Ernie

You will hear from a lot more experts then me–just back in trad bow after 42 year lay off. But–after you research this site and then think about the $. Save yourself some time and more $ just buy the tuffheads. IMHO8)

Semper Fi

Mike

Without naming names, there is one popular single-bevel out there that has really soft steel. Look for heads in the 53R range. Other issues include shape and size, with long narrow heads being better penetrators that maintain more twist when penetrating tissues than do shorter wider designs. The thicker a single-bevel, the wider will be the bevel shelf and the more consequent torque, so thicker is better than thinner. A couple of otherwise great offerings are simply too expensive for the average hunter. And while this problem is gradually disappearing, some heads still come far short of hunting sharp, and with hard steel this can be a real problem. So, as with bows, knives and other tools, while there are many good choices available, the one that stacks up closest to the Ashby research “winner’s list” is Tuffhead. If you’re using carbon shafts I recommend getting most of the weight from the head rather than beefed-up internals. While I’ve had great results on elk with the 225s I know shooting nothing but 300s for elk. I personally would not use the 190 for elk because it’s thin, though I’m sure it’s dandy for deer and other mid-sized game. These are one very interested and I hope open-minded man’s opinions based on extensive personal experimentation (I won’t call it research) and years of studying and testing Ashby’s research results. Tuffhead sure ain’t the only game in town, but at this point, all things considered, it strikes me and many others as the best broadhead investment we can make for lethality, MA and structural integrity. And better yet, it’s a Ma-Pa operation, not some huge industry.

I have recently discovered the value of a near full length ferrule. The tuffheads are absurdly… well, tough. If you’re likely to take shots with recoverable pass throughs, especially from elevated positions where you’re going to bury in the dirt and rocks, I’d happily spend the extra money on the tuffhead.

My experience with lesser ferrules has disheartened me a little, but the fella who makes the broadhead I ruined recently has put those same heads through more buffalo than I’d hope to ever see and John Tietzel has probably killed more pigs with his single bevel tusker concordes than I’ve had hot breakfasts.

Horses for courses I guess, but if you’re the kind of guy that doesn’t lose many arrows, you’d have spent your money well buying some tuffheads.

Jim

The only problem I’ve had with the tough heads I have has to do with the design feature that allows the broadhead to extend over the arrow shaft.

The intent is to help protect the shaft. But the problem I had is that I added an aluminum sleeve over the end of my gold tip 55-75 traditional shafts and it is too big to allow the broad head to go over it. Thus the arrow will not tighten down onto the back of the broadhead insert. This means that the arrow is pushing against just a thin part of the broad head, not the whole insert face.

The fix was to get rid of the aluminum sleeves. Which I didn’t like to do as they really make the shafts stronger.

But the warning is that if your arrow is too big, it won’t work. My aluminum sleeves were made from some old aluminum arrows. If I had tried to use those arrows, I wouldn’t even be able to screw the broad head onto the arrow, as the threads wouldn’t reach.

Steve, could not those aluminum sleeves be tapered to allow fitting inside the ferrule?

Steve,

I can’t understand how that is possible. The footings I make for the largest carbon arrows like the GT 7595 and GT Big Game 100 will fit 1/8 inch into the ferrule of the Tuffhead 300.

And of course that is larger than the footings I make for the 5575 Black or Traditional Gold Tips.

I think it has to do with the broadhead inserts I have. They came from 3Rivers and fit very deep into the broadhead. If they didn’t go so far into the broadhead (wider at the wide end) then there wouldn’t be a problem. The 125 grain ones seem ok, but the 100 grain ones go too deep.

I understand now. You need a longer tapered adapter or an adapter with longer “shoulders” between taper and threaded shank like I make for myself, Works great.

I think Vintage Archery has some long tapered adapters.