Please no, "my uncle used to  say!"   Or, "I've heard this or that."   I want to hear from those who used the old Hilbre points, either succesfully or not.  What were issues for you, what were myths.

The reason is:  I heard all of the horror stories, for the past forty-couple years, of them being junk heads, so I never used them. Nearly all of those stories were hear-say, or because the heads came apart when striking hard objects....like rocks.      I have been shooting one head now for three days into hills, stream banks, soda cans and dead stumps, and it has held together.

Talk to me about real experience with Hilbre heads....those with the nylon ferrule.

George,

I still have a couple of arrows that I made in 1958 with the old Hilbre head on them.  I had the two-blade and 4-blade.  Shot a deer with one.  Only had a slightly curled tip from a rib, if I remember correctly.  
Real hard to use hot-melt on...I have an example of that also.   :eek:  
I believe they are illegal in a few states because of the "plastic/nylon" ferrule.

Gene

yeah man, I've killed a few deer with them. Don't really remember any failures per say. Only had a few and when I used them up, i dug out a box of black diamonds that I had. Not for any reason other than I already had them.

When I began chasing Tennessee whitetails in the late 60's, I had some of these, but unfortunately I did not have a chance to take any large game with them. They did not come out of the package very sharp and these bleeder blades made it VERY difficult to make them sharp.   :confused:  

I still have three or four in my archery stuff.

 

 

My older and "more experienced" cousin derided me for hunting with them       and convinced me that the Bear Razorhead was much easier to sharpen and was vastly superior.    

These heads are just short of 3.5" long and have a true needle point. I used them on rabbits and squirrels, but can never recall a failure (since I probably never missed my target.)  OK, I lied...I just never hit a rock I guess.    

Some additional photos:  I recently got a dozen that are virtually new, along with ten of the old Arrowmate 4 blade which were also nylon ferrules but with more flexible blades.

I only ever shot one and practiced with it a bit, I finally left it in a tree in Michigan, it might still be there, it never bent, but with the nylon ferrule there was no pulling the blade out of a tree!

This threat has my attention, of course! I always liked the Hilbre (for looks) and the Super Hilbre too. Classic design and the composite construction was at one time en vouge and certainly seen as "high tech" for "top notch" equipment ...
Anyhow, here is a small picture with a row of different models:
 
l-2-r: barbed Hilbre, semibarbed Hilbre 2-bld, 4-bld, Super Hilbre 4-bld, big Super Hilbre 4-bld

The treated ferrule would screw on a tapered wooden shaft, so no glue needed for the one hunting shot. Makes instant replacement in the fields a matter of seconds too ...

edit:
ah, btw: I apologize for posting here at all because am below 50

I have a couple 4 blade with the "nylon" ferrule on some old cedar from Kinsey Archery when the "old man" came up with some dark green paint that looked for all the world like a plastic finish.

I believe, George, that it was Jim Rebuck that told me that the earliest Hilbre had metal ferrules.(??)

I shot one into a terribly rotten stump... and it totally blew up! Never used them again...that was over 40 years ago.

The "Rumour" was that the plastic ferrule got brittle in cold weather. I've never shot one.

We tried them years ago on ground hogs, did not hold up well.

George,

I have used them, only animal I shot with one was a pig and it did not do well, the blade came off and the arrow bounced back to the ground with the ferrul still attached, very pissed off pig, had to shoot him again with an Ace super express. Got rid of the ones I had after that.

Danny

Picked up a few from Robin Hood Archery out of New Jersey in the late 60's. never got good flight from them, tough to get razor sharp with the bleeder and the turn off was the pointed tip.
Also found they didn't hold up real well....

I'll reserve them for whistlepigs only....no use tempting fate.

I never seen one of them heads. You folks must REALLY be old....RC

RC, I resemble that remark...  

Who let that "pup" from GA in the Sr. Center?

 :rolleyes:    

getting old sure beats the heck out of the alternative    

Trap

Dang Falk – Didn't realize they manufactured so many different heads. Are there any more not pictured? Also, how much does the "big" supers weigh?

Back in the day, I shot what I thought was the regular 4-blades, but after your post think maybe I was then shooting the 4-blade supers cause I don't remember mine being semi-barbed.

Thanx for sharing the photo.

In the sixties I admit that I lacked the talent or the knack to get a sharp edge on them.  Always liked the way they looked, but we always fell back on the old razorheads when it came time to hunt... easy to buy because most sporting goods stores carried them, and always easy to sharpen.

I'd rather be getting older than being six feet under!      :eek: