I wanted to wait until I actually fired one of these into an animal to do a review, and now that I have, here it is. Let me just say that I am very impressed with the results. I shot this broadhead attached to a crossbow bolt, from a crossbow that does about 400 fps with this 100 grain broadhead. It was fired at a whitetail doe about 30 yards away. I would say about a 130-140 lb animal. Right as I was taking my shot, the animal moved, and it also startled from the noise, so the point of impact ended up being a few inches high and very far back because it was quartering away to start with and turned even more, and it hit just in front of the hind leg in the gut area. Due to the extreme amount of energy imparted by the crossbow, it penetrated just fine all the way through to the vitals anyway, almost straight forward through the body cavity. It went through the gut, took out the right lung, chopped off the aorta, and because the animal loaded its front legs to run from startling, the arrow actually hit the top of the rib cage and exited just to the side of the spine around where the shoulder is, on the same side as it entered the animal. The broadhead for its part, cut through 2 whole ribs, and took out half of a third rib on its way out, in the fattest part of the ribs right next to the spine. On its way there, everywhere that the arrow/bolt passed through had a huge gaping wound channel about 2-2.5" wide. Due to the amount of bone it hit, the arrow ended up falling right there where the animal was standing when the shot was taken. Everything was intact with the arrow, except one of the two retractable blades was quite bent up and could not be retracted. The deer was already on its way running full speed just as the arrow exited. I watched it run about 50 yards in an arc before I lost sight of it. When I located the animal, I found it about another 20 yards further, where it collapsed from a loss of blood, which was fortunate because due to the high shot there was no blood trail.
The animal lived for less than 15 seconds after the shot. In spite of what I had considered to be a bad situation with a bad shot placement, the broadhead did its job in spades. It still ended up being a humane harvest in spite of my mistake, and the animal suffered minimally considering the circumstances. I consider a humane harvest to be one in which the animal doesn't have time to actually go beyond the adrenaline rush of experiencing the loud noise and actually start to feel pain. This broadhead performed this task when I didn't. I can't sing its praises enough. It put meat in the freezer and having shared some backstrap, tenderloin and stew mean from the roasts with family members, I can say that the taste of this meat was from an animal that did not experience a lot of stress or suffering. I'm looking forward to getting out and doing it again, and I know that I can depend on my equipment to exceed my expectations when I do.
This is my first use of an expanding broadhead and also my first use of a crossbow. Last time I used archery equipment was with a compound bow in the '90s that couldn't have been much over 200 fps, and the only shot I ever attempted was a miss, as the animal jumped the string, so take this review with that in mind. I haven't used any other expandable broadheads, so I have no frame of reference other than fixed broadheads and what they've done on animals that others around me shot decades ago with inferior equipment. That said, you can't argue with these results. I'm of the opinion that a razor sharp broadhead does a better job of humanely taking game, and these ones just step it up to the next level due to both accuracy and cutting width. Based on my limited experience here, if you get even a half-assed decent shot placement, the broadhead will bring the animal down in seconds. I can't add much to that, so I'll leave it here. I hope this helps some people make a good decision about which equipment to use next season (or this one if you're still archery hunting).
| Item Package Dimensions L x W x H | 9.65 x 5.67 x 1.26 inches |
|---|---|
| Package Weight | 0.08 Kilograms |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 2 x 2.5 x 2 inches |
| Item Weight | 0.15 Pounds |
| Brand Name | RAGE |
| Warranty Description | Manufacture Warranty |
| Model Name | 510306 |
| Color | Bronze-Stainless Steel |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Suggested Users | unisex-adult |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Manufacturer | Feradyne Outdoors Llc |
| Part Number | 53000 |
| Style | 100 Grain |
| Included Components | RAGE Crossbow X, 2-Blade Archery Arrow Broadhead, 100 or 125 Grain with Shock Collar Technology (3-Pack) |
| Size | 100 Gra" |
| Sport Type | hunting |
| Grip Size | Array |
