Double Bevel, Single Bevel, Truth, Hype And Anything Else

[Stumpkiller]

Whatever gives YOU confidence.

[Roger Norris]

Here is my opinion based on a pretty good pile of traditional kills:

Single bevel - Excellent penetration. Easy to sharpen with a file. Terrible blood trails.

3 Blade - Good enough penetration. Great blood trails. Near impossible to get sharp enough to suit me.

Double bevel - Great penetration but sensitive to marginal tuning. Good Bloodtrail. Very easy to make scary sharp with just a file.

Sharpening, penetration, and DURABILITY are everything to me. Durability is based on the manufacturer, do your homework.....

[Ol’ Sloughfoot]

1. Arrow tune/set up
2. Broadhead SHARP
3. Broadhead style
I feel like we're all beating around this bush lol.

[Terry Green]

Zwickey Delta 4 Blades since the 80s

I have also killed the random animal here and there with Sponsors heads from time to time. WIDE 2 blades and 3 blades.

My 2000 pound plus bison was killed with a Wensel Woodsman.

Never killed anything with a single bevel.  See no need to try.

[cacciatore]

I find single bevel very easy to sharpen but not impressed by their blood trail. For wild boar my to go are the Simmons Tree Sharks.

[Radford]

Never tried the single bevel. I've always used either Zwickey Eskimo or deltas. They always shoot great. No need to fix it if it's not broken.

[Russell Southerland]

I never bought into it. Doubles for me for so many animals I had no reason to change. Most are too narrow for me.

[DanielS]

All this broadhead talk got me thinking of the unbelievable broadhead collection at Western Recreation in Poncha Springs Colorado. This is 50 or so years of broadhead design in these cases. Goes to show there are really few new ideas anymore, but I don't recall any single bevels. It is a relatively new concept.
These are all in the archery range, not the showroom.

[DanielS]

More pics

[DanielS]

An aside, Id like to try a 200 grain Annihalator Katana.

[Arctic Hunter]

Cool pics. Thats a pretty extensive collection.

[Gdpolk]

All things being equal I think it's fair to say single bevels penetrate deeper and have a larger potential to breech through heavy bone on heavy game. Ashby has already covered that.

I shoot primarily deer, feral pigs, and black bear in the Midwest. All of these animals are medium sized game animals without heavy cover, heavy bone, or thick skin. I consistently get complete pass throughs on them all as the norm. I typically shoot Grizzly single bevels for deer and some 3-blade single bevels (I forget the brand...maybe VPA?) on bear and pig so the blades can cut more and bleed more for tracking. That said the only reason I chose single bevels for these uses is because it was an option with the head I was already buying anyway. I wouldn't hesitate to put a sharp double bevel though the boiler room on ANY of these species whatsoever.

In my experience I really just want the following and I feel very, very comfortable amongst almost all N American game:
1) excellent flight and a balanced head that spins true
2) SHARP points and good shot placement
3) heavy arrow build with some weight up front
4) arrow build that doesn't fail (many of the super light broadheads curl up if they graze bones)

[D. Prewett]

A good sharp head through the vitals is all you need. I have had success with 3 blade (vpa) and single blade heads. I do tend to lean towards wide single bevel heads. A lot of people have a difficult time getting them sharp though. Light strokes until you get a burr. Once you have a burr established knick it down and they are usually ready to hunt.

[Roger Norris]

So here is a question for the group....what would the PERFECT 2 blade double bevel head look like?

Also....are fixed bleeders like the Zwickey has a positive or negative?

[Burnsie]

So here is a question for the group....what would the PERFECT 2 blade double bevel head look like?

Also....are fixed bleeders like the Zwickey has a positive or negative?

The old/original German Kinetics Silver Flame - Crazy wicked sharp, and left massive blood trails.  Come to think of it, I need to scrounge some of them out of my broadhead bin and give them another go. I too got on the single bevel bandwagon and have been using 150 grn Cutthroats the past few years. They are nice heads, but the Silver Flames I think are more lethal.

[D Durham]

Zwickey yes, for 30 years, what's the problem?

[PrimitivePete]

In my experience the single bevel heads I use retain their edge longer and remain shaving sharp edge throughout the season.

[buckeyebowhunter]

I found that shot placement is a lot more critical with a single bevel, most of them are small and as said do not leave a blood trail sometimes not at all.

I bought into the hype years ago and found out the hard way that single bevels were not for me. Apparently I'm not a good enough shot for them. I also found that they don't seem to penetrate bone any better than a double bevel.

I switched back to, and should have never switched from Snuffers. Idk how much more penetration a person needs when a snuffer is stuck in the ground after going through a deer. They leave huge blood trails and easy enough to sharpen with a file and stone. Large broadheads are definitely more forgiving on marginal shots. A little harder to tune, but in that case I just use bigger feathers. It is truly sad that snuffers are so hard to find, I wish I'd bought a lifetime supply when they were still being produced. 

[Terry Green]

RogerI've had great success since the eighties.With the zwickey delta fixed bleeder deltas. 

I passed through just about everything unless I hit the off.Shoulder or leg bone.

My dear recovery rate averages under thirty yards.Yet with pigs, it averages under forty. Those darn pigs are tough. 

[Terry Green]

Buckeye, I have firsthand knowledge that someone is going to be making a snuffer type head very soon.