With just shy of a bazillion choices for heads to pick from, why limit yourself to just the Rage as the new possible go-to head?

 

Rage Hypodermic....the Hypodermic has a steel ferrule compared to the Chisel tips aluminum ferrule....much better head IMO. I'm not a big Grimm Reaper fan......I tried the 1 3/8 & 1 3/4 cut Razor tips......both lacked the accuracy/consistency of the Rage heads. I like the rear deploying blade heads compared to the over the top deployment heads....bigger entrance holes .

 

with a 400 grain arrow and only 58 or 59 lb draw weight im not surprised you didnt get a full pass through, it takes quite a bit of energy for those large blade heads to push all the way through the deer. obviously you had plenty to kill the deer, but maybe you want to look at something with a lesser cut? still kills the deer just as dead.

 

I'm not you see it all the time on TV and it happened to me with a 120 pound doe. It's only here where everyone gets pass throughs all the time with light arrows and large cutting mechanicals. Don't get me wrong they do happen but just as often they don't.....if that matter's to ya'.

 

I shot a doe last year with a 3 blade chisel tip wasn’t super impressed with the hole did its job great but the hole wasn’t much if any bigger than the buck I shot 2 days before with a Magnus black hornet made me switch to the 2 blade extreme and that left a hole!! Have a set of the carnifours in the mail to try this year as well


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Without hesitation....Grim Reaper.

Watch a few Drury videos using the other heads and watch the penetration.

 

Shoot Rage and kill big deer!

 

do you mean 400gr or 400 spine?

the chisel tip is my favorite rage. i use the extremes, but the 2" is still a good head. it has a more gradual blade angle than the hypo, so the penetration is better. i would vote the chisel rage.

 

I just switched to rage chisel 2" form spitfires last year. Spitfires were fine except small entry. If it didn't pass through recovery was tougher and I lost a couple. Only shot a doe and a hog so far with the chisel rage, both passed through, huge entry and exit in those cases, both went 50 yards or less. The doe was quartered away, entered high rear on right lung, exited the left leg. Passed most of the way then broke off, but it broke the large humerus leg bone clean in half, bone fragment at Impact site. Watched her fall. I'm impressed so far. FYI, I'm shooting 425 gr total arrow at 70lb, about 290 fps


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Well I’ve used GR heads for 6 years now. Didn’t like the whitetail special but it did destroy a doe I shot but you lose penetration with the 3 blade 2” cutting diameter. Didn’t care for the razor tip as it doesn’t like bone. But I love the 1 3/8 razor cut ss. Get better penetration and tip does better on bone. Really shot placement is what kills deer but type of broadhead dictates how much damage. After I use up these broadhead a I have I’m gonna try the fatal steels or the exodus. As far as accuracy GRs have been the best when comparing to field tips.

Shot both of them with 1 3/8


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Grim reaper for sure! I use them on elk and deer. I prefer the fatal steel 1.5” in 125grain. I’ve used the razor tip 1 3/8 and the razor cut 1 3/8 as well but would say the ferrule on the razor cut is stronger. I shot an elk 2 years ago with the razor tip. I hit a rib square rather high and it curled the razor tip. Elk still died in about 50 yds with a high lung liver shot and less than stellar penetration. All the others were good pass thrus. I won’t use rage as I don’t care for feradyne companies.

 

Thanks for the great replies so far! In summary, it sounds like you guys like both but now considering my KE which might be a tad lower (260 FPS, 400 grain arrow, 58/59 lbs Helium....and yes 400 spine too as someone above asked). KE = 60 ft lbs I think?

Thus with KE 60 — would I be better off with the rage chisel tip 2” 2 blade slip cam style as opposed to the grim reaper 1 3/8” 3 blade — over the top style—as far as pass throughs are concerned and overall performance like field tips?

Note I think the hypodermics with the steeper blade angle would be tougher to get a pass through so sort of leaving that one out.

Thanks again to all

 

60 KE is plenty for the 1 3/8" reapers to get consistent penetration.

 

I have used the reaper 100g 1 3/8'' razortips and have been very happy with accuracy and exit holes. I initially chose the GR head over the Rage due to a more 'swept back' blade angle, though I am not sure if the over-the-top deployment makes that advantage moot compared to Rage. I will say that coming from slick tricks, you will not have as big of an entry hole, but the GR heads are still great and are currently my preferred mech head.

 

Just another thought—-before switching to the grim reaper 1 3/8” 2 years ago, I was using Slick Trick Mags 1 1/4” heads. I compared these ST heads side by side to the grim reapers and even though the difference in size is miniscule the grim reaper looks way way bigger.

I still have 6 ST mags so could always switch back.

 

i personally like 1 3/8 reaper(using pro series this year) more then rage
extremes i used before ...better head imo....but at 58lb draw weight you might be better with rage. I thought i remembered reaper recommended 60lb minimum with their mechs.

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I would also check out NAP killzones...they dont require bands and are similiar to a rage.. i have never like mechs with bands

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I’m definitely no expert at mechanicals but believe the rage chisel tips use a “shock collar” instead of a rubber band which was an older design. Not sure how the shock collar works but it sounds better than a rubber band to retain the blades in the fly position.

I’m leaning now to making the switch to the rage slip cam chisels....still thinking.

 

yea they do i used them also....they probably are better then bands but i would always worry about them being seating right or coming off during flight....just a peace of mind thing for me.....killzones dont use either they are more like the reaper....just a peace of mind thing for me

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Rage, not fan of GR's. I shot three deer with them and broke blades off two out of three times. Confused yet?

 

I have used Rage for many years after switching from Muzzy’s. I was hunting thick property and wanted a better blood trail. I had double lunged a buck with the Muzzy and didn’t find any blood, just the deer because I knew the direction he ran.

I have tried almost all of the Rage broadheads and I like the Chisel Tip Extremes the best. Chisel tip has penetrated bone for me better than the normal Rage.

I shot a buck with a Rage Chisel Tip Extreme at 66.5 yards last year dead in the shoulder and he only ran 50 yards (not a complete pass through). I shot a doe at 19 yards with a Rage Chisel Tip Extreme with a complete pass through and she only went about 40 yards.

I have had bad blood trails with normal Rage broadheads, but never with the Chisel Tip Extremes.

Hope that helps.

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GRs out of those. Sounds like they are working fine for you. I've put the 1-3/8" Razortips and SS Razorcuts through deer with "slow" setups, I'm short and my shoulders are shot Like 245 ish fps with a 410 to 420 grain arrows. Have only had one not pass through and that was a hard quartering away shot, the arrow ended up in the off side arm pit just under the hide.

I still contest that many "little penetration" shots have more to do with not getting a clean arrow flight whether that be from a bow out of tune, torqueing the bow, bad form, unseen twigs and branches, ect.. An arrow that is not tracking straight will rob you of penetration every single time. Now I'm not there on these shots so I guess it's really speculation but these bows today have so much more ass than those of yesteryear, we were pushing large heads through deer just fine back then with a good less energy to work with :wink:

 

Many thanks for all the great information. I'm thinking to call Grim Reaper today and see what they spec for KE on the 1 3/8. They must have test info. Time permitting, I'll call Rage as well for the same info on the 2" chisel and will report back here.

Thanks for all the 1st hand experience with these heads so far.

 

Report back with info....thanks

 

The ferrell on the Rage has a slot in the middle of it that contains the blades, if that ferrell hits bone and bends those blades are going to get jammed in that slot and not open. I have no personal experience with the Rage, maybe they are tough enough to with stand impact.

 

I'm not understanding how any sharp broadhead can cause a poor blood trail? Any deer that I've shot or tracked that's had a low chest exit hole has had a good blood trail, I've seen low vital gut exits plug up. Hmm.

 

I used to shoot chisel tip extremes when I shot 100 gr heads. The entrance and exit with the xtremes is nasty. I would recommend them, never tried grave digger heads.

 

if I had to choose between GR or Rage it would be GR. I've shot both but I preferred the GR and I shoot a 30" draw/400grain arrow at 70lbs so no problems wit pass thru. but a few years back I switched to the Exodus swept fixed blade. I wanted something that was easier for me to change blades. I spent a few hundred dollars testing fixed blades and shooting them thru my hooter shooter to compare impact point to my field tips. the design of the Exodus is to mimic your field tips and with the low poundage and KE you're shooting I'd recommend a fixed blade/Exodus. they flew the best and were within 1/4" at 48yrds of my field tips and they are tanks. very solid head. it's still all about shot placement but these heads do everything very well. you'll probably get more pass through's than a mechanical with a fixed blade and they handle bone extremely well.
just my $0.02!

 

If you're concerned with penetration stop using expandables. Two main things work against penetration with expandables. 1) is the obvious, the cut width and 2) is less obvious and is the thin narrow blades have a tendency to bend. This is not often talked about on here but a bend is worse than a break because it stops all penetration whereas a clean break doesn't. How many posts have we seen with the end result is an expandable so bent out of shape it's hard to identify? Too many to count.

When the energy of the bow is focused directly behind the nock expandables work just fine. But as soon as the arrow gets any sort of lateral force those little blades start to bend.

So if you're a "I buy into insurance and where a helmet on a bike kinda guy", expandables are not for you.

OP sounds like the slick trick mags served you well in the past. Based on your commentary, your gut is obviously telling you to switch back...