Fixed blade broadheads or mechanical broadheads? The question has been posed a million times, there have been hundreds of millions of opinions given. This is not another opinion, instead I’m going to show you how to make your own choice based on how the broadhead design affects performance, what you want out of the broadhead and by understanding the constraints of the archery set up you are using.
Broadhead design and performance
Let's dig deeper than just fixed blade or mechanical. Let’s talk about blade angle, number of blades, cutting diameter and tip design. Even better than talking about those subjects is understanding how those factors impact how the broadhead performs and how well that broadhead will help you achieve the results you want out of your broadhead.
Blade angle plays a much larger role than we give it credit for specifically when it comes to penetration. A longer shallower broadhead has a higher mechanical advantage, which means that it takes less energy to penetrate versus a broadhead with a steep blade angle. Think of it like a wedge the less extreme the angle on the wedge the easier it is to drive into a log, same principle here. Given that the longer narrower broadhead penetrates better the broadhead on the right, given all other factors are equal, should out penetrate the broadhead on the left.
Total number of blades on your broadhead will affect the way your broadhead performs as well. The more blades you have on a broadhead, the less it will penetrate, but more blades make the hole harder to close up. The most common options are 2 blade, 3 blade, and 4 blade, but some companies make 6 blade offerings. Sometimes the 2 blade options will have two smaller blades called bleeder blades as well. Bleeders don’t affect penetration as much as full size blades will, but do still play a factor.
Cutting diameter may be the toughest to comprehend, not because it’s a complicated subject, but because many companies have taken to advertising total cutting edge length instead of cutting diameter. This tactic is all fluff to sell broadheads so be wary of the verbiage on packaging, “4” of total cutting edges” usually equates to a 1 inch cutting diameter on a 4 blade broadhead. With that in mind the most important thing to know is larger cutting diameters will often yield larger blood trails that are easier to follow, but will not penetrate as well as smaller cutting diameters and generally have less durable blades.
Although this isn’t a fixed blade versus mechanical debate it should be noted that mechanical broadheads will use some of the arrow’s energy in deploying the blades and that will hinder penetration to some extent, there isn’t any way around it.
There are 3 major tip designs that you’ll see on modern broadheads, cut on contact, chisel tip, and conical tip.
Cut on contact tips are going to be your best for penetration because it takes the least amount of energy for the broadhead to cut through the animal’s hide. Most modern broadheads have what is considered a tanto style cut on contact tip to help make the tip stronger and prevent curling on heavy bone contact. Although the cut on contact style excels at penetration and cutting through hide it isn’t the best with heavy bone contact.
Chisel tips were created to help increase performance on bone by punching through and breaking it as the tip makes contact. Since they punch through bone they don’t cut through animal hide as easily and will use more energy for penetration than the cut on contact tip.
Conical tips aren’t used nearly as often in modern broadheads as the other two tip styles, but still can be found here and there. The conical tip, also sometimes called a needle tip, does well when penetrating animal hide, but really falls short on penetration on bone. I have heard many stories of conical tip style broadheads not penetration bone at all and instead deflecting and riding a rib or shoulder out of the killzone.
How do you want your broadhead to perform?
Are you looking for a higher likelihood of big blood trails and big holes? Do you want penetration so that you never worry if your arrow passed through? Maybe you’re concerned with impacting shoulder blades so you want a broadhead that will get through a shoulder? All of these requests are achievable, but not necessarily in the same broadhead. That is why it’s important for you to know what you really want your broadhead to do. You will have to sacrifice in some areas to gain in others.
Easy to follow blood trails and big holes in the animal scream for a mechanical broadhead. There is too much variability in shot placement and what happens after the shot inside the animal to guarantee a big blood trail, but a large cut statistically will give you a better chance. When you go this route you will be sacrificing penetration to that larger cut and the mechanical function.
If you are concerned with penetration a quality fixed head will always be your best option. If you want to maximize that penetration you’ll want to look at a 2 blade fixed broadhead with a cut on contact style tip. With that in mind any fixed blade will penetrate better than a mechanical broadhead.
Let’s say you tend to shoot close to the shoulder and maybe have lost a deer or two to lack of penetration on shoulder hits. Single bevel broadheads are going to be your best friend. A single bevel broadhead only has one edge angle instead of two angles that come together to create an edge.
Since there is only one edge angle the broadhead rotates as it penetrates and when the broadhead comes in contact with bone the rotational force causes the bone to split allowing your arrow to continue on its path much easier than if the broadhead has to punch through or wedge its way through the bone. The downside to single bevel broadheads is they tend to not produce as good of blood trails as other options.
Your Bow Setup Energy
Understanding what your bow set up is capable of is the best way to get optimal performance from the broadhead you select, it will also be the best way to narrow down your broadhead options if you are having trouble picking which one you want to take into the woods this year.
The simplest way to understand your bow setup is to know what kind of energy your bow is producing, particularly momentum (MO) and kinetic energy (KE). In order to figure out those numbers you’ll need to know how much your arrow weighs and how fast your arrow is going. If you don’t have the tools to do that at home I recommend a visit to your local archery shop. They will have all the tools to help, if you don’t have any archery shops close there are calculators online for arrow weight and bow speed that will get you close enough for our purposes here.
Speaking of online calculators, once you have your arrow weight and bow speed, head over to google and search for an arrow kinetic energy and momentum calculator. Plug in your arrow weight and bow speed and the calculator will spit out some numbers for KE and MO. Keep these in mind moving forward, those are going to be the starting point for narrowing down your broadhead options.
If your KE number is:
- 40 or less, limit yourself to 2 blade cut on contact style broadheads in single or double bevel. You’re going to want every bit of penetration you can get and nothing out penetrates a 2 blade cut on contact style broadhead.
- 40-60, your options open up to any fixed blade broadhead available on the market. Just keep in mind if you are closer to 40 you may want to lean towards a two blade cut on contact with bleeder blades to help maximize your penetration.
- 60-80, the option of larger cutting mechanical broadheads start to open up here. If you are closer to 60 stick with mechanical broadheads that are 1.5” cutting diameter or smaller to help with penetration.
- 80 or more, you have the pick of the litter here. Any broadhead you’d like to screw on the front of your arrow will do the job.
Conclusion
Choosing a broadhead can be daunting, there are a ton of options out there and even more marketing to go with all of those options. I hope this helps you narrow down your broadhead choice this year so that you can be as lethal in the woods as possible.