Trad BH cutting diameter

[SwampRabbit]

I'm trying to get a 10gpp setup on my 48# draw and it looks like a 29" heritage 150 with a 175g head will get me in the dynamic spine ballpark (I've got a 7.6gpp arrow with the same calculated dynamic spince that is flying like darts bareshaft.)

So I started looking at heads. The caluclate energy is somehere in the 33-34 ft-lbs and about 170 fps for the 10gpp setup (about 200 on the 7.6 gpp.)

With this, and based on some research, I'm thinking a 2 blade broadhead is the way to go. My question is what cutting diameter? I'm looking at the Zwickeys and they have the Eskimo and the Delta. The difference is the 1 1/8 vs 1 3/8" cutting diameter (and a few grains to the extra area.)

The question is... which should I go with on this setup? Do I have enough energy/momentum for the extra 1/4" of cutting diameter?

[Bisch]

Shoot the widest heads you can consistently get and entry AND an exit hole with!

I would go with the 1 3/8" wide heads, make sure the arrows are very well tuned, and then go shoot a few critters and see how they perform.

With two blades, wider is always better, if you can get those two holes mentioned above.

FWIW, I shoot 50# at my DL (I have a pretty long DL at 29.5") with a 10.3ggp arrow and I use the 1 1/2" wide GK Silverflames. There is a world of difference in the blood trails with the 1 1/2" as opposed to the 1 1/8".

Bisch

[Phillip Fields]

I would go with the 1 1/8 cutting diameter with your setup. That should make a good hunting set-up though personally I would opt for a heavier arrow. My current setup (as it has been for years) is 55lbs at my 28 inch draw with a 620 grain arrow (11.27 gpp). I use a 125grain, 1 1/4 inch diameter Magnus stinger with a 100 grain brass insert.

[chackworth3]

I am shooting zwickey no mercy (1 3/16") and zwickey deltas (1 3/8") and both are 170-175 grains and fly great. You just have to make sure you get them razor sharp because they don't come sharp out of the package. Had three pass throughs on pigs last year with both broadheads shooting 52@26

[Greywolf in Hawaii]

Get ahold of the Charles at the Broadheadbarn.com and get the 175 Africa hunor heads.
They are a awesome head and leave a huge open wound channel.
That's the only 2 blade head I use now.
3 Blade is the Snuffer, when you Snufferize it, it's dead !!

[SwampRabbit]

Followup:

Okay, so I was looking at the 175 gr Zwickeys. I did some bare shaft tuning on some Heritage 150s and it came down to requiring 28" shafts with a 175gr point. Since I draw at 27 inches, I really wanted 29" shafts (personal preference.)

So, did some calculation and I could go with 150 gr points and be close to the 29" mark. Knocks me down to almost exactly 10gpp. So I started looking at the Magnus stingers since they have them in the 150 gr weight. I switched to the Magnus last year on my compound and have had good results since switching (100 gr 4 blade.)

I looked up the cutting diameter and they are 1 1/8"... but I could get the 4 blade which is essentially just a bleeder.

So comes the question... at 34 KE, 10gpp at 48 lbs... what do you guys think about using the smaller diameter main blade... but with the addtion of the bleeders? Will the bleeders have enough impact loss to effect penetration?

[Phillip Fields]

Should be a good set-up. For some reason I was thinking the Stinger was 1 1/4 cut. I've been using the 125 gr stingers for years. The bleeders aren't big enough to have a huge impact on penetration. On my last trip to Africa my buddy and I both used 4 blade stingers. Between the 2 of us we took 12 animals. I was using a 57lb longbow at my 28" draw and he was using a Black Widow, 53lbs at his 27" draw.

[LeanMachine]

Ill second the brass insert and magnis stinger. They are also available in 150 which is what i shoot now. I personally believe it is the best blade design on the market for most setups. Like bisch said, wider is better if you can get away with it. If you are blowing through everything, you can always go wider. I shot a small spike last week w the 150 2 blade stinger. Fairly poor hit contacting nothing but liver. High entry and exit mid chest. Plenty of blood to follow. 50 yard recovery and he probably covered that in 3 seconds.