seem to have some lying around for backup. My usual Magnus heads are still back ordered, so the ST's are in the quiver now. Fly great, durable and they kill.
I’ve lost a blade using slick tricks on heavy bone impacts on two different occasions. They don’t have any support behind the blades besides a skinny washer. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
That's interesting. I've never had that happen. Not sure how you can lose one blade cause they interlock. The skinny washer is supported by collar of the shaft itself. I suppose if it got loosened, then that could cause a problem.
This pretty much confirms to me my decision to go back to the Slicks after this year. They're pretty much bullet proof and IMO, one of the stoutest heads available on the market. I've killed many deer with the little Slick Trick standard and none went very far. My only complaint with the heads, and it could simply be my experiences, is lack of blood trails. Not many of the deer I shot with Slick Trick Standards left what I'd call an overly great blood trail. Followable, yes, but you certainly had to be looking pretty hard for blood in many cases. I have about a dozen each of standards and mags... Time to get back to them and ditch these mechanicals.
I think that faint or minimal blood trails is a pretty common knock on many fixed heads. I arrowed a buck last year with a Magnus black hornet and the blood trail was NOT massive. Like you said, followable. Dead dear at about 120 yards and I separated the top artery from the heart on the shot. Pretty much the same with other deer I've killed with Magnus and Slick tricks. I don't really use mechs, but I have seen in person the blood trail a Rage will induce and it is unreal. I'm not getting into the weeds of this debate (pretty much littered throughout various places on this forum and online), but I like and will stick with tough, fixed heads. Good luck this year!
If all you had for everything was a bunch of slick trick mag….you’d be just fine. They are a solid performer, all ways have been
That’s what I thought for a long time. I had a hit on a 2 year old buck where the arrow clipped the edge of the shoulder blade and then hit exactly where one of the ribs meets a vertebrae. It was a heck of an impact and the arrow only penetrated about half way with the broad head ending up right over the heart. The washer was cut on one side and my insert had a dent in it from the blade being pushed back. (Aluminum insert) The broad head only had one of the blades when I got it out of the deer and I never did find the missing one. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
IMO the idea of blood trails being a product of the broadhead is misguided, but something that we hear and then parrot back when the topic comes up. It's 100% about what you hit, not the size of the hole. I've seen plenty of fixed-blade blood trails that looked like a blood bath you could follow from outer space, and likewise, I've seen double-lung shot mechanical trails that were sparse. Not all lung and heart shots are created equal. There are a variety of veins, arteries, and other things in there that can cause one blood trail to be better than another. I blame Rage for the "Bigger holes, better blood trails" mantra. THP & Ranch Fairy had a really good video on this not long ago. Although they espoused how fixed blades are better most of the video, they brought up some great points about how not all blood trails are created equal and gave various examples. If you've got 30 minutes, it's definitely worth the watch.
I agree 100%, but there is one other aspect of a broadhead that will most definitely decrease a blood trail and that is if it's dull. One of the things I love about Slick Tricks is how sharp they are out of the package. I always pay particular attention to the sharpness test that John does in his reviews. I stopped shooting Grim Reapers years ago because they were pretty dull out of the package, and back then I couldn't figure out how to sharpen them well. I made some great shots with minimal blood trails and finally figured out that the blades were dragging tissue and partially or almost completely plugging the exit wound. No matter what broadhead you shoot, if the blades are razor sharp the blood trail will be better provided you hit where you need to.
Blade sharpness is definitely something that's lacking in a lot of broadheads these days. That's the reason I'm glad I picked up that KME broadhead sharpener. The other night I disassembled, cleaned, sharpened, and fully rebuilt a Spitfire XXX that I had shot a deer with some time ago. I even touched up the tip with a file. I would say it's currently better now than when it was brand new.
I'm going to have to try one of those KME out. Same as you I refuse to give old RC any business. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Slick trick mag last night. Blood trail was fine, plenty to follow the short 75 yards he went…. My shooting could have been better though, quartering away and hit him a bit further back then I wanted liver and one lung. I waited a while before retrieving him but from the sign I seen he was dead quick. Blood trails are more a product of circumstance and placement then broadhead design. For me penetration and integrity of the head is the most important factors in broad-head design. The blade retention on slick tricks showed real ingenuity, Gary nailed it on that front. It allowed him to have a short stout steel ferrule with two blades instead of three or four with tab style retention that was being used by everyone else at the time. The two blade doesn’t leverage against ferrule and really adds strength. I have yet to break a blade, chattered and chipped yea, loose a blade nope.
I’ve been shooting Slick Trick Magnums for years. I made a mistake and ordered some from Amazon a few years ago and I must have gotten knock-offs. The blades were definitely not original. They bent and broke easily. I even bent blades on a shot through a doe’s rib cage. Also, I couldn’t put an edge on whatever kind of steel they used. I just order them from Lancaster Archery now and I haven’t had a problem since. I’ll never order broadheads from Amazon again.
I still have about a dozen packs from when Gary made them, pretty much a life time supply. After washing the dirt off the head this morning you could kill another deer with today.
Before I got the KME sharpening kit I just used to buy replacement blades. I probably have a hundred blades that I can sharpen now, but I don’t have any extra ferrules. I wish they sold just the ferrule.
One of Dr. Ashby’s principles is he wants a stropped and honed broadhead and he says majority of factory blades are not ideally sharp! You’re right on !
Anyone figured out a way to get the KME to hold a regular Muzzy 3 blade blade in the clamp? Or a blade from a G5 Deadmeat? I recently bought a KME sharpener but I can't get it to hold either one of the above blades worth a darn. The Muzzy blades have a 90° bend on one end, so they won't lay flat in the jig clamp. The Deadmeat blades have a dimple on one end (the part that snaps into the blue collar to hold the blades closed), so they won't lay flat in the jig clamp either. I tried putting them clear to one side so the dimple isn't under the clamp, but the jig wouldn't hold them firmly at all. The blade would rock and move around no matter how tight I tried to get the nut on the back of the clamp. Must have to have a very flat and fairly wide blade that can be positioned exactly in the center of the jaws for it to hold them. I'm not impressed with the versatility of the clamp to hold a blade worth a darn. It's 0 for 2 for me, doesn't work for either BH I have.
