FIRST AND FOREMOST: I AM A BOTTOMLINE BELIEVER IN SHOT PLACEMENT! A SHOT WELL PLACED IN THE KILLZONE (no pun intended) with ANY BROADHEAD WILL KILL ITS TARGET! WE ALL KNOW NOT ALL SHOTS ARE PERFECT AND NOT ALL BROADHEADS PROVIDE A QUALITY BLOOD TRAIL FOR THAT IMPERFECT SHOT.
I’ve been searching for a mechanical broadhead that gives me confidence when I walk afield: larger cutting diameter, great performance, and reliability. I’ve tried ONE, before! It made me sick how much I had to “baby sit” it. Pre-deployment, dry rot o-rings/band failure, hard to replace blades, NOISY while in quiver…, ugh! Did I kill game with it? Yes, but I may have killed more!
I currently shoot a fixed blade broadhead -no moving parts, less chances for failure. With a fixed blade broadhead, the only way I will fail, IMO, is due to shooter error and lack of woodsmanship and archery skills (bow tuning, broadhead alignment, fletching, etc.) This is not a post to “educate” you on broadhead selection or tips on tuning your bow, but to give a humble opinion.
The following is my SECOND IMPRESSION on NAP’s KILLZONE broadhead – and to be honest, there will be no THIRD REVIEW – NOT ON A LIVE ANIMAL:
My “FIRST IMPRESSIONS” on KILLZONE broadhead were great. I will spare repeating myself, but quick recap: I was impressed with their options on tips – chisel OR cut-on-contact. Their potential 2” cutting diameter is enough to impress anyone. Now the other “stuff”…….
I wrote about how impressed I was with how quiet they are, no o-rings or rubber-bands. Well here is the result from me shooting the broadhead on a new Block Target. DISAPPOINTED! The broadheads out of the pack flew true with any shaft I used. The reason they ARE SO QUIET, DON’T NEED O-RINGS OR RUBBER-BANDS, AND DON’T PRE-DEPLOY EASILY? – the broadheads' blade retention/locking mechanism is too tight. Too tight for comfort. On their video, they say it leaves a special mark to show they indeed deployed. The video was very specific. Not one broadhead had “that” mark after I shot them multiple times. In addition, the 2” cutting diameter shown on the same video was not present after 12 well placed shots on my target. The actual cutting diameter going in was ½” up to 1 at best. Will it kill a deer if shot is well placed? YES IT WILL! But that’s not the point here. It did not perform as advertised – that’s the point. I will not take these broadheads to the field and test on a live animal!
The NAP’s KILLZONE left much to be desired. I hope they improve on the blade retention/locking mechanism to where it isn’t TOO tight. Mechanical, equals moving parts, equal increased chance for “murphy’s law” to play a role!! In the meantime, I will stick with my ole trusted and proven fixed broadheads. Mark, from SoleAdventure.com, did a test on the Solid Broadhead. Fixed, flew true, and performed as advertised. Sorry mechanical broadheads, IMO, because it’s 10% shooting and 90% mental, I can’t be uncomfortable, unsure, low on confidence, and worried about my broadheads when I am afield.
HuntingFreakzAdventures.com is not affiliated with NAP. This is an independent opinion/review.
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ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing. There is a dimple on one blade which keeps tendion on the blades when folded closed. What I did was take a pair of pliers and gently squeeze down the dimple until the blades opened more easily. Don't over do it...just a little. If you do over do it you can take a finishing nail and hammer and gently push the dimple out again. I have shot them through my paper tuner like this and they fully open on the paper. I had fantastic results on deer with them last year.
ReplyDeleteive never heard of chisel or cut on contact. What exactly is that?
ReplyDeleteI agree with these fella - Unluckily, i tested these on 2 live deer - both well placed shots, neither penetrated deeply enough. These tight blades take too much force to open, and it comes at a price. You can do as Greg says, and make the dimple smaller, but too much work and too risk. I cant believe there is not more data and talk on these broadheads.
ReplyDeleteHere is my issue with your theory on you thinking the broadhead is bad because it didn't open in your Block target. Take a pencil and stabbing the front of your target. It does not take much force to get the pencil to go into the target, even if it's only a half inch or an inch. Try to do the same thing with a pencil on the side of a deer and see if the pencil sticks in. You could do it, but it probably takes alot more force to stick it in. Alot more than the Block target takes.
ReplyDeleteI have used the kill zone coc for 3 years and taken several deer... won't say I'm an expert shot... but every shot has deployed blades and was well placed... full penetration... Will admit my arrow didnt pass through every time but that's fine with me....if it didn't pass through it at least poked through the other side. the blood trail is truly gruesome and I swear by them. I also love the fact that there's no fine tuning.. they fly like a field point. I was sketchy at first because of how hard they were to deploy by hand but after a field test.... I'll probably never go to anything else.
ReplyDeleteI have used the kill zone coc for 3 years and taken several deer... won't say I'm an expert shot... but every shot has deployed blades and was well placed... full penetration... Will admit my arrow didnt pass through every time but that's fine with me....if it didn't pass through it at least poked through the other side. the blood trail is truly gruesome and I swear by them. I also love the fact that there's no fine tuning.. they fly like a field point. I was sketchy at first because of how hard they were to deploy by hand but after a field test.... I'll probably never go to anything else.
ReplyDeleteNot impressed at all 😠good placed shot on deer & found the blades on the ground with hair from the deer,,, this was the first & last time I'll ever use a mechanical!!! I'll stick with my fixed blades,recovered every deer every time,,, might have well used feild tip, that's all that went into that deer that I never recovered!!!
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