Mechanical vs Fixed Broadheads

I’ve tried testing all the mechanical heads on the market and none have passed the test of a worthy broadhead. I don’t care what is written on social media or blog sites, they are all crap! I keep trying to design one that defies the laws of physics, but so far the law is true no matter how bad we want to ignore them.

What was once called a “Replaceable Blade” is now called a “Fixed Blade”, or “Fixed Broadhead”. It is hard to choose a “Best Fixed Broadhead” because they are all inter-related. One might be of the opinion that a certain blade is “best in flight”. But all can be made to fly well if FOC and spine is good.

One blade might be considered “most accurate”. But what good is accuracy if the head is not sharp? Do we really want it to hit if it’s not sharp? We can make our head sharper by hardening it, but it will break if we sharpen the harder blade. We can make it harder if we don’t care about the seam or what happens to the carbides.

All Broadheads Require Compromise

It gets useless unless proper steel is used in proper hardness. And only then do we want it to hit where we are aiming if FOC and Spine is right. We’ve tried to grind it to weight so both HPV and LPS blades weigh the same. The unknowing metallurgist doesn’t know that AEB-L moves carbides to the seam when cryogenic heat treated. And at .030” thickness you just removed the important stuff.

Penetration is also a compromise. When dull, a chopping blade cuts better than a slicing blade, even though a slicing blade is better in almost all regards, when sharp. Trailing edge reduces violent turmoil when it hits soft tissue. This affects not only penetration but the reaction of platelets and stress/trauma.

Thickness of steel and trailing edges help too, but at what cost? The fact that almost all trailing edge companies have gone out of business says, “Nope. Not worth it.” Has technology changed? Will it change shortly?

To make a broadhead point takes a lot of material. The end result is a chisel considerably larger than a conical point. So is the chisel better or is sales worth the material? As the ferrule gets 98% of the attention and does 2% of the work, is the compromise to a chisel worth it since it’s not doing at all what people think it does?

It is all a compromise and why most articles are wrong about “best broadheads”.

There are few absolutes in archery. Even fewer for arrows and broadheads. Even with modern technology we either don’t want to know as is does not fit our spin, or we haven’t yet reached a manufacturing certainty that leads us to absolutes. So we have to compromise in all of archery…especially in broadhead design.

So why are RAD broadheads better than most? ie: “Best Broadheads”

Short flies best.

We have Chopping (HPV) and Slicing (LPS) heads

We have trailing edges that are not neutral or past cente

We have good steel and cryogenic heat treat

We have the spin of chisel points

We have sharpness and vents that reduces destruction of platelets

We have thickness that’s thick enough to remain durable, yet thin enough to be sharp

Made by Bowhunters for Bowhunters

We have all that in a well-priced package

But one thing we do not have…Mechanical broadheads!!

Mechanical vs Fixed Broadheads

Why “What Is The Best Mechanical or Fixed Broadhead” Is The Wrong Question To Ask