Archery Penetration Testing
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After not getting a pass through at an elk at 16 yards with a 416 grain arrow and a Grim Reaper Razortip broadhead and then getting 2 pass throughs at elk with a 630 grain arrow and 100 grain Magnus Stinger broadheads I realized there should be a correlation between broadheads and penetration. "Should" is the key word as real life doesn't always match our testing or our best guesses.
I did a lot of online research and found too much conflicting information to believe anything. So I wanted to find out if penetration in animals has any correlation to the broadhead and arrow testing that I could do at home. For the test, I used many of the same broadheads and arrows that I've used to killed animals. I took the broadhead and arrow setup and pushed it through an heavy piece of inch thick cardboard. We all know that cardboard is not the same as an animal. But it does have some of the same characteristics: Animal flesh is just constant friction and requires cutting surface to destroy. And bone has initial resistance and requires higher pressure and less surface area to puncture. The thick cardboard has some of each characteristics. Each time I orientated the broadhead blades across the grain of the cardboard. I pushed the arrows through the cardboard and measured the force that it took as well as the amount of cutting that the head did to the cardboard on the entry side. I did 3 with each arrow and averaged the 3. I expected some of the 3 results to be different but all heads had similar readings for all 3 tests. This confirmed that the testing method was consistant. I also expected that all of the cut on contact heads would require the lowest amount of force to penetrate the cardboard, but they didn't. I also expected the force to be directly proportionate to the number of blades and the width of the cut, but it wasn't. I expected the Deep 6 heads to all be lower than the standard diameter but they weren't.
On the chart you'll see the outside diameter of the arrow, the weight and type of tip, the pounds of force to push through the cardboard, the inches of cut, and the pounds of force per inch of cut. The best combos are highlighted since they require the least force to do the most damage.
Arrow Outer Diameter - Tip - Pounds for penetration - Inches of Cut - Pounds for penetration per inch of cut
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr field tip - 11.25# - 1/4" - 45#/inch
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr Muzzy Trocar - 26.8# - 1.69" - 15.9#/inch
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr NAP Big Nasty - Over 50# (the ridges on the ferrule prevented penetration)
0.30" - 100 gr field tip on Gold Tip ProHunter - 15.75# - .33" - 47.7#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Magnus Stinger 4 blade - 27.75# - 1.75" - 15.9#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Magnus Stinger 2 blade - 28# - 1.06" - 26.4#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Grim Reaper Razortip - 34.5# - 1.25" - 27.6#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Rage 2 blade - 37.5# - 1.83" - 20.5#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr NAP Spitfire - 34.3# - 1.13" - 30.4#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr G5 Tekan 2 - 35.6# - 1.81" - 19.7#/inch
0.30" - 300 gr (Actually measured 265 gr) Steelforce Phathead 2 blade - 30.5# - 1" - 30.5#/inch
0.30" - 315 gr Alaskan Bowhunting/Grizzly Stik Ashby head - 30.75# - 1.06" - 29#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Rocket Steelhead - 26# - 0.75" - 34.7#/inch
I did a lot of online research and found too much conflicting information to believe anything. So I wanted to find out if penetration in animals has any correlation to the broadhead and arrow testing that I could do at home. For the test, I used many of the same broadheads and arrows that I've used to killed animals. I took the broadhead and arrow setup and pushed it through an heavy piece of inch thick cardboard. We all know that cardboard is not the same as an animal. But it does have some of the same characteristics: Animal flesh is just constant friction and requires cutting surface to destroy. And bone has initial resistance and requires higher pressure and less surface area to puncture. The thick cardboard has some of each characteristics. Each time I orientated the broadhead blades across the grain of the cardboard. I pushed the arrows through the cardboard and measured the force that it took as well as the amount of cutting that the head did to the cardboard on the entry side. I did 3 with each arrow and averaged the 3. I expected some of the 3 results to be different but all heads had similar readings for all 3 tests. This confirmed that the testing method was consistant. I also expected that all of the cut on contact heads would require the lowest amount of force to penetrate the cardboard, but they didn't. I also expected the force to be directly proportionate to the number of blades and the width of the cut, but it wasn't. I expected the Deep 6 heads to all be lower than the standard diameter but they weren't.
On the chart you'll see the outside diameter of the arrow, the weight and type of tip, the pounds of force to push through the cardboard, the inches of cut, and the pounds of force per inch of cut. The best combos are highlighted since they require the least force to do the most damage.
Arrow Outer Diameter - Tip - Pounds for penetration - Inches of Cut - Pounds for penetration per inch of cut
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr field tip - 11.25# - 1/4" - 45#/inch
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr Muzzy Trocar - 26.8# - 1.69" - 15.9#/inch
0.236" - Deep Six 100 gr NAP Big Nasty - Over 50# (the ridges on the ferrule prevented penetration)
0.30" - 100 gr field tip on Gold Tip ProHunter - 15.75# - .33" - 47.7#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Magnus Stinger 4 blade - 27.75# - 1.75" - 15.9#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Magnus Stinger 2 blade - 28# - 1.06" - 26.4#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Grim Reaper Razortip - 34.5# - 1.25" - 27.6#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Rage 2 blade - 37.5# - 1.83" - 20.5#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr NAP Spitfire - 34.3# - 1.13" - 30.4#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr G5 Tekan 2 - 35.6# - 1.81" - 19.7#/inch
0.30" - 300 gr (Actually measured 265 gr) Steelforce Phathead 2 blade - 30.5# - 1" - 30.5#/inch
0.30" - 315 gr Alaskan Bowhunting/Grizzly Stik Ashby head - 30.75# - 1.06" - 29#/inch
0.30" - 100 gr Rocket Steelhead - 26# - 0.75" - 34.7#/inch
