I have been shooting the Bhoning Blazer for many years and the crossbow (not necessarily the shooter) is capable of same hole accuracy at 40 yards off of a monopod with the Blazers When I do my part.
The equipment:
200lb Excalibur Exocet with a Varizone scope and a factory FFF string with served in cat whiskers.
424g 20" Gold Tip Laser II arrows with a brass insert up front and an aluminum nock at the rear. Tipped with 125g field point or 125g Slick Trick broadhead.
I build my own arrows so all were fletched with a 4 degree right offset. and the weight of my arrows is 424g +/- .5 grains. I actually take the time to shave down the rear insert to achieve this weight tolerance. I have always believed that consistency is the key to archery. The feathers are lighter and came in at 412.5g for an overall finished arrow weight.
The Blazers, Xeon Fusions, and Aerovanes all came in at 6g, give or take .5g, and the feathers were 3g. The Xeon fusions had the most variance in vane weight ranging from 6.0g to 7.0g.
All shots were taken at 40 yards from a sitting position using a monopod. I have an anti-cant level on my scope to ensure that my limbs stay parallel.
Yardage was verified with a Bushnell 450 range finder.
I only shot two broadhead tipped arrows at a time at the target as I really didn't want to tear up any more arrows than necessary. All arrows were spin tested when the broadheads were put on them.
It should be noted that the directions for the Aerovanes state to fletch them with zero degree offset and no more than a maximum of 1 degree offset should be used to maintain the aerofoil effect that the vane was designed to produce. I DID NOT follow the directions and I fletched them with a 4 degrees right offset as that is what my fletching jig does. I will note that the testing for the Aerovanes was cut short as I cut one of the vanes off with a broadhead on the 3rd or 4th round. That was the consistent accuracy I was getting though and frankly I am surprised I didn't damage them sooner.
The pictures I selected for the post are representative of the groupings I saw.
These are the arrows:
From left to right: Feathers, Aerovanes, Xeon Fusions, and the Bhoning Blazers.
This is a typical picture of the field points:
There are actually 7 arrows in this picture. One of the Aerovane fletched arrows is hidden by a feather fletched arrow.
The Feathers:
The Aerovanes:
The Norway Xeon Fusions:
Conclusions:
The pictures really speak for themselves.
Shooting groups is expensive as I damaged several arrows and rear inserts during this testing. I cringe when I shoot more than one arrow at a target and listen for the crack.
No animals were harmed during this test. Hopefully that will change on the September 15th when the season opens.
Field points all shoot to the same point regardless of the fletching as far as I am concerned.
All of the different fletchings did a more than adequate job steering my arrows with the low profile Slick Trick Magnum broadhead.
I have selected a good arrow for my crossbow in terms of overall weight and FOC and any of the fletchings I tested will do the job.
Contrary to the advertising the Norway Xeon Fusions are not so bright that they can replace a lighted nock but they are definitely more visible going down range than any of the other fletchings I have shot; at least to my eyes anyway. Free samples can be obtained from Norway by going to their contact page and filling out the contact info.
Feathers are not very durable in comparison to plastic vanes but if you fletch your own arrows that really doesn't matter. The feathers by far had the best adhesion to the arrows.
All the other plastic style fletchings held up very well and I had no adhesion problems during the testing . I did notice that when I went to strip all of the arrows the Norway Xeon Fusions came off the easiest.
For all fletchings I used the Gorilla impact formula super glue.
It is fun to fling arrows.
Bob
Oh,I almost forgot, I am going to go with the feathers this year. I think that they will be more forgiving if I clip a twig on the way to the target. I will also get the added benefit of being able to say I am going trad this year with feathers and a recurve (crossbow).
Here are my arrows all dressed in their new outfits ready to meet Mr or Mrs Deer. I will be happy to provide the introduction.
