Sometime ago, I was lingering around the fresh meat section at my local grocers wondering which brand of meat had the least amount of unnatural hormones in it. After a few minutes of pointless pondering, I thought to myself, "Hey, it would be really cool if I can go and harvest game in the wild." Since that time, I haven't been able to shake the idea of killing my own game for food. OK, so I live in Southern California. Not exactly the ideal setting for wanting to go primitive, but where there's will, there's a way, but before I do that, I needed the right tools for the job: bow (check), arrows (check), broadheads (snag).
In my quest to find the broadhead of choice, I went back online and researched til I was blue in the face. Mechanical or fixed, 2, 3, or 4 blades. Eventually, I found what I was looking for, Thunderheads by New Archery Products (NAP).
NAP Thunderheads
Overview
I'm not too sure of the Thunderhead history, but rumor around the campfire is that the Thunderheads have been around for alittle over two decades. Some folks poo-pooped on it's "ancient" design, but what the hell, I'm a beginner; what do I know. So I purchase a package of 6 for approximately $40 from the Bass Pro Shop.com.
When I received that package, I was surprised how deadly they looked: perfect. Handling the broadheads left me with a greater sense of deadliness. These things are extremely sharp. The broadheads came disassembled, but assembly was easy, taking only minutes to assemble all six of them. I equipped 3 of my Carbon Express Mayhem arrows with them and designated them my practice arrows.
I'm not too sure of the Thunderhead history, but rumor around the campfire is that the Thunderheads have been around for alittle over two decades. Some folks poo-pooped on it's "ancient" design, but what the hell, I'm a beginner; what do I know. So I purchase a package of 6 for approximately $40 from the Bass Pro Shop.com.
When I received that package, I was surprised how deadly they looked: perfect. Handling the broadheads left me with a greater sense of deadliness. These things are extremely sharp. The broadheads came disassembled, but assembly was easy, taking only minutes to assemble all six of them. I equipped 3 of my Carbon Express Mayhem arrows with them and designated them my practice arrows.
NAP Thunderhead profile
Performance
Days before the broadheads arrived, I made a broadhead target (referred to as BH target from now on) by stuffing an old pillow case with expanding polyurethane foam. By the time they arrived, the target was dry and ready for use.
I set up the BH target in front of my DIY Archery Target, walked back to the 20yd line and let the first broadhead arrow fly. THWACK! About 1.5" lower than my field points. Second shot, THWACK! Near the first arrow. I thought, "not too bad for a bow that has never been broadhead tuned."
I walked the 20yds to the target to retrieve my arrows low and behold, the arrows had completely penetrated my BH target and was sitting half way inside my field point target. It was hellish getting the broadhead arrows out of the DIY Archery Target. Too much penetration. Next step was to turn the BH target on it's side so that I was looking into the long, open end of the pillow case. Third shot, THWACK! Full penetration and into the field point target again. Dang, I need a new BH target.
Days before the broadheads arrived, I made a broadhead target (referred to as BH target from now on) by stuffing an old pillow case with expanding polyurethane foam. By the time they arrived, the target was dry and ready for use.
I set up the BH target in front of my DIY Archery Target, walked back to the 20yd line and let the first broadhead arrow fly. THWACK! About 1.5" lower than my field points. Second shot, THWACK! Near the first arrow. I thought, "not too bad for a bow that has never been broadhead tuned."
I walked the 20yds to the target to retrieve my arrows low and behold, the arrows had completely penetrated my BH target and was sitting half way inside my field point target. It was hellish getting the broadhead arrows out of the DIY Archery Target. Too much penetration. Next step was to turn the BH target on it's side so that I was looking into the long, open end of the pillow case. Third shot, THWACK! Full penetration and into the field point target again. Dang, I need a new BH target.
I eventually had the opportunity to go to the public range and tested my broadhead arrows there and here are the results:
20yds - 1.5 to 2" lower than field points
30yds - point of aim
40yds - point of aim
50yds - about 2" lower than field points
60yds - about 6" lower than field points
Conclusion: These are excellent broadheads. They fly straight and appear to be very good at cutting its way through a target. I do need to broadhead tune my bow to get even more performance out of the broadheads, but quite honestly, I'm not going to sweat it if I can't get them to fly exactly like my field points. My theory is that although it would be very nice if both heads flew exactly like the other, an inch or even two is acceptable at this point in my hunting experience (at this time, I have exactly zero days of bow hunting under my belt). I think the variable that's more likely to prevent me from hitting that deer or wild boar is going to be range estimation more than my broadheads being off by two inches at 50yds. A bow with 5 fiber optic dots as my sight? That's going to require a whole new set of range estimation skills, skills I have not yet developed.
Note: If anyone is familiar with range estimation with a bow sight, please drop me a link or a comment. I'd really appreciate it.
20yds - 1.5 to 2" lower than field points
30yds - point of aim
40yds - point of aim
50yds - about 2" lower than field points
60yds - about 6" lower than field points
Conclusion: These are excellent broadheads. They fly straight and appear to be very good at cutting its way through a target. I do need to broadhead tune my bow to get even more performance out of the broadheads, but quite honestly, I'm not going to sweat it if I can't get them to fly exactly like my field points. My theory is that although it would be very nice if both heads flew exactly like the other, an inch or even two is acceptable at this point in my hunting experience (at this time, I have exactly zero days of bow hunting under my belt). I think the variable that's more likely to prevent me from hitting that deer or wild boar is going to be range estimation more than my broadheads being off by two inches at 50yds. A bow with 5 fiber optic dots as my sight? That's going to require a whole new set of range estimation skills, skills I have not yet developed.
Note: If anyone is familiar with range estimation with a bow sight, please drop me a link or a comment. I'd really appreciate it.
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