Single Bevel Broadhead

[ThunderNocked]

@TrumpkinTheDwarf you aren't wrong.
I liked the idea of a two blade so I can sharpen it the same way I can my knives. Seems like a good way to maintain my equipment a little better and I already strop most of my Convex Blades. If they made a Convex Edge I would get it but it doesn't seem like they make one.
So I figured at least with the single bevel I can Strop better/easier so that I can sharpen and maintain.

I do think some broadheads are better - I don't like my OCD Bloodtherapys though so want to get something new. If I got a single I'll look for a model with a bleeder probably.
I also like the Cutthroat because I've only ever caught one and that fella fought like a Steelhead - I thought I had a Coho Salmon on the line.

 

[OzzyDave]

I shoot same poundage and draw weight here in Oz. Have shot predominantly single bevel broadheads for last 15 years. We have some great choices here without breaking the bank. The US options way out of my price point if you're shooting a dozen hogs a day and you're on the right track with easy to sharpen. Have used same broadhead for 9 big hogs with a touch up in between each.
Current arrow with 125gn single bevel is spot on 500gn. Main target here is hogs, which can be a tough critter - taken hundreds with this combination. If you poke a hole through an important bit with any broadhead, it will do the job.

 

[ThunderNocked]

Looking at the Cutthroat 3 blades, or possibly Iron Will with Bleeders.
I just don't want to drop $240 for 6 heads with Iron Will.

Cutthroat would still be $140 with 3 blades or $156

Helix is $90

Kudu $100 without bleeders and $120 with Bleeders.

 

[Irrelevant]

Looking at the Cutthroat 3 blades, or possibly Iron Will with Bleeders.
I just don't want to drop $240 for 6 heads with Iron Will.

Cutthroat would still be $140 with 3 blades or $156

Helix is $90

Kudu $100 without bleeders and $120 with Bleeders.

if you just want fixed 3-blade, why not something simple and old school? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007438233?pid=176575
The SS are almost impossible to sharpen, but the CS are much easier, a fraction the price, and durable enough to shoot through a critter. I fairly sure I had at least 2 that went through multiple critters, but I'm pretty terrible at keeping track of that stuff.

 

[Perlodid]

if you just want fixed 3-blade, why not something simple and old school? https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007438233?pid=176575
The SS are almost impossible to sharpen, but the CS are much easier, a fraction the price, and durable enough to shoot through a critter. I fairly sure I had at least 2 that went through multiple critters, but I'm pretty terrible at keeping track of that stuff.

Love my montecs. As simple as it gets, and I can always trust them to do what I ask. Can't imagine paying 30 dollars more a pack for the cutt 3 blades but that's just me.

 

[rjthehunter]

I ran down the rabbit hole of heavy arrows and single bevel heads. In my experiences which usually includes 2-4 animals (mostly deer) a year with archery equipment. I have found that a good cut on contact blade is worth more than a really heavy arrow. Unless you're shooting seriously big game, like cape buffalo, which is where the ashby foundation did a lot of their testing and concluded that the heavier the better for penetration.

A heavy setup penetrates really well, but you need to be right on with your yardages because of the extreme drop compared to a lighter setup. There's a super solid middle ground I've found between like 500-550 grain total weight that gives you speed and great penetration with a cut on contact broadhead. It's forgiving if the animal comes a few yards closer or further, but still carries weight to penetrate really well.

The past couple of years I shot 2 blade broadheads with bleeders and killed a handful of deer with them. They work, but you have to put the time in to tuning your bow and making sure each arrow is tuned for those larger broadheads.

Because I can never stop changing things, I picked up a couple packs of these to try this year. The overall length is short, they are affordable, and shouldn't be tough to get shooting just like field points.

Exact Broadhead 3-Pack 100 Grain — Exact Archery

Exact 100 Grain 4 Blade Fixed broadhead Stainless Steel 1 1/8 inch cutting diameter with removable to sharpen blades

www.exactarchery.com

I watch this guy on youtube called Lusk Archery Adventures. He tests tons of different broadheads. These ranked really highly in his testing so I figured I'd give them a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/c/LuskArcheryAdventures

 

[generalpatton12]

I have been all the way down the rabbit hole and back on high FOC heavy arrows with single bevel broadheads (Iron Wills). My conclusion is that whether you should use them or not DEPENDS... There are so many factors that play into your decision to go with higher FOC and single bevel heads. I would say penetration is a pro, but generally, blood trails can be a drawback. I prefer a fixed three blade in most instances for larger game and for smaller whitetails in the south I have had great success shooting expandables. Each has pros and cons.

 

[ThunderNocked]

I mostly wanted something I could strop and realized Iron WIll makes a 2 blade plus bleeder double bevel.
Ordered one S125 and one wide 125 to test them out.
Excited for the results.

 

[bisblue]

Check out tradlab who did lots of broadhead testing. He does product and industrial testing for a living.
Most important factors were shooter skill>bow and arrow tune>Broadhead sharpness> Broadhead design was lowest on importance...

I started shooting 3 blade vpa this year so I could sharpen them on wheels on my bench grinder. Put one through my elk and the followup shot embedded in the opposite shoulder. Needed pliers to get it out.

 

[CG86]

Man, they all work. It's all personal preference and splitting hairs.

 

[Bump79]

Throw a heavy grain head on the 450 arrow. 650/750 grains would work well out of your 70 lb. stick

This is terrible advice.. If they add 200 grains to the front of that arrow he'll most likely be underspined. Bad idea.

No reason to add this much weight unless your hunting fixed distances at a feeder.

 

[Bump79]

If your sold on single bevel heads here are few that are worth looking at
Trifecta
Alien SBT
Crimison Talon Crocs

Great advice here. The difficult thing with the majority of the designs are there is they they are long and unvented. That equals a lot of surface area and is the primary reason I stick away from them. These all have decent cut sizes as well.

 

[Bump79]

Man, they all work. It's all personal preference and splitting hairs.

Agree for the most part. We overthink it for sure. Each setup has it's pluses and minuses. It seems super complicated but the reality is arrows/broadheads are kind of like the vehicle market. There are thousands of different vehicle configurations because there's not a "wrong" solution. If you tow a lot then it makes sense to have a 1 ton diesel. If you never tow but need a truck bed often then a half ton might fit the bill best. If you live in a city, rent and only use the truck bed to get yourself out of town for mild camping trips. Maybe a mid size or compact truck fits you best

It only gets complicated explaining that's up to the shooter to determine what is important to them based on their target species and their specs. If you're taking advice from someone with a 32" draw and shoots 75# then take it with a grain of salt when your setup is vastly different. If you're taking advice from someone who exclusively hunts hogs at a feeder at 17 yards and you're hunting elk at 50... Take their advice with a grain of salt.

Some heads penetrate well, some put big holes in animals, some fly extremely well, some are very durable, some are cheap, some are quiet in flight, some are loud in flight... Very, very very few balance these properties out well. Each has a tradeoff. My preference is to pick a head where I make the fewest amount of tradeoffs for my application.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Single bevel is just marketing hype pushing a cheaper to make product.

 

[Ought Six]

I shot 2-blade single bevels last year, killed stuff, but blood was lacking, I wasn’t a huge fan. Went the opposite direction this year and I’m going to shoot 4 blade COC, this should bleed:

 

[R.K.]

I shot 2-blade single bevels last year, killed stuff, but blood was lacking, I wasn’t a huge fan. Went the opposite direction this year and I’m going to shoot 4 blade COC, this should bleed: View attachment 331391

But did things die close enough you didn’t need blood? Did you lose any animals because there wasn’t a better blood trail?

 

[Ought Six]

But did things die close enough you didn’t need blood? Did you lose any animals because there wasn’t a better blood trail?

Have you watched any Lusk broadhead testing videos? This was 58 yards with the 3-blade 100gr QAD Exodus, and the entrance hole and exit hole looked just like his steel plate shots. I didn’t take a photo of the 2-blade holes last year but they were like his steel plate shots too (kudu 100gr with bleeders) and you could barely tell where they entered/exited. I didn’t feel I gained anything with the 2-blades and if anything they felt risky from a recovery standpoint. Personally, I just like to test different broadheads and so far I’m really impressed with the TOTA 125grs, they seem like one I might stick with depending on how field performance is this fall. Also going to carry the Swhacker 202 to see what they do on an animal. Not sure why I ever switched from the Exodus, but I’m liking the 4-blade a lot right now.

 

[Bump79]

But did things die close enough you didn’t need blood? Did you lose any animals because there wasn’t a better blood trail?

I personally have lost multiple animals due to lack of blood trail and have been on tracks where we lost blood or were on our hands and knees for hours praying for another drop. That was with decent sized cut too. I don't buy into the logic that all things equal, a 1.125" or less slit will put the same blood on the ground as a 3 or 4 blade. 2 blade wounds close easy, even 1.5" mechanicals. The whole blood trails are variable thing is just hand waving. Of course they are variable due to where you hit them.. But it makes zero sense that given the same shot location a 1" diameter 4 blade like a Slick Trick or Tooth of the Arrow Reg solid wouldn't put down a little more blood. It's quite literally like hitting the animal in the same spot rotated 90d. Personally, I find the geometry of a 3 blade to be the most difficult to close. Like the above pic of an Exodus.

I saw a video where a youtuber made the case you can't predict it due to the shoulder moving. You bet... but if I made it in far enough anywhere the shoulder moving would close the wound that animal is most likely laying dead very close by. What I'm concerned with is a shot too far back. That's where things go wrong and more blades and cut size helps big time. At a minimum IMHO the average shooter should have 3/4" bleeders on their single bevels. Or a 1.25"-1.5" cut. The testing has shown that it's minimal difference in force to penetrate as it's trailing behind the main blade.

I don't understand the current semi popular logic of: I'm going to increase weight to increase penetration, increase FOC to increase penetration, go to a stupid sharp cut on contact head to increase penetration, increase steel quality for durability, get perfect arrow flight to increase penetration, spine slightly stiff to increase penetration.. then after all this penetration increase reduce cut size to increase penetration. At some point how far do you need to penetrate into the dirt? Why can't you stop before small cut broadheads? It's not all or nothing. There's plenty of good sized durable fixed blades out there. Exodus is a fantastic head for example, Magnus Black Hornet another, Contact MD3, Contact VBS, Simmons Mako and I can ramble on for a long time of other good ones.

All but one of my 4 animals lost have been a pass through. Animals move, you don't hit where you meant, range isn't perfect, etc. A well balanced system should handle all variables of hunting. Not get hyper focused on one single aspect being the small fraction of bone that you theoretically break you wouldn't otherwise. I think about it this way, if I hit the nearside bone on an animal and doesn't get in - it will most likely live. That's the best case of a wounding scenario. If I hit far side leg bone - it's dead as it through vitals. If I hit too far back the wounds close easier and it's a death sentence. There's a whole lot more real estate back there than there is big bones on most game.

 

[YakCountry]

I've shot a couple of elk with SB Iron Will broadheads. In my personal experience, I haven't noticed any visual difference between Single vs. Double bevel in penetration, blood trail or effectiveness. Splitting hairs in my opinion.

I've also shot elk with 4 blade slick tricks and I've had a couple good blood trails and a couple poor blood trails in high lung shots.

 

[R.K.]

I personally have lost multiple animals due to lack of blood trail and have been on tracks where we lost blood or were on our hands and knees for hours praying for another drop. That was with decent sized cut too. I don't buy into the logic that all things equal, a 1.125" or less slit will put the same blood on the ground as a 3 or 4 blade. 2 blade wounds close easy, even 1.5" mechanicals. The whole blood trails are variable thing is just hand waving. Of course they are variable due to where you hit them.. But it makes zero sense that given the same shot location a 1" diameter 4 blade like a Slick Trick or Tooth of the Arrow Reg solid wouldn't put down a little more blood. It's quite literally like hitting the animal in the same spot rotated 90d. Personally, I find the geometry of a 3 blade to be the most difficult to close. Like the above pic of an Exodus.

I saw a video where a youtuber made the case you can't predict it due to the shoulder moving. You bet... but if I made it in far enough anywhere the shoulder moving would close the wound that animal is most likely laying dead very close by. What I'm concerned with is a shot too far back. That's where things go wrong and more blades and cut size helps big time. At a minimum IMHO the average shooter should have 3/4" bleeders on their single bevels. Or a 1.25"-1.5" cut. The testing has shown that it's minimal difference in force to penetrate as it's trailing behind the main blade.

I don't understand the current semi popular logic of: I'm going to increase weight to increase penetration, increase FOC to increase penetration, go to a stupid sharp cut on contact head to increase penetration, increase steel quality for durability, get perfect arrow flight to increase penetration, spine slightly stiff to increase penetration.. then after all this penetration increase reduce cut size to increase penetration. At some point how far do you need to penetrate into the dirt? Why can't you stop before small cut broadheads? It's not all or nothing. There's plenty of good sized durable fixed blades out there. Exodus is a fantastic head for example, Magnus Black Hornet another, Contact MD3, Contact VBS, Simmons Mako and I can ramble on for a long time of other good ones.

All but one of my 4 animals lost have been a pass through. Animals move, you don't hit where you meant, range isn't perfect, etc. A well balanced system should handle all variables of hunting. Not get hyper focused on one single aspect being the small fraction of bone that you theoretically break you wouldn't otherwise. I think about it this way, if I hit the nearside bone on an animal and doesn't get in - it will most likely live. That's the best case of a wounding scenario. If I hit far side leg bone - it's dead as it through vitals. If I hit too far back the wounds close easier and it's a death sentence. There's a whole lot more real estate back there than there is big bones on most game.

You are correct in all regards. The goal here is to kill them as efficiently as possible and recover them as quickly as possible. Some folks could use more penetration. Some could learn to use a whetstone. Some could learn to tune a bow so arrows aren’t flying sideways and doing more “slap” than “stick”.

Some tradeoffs exist as you go down the list- So I’ll rank these and reply in kind.

Mandatory for any archer, with minimal tradeoff (just time and maybe $20):
1- get perfect arrow flight to increase penetration (non negotiable, everyone should do this)
2- go to a stupid sharp cut on contact head to increase penetration (easy enough in any design, highly recommend. Polishing compound on cereal boxes to polish the edge)
3- increase steel quality for durability (something that breaks on a rib during entry isn’t going to do the job. No TEMU or Wish.com junk)

The following are not mandatory, have arrow speed tradeoff, but can certainly help:

4- weight to increase penetration
5- increase FOC to increase penetration

Debatable help with high tradeoffs:
6- spine slightly stiff to increase penetration
7- then after all this penetration increase, reduce cut size to increase penetration.


I think we can all agree that the arrow must fly straight, stay together while it’s cutting the wound channel, and be as sharp as possible.

Total cut area (length x diameter) is what kills animals with archery. Penetration means more length. Diameter means wider. Scary sharp broadheads cut a higher percent of their diameter in the contacted microvasculature rather than pushing it out of the way. All of these get you more cut area. But the first two can be a tradeoff.

Going to narrower broadheads seems ill-advised, especially if you’re getting down towards that 1” mark or under. There are better ways to increase penetration without such a drastic total cut area tradeoff.

Bleeders on a 2 blade are a definite help from what I can tell with a minor offset in cost. They are a “bonus” feature to the broadhead that doesn’t compromise the effectiveness of the base platform should they fail, but add the benefit of extra cutting length. That’s what we’re after with everything here- benefit with no tradeoff.

Three blades offer great wound channels and exceptional cutting diameter. But due to their geometry, they can lose a lot of momentum & energy if they hit a rib compared to a 2-blade with moderate slope- at least one blade will almost always be in contact with the bone instead of meat. Bleeders are lower profile and don’t have as severe a chance of this. I think it’s net benefit with the added diameter. Some folks think it’s worth it, some don’t.


With that said: I currently stick arrows in the dirt on the far side of whitetails with NAP thunderheads and 442gr arrows. But I still remember that deer I lost when I first started out, made a lot of mistakes, and never want it to happen again. “Don’t let good be the enemy of great” and all that junk.

I’d like to switch to a 550gr+ arrow, a single bevel with bleeders, and helical 4-fletch over wraps with a lighted nock. Because I wanna be one of the cool kids. YMMV.