Starting point for broadhead

[chadgrow]

I've hunted the past 6 years with bolt cutters. When "tuning " them I always started by setting them such that the three blades a lined w/ the fletching. I honestly never much moved them from this point due to achieving decent accuracy. When the new bolt cutters came out that allowed adjustment of the blades with no hassle of moving the insert I was allowed more freedom in fine tuning. To be honest I rarely had to go far from the initial lineup to the vanes. That being said, I recently switched to 150 grain slick tricks, out of curiosity; the bolt cutters performed well and I harvested many deer with them. So my question is, what's the best starting position for a four bladed broadhead? Do I just split the difference evenly of blades between vanes? Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Chad

[xcaliber]

Just get them tight, and shoot. Don't worry about lining them up, it will make little if any difference.

[longbow joe]

I agree with exie it never seemed to matter with either head for me either .i do think the boltcutters are a little more closer to field point accuracy by a tad you just have to determine if you need the extra blade .there both great heads you cant go wrong .

[chadgrow]

So the consensus thus far is one in which broadhead of small surface area achieve success by many, no reason to tune or experiment, just go for it? I'm not new to archery and know from experience shooting traditional archery that tuning is a ethical endeavor. I realize I'm the one posting the query and hope to not seem disrespectful or ungrateful for the responses....just confused?

[xcaliber]

No worries, I'm from the old school too, and it took a while to stop the things that I used have to do. The broadheads these days from the better manufacturers fly great, and are well balanced. I do the spin test still, and if I see any wobble, i check that head out from the top to the bottom, and spin it again. My quiver only has arrows with broadheads that i have shot at 30 yards at least once, if they do not hit dead on, they are practice heads forever!

Good luck, and happy hunting.
Dan

[chadgrow]

Thank you, for your understanding xcalibur....seems though you realize an advancement in broadheads you still resort to "the tests"......guess my query is a bit hypothetical now in that while the responses received would have given me a collective bit of confidence toward a starting point....I would still resort to the trial of each tip in each bh/arrow.....i was hoping to hit the easy button for confidence from the masses to start......however I know my OCD would further evaluate.....
So I guess the question now is; "are proven broadheads of modern design to be trusted on well built arrows or factory supplied for the matter"?

[longbow joe]

You can bet that excalibur has tested the boltcutter. Is. It the only best head no but ive never saw one fly really bad. Im very anal also i have gone to a spitfire expandable it literally flys like a field point every time never had one fail if you want to go the expandable route. On the forum the bolt cutter .slick trick and ram cat all are very accurate. Like a broken record every year .no one bothers indexing a small profile 4 blade head with a 3 vane system its not worth worrying about.

[chadgrow]

I agree that seems the consensus Joe.....I don't want this thread to get off topic in regard to brands (the tried and true)....my original query was if orienting the broadhead in relation to the vanes made a difference in flight....but your right the three you mentioned seemed the go to brands for fixed heads....when I've given slick tricks a go you can bet I will be experimenting with ram cats....lol...someone has to stimulate the economy, might as well go to a good cause

[racking up points]

Indexing the blades on a broadhead to the vanes on the arrow will have ZERO impact on accuracy. Fred Bear seemed to be successful with two blade heads, I wonder how he indexed those?

But there is something to be said about having confidence in your equipment, so index the 4 blade heads on each arrow the same way if that floats your boat. But IMO, as long as the arrow is square and you have spin tested the broadhead for wobbles, it should fly true. That being said, every arrow in my quiver gets shot just for peace of mind. I don't assume that because they are the clones to my practice arrows that they will all fly the same.

[paulaboutform]

I've never found ANY difference in aligning the blades to the vanes. None. I believe this is a common misconception. If it makes you feel better or you like the looks better, then by all means carry on. What do you do if you're shooting two blades, or two blades with bleeders, or four blades, or toxics? My point being, there is no difference. What is a HUGE factor is arrows that spin true and are squared at both ends, including the nocks. You'd do well to buy an arrow spinner and either a G5 or Luminok Squaring Tool. If shooting a broadhead like a slick trick that has a rear washer you may have to loosen and retighten the broadhead to achieve proper alignment. Always check your arrows first, then your broadheads. Just my two bits.

Paul

[8ptbuk]

I agree totally with the comments above , Another influence on great broadhead flight I've found is fletching and amount of helical . Hard to beat 2" Blazers and 3 or 4 degree of helical . ( Arizona Bolt Jig ) .

[nchunterkw]

chadgrow,
I, like you, used to do all those things. I would number the arrow and BH and put them together and THEN fletch the arrow so everything lined up. Then I learned about how to find the spine of my arrows and aligned fletchings to that - worked better. Then I found better (and stiffer) arrows and learned about FOC and that worked better. So from all of these years of tinkering.....

-with 3 blade heads it seems that sometimes aligning the BH with the fletching had an effect and sometimes it didn't. But this was always on arrows that were significantly less stiff than what I shoot now, and it was never a sure thing. Looking back I think it had more to do with the arrow than anything.

- with 4 blade heads, or 2 blade heads, as Derrick said above, you cannot align them to the fletching. My experience is that 4 blade (or 2 blade) heads fly better on weaker spined arrows. But your best bet is to find the spine of each arrow and make sure they are all oriented on the rail the same way. You can see how this effects your arrow flight by marking the vanes and trying a shot with each different vane in the channel. You may be surprised how your POI changes just from that. I fletch with 3 different color vanes now so it's easy to tell them apart and I mark the one that goes in the rail on each arrow.

Of Note with the Slick Tricks.....when you put them together, note the flat and curved side of the washer. Make sure the flat side is against the insert and make sure the insert is square. If you put it together and it fails the spin test, re-assemble by turning the washer or using a different washer. You can tell if the washer is causing the issue or if the insert is off by assembling it without a washer (ferrule won't hit the insert face) and see if the BH spins true then. If so your insert is probably installed correctly, but the face/washer interface is off somehow causing the wobble.

I don't think anyone above was saying to just screw a BH on a go hunting. You should shoot every arrow at least once to verify flight with a BH on it...especially a fixed head. I few shots into a Rinehart target or similar will not dull the blade enough to matter....but of course if that bothers you just touch them up.

My "general" recipe (which provides me with good accuracy) is:

Black Eagle Zombie Slayer shafts (16" for my Micro, 20" for my Vortex)
110gr brass insert
125gr BH or FP
2" Trueflight feathers, fletched with RH helical from an "Arizona EZ Fletch Bolt" fletch tool
NuFletch Igniter nocks (optional)

Right now my BH of choice is the Ramcat. Although I have plenty of SLick Tricks (and they fly well too), the Ramcats fly just a bit better for me. Other good options of fixed blades for your consideration:
Magnus Stinger 2 blade
Magnus Black Hornet
Slick Trick (really any of them)
QAD Exodus


Hope this helps...!

[chadgrow]

Thank you all, for all the good information. It is nice to have a pool of experience come together sharing information to help shorten the learning curve. I recently built a dozen zombies +/- .001", indexed, squared front/back to include the insert and fletched w/ Arizona EZ bolt, (all this accomplished thru information gained on this forum ).
Hopefully this discussion thread will prove valuable to others as it has myself.
Thanks again!
Chad

[sproulman]

Indexing the blades on a broadhead to the vanes on the arrow will have ZERO impact on accuracy. Fred Bear seemed to be successful with two blade heads, I wonder how he indexed those?

But there is something to be said about having confidence in your equipment, so index the 4 blade heads on each arrow the same way if that floats your boat. But IMO, as long as the arrow is square and you have spin tested the broadhead for wobbles, it should fly true. That being said, every arrow in my quiver gets shot just for peace of mind. I don't assume that because they are the clones to my practice arrows that they will all fly the same.

FRED BEAR..On our bear points in 60s with cedar arrows we would spin test arrows with hot glue in points then turn them slowly until wobble was gone did this on every arrow ..Those were days hitting a traget at 30 yards with no sights or pins all INSTINCTIVE..Boy were we deadly I could hit 50 cent piece at 30 yards..young age and good eyes and hunting like a Apache ...