Well all the broadheads for this years test are in so its time to get started. Up first will be an introduction to each broadhead and initial thoughts based upon construction and finish. The heads this year are as follows.
Alien archery predator xtg 310 single bevel
Tusker concord 190 single bevel
Cutthroat 190 grain glue on
Grizzly 185 grain
Bruin 200 grain
Steelforce 300 grain
Tuffhead 300 grain screw in
Kodiak 225
All glue on heads have screw in adapters to bring the weights up between 300-325 grains. I will do an exact weigh up of each broadhead later on once i get to the shop
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First off is the Alien archery predator xtg 310. This is one of the two offerings in this years test coming from Australia. Its an all stainless steel single bevel head. The blade is attached to the ferule via 3 press fit pins which seem to lock the blade in very well. The blade profile is very unique to say the least. The main portion of the blade has a grind angle a bit different than most as its not as steep and the leading edge is somewhat of a tanto with what i would call a 1.5 bevel grind if that makes sense bringing it to more of a point than many single bevel heads ive worked with. One of the interesting features of these broadheads is that the blade and the ferule are hardened to different levels with the ferule being softer to help prevent shearing off at the threads. I would not call it hunting sharp out of the package but the bevel grind is very uniform and hopefully will take an edge easily. According to the companies owner jason these blades are chemically sharpened, im not sure if this is good or not but the blades and ferules are much smoother than any others in the test.
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Next up to bat is our second australian entry, the tusker concord 190 grain single bevel. Price point wise these are the cheapest in the test. The construction is laminated steel thats spot welded and brazed like a few other in this test. Blade thickness is the thinnest out of all the entries which leads to concern of tip curl but that will be put to the test later on. These heads are also the furthest from hunt ready out of the package, through the pack of 6 i dont believe any 2 bevels were the same angle and as seen in the one picture out of the pack the bevel only goes to about half the blade thickness. Before sharpening i will have to also true the edges due to the off side from the bevel most blades are rounded off. Im not saying this against the head as you have to consider at a third the price of the other heads the price savings have to come from somewhere
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Our third entry is the Cutthroat 190 grain glue on single bevel. I received this broadhead with a steel adapter to bring it up to weight with the others. This broadhead stands out from the others in that it is 1 piece solid machined tool steel. Fit and finish is superb and the black coating is very smooth. The bevel on the one i received is very consistent and will cut into my nail easily out of the pack but isnt quite shaving sharp yet. Its a very stout looking broadhead and i expect it to perform very well in the upcoming tests.
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first up for the grizzly trio is the grizzly 185. This is a laminated steel single bevel glue on like several others in the test. Construction seems on par with other laminated heads and it has a rough file like grind on the bevel. The broadhead came with an adapter already glued in to bring the weight up for the tests.
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Next in the grizzly family is the 200 grain bruin. This is another laminated head but it is the only double bevel in my test. Its a solid looking head with a rough file like grind but it should take an edge very well.
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now up for our second screw in only head, the steelforce 300 grain single bevel. This head has a slightly different blade attachment system, it appears that the blade slides into the ferule and everything is locked together with a brass ring. The blade is .080" thick stainless steel and has a steel ferule. Its fairly sharp out of the package and will cut paper fairly easily. Another thing to note is that steelforce offers lifetime resharpening
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Here we have the new tuffhead 300 grain screw in model. This head is essentially the regular tuffhead with a screw in adapter welded in. The adapter sits recessed into the ferule slightly which on the few different arrows ive screwed this head into the ferule sleeves over the end of the shaft slightly. Out of the pack the grind is coarse but will cut paper easily and was the only broadhead out of all i have that would shave hair out of the pack. It should not take much effort at all to get hunt ready sharp. All 3 broadheads in my pack also spun very well which was very pleasing.
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The final entry in this years test is the big kodiak 225 grain. Overall it looks amd is built like an oversized grizzly. Edge grind is rough but a bit more even than the grizzly had.
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Thanks for taking the time ! What testing media are you going to use ?
Oh boy, this looks interesting! If you want a Zwickey No Mercy glue on double bevel broadhead to throw in the mix, I will send you one. Thanks for taking your time and monies to do this.
Edge retention test i will more than likely use 1/4" plywood. Im not doing a destruction test like most tests show as the last time i checked we do not hunt cinder blocks or steel barrels. For my rotational test im going to try stacked cardboard pieces with the 12 o'clock position marked so i can lay them out to show how the broadhead rotates as it passea through each layer. If anyone has a broadhead they want to donate to have included in the test just send me a pm. My only requirement for test broadheads is that it be possible to bring weight up to 300 grain + when using steel adapters. One of the fellow members here is donating a 315 grain bishop to be added to the test as well.
I have a homebrew 260 grain hill style , will try to mail it to you or send it out with a friend who is travelling.
Regards to the testing media I have been thinking about a good media for archery. Foam behave differently to animal tissue. I use a burlap target that is mostly shredded after a few days but is tough to stab in with a shaving sharp esee 4. I was thinking that regardless of all gel test and cardboard is likely to be a best of worlds. Plywood is not likely to test the edge too harshly (which may be your intent or not). May be cheaper thinner ceramic plate or cow scapula.
I have been also thinking of doing a penetration test to show my take on a heavy bow and light bow sort of scenario. Let me know what media you go with - will try to mimic as closely as possible given our different locations
The thought process behind using plywood for the edge retention test is that it will show if an edge will dull easily on a medium that isnt going to destroy a head and itll be consistent thickness unlike a scapula so all heads will be shot at something similar. Ive uses oak boards in the past but depending how the blade hit lined up with the grain structure the results would vary. Plywood the grain alternates each layer so it wont just split when hit with the grain like it would on a board
The heavyweights have weighed in. All hit weight with the exception of 1 broadhead and that would be thw steelforce as it came in 11 grains light
Tusker concord with steel adapter. Between the broadhead, adapter and glue it came out at 316 grains which is 1 grain heavy over all advertised weights
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cutthroat glue on with screw in adapter. Broadhead, adapter and glue came in at 318 grains making the combo 3 grains heavy over advertised weight
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now for the steelforce. This was the only broadhead to come up short on weight. Out of the 3 pack 1 was 297 grains, one was 290 grains and the third was 289 grains. Im not sure why such a varience in weight as all appear identical. I highly doubt this will affect anything or be an issue but there is a weight varience. This will be noted in my final decisions
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the grizzly,bruin and kodiak all came out to the weight requirements for the test but as they came preassmbled i dont know what weightthe adapters were its hard to tell if they hit advertised weight
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for our second australian entry the alien archery predator xtg 310 held true to advertised weight of 310 grains. Across the entire half dozen of these heads every single one came out to exactly 310 grains which was very impressive
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the final broadhead from the weighup is the tuffhead 300 grain screw in. 2 of the heads from the pack came in at 301 grains and the third at 303 grains which i consider very good for a broadhead with this construction. It comes screw in ready with the adapter already installed but instead of gluing the adapters in tuffhead welds them in
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:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Just got home to find a zwickey no mercy double bevel that was donated by a fellow member here. I will me mating it up to a 175 grain abowyer/tuffhead adapter to bring up weight to compete with the other entries
I'm surprised at how close to weight all of the heads are. Quality control has certainly gotten a lot better over the years. I consider anything within 10-15 grains of the advertised weight to be sufficient. Will normally take 10-20 grains off in the sharpening anyway.
I don't know that putting a heavy adaptor in the Zwickey will give a fair comparison to the other heads. Most of the others have much thicker steel blades. The heavy adaptor will equalize the weight, but the blade will still be thin/light by comparison.
Will be interesting to see what happens.
The zwickey and the tusker are almost identical on blade thickness, zwickey just isnt as long
From a weight/strength perspective, I don't think the Zwickey and Tusker are in the same class with the others. Regardless, will be interesting to see how they compare.
Have to agree regarding Tusker, though I think the Aztec is stronger than the Concorde, or at least its shape is less conducive to bending.
The final broadhead is in. One of our fellow members graciously donated a 315 grain bishop to the test. It will be our only fully machined 1 piece head in the test with the cutthroat following behind it as the cutthroat is machined but utilizing a screw in adapter
I stayed up last night and have all broadheads sharpened, stropped and shaving sharp. I now have a nice sized bare patch on my left arm but they are done. Out of the group i must say the bruin sharpened the easiest and the 3 that required ther most work in order were the tusker, bishop and the alien. Its almost time to get started on testing
Can't wait! :thumbsup:
well i started some of the testing. First blood has been drawn by the cutthroat. I managed to get a couple short videos done today which i will be uploading onto youtube when i get a good enough connection. Unfortunately after doing my plywood edge retention test, compressed straw test and penetration/rotational test i found that the video for rotation/penetration exceeded length and didnt save so luckily i wrote everything down as i cut apart each broadheads test target (6" cardboard tube filled with homemade ballistic gell with each end covered in leather). So far most of the heads are dead even performance wise.
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So in terms of performance to cost ratio the bishop is way behind.
How about some shots at 45° to the plywood to put some angular stress on the shanks.
I can do some angular shot tests. Ill make sure i orient all the heads the same way so theoretically they should impact at the same angle or at least close to it. I have to resharpen all the single bevel heads as none are still shaving sharp besides the tuffhead which really surprised me. I will say the bishop did get a tiny little indention/chip where the tanto tip meets the cutting edge, grizzly and kodiak both had edge curling while the bruin still looks brand new and the steelforce is no longer straight and has some play in the blade.
So how is the Zwickey No Mercy?
The no mercy is holding together good. It did get a bad wobble after the plywood test which when i shot it at the compressed straw it flew very erratic. Upon inspection though i found that i didnt get it and the adapter glued in well and it had shifted. I reglued it and its back to spinning true. Of the glue on versions the zwicky did seem to be the loosest fit to the adapter whereas the tusker was too tight to fully seat the adapter.
https://youtu.be/8sXljeADs_g
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
https://youtu.be/ApwEPgGHC3s
This was more for myself as i was watching the flight of each broadhead. The zwicky flew like a drunk goose but after i reglued and trued it up it flew like a dart. I will say all heads flew true and were dead silent in flight
Justin
Thanks for doing this test. Very interesting results.
Deno
Yes its 190 grains without insert. Fair warning i do not know if all tuskers are like this or just my batch but the bevels we not even ground to the half way point of the blade thickness. I ordered the single bevel version and they appear to be the double bevel grind angle instead of 25° but only done on one side. I spent over an hour just getting one broadhead bevel done and sharpened vs 5 minutes with all the other heads
I always use Zwickey Eskimos but just ordered 6 Tusker Concordes 190 gr to try out. I guess I'll have to put some work in...thanks again for the info.
Deno
Did you order the single or double bevel
Double. Not sure which was better
Deno
The doubles shouldnt be as bad but make sure to grind the tips down to a tanto as they are a needle point
Will do Thanks Justin
from their website:
The Tusker Concorde glue on is available in both 155 and 190 grains, with a 11/32" ferrule for 11/32" or 23/64" shafting, or use with screw in adapters. Choose from single left bevel, single right bevel or traditional double bevel grinds, all with tanto tips
Deno
Not a problem. Let me know what you think of them
Its hard to tell as one part of the description says all tanto tips and another part says double bevel 190 grain has needle tips
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Sure will Justin
Deno
Which heads have steel or aluminum adapters and what is the size/weight of the adapters used by the manufacturer? I was surprised the 185 gr Grizzly and 225 gr Kodiak were so close in weight. Were they try to hit a weight of 300 grains?
Im not sure what adapters were used as the manufacturer assembled the test heads for me. I know the kodiak has an aluminum adapter and every other glue on head in the test has steel adapters. I just told them i needed total weight to be between 300 and 325 grains for the test
It was great of you to take the time ,also a very pleasant surprise to see the zwickey no mercy split the wooden support like it is supposed to.
I was wondering whether being thinner the splitting action would be less marked
The wooden support hit was far from planned but it has given me an idea for another test lol
Acedoc, don't forget; the Zwickey No Mercy is a double bevel!
My bad I thought it was a single bevel. I have seen the concern expressed that the zwickey is too thin to benefit from the single bevel effect.
I dont know about the single bevel no mercy but i do know with the tusker which is a very thin single bevel as well even without the bevel all the way ground it still rotates well going into my broadhead target. The thicker bladed single bevels do ratate more but the tusker does still rotate a good bit.
https://www.3riversarchery.com/zwickey-no-mercy-2-blade-screw-in-broadheads.html
Here you go.
I like zwickey, they fly great and hold up to abuse well. Had one stick in a wall after I missed the target. Only slight tip curl happened.
What I should have stated was the Zwickey No Mercy in the test is a double bevel. I wasn't very clear. My bad......
Sometimes you meet such polite guys that it makes a refreshing change.
I posted the link just to be precise. In fact it's my bad for not reading the thread thoroughly. I am still amazed that the wood split. I would expect a straightforward penetration with a double bevel.
Hopefully soon the tests will resume. I traded some stuff i had laying around to my dad for a dozen victory vaps so i will be using them for the penetration test as all arrows will be exact matches. I picked up a cardboard ring from work that i will hopefully be using for a mold for my gell if it is still good, just got to melt it all down and pour it in and find space in the fridge so it can set up.
:clapper: :clapper: very interested to see what is next.
Any updates?
Thanks for posting and for your time
Interesting tests. Confirmed my thoughts that broadheads come from the factory ready for sharpening.
I will stick with my double bevel Zwickeys.
Thank you for the info
I'll add to the chorus and add my thanks for your time and expense for this testing. Always interesting!!!