It Ain’t Your Broadhead, It’s You

_by Dave Hurteau
_
So picking up on Bestul’s “Good and Cheap” post about Wasp Hammer SST broadheads, it just so happens that over the past several seasons I’ve also been shooting a Wasp head, the Boss Bullet. (Honestly, you’d think we were sponsored by the company–we’re not, nor by anyone else).

I shoot them, like Bestul, because they work and they’re cheap. (Yes, I do buy them myself).

Last year, for the same reasons, I also shot Muzzy 3-Blades, one of which plowed through a buck as cleanly as any of my Wasps ever had. Still I will probably keep shooting the latter–because they fly a little better for me. That’s not a knock on the Muzzys, which may well fly a little better for you and which brings me to the heart of this post: When choosing between heads that are roughly equal in design, price, durability, etc… it comes down to flight/accuracy–and that, I learned a few years ago, is more about you than the head.

Here’s what I wote about it in the August 2008 issue of F&S:

_Scott Andress runs The Archery Shop in Pike County Illinois (pikecountyarchery.com), one of the hottest big-buck locals in the country. He sees 150 guys go through his door in a day during the season and has heard every bow hunting debate in the book, including:

“My broadhead model flies straighter than yours.”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Yes it does.”

Well, according to Andress, no it doesn’t. He took about 40 different cut-on-contact broadheads from about a dozen different manufacturers and shot each one on the same arrow from the same bow mounted on a Hooter Shooter shooting machine, which fired all exactly the same way every time. “It was really boring,” Andress remembers. “It took me almost 20 days.” But the results were startling–and a testament to the quality of today’s broadheads.

“Every single one of them hit in the exact same spot, which was also the same spot where the field tips hit.” In other words, it ain’t your broadhead, it’s you. Individual differences in shooting form and style are what that create discrepancies in broadhead performance, according to Andress. “The best broadhead is the one that’s most forgiving for the way you shoot. Don’t get caught up in the hottest brands or the latest models. Find one you shoot well and stick with it.”_