How I test for penetration

[Masboy]

This is my compressed carpet target I built awhile back an holding up great an don,t think it will ever wear out an shows no signs of wear or soft spots.it,s one foot thick an about 40 inches wide. Never had an arrow tip poke out the back yet from our equinox. works great for testing penetration of all kinds of arrows with field points an very consistent for arrow penetration from shot to shot.

then for broadheads I use a block target set at 30 yds. with a piece of thick quarry belt behind it. the belt you can see is about 5/8 thick an tuffffffffffff! an when a broadhead blows thru the block an belt I know it,s a great penetrating head an arrow. an not very many make it thru both . I know it,s not bone or deer but it better be sharp an cut to get thru both . just my way of testing broadheads an arrow weight for penetration.

[Lake shooter]

Those are nice targets buddy, looks like they really do some stopping.

Having said that, penetration in things like this, plywood or steel drums doesn't really give anything in the way of factual evidence when it comes to the boiler room of an animal. Sure those things above will stop an arrow, and that's great for target shooting and being kind to the old equipment. Isn't it ironic then that when we're shooting at large animals and hit the right spot, we WANT a complete pass through, not a stopped arrow!!!!!

What we have are some hair and untanned skin with a thin layer of flesh and fat, then a rib or more flesh and fat for less than an inch, them mostly air and/or soft tissue until it hits the same thing going out as going in.

I'm not running down your targets, they're great!!!!! Just making the juxtaposition between targets and animals and noting that I've never seen this brought up before!

[Masboy]

That,s for sure it,s not deer or bone. I think most heads out there will blow thru a deer when put in the right spot. just my way of telling what an arrow will do when the going gets tuff an comparing different weight arrows an broadheads. nothing scientific just in case a deer comes by with a heavy piece of quarry belt over his back for a shield

[Lake shooter]

Maybe I need to build something like you have. I shoot my 380 way less than I'd like because I'm tired of burying 18" Diablos past the nocks in 22" thick target!!!!

[Jim M]

It would be interesting if you would post some of your findings. I think that most bowhunters are always striving for improvement.

[Masboy]

Most of my testing was done to get the best penetration from my hunting bow a vixen. I found that the smaller heads like the slicktricks,rocket steelheads ,montec 100gr work great with at least a 450 gr arrow an a 2 blade Magnus stinger the best .

at 30yds my vixen with a Magnus stinger 100 gr an 450 gr arrow out penetrated our equinox with about the same wt arrow using a 125 crossbow rage. then I put the Magnus on the equinox an lots more than the vixen. and for most broadheads penetration was close the same from our equinox an I see no problem blowing thru deer with the high poundage bows no matter what the arrow wt. or head. from all my shooting on deer an targets I think the slicktricks are hard to beat for a do everything well broadhead an tuff as nails.JMO

[Jim M]

Personally, I,ve not been too impressed with Montecs. They are accurate, but don't seem to hold up very well when encountering bone. Most of the deer I've killed were with 125 Thunderheads and more recently, 125 gr Wasp SST Hammer
which is also a 3 blade fixed. I used 125 gr Slicktrick this year, but missed, on my only shot opportunity. However, I still get the best groups and penetration with the Wasp.
I've often wondered if anyone has ever tried a single bevel 2 blade with a crossbow. Supposedly, they open a larger wound channel than a conventional 2blade.

[Masboy]

I,ve never tried them but sure others have.i haven,t learned a whole lot after all the testing an shooting of many broadheads I,ve tried other than arrow weight ,speed helps with penetration an two blade heads like Magnus out penetrate all the others I,ve tried. on my best arrows they all are very accurate an have no ideal what the best broadhead is for deer just guessing a large cut if you can get a pass thru with it I would like one that made a big hole that did not close up after a pass thru

[nchunterkw]

Personally, I,ve not been too impressed with Montecs. They are accurate, but don't seem to hold up very well when encountering bone. Most of the deer I've killed were with 125 Thunderheads and more recently, 125 gr Wasp SST Hammer
which is also a 3 blade fixed. I used 125 gr Slicktrick this year, but missed, on my only shot opportunity. However, I still get the best groups and penetration with the Wasp.
I've often wondered if anyone has ever tried a single bevel 2 blade with a crossbow. Supposedly, they open a larger wound channel than a conventional 2blade.

What I have read about single bevel says it "twists" through bone causing more breakage, but the wound channel is the same as a double bevel of the same width. 2 blade heads of the same weight "should" out penetrate 3 or 4 blade heads on the same arrow primarily due to less resistance.
Interesting, your take on the Montec. I shot a bison with one last year. Right through a rib and the head came out in pristine condition. This was the CS which is supposed to be harder steel. Maybe that's it.

[Lake shooter]

That single bevel deal is just another unproven theory in the tens of thousands about broadheads.

On simple target penetration the thingy about more blades making more resistance hasn't proven to hold water with me. The first shot that I took with my Swhacker 125's went 3-4" deeper into the target than the 150 gr field points!!!! This doesn't jibe with the theory of more weight/more penetration OR blades resistance decreasing penetration! Even though only the wing blades were the only thing cutting as I had electrical tape around the ferrule, I surmised that even that much cutting on either side of the head is enough to release some gripping tension from the foam. Every shot, the same thing. 3 or 4 blades would lessen this "grip" on the shaft even more.

As I said at the beginning, I don't believe that target penetration has anything in common with the same thing in a deer's boiler room. But, common sense and the results above lead me to believe that the blades opening a wound channel will decrease the resistance on the shaft. Where the number of blades and the drag that they cause starts to overshadow this lessened drag on the shaft I can't say.