I love these heads. They sharpen very easily and fly great, but I hunt in the THICK woods of South Carolina. I know hit in the spot they won't go far, but how do these heads on average do creating good blood trails. Where I hunt some places you can't see past ten yards, that's why i'm curious.
I use Grizzly heads most of the time. I have experienced excellent blood trails on every hunt except one...and that was as a result of a driving rain. The Grizzly 145 is an excellent head and I would not hesitate to use them in any foliage condition.
Claudia
As good as it gets; and like you said it sharpens easily too!
I agree on Griz quality. Often, blood trail quality is more a result of where the arrow hits, whether it stays in or passes through, and other such variables, rather than how many blades a head has or how big it is. A high lung hit most often doesn't spurt blood, as it bleeds internally, where low lungs and/or heart bleeds profusely, as does liver. I the shaft stays in, muscle quickly contracts round it and shuts off bleeding. My goal, thus, is not to create a lot of blood on the ground, but to get a low heart/lung broadside pass-through that will put the animal down within sight, even in thick cover. Nothing beats a Grizzly for pass-through capability, esp. if you remodel the tip to a Tanto point.
The biggest blood trail I ever saw was from a 160 Grizzly, which is the exact same size. It was only seven paces LONG though! However having said that, I use the biggest head that I am reasonably sure will give me an exit hole on the biggest animal I am likely to get a shot at. The whitetails in the SE are not difficult to shoot through, so I use bigger heads.
I rarely look more than 10 yards ahead for my blood trail. My eyes are not that good any more.
I too willbe using 145 Griz heads this year for the first time. I bought 2 packages of them and sharpend the first 6 with no problems. Shaving sharp. The second batch of 6 is where my troubles began. Seems the steel is a lot harder than the first 6 heads. My file can't hardly scratch them. ANy ideas how to get through this? By the way What is a Tanto point? Any pics of a Tanto point?
Larry
I use a new 8" bastard file. I lay it flat and run the head down the file putting hard pressure. I find laying the file flaton a hard surface will not let it give in the middle while appling hard pressure. The point that the Grizzly has is a Tanto point. This type of point causes the broadhead to still rotate as it enters the target instead of stopping. If you shoot it in a foam target you will see a S-shape entry instead of the typical 2 blade straight up and down hole.
I guess I am so inept :mad: at sharpening that I have to stay with Magnus and Zwickey (which are so easy to sharpen that "even a caveman can do it").
I could never get the Grizzly sharp enough for my tastes, but they fly as good as any broadhead out there.
Are the 100 gr as tough as the rest? I've got 75 gr steel inserts in them.
I use grizzleys and Zwickeys, and agree that zwickeys are easier to sharpen but grizzleys penetrate better when sharp. I put my file in vise and push the grizzlys down it - take a lot of metal off to reduce the bevel angle. Once the edge starts folding aroung the bevel, knock the wire of with a hone and it is sharp. I start with 145s and end up with them about 125 - 135, just like the Zwickeys I use. After reading Dr. Asbys lastest report, I am going to try and put a single bevel on some Zwickeys to see how they work.
i tried the redi-edge sharpener as a last ditch effort to sharpen my 160 gr grizzleys. i was ready to give up on the grizzleys because i couldn't sharpen them. after about ten minutes i had my grizzley shaving hair off my forearm using the readi-edge. it is a great sharpener that cost $17.00. check out the braveheart archery web site on grizzley sharpening/ worked great for me.
tm