Broadheads..(Rage)

[bluewater1861]

Broke the bow out today to shoot. Little slow in hunting section lately so I thought I'd start something. Always shot fixed blades, but the outdoor channel and heavy ad campaign finally broke me down. Never could get my fixed blades to fly EXACTLY like my field tips. I picked up some Rage Hypodermic's and the practice head they give you fly's identical to my field tips..Gonna go for it.. Any others use these??

[hookedupf7]

A buddy of mine swears by them...

[tlombardozzi]

I use standard Rage heads, devastating entry hole and damage in the cavity. The only thing I do not like is I have only had only one pass thru where I always had them with fixed heads with my same set up. As a result, by the arrow staying in, the damage is tremendous. I continue to use them.

[Preys mate]

Great Brodhead I've been using them for years now devastating holes awesome blood trails but be careful of your hard quartering away shot deflection is a little downfall with them

[bigblue]

They should be illegal they make a hole like you have to see to believe . Marginal hits still give good results plus they fly like darts.

[Nautitroller]

After tracking many deer (with my dog) over the past eight years I have got to see the failures of these broadheads (expandables) not just Rage, first hand. IMO they are garbage. They open and fly funky, they have terrible penetration if you put one anywhere near the front shoulder, or steep shot down the side of a rib cage. The blood trails are amazing but the deer don't die from a glancing shot. If you plan on shooting em in the guts its the head for you. Wait 12 plus hours, fight off the yotes, and you will have your buck.

Not putting down anyone's shooting ability because we all miss or make a questionable shot, if you haven't missed yet you haven't been hunting long enough.

So to summarize, make a list of what you want in a broadhead,

Here's mine:

1. Super sharp.

2. Great penetration. Full pass through.

3. Great flight.

4. Tough,well built.

5. Affordable.

6. Dependable.

Bad to the bone....

Don't buy into the hype.

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[shakenbake114]

I have been shooting rage for 6 or 7 years now.  Love them as i shoot the standard rage.  I haven't lost a deer with them nor had them ever fail.  Also shot a 347 pound black bear with one and it was like a hot knife going thru butter.  It would be a tough sell to get me to switch to another head.

[Nautitroller]

I have been shooting rage for 6 or 7 years now. Love them as i shoot the standard rage. I haven't lost a deer with them nor had them ever fail. Also shot a 347 pound black bear with one and it was like a hot knife going thru butter. It would be a tough sell to get me to switch to another head.

Sounds like you have had good luck with em. I bet you have a nice bow that you know inside out and you shoot well. Again I only get phone calls from the guys that can't find their deer, so that's where my bias is from. Can't wait for bow season. My dog is 14 this year and won't be tracking, its gonna break her and my heart. Hope to kill one early and give her an easy last track...

Good luck out there guys!

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[shakenbake114]

Damn I was just going to ask where you lived incase I needed help lol

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[shakenbake114]

Nautitroller I have a PSE revenge sorry I forgot to add that. And yes I shoot alot with it. I feel some people see via tv what rage can do and take marginal shots thinking the rage can make up the difference for a so so shot. I take well placed shots and thats it. Yes things happen a deer taking a step on you, it happens but we owe it to the deer to place that arrow right

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[Nautitroller]

I'm in Spencer, you're in Nichols? tracked a few down that way!

New puppy soon...

May be looking for a redbone that likes to chase deer instead of coons.

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[iceman05]

I swear by rage broad heads. I generally don't shot over 30yards and have never lost a deer with them. I do hear the claims of them not passing through, but I've never had an issue and my bow is not cranked up. I won't be switching anytime soon. However if I were to switch I hear great reviews on the G5 fixed blades.

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[shakenbake114]

Yes I am in nichols but its more owego lol. Live the next hill down from phesant hill country club. Hunt candor and apalachin.

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[tough luck]

I love rages wouldn't buy anything else they have been great for me!!!

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[King Slammin]

I will only shoot muzzys. Rage and other expandable a have a habit of not opening, or partially opening. And like nautitroller said, hit the shoulder and forget about it.

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[Chas0218]

I have a hard time trusting expandable broad heads when my buddies all shoot rage and have lost deer. My father in law shot one of those rubber band style and lost a buck of a lifetime. For me I'll stick to my 3 blade fixed broadhead. Not knocking any brands this is just what I have witnessed first hand.

The penetration issue is huge with any expandable, watch the hunting shows with guys shooting top of the line bows and half the arrow is hanging out still on 20 yards shots.

Sent from my thinking chair...

[Charlie P]

My son had the blades fall out one of his rages last year. Got in the tree and grabbed an arrow no blades. 

[chucknmel]

lost the buck of my life last year due to the rage heads deflecting on a quartering awayshot

[Total Chaos]

The rage about broadheads continues, no pun intended. Every year this question comes up and every year it's the same answers. So as like years past here's my answer. Personally I shoot Rages and love them. I've lost 1 deer with them but not because of them!! I've shot at least a dozen deer with them. I've shot deer from NY to Illinois so I have some knowledge about them. First I'd say don't put Rages in the same catagory as over the top mechanicals like Rockets or Wasp and the likes. They aren't the same animal. Over the tops are garbage. They rob kinetic energy and deflect on quartering shots because of the way the blades ratchet out upon deployment. They leave a small entry hole and if you don't get thru the blood trails are poor.

 

A Rage doesn't work like that. The blades open as they enter not once they're in like over the tops, leaving a nice hole and if you don't get thru you still have a decent blood trail. I question ever time I see someone say a rage deflected on a quartering shot because I've never seen it myself. The whole concept doesn't make sense with the way the blades deploy. To me something else went wrong if you had a deflection, namely poor shot placement. I once shot a buck quartering so sharply that I had to enter thru the front of the ham and angle all the way thru the body and broke off the opposite front leg and just poked out of the hide. No deflection there!

 

That brings up the next issue. Bow weight, arrow weight and arrow speed. I suspect a lot of issues with the Rages are due to inadiquate bow setup. I shoot a 500 grain piledriver arrow, it's going thru whatever it hits. I shoot 70lbs at 28.5" draw. My kinetic energy is stout to say the least. I sacrafice some speed but I'd rather have the kinetic energy. The guys shooting IBO arrow weights are the ones who will have the issues. Speed doesn't makeup for arrow weight and its a proven fact. I have shot right thru a shoulder blade more than once. Last year I shot a doe almost straight down and managed to clip the spine and a shoulder blade making it out the bottom of the deer. That Extreme Rage cut a massive hole. Yes the blades were bent and twisted but the thing did the job.

 

The next thing I see is that the blades pop open during flight. Again this has never happened to me. That said I have had them open in the quiver. Which leads me to the statement self inflicted. I pulled the arrow out at such a way that the blade caught the side and open, my fault. I've also been guilty of playing  with the blades and not seating back in the o-ring correctly, again my fault. We have a natural curiosity of seeing how things work and then not putting it back the right way, it's human nature. The new lock collars work way better at holding the blades closed than the o-rings did. I will say that the blades do rattle a bit with the lock collars that I wish they didn't. I did try o-rings with the lock collar overit last year and that seemed to work. I only shot the 1 doe so the verdict is still out about how consistant it will be. As far as blades not opening again I've never seen it and find it hard to believe they don't just because of the design of them. I also know sometime ago they redsigned the blade where it hooks the o-ring and or shock collar. The original ones weren't as hooked as they are now which may have led to some premature blade opening but again I bet more was operator error after playing with the blades.

 

As far as fixed heads reigning surpreme, maybe but my father lost 2 bucks to Muzzy heads so what gives? I'll tell you it was shot placement every time. 1 he shot quartering away and he hit the shoulder which deflected it into the neck and throat. I shot the deer 3 weeks later during gun season and I'll tell you he was dieing a long painful death. He lost another with a fixed blade Wasp that hit shoulder and didn't penetrate.

 

Bottom line is #1, shot placement. Don't blame a head for your mistake. If you hit it right just about any head (even over the top) will do the job. #2, the correct bow setup for the head you're using. Lighter setups should be using a good cut on contact head. #3, try them all and make you own decisions on what works best for your setup and take other peoples advise with a grain of salt because you don't know the situation they encountered when the head failed. Did the deer turn at the sound of the shot causing what appeared to be a deflection. I've had deer react to the shot and the arrow took funky paths thru the deer that didn't make sense or seemed impossible for the position it was in when I shot. Was the bow/arrow to light for the head in use. I can tell you this, when I switched to the 2 1/4" cut Rage extreme it did not penetrate as good as the standard Rage because of the amount of matter it was cutting. It actually surprised me what it took to push that amount of blade thru an animal. When I use up my Extremes I will go back to the standard Rage because the penetration is just that much better.

 

One last thing about the Rage is the security you get in knowing that on a borderline hit you're cutting a lot of material compared to a fixed blade head. I feel I would have lost a few more deer had I been shooting fixed blade compared to Rages with poor shots that I made. Again operator error. I didn't put it in the right spot but at least I cut enough and had a big enough hole to make it a recovery instead of a loss.

 

Hope this was at least a good read for you. Again you make the decision on what's best for your setup and ability. I did and I choose Rage.

Total Chaos

Edited August 25, 2015 by Total Chaos

[Custom Deluxe]

i used rage until i found the NAP killzone's same design but much improved, no o rings or collar nonsense

[justtracytrolling]

After tracking many deer (with my dog) over the past eight years I have got to see the failures of these broadheads (expandables) not just Rage, first hand. IMO they are garbage. They open and fly funky, they have terrible penetration if you put one anywhere near the front shoulder, or steep shot down the side of a rib cage. The blood trails are amazing but the deer don't die from a glancing shot. If you plan on shooting em in the guts its the head for you. Wait 12 plus hours, fight off the yotes, and you will have your buck.

Not putting down anyone's shooting ability because we all miss or make a questionable shot, if you haven't missed yet you haven't been hunting long enough.

So to summarize, make a list of what you want in a broadhead,

Here's mine:

1. Super sharp.

2. Great penetration. Full pass through.

3. Great flight.

4. Tough,well built.

5. Affordable.

6. Dependable.

Bad to the bone....

Don't buy into the hype.

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

If anyone needs tracking help I'd highly recommend John and his dog. They helped me find a buck my son shot that was one I'd never have found without help. The buck was shot with a rage.....I personally love the rages and have shot about 20 deer with them with no problem, but and its a big but....they suck if you miss forward....they are the best broadhead for shots 100% BEHIND the shoulder and NOT at difficult angles made from FAST upper end equipment. If this sounds like the shots you take the rages will be great....on the other hand if you know you will take what the deer gives you do yourself and the deer a favor and shoot a durable fixed blade. Confidence is everything and if you are happy with what you use dont change just because someone on tv uses something different.

[justtracytrolling]

I should mention the buck John helped me find was hit well and died quick enough, but because of a tough steep angle the arrow was hanging out of the sternum, the deer couldnt bed, and covered some serious ground before dropping dead. With a good fixed blade Cody would have had a pass thru and the deer would have bedded immediately and been recovered without incident. BTW i wouldn't take the shot with any broadhead...I'd wait and get a better shot next time...but after over 25 years ive learned you dont HAVE to shot just because you could.

[Nautitroller]

With a heavy heart I must say that my 14yr old dog won't be tracking this year... I am looking to replace her but have not.

This rage debate is great reading. I always like to hear opinions and learn about things on this site that you will not find anywhere else. Bow hunters are a different breed, there are many different styles of hunting and hunters. I don't know if many true traditionalists that shoot a rage out of their recurve or longbow, but if you have the latest bow and shoot a rage I wouldn't criticize ya.

The season is approaching quickly so practice up and shoot the high angle shots. The best advice I ever got was to wait, wait wait for the best shot if it doesn't happen well he is still alive to hunt again, not wounded or wasted.

Good luck guys where are the pics of the big boys everyone is after??

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[143447]

Hunt fixed blade muzzys will never go expandable .Make a good shot you guys

Here is the guy I want.

[JakeyBaby]

NAP Spitfires hands down! Huge hole and still bad to the bone! Although I did get some Dead Ringer Rampages from one of the owners this year that I am excited to try. They seem like a mean broadhead!!