Recently having been shooting products from another vendor, and all the hype surrounding the latest in mechanical broad heads, I decided to find out for myself what all this fuss was about.
Enter Grim Reaper, the company that caught my eye over all the others due to having seen some videos of rather impressive feats being done with these heads. If you are not sure what I am referring to, go to YouTube and watch some videos of these things blowing right through 55 gallon steel drums, concrete blocks, bone, etc. If YouTube does not yield what you are looking for, you can go to their site and watch their own videos. http://www.grimreaperbroadheads.com/videos.html#
Construction, packaging and sizes:
One of my biggest complaints these days comes down to something as simple as packaging. Most companies are using techniques that make it next to impossible to remove the product without using a knife or scissors. Not these, they are shipped 3 per pack and are very easy to open. They have perforated edges on each side which can simply be bent and torn off. Each head is completely assembled and easy to remove from the package without getting yourself cut.
As for construction, all 3 heads are very well made and are arguably the best quality heads I have personally used over my 20 years of archery. The machining is top notch as is the fit and finish on each head. The blades are all razor sharp and they spin very true on the old spin tester.
All Grim Reapers feature patented MAXX EDGE SS blades - .035" super thick blades for strength necked down to .020" then sharpened for Maximum Strength and Maximum Sharpness. This unique feature gives Grim Reaper an edge on their competition.
The Razor Tip and Razor Cut come in:
75 gr MINI (1 1/8" cut), 85 gr (1 3/8" cut), 100/125 gr (1 3/8" cut), and 100/125 gr EXTRA (1 3/4" cut)
The Hades comes in:
85 gr (1 3/16" cut) and 100/125 gr (1 3/16" cut)
Operation:
Both the Razor Tip and Razor Cut operate with the same principles with the noticeable difference being the cut on impact tip on the Razor Cut versus the bone crushing Trocar Tip on the Razor Tip. At first glance the blades appear to be somewhat simple, however, a deeper look into them shows just how much engineering actually went into the design.
Both of the heads are comprised of the following parts; the arrowhead body (ferrule), the blades (3), the pivot ring, the notch ring, the spring, and the blade cup. The pivot ring passes through a small hole in each of the blades and is held in place once pushed up onto the ferrule. The blades are held in the closed position when the spring forces the notched cup into the blades. All of this happens as you screw the head onto your arrow and actually requires no additional effort or forethought.
The spring keeps tension on the blades as the arrow is released keeping them from opening prematurely in flight. Upon impact the spring then compresses allowing the blades to move out of the closed position and fully deploy. As the blades are fully opened they are held in position by a second notch on each blade and the notch ring.
While I recognize all of this sounds way too complex, I found spending a few minutes with a blade in my hand brought it all into perspective and it all just made since; giving me true appreciation to the level of engineering that they placed on delivering a very reliable head.
The Hades fixed blade is exactly what you would come to expect from a top notch head. The design is simple; the blades are removable and replaceable. The parts list is not near as complex as its brothers. The Hades is made up of: the ferrule, the blades (3) the tip, the cup, and an o-ring. The blades can be replaced by loosening the tip and sliding them up and out, literally takes seconds.
Performance:
Grim Reaper makes the claim that their heads fly like field points, and all of my testing has proven that to be very, very true. I was able, with several different bow and arrow configurations, to simply swap tips and stay right on target, with no adjustment required. These mechanical heads stayed on target as far out as I sighted in for, which was 50 yards. I have no reason to believe that these heads would not continue this behavior out to 100 yards and beyond.
As has been shown buy their own videos, and others, these heads are damn near indestructible. I shot them over and over, at many different targets, at many different angles, and never had a head break or come apart. The only thing that happened, besides the blades becoming dull from repeated impact, was that the cup would develop some wear notches on the back side from the blades banging it over and over. From time to time this would cause the blades to stick closed but was easily fixed by loosening the tip from the arrow, popping the blades out, tightening it back and shooting it again.
I can say that I have over 50 shots on these mechanical heads and they still open to this day; impressive to say the least.
The Hades, with a small amount of tuning (like most fixed blades) proved to be a reliable head and would be welcome into my quiver anytime I wanted a fixed head. For those that either cannot or do not want to shoot a mechanical, you owe it to yourself to give the Hades some consideration and let it prove itself to you.
Conclusion:
As I used these mechanical blades I learned that it is important to make sure that the gap in the pivot ring is lined up with the post on the ferrule. It is also advisable to ensure that the gap in the pivot ring does not line up with the gap on the pivot ring as this has shown to cause some “sticky” blades.
Another thing I started doing, while not necessary, was “exercising” the blades after putting them on my arrows. This simply entails manually opening and closing each blade to ensure that they have nice, fluid movement throughout their range of motion. This ensured that each blade would behave as designed and remove any doubt from my mind.
In the field, despite nearly a month of combined hunting time, I was only able to harvest a single deer with my bow. What I can say is that the Razor Tip did its job and did it well. The arrow took out both lungs and the heart and the deer went all of 40 yards before expiring. Both the entry and exit holes were impressive (see picture of exit hole).
- reaper1.JPG (23.17 KiB) Viewed 179 times
The bottom line is that these heads are nothing short of awesome. In fact, I have recently convinced most of my friends to make the jump and they too are now on the Reaper bandwagon with me.
If you are in doubt about what these heads can and will do, I challenge you to buy a 3-pack and see for yourself. If you do not keep them in your quiver, I will be more than surprised and would love to hear why.
Actual Observations:
Below are actual observations from the packs of heads I used. These are all real, unbiased numbers for each head; as listed.
Hades Fixed Blade
- hades_whole.jpg (19.39 KiB) Viewed 179 times
Specs on package (3 per pack)
• 100 grains each
• 1 3/16” cut
Observed actual specs (weighed 3 times each to ensure accurate reading)
• Head 1 – 97 grains
• Head 2 – 98 grains
• Head 3 – 97 grains
Measured cut through paper (pushed through, not shot)
• 15/16”
• A-B, A-C and B-C all measured the exact same
- hades1.JPG (11.66 KiB) Viewed 179 times
Razor Tip Expandable
- razortip_whole.jpg (16.96 KiB) Viewed 179 times
• Specs on package (3 per pack)
• 100 grains each
• 1 3/8” cut
Observed actual specs (weighed 3 times each to ensure accurate reading)
• Head 1 – 100 grains
• Head 2 – 100 grains
• Head 3 – 102 grains
Measured cut through paper (pushed through, not shot, fully deployed)
• 1 3/16”
• A-B, A-C and B-C all measured the exact same
Razor Cut Expandable
- razorcut_whole.jpg (17.15 KiB) Viewed 179 times
• Specs on package (3 per pack)
• 100 grains each
• 1 3/16” cut
Observed actual specs (weighed 3 times each to ensure accurate reading)
• Head 1 – 102 grains
• Head 2 – 100 grains
• Head 3 – 100 grains
Measured cut through paper (pushed through, not shot, fully deployed)
• 1 3/16”
• A-B, A-C and B-C all measured the exact same
