Dr Ashby style + micro 355 = serious deer medicine

[blue360cuda]

New member but I've been hunting with my old Exocet 200 with rage 2 blades for 6 years now. Amazing bow, decided to upgrade this year and couldn't be happier: Micro 355
So last year had a bad hit on a nice buck, banged right into the shoulder and it stopped the rage 2 blade like a wall. Was really bummed out, have been bow hunting for 20 years now (wow has it been that long?!?) and this was my first deer ever not recovered, although I believe hes still alive. And that's with shooting a buck or 2 plus a doe every year (we don't buy meat here lol)

Anyways, I decided to do away with the mechanical heads and try something new that would maximize penetration especially with bone hits.Read and watched all the Ed Ashby articles and figured why not, should be able to apply it to crossbows.

Reading what other people have done here and there Ive heard mixed reviews about heavy 2 blade heads on crossbows so figured Id have to try it for myself and see. The set up I came with right out the gate seems to be working pretty awesome so far. Have a Grizzly 185 grain single bevel 2 blade up front with stainless 100 grain adapters from Tuff head. Called up southshore archery for some arrows and went with the double walled Spinal Tapps, 15.5 inches long with Sk-300 flex fletch fletching and 125 grain brass inserts. Finally got all my stuff here and got to shoot this past weekend. All I can say is WOW . . . I cant believe the penetration and how well these big honkin' 2 blades fly!

So total weight for the arrow/head is 636 grains. With 33% FOC. These things blow through my crossbow block like its nothing. Can't wait to try on a nice buck this fal . . . Pic below has 3 shots into same ragged hole at 30 yards.

I'm guessing (no chrono here) the rig is shooting around 300fps. Zeroed at 20 yards I'm 1 1/2 high at 10 and it drops 6 inches at 30 and about a 16 inch drop at 40. But no joke, these things are ACCURATE! Shoot same holes as my field tips (190g brass with 100g adapter). Plan to stick with my usual 35yd max so shouldn't have a problem.

Apologies for the long winded post, just wanted to share my experience and hope everything works as well in the woods.

285g Grizzly . . . big nasty bugger

15.5 inch Spinal Tapp from Southshore Archery

Holy penetration batman


3 shots at 30 yds

[vixenmaster]

Yes sir wid the spearhead on the front yer in bidness

[Carnivorous]

Wow... I like it. I thought my 425gr arrows were heavy... lol

Good luck this season and post some pics on how they perform on deer..

[Big Pard]

Very nice.

[sproulman]

[blue360cuda]

Thanks everyone! Should be interesting to see what happens in the woods this fall. Only 3 more weeks to go here in Michigan!

[Hunt it]

Blue,
Nice arrows, Dr. Ed is a friend of mine, he would approve of your broadheads. How come you did not go with Tuff Heads? I did a bunch of testing for Joe on the Tuffheads when he was designing them. I've just sharpened up a bunch of his 300gr heads with 125 stainless inserts so 425 up front for my longbow - moose hunt in 2 weeks. I've played a bunch with the big 2 blades out of my 380, used Stos, Silver Flames and Tuffheads. I got nice groups like yours out to 30 but beyond that they spread out a little too much for my liking. Up close there is not much your rig won't go through.

Have you got enough helical on there to impart the spin desired? You don't want straight fletch or offset with the single bevel. Your picture looks like straight fletch? The single bevel in theory will only do the job it is intended to if it has good rotation. The helical twist of fletch must match the bevel grind for optimum rotation. So left helical for left grind. With enough spin the single bevel really does as designed and splits heavy bone. If not using helical fletch the single bevel is not what you want, you need double bevel with straight fletch.

I did all of my testing on bison knee joints and a 900+ gr arrow out of 85# longbow. Let's just say I ruined a lot of broadheads. One of the best tested heads and cheapest ones as well where the Stos - under $40.00 for 6 they are a real deal and hold up to anything you shoot them at.

[longbow joe]

That thing will go thru anything .I had a lot of penetration using grizzley heads out of my longbow with great flight but the down side to the 2 blade is i wasnt getting near the blood trail as the four blade simmons shark or full size snuffer were i live in southeast pa is very jungle like and i need the biggest blood trail possible i found it better for me just to choose a perfect shot and use something thats gonna lay down a red road.Choosing a broadhead has a lot of variables i flip plopped a dozen times over the years with the penitration wide cut never ending dilema. Lol . Good luck that thing looks tough.

[amythntr]

....... Hey Cuda Blue...man I did me a 360 when I saw the slicing/dicing edge on that Broad (and I mean Broad) head....One good thing about that edge....if you decide that you want to go with something different you could affix a handle to it and you would have something to cut a nice rib-eye steak with!

Anthony

[paulaboutform]

Wow! That's some battle axe you're lobbing down range. Your speed is probably closer to 250fps...on the high side if you're actually getting the rated 355fps from your bow. I'd be curious to hear what your accuracy is like beyond the 30yards tested and what your accuracy would be like with some extreme helical.

Paul

[blue360cuda]

Haha ya it does look a little more like a battle ax than my rage or muzzy heads lol

I have a magnetospeed chrono (awesome btw for rifles) but no chrono on hand for bow. I can tell its flying slower than my old Exocet but not much really. And I've now shot out to 45 yds and accuracy is excellent. At the longer range I get a better , albeit spit second , look at the arrow flight and they're flying , well straight as an arrow. The owner of south shore recommended a right offset for fletch so that's what I went with He said they had problems with helical fletch and clearance in the rail slot So far so good.

The big heavy arrows do quiet it down a lot! I have the REDS system and also installed air brakes Put a set of beaver balls on the strings but ended taking them off in favor of FPS.

Oh and the reason I went with grizzly heads instead of tuff head was they were a little shorter. I wanted to be sure the head didn't stick out further than the foot stirrup

[amythntr]

Hey Blue360Cuda....why not complete your registration so we know where ya based out of....

Anthony

[xcaliber]

Looks like a sweet setup, good luck this fall neighbor!

[blue360cuda]

I read it was about 5 grains per FPS. So at 355 fps with 350 grains that puts me at 56 fps slower with 636 grains.

Also I was under the impression it was the single bevel blade that caused twisting in meat not the arrow twisting

[vixenmaster]

I read it was about 5 grains per FPS. So at 355 fps with 350 grains that puts me at 56 fps slower with 636 grains.

Also I was under the impression it was the single bevel blade that caused twisting in meat not the arrow twisting

That gr per foot ratin was on Exo series. Its every 3gr is a foot loss now so yer around 260 fps area