UNBRANDED Mechanical vs. Fixed Broadhead Accuracy Test from High Speed Crossbow 

Great video! Been hunting with fixed from the beginning (10 years) and actually have been thinking about switching to mechanical this year. :) But maybe I'll just stick with what has worked. Thanks again for the testing, information, etc. You have a good way of explaining things, hope you continue with more videos.

Great information, thank you.

Good show and test. I use 2 blade zwickey. My bolts fly fine. My bow is 325 fps. Thanks. Michael Herrell

I’ve always used mechanical heads with my Excalibur matrix 405 with good results. I had complete confidence in my heads. A couple of seasons ago however I shot at an 8 pointer in the evening and hit him in the shoulder. The blades opened on the shoulder maybe penetrating about a half an inch. The arrow just stopped there and dropped to the ground. The deer wasn’t even fazed. He just walked away. He was standing about 25 yards away. I’m been rethinking my broadheads since that evening.

Really good info exactly what I was looking for. Just FYI one of the best fixed blades out ther is the Exodus. I felt your pain when you had to use a new bolt. I've done years of archery with my compound bow but I just bought a crossbow for my kids and myself. The crossbows ibo speed is 405 but I've got a heavier bolt about 600 grains total so speed is about 360 but was worried about fix heads also. Searching for more of your videos.👍 Cool just found part 2.😁

Thanks Mark

Great video. I started out old pse crossbow. With pucket blood trailers 85 gr mechanical head. Then to older rocket broadheads. Just got a new wicked ridge raider 400 decock crossbow. Haven't shot it yet. I always shot mechanical broadheads. But this yr going to use fixed blade broadheads. Going with tooth of arrow 100 gr. I like how they are made and shoot. Machine 1 piece steel. U can reshapen them. Guys i know that shoots them. They shoot like field points. Seen a few test with them and xbow on u tube. That one test guy was shooting a tenpoint. He was shooting 500 fps. He even shot a concrete block with one. It stuck in the block. Bolt went into pieces. He got the head out. Didnt do much too it. Here there are hogs everywhere. They are a big nuisance here. I wanted a fix blade. Just in case i get into the shoulder of one. Tooth of the arrow cuts a good hole too. I went to buy 12 new bolts. I about fell over at the price. Come out to be 12.00 per bolt. That's not the nocks that light up. They are 75.00 for 3 bolts. Do u know of anyone that used a tenpoint rangemaster 100 scope? Or a Bear speed com 1.5x32 ranging scope?

Montech g5 for me..but I'm still shooting compound. I tried out the crossbow for a season and put it down almost immediately. I don't care for crossbow hunting myself but certainly understand why they are so lethal and a vast majority of hunters go with them.

Thank you.

Mark, great test, thanks for taking the time. How are your food plots doing, hopefully you got them planted? Bob

Good test! I was wondering if that was your arrow hearing on the field points!

I have the Stryker 390ls. Just sent in to under warranty for limb replacements. All four limb tips started splitting down by the pins that hold the cams in place. The only limb sets left are 77 hardness limbs vs my orignal 93 hardness limbs that came on the sl390. Dropped my FPS down to 358 fps. They were replaced with the stryker 125 pound limbs instead of the 155 pound limb set. Sad day when I found out. Bowtech said it’s the only replacement limb set left they offer for the Stryker series. The limbs came back in all black with no writing on them as well. I won't use any cut on contact bladed mechanical tips. They are a weak design. That tip on your rage xbow bow cut in contact blade head was a redesign from the orignal bone busting chisel tip.. it was redesigned for low powdered compound bows to get more penatration so they could use a mechanical. Most of those bladed tips brake off, bend, and deflect like you have experienced when trying to pass through a deer. I've had alot better luck with gator style broad heads that have rear deploying floating blades and chisel type heads that's won't bend or brake. They fold in around bone so most of my exits are in a straight line. Any mechanical with a blade that locks in place always ends up defecting and never ends up going straight through...if i even get an exit. At first I blamed the crossbow...then the arrows. It's not...it's the broadhead design. I was shooting a 295 fps xbow with 380 grain to 403 grain total weight arrows with straight line pass throughs with rock mountain gator 100 chisel tip heads. Upgraded to a 390 fps xbow and tried rages along with grim reaper whitetail specials...no pass throughs with a 10 grain heavier arrow. I'm going to try the NAP Sling blade Ti 2 blade 2 3/16" this year. I'm sure it will perform like the old gator. Straight line pass throughs and big holes like the old gators. I found 2 of thr gators I had laying around from the 90's. One is like brand new. I might put them in service this year! Imo EVERY mechanical that the blade locks in place when deployed WILL ended up defecting inside of a deer. I've tried over a couple dozen brands of mechanicals and they all will end up vering off bone and exing at some goofy angle....eccept for the rear deploying gator style. They can and will deflect but not as bad as locking blade type mechanicals. Never tried a fixed blade in xbows but maybe some day. The right 2" mechanical just will get the job done quicker with alot more blood to follow. Most gator taken deer dropped within 40 yards on average. There's always a couple that went farther but on average I had blood trails 10' wide with double lung shots that exited...ridiculous! I would have never tried that head but it came with my kit in the 90's. I would have been sucked in to a more expensive marketing hype broadhead that would not have done as well like most mechanicals offered today with weaker blades and tons of marketing hype.

Muzzy Trocar is a good deadly head that shoots great or the old muzzy 4 blades fly great too. I shoot the Muzzy trocar HB in my Ten point Viper S400 at 393 fps and the deer don't go 50 yards, awesome blood trails and huge entrance and exit holes.

I understand not wanting to name brands and respect that. With that said I’ve used the ones you showed in the beginning of the video and same results they broke after impact. I have to mention brand and model to make sense. I switch to the G5 dead meat 3 blade mechanical heads and have no bad things to say. I use 100g head for a total of 400g arrow. I have harvested 4 white tails with those heads and the blades have stayed intact on every one. The have an 1 3/4 cutting diameter and create a great wound channel. I’m sure I sound like a salesman but far from it. Just spent a lot of unnecessary money on all the available brands and have had one disappointing experience after the other until I used the G5’s. They recently released the newest blades that come in 2 inch that I have yet to try but if they perform anything like the original I will be switching just for the extra cutting size. I don’t know any archers that haven’t been through the whole broadhead thing on what’s better. A lot is preference but I can only speak from my experience. I used to completely distrust the mechanical head especially the ones that used the rubber bands for retention to hold the blade closed until impact. I always used the fixed blades and wouldn’t take shots past 30yds due to the way they flew out to that distance. Now that I found the right mechanical heads for my set up I wouldn’t be afraid to push 50+ yds in the field. Just as reference for the set up I use is the Barnett whitetail hunter 2. I’ve chronographed it on average of 370fps with the bloodsport hunter 20” arrows 100grain points. Not the fastest or heaviest hitting crossbow on the market but I’ve had great results using that “budget “ set up. Thank you for your video and time. It’s nice to have input from actual people and not a commercial that never put the best and worst of the products.

I use the G5 for smaller game and the Rage Trypan (mechanical) for large game. Very happy with both. Both have been equally accurate. Big difference for me is the ability to re-use a broad head. Bolts are cheap, heads can range from 12 - 20 bucks each. The G5 is very robust and easily sharpened. The Trypan (all stainless version) has been pretty robust, but I have had to replace the blades due to bending (no blades have broken). I even stuck one through the Humerus with little damage to the blade straightening and sharping didn't fix. I have had the same 3 broad heads now for 4 years. Lost a few of the G5's over time but did bend one up pretty good sticking it in a tree. I would not use anything fixed or mechanical with aluminum body.

A few years ago, I shot a buck with a compound bow. While field dressing the deer, I lacerated my hand, while reaching inside the deers chest cavity. Apparently my broad head broke and part of the blade was stuck inside the ribs. This injury required a trip to the hospital, for stitches.

Crossbows offer a different spectrum of energy and penetration compared to vertical bows. We don’t really think in terms of not getting pass throughs when it comes to modern crossbows and modern speeds.

Hey great video Mark I have always shot fixed head out of my excalibur's and all in the same hole 👍 from day one. I never whent to mechanical because when I started back around 2006 I herd allot of bad stories about them so I went with fixed and no regrets 🤪

100gn G5 Montec is what I shoot. The vented blades make them more accurate than solid blade fixed heads. And they're super tough.

Liked your video, I’m in the same place. Doing my research I found a channel called Ranch Fairy… It has totally opened my eyes to tuning ideas I didn’t know exited with crossbows. It’s really worth checking out…

I know that a hunters choice of broadheads seems to be a very personal one. Many hunters have gained some of the knowledge they have from their families and traditions. That being said, I must tell you that there was an in depth 30 year study conducted under controlled conditions the showed hard data about fixed vs mechanical broadheads. The result was that hunters using mechanical broadheads had a significant advantage with recovering their deer. This was particularly true with crossbows. Certainly the technology of 1995 has changed considerably and broadheads have improved dramatically over time. It’s not really fair to compare the broadheads of 20-30+ years ago to that of today. Also, crossbows of very fast speeds would be at a disadvantage with some fixed heads due to the risk of plaining. Each of us must use the gear we’ve become comfortable with. But by the same token, don’t let tradition or things like brand loyalty cut you off from recognizing how great things can be. Just .2

I have a simple question, seeing as you had only done 5 shots with your bolt before it came apart, why didn’t you just restart your test with the new bolt?

Cool comparison but looks like you need a better block to stop the bolts.

Nice job on this video Mark. Many of big-name RU-vid creators have made the switch from mechanicals to fixed including The Hunting Public. Troy from Ranch Fiery is another one who doesn't like mechanicals, and he's into big heavy arrows and large fixed tips. That said, many guys continue to kill many deer with RAGE, SEVR & Schwackers! I'm still on the fence, although I've killed a few hogs with fixed (Afflitor, Muzzy & Magnus), I've had poor results with fixed on deer. I know it's shot placement that means more than the broadheads because the Indians killed deer with fling heads. At any rate, I'm starting the year off with the same head you showed that was broken, the RAGE Crossbow X 125 grain and we'll see how it goes. If I'm successful, I may try some Tooth of the Arrow in late season. The bottom line is the jury will always be out and undecided on this debate.

My blessing and my problem is that I got a TenPoint Nitro 505. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a great crossbow. Extremely accurate and reliable. I’ve taken deer with it and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. This 505 is the elephant gun of the crossbow world. Truth is there are consequences to that much speed. With as much energy as that thing has, there is a great chance of having single use broadheads. SEVR broadheads are among some of the strongest out there. If you’re looking for multiple use heads, I would give those a try.

Those practice heads are challenging to get out of targets for me.

I also got away from mechanicals. I always here people say “should put them In the right spot” but what if that doesn’t happen. To me fixed gives me more opportunity to kill on off shots. I use qad exodus they are solid fly good and have a good sized cut

You always group out bolts first ! Out of 12 bolts 5 to 6 will group. Other bolts for whatever turkey, chipmunks blue jays that give you away lol. Huge difference in bolts and grouping. Line blades with fetching is big to. Like you said little thing make the difference.

Oh, incidentally some broadheads that can provide good performance and accuracy. SEVR, SWAT, Swahacker, Nap Killzone crossbow. Of course no two crossbows are the same and some target testing can determine your choice.

I also got away from using mechanicals a few years ago. I had to shoot a hog twice to kill it and all but one of the blades had broken off.

Try adding 50-100 grain tip weight

why would you skip a bolt or arrow out across a driveway..? seem to like it would tear up good equipment...

You know the conclusion all of this is some of your mechanical Broadhead will fly like a field tip depending on the brand but I have never got a fixed head in my life and I am 55 years old that would ever fly like a field tip dynamically it cannot because of the front end of the Broadhead if you have too much blade sticking out it is going to plane that's aerodynamics and there's nothing you can do about that except if you like the fix head and you want to use it you have to recite your bowl in to the fix head in order to get it to fly where you wanted to but that kills all the point of having fieldpointe accuracy if you shoot a fixed blade head you will never have fieldpoint accuracy and now that's why I use mechanical broadheads because I want the field Point accuracy

Try magnus black hornets ser razr that’s a fixed blade that fly like darts and they have a lifetime warranty! I shoot them out of my crossbow you won’t be looking anymore.

Maybe try other brands mechanicals. I had much better results with Swhacker over Rage

You desperately NEED to get a target capable of stopping a crossbow arrow All of my archery targets store bought and DIY will stop Both a BH and FP tipped Crossbow arrow with most of the arrow still protruding out of the target at 20 yards let alone at 40 That or hope you can afford one helluva budget for crossbow arrows Over all a very good solid viable test. I am a HUGE fan of FBBH's No I do not hate MBH's But I am a heavy industrial maintenance electrician and I have decades of experience with literally 1ks of different types of electrically powered mechanical devices from those of a simple design to complex in the extreme and I know and understand how why and how often mechanical devices fail. I have been intensely educated on the how and why of individual components of a larger complex piece of machinery fail to result in the entire machine failing And knowing all this is why I use FBBH's. That's not to say I haven't evaluated mechanical broadheads in the past because I have. I gave several of the more popular and highest rated mechanical broadheads a torture test of my own comparing them against my favorite FBBH I've been using for the last 10 years and 30+ deer. Every last mechanical broadhead I tested failed in one way or another to meet MY STANDARDS for absolute reliability at least one time while my favorite FBBH did not. Tried both rear-deploying and over the top deploying designed mechanicals I have on accident (do NOT ASK HOW) shot my favorite 100 grain chisel point three bladed FBBH into Tires Cinder blocks Steel garbage cans Side of a steel Dempster Wooden 2x4's and 2x6's Tree trunks In to a car battery Through a garage plywood aluminum sidded wall Into a steel pipe fence post And absolutely no lie or exaggerating that particular FBBH remained 100% intact Often100% ruined but intact. There is no mechanical broadhead that has yet existed that can even come close to matching that level of durability and yes my favorite FBBH's fly very well out to 60 yards. The final fact that convinced me to remain with FBBH over Mechanicals was a my friend was hunting a 180" class white tail for three straight years I saw the trail cam pics and one of its sheds and yes it easily would've scored 180 My friend bow hunts only no firearms Forth year he upgraded to a new faster bow Was having difficulty tuning the bow to shoot FBBH's well so he switched to mechanicals one with an absolutely impeccable earned reputation for reliability Shure enough he got his shot Compete pass through To his utter and complete horror found the blood covered arrow stuck in the ground rubber retaining band still perfectly in place blades still 100% NOT deployed Upon closer inspection the blades were stuck inside the ferrule of the broadhead and never deploy and only after he used the tip of a very small screwdriver did he pry the blades to loose from the ferrule. A few months later his neighbor (who knew about this buck and that my friend had been hunting him for years) called him said I think I found your buck dead or more accurately my son did while out looking for sheds Thankfully the rack was in surprisingly good shape and his neighbor was good enough to make his son give the rack with skull attached to him. I know better than most EVERYTHING man made can and does fail But absolutely no one can argue that two devices meant to do the same exact thing the one with moving parts will have a significantly greater risk of failing than one with no moving parts. Absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind if my friend had hit that buck with an arrow tipped with his FBBH of choice a NAP T-Head he would've recovered that buck after a short blood trailing job. Lastly Watch the video on how much more energy it takes to get mechanical BH"s with huge CD's of 1.75"-2"+ to reliably deploy done by Ranch Ferry.

No disrespect but target moved on 1st, fix b/head test and you didn't straighten it up (needs weight on top) so your 2nd, shot won't be close to the 1st, i know this is an early video but if you do revisit it just an fyi for next time.

Plaining of your mechanical head should not happen. Either there’s a more desirable head for your rig or the heads are opening prematurely.

If only you had a better target…..

when you get to how sharp the blades are, that montec comes in dead last.