Best Broadheads for 2026 — Two Years of Flight Data Broken Down

Broadheads decide the moment of truth, but most of what we hear about them is marketing and opinions. We go straight to controlled external ballistics data from the 2025 and 2026 arrow ballistic studies and translate it into choices you can actually make before season. Think real group size at 70 yards from a shooting machine, measured drag out to 60 yards, and sound testing weighted for how a whitetail deer hears.

We walk through the big findings that change how you build your arrow system: mechanical broadheads tend to be more forgiving, fixed blades demand tighter tuning and better form, and every single broadhead creates more drag than a field point. That last point matters more than most hunters admit, because it means a field point sight tape can be wrong at distance. If you’re shooting past 50 yards, a broadhead-specific sight tape stops being a “nice to have” and starts being basic due diligence.

Then we dig into the broadhead controversy around mechanical deployment testing and clear up the physics: static force tests can reveal premature deployment risk, while dynamic deployment on impact is a different problem with different forces. We turn that into buyer questions you can use on any mechanical head, regardless of brand loyalty. Along the way, we highlight standout performers like the Sever 1.5 Hybrid as a top all-around mechanical, Grim Reaper Fatal Steel for surprising accuracy, Thorn Rift 2.2 for an elite drag and accuracy combo, Evolution Jekyll for fixed blade accuracy, and Tulu as a quiet fixed blade option.

If you want a calm, data-backed way to choose a broadhead for western distance shots or tight-woods whitetails, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a hunting buddy who is still guessing, and leave a review with the broadhead you’re running this season.

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Transcript

Why Broadhead Choice Decides Hunts

Zakk Plocica 0:00

Broadheads, critical to the success of your hunt. That is what we are covering today. We're going to go through and look at the data and see what some of the top performing broadheads are for 2026. We're breaking it all down, ladies and gentlemen. So welcome back to the Archery Project. I am your host, Zach Placea. Some of you guys know I have a company called Extreme Outfitters, one of the fastest growing archery shops and suppliers in the country. If you need archery equipment, you know where to go. Hit the website, extremoutfitters.com. Use the code ArcheryProject and save on all of your purchases. Just a heads up, we just launched a brand new arrow builder. So you can custom build any of your Easton and Victory arrow shafts now. You can custom build one or as many as you need. Build them up like you like. We get them done. We have our text go through, build them out for you, ship them straight to your door. So everything you could ever need, all there, streamoutfitters.com, hit the website. But thanks for joining me, guys. We are getting close to that time of the year, right? The season is fastly approaching, and we all know broadhead selection is critical to the success of your hunt, right? A bad broadhead can really be disheartening when it comes to the moment of truth. So we're going to go through all of that today, right? I think the broadhead market is probably, in my opinion, probably one of the most opinion-driven, least data-backed categories in archery, right? There's just a lot of false claims out there. You know, the companies tell you they have the most accurate, the most aerodynamic, the most deadly broadhead there is. And uh a lot of time, it's nothing but claims. I mean, they just claim it. There's a lot of marketing that goes behind it. And, you know, it's not really, you don't get what you actually are expecting. And I think a lot of that has died over the years or is starting to with the rise of social media, right? Because anytime there's something that doesn't perform, someone puts a social media post out and it gains any kind of traction, it kills whatever product just doesn't hold up to what it says it's going to. So it's easier, I think, to find a good broadhead. And I think um there's a lot of testimonials out there on the good quality stuff. So it does make coming across a good broadhead a little bit easier. And I think the quality of the broadheads has really improved over the years, and the companies behind them are making superior products, but there's still a lot of things to consider. So we are going through, building off of the podcast that we've been the last couple of episodes, right? We've talked veins, we've talked arrows. So we're gonna go through the the two years of controlled and independent study and testing that was done on the aeroballistic side of things. Um, because they did use a bunch of broadheads in there. And then, you know, we're just gonna break it all down. I think, um, like I said, broadheads, man, it's important, and you've got to build out the system. So you need to make a really good informed decision. And that's my goal with this episode of the podcast. So the first thing we're gonna cover is gonna be the accuracy, the drag, and the noise data from the 2025 and 2026 Arabistic study. And then the second part I think you guys are gonna want to stick around for. There's some controversy going on right now in the broadhead world, right? In particular with speed broadheads and beast broadheads, Josh Bomar. Um, and this is not me, I I want to make this clear before we get into it. I'm not choosing sides. I could care less, you know, about the individuals behind it, but I think that Josh Bomar did a really good job of breaking down the engineering and the understanding of why they built the broadheads they did. And I think there's uh arguments for both sides of the table, right? Between what both of them are preaching. But I want to go through that and um kind of give you my opinion on it and my take and what I feel like I've gained from it, because looking at it objectively, I think there's some good information and some good takeaway from it that we can apply in making a good choice in broadheads. And then finally, um, we're gonna, you know, kind of close with a decision framework so you can leave this episode with a clear answer on which broadhead actually fits your hunting situation, because that is important, right? Choosing a broadhead that fits your situation, your needs, and what you're actually doing. So before we get into any of this though, um all the data in this episode is about the external ballistics. So how it flies, how much uh a broadhead slows down your arrow, how loud the the broadhead is in flight. But there's also the terminal performance side of things, right? Which we don't have true data on, but we can look at, and I'm gonna give you my take on that because you know, obviously, I run a shop, we interact with a lot of customers, and then on social media, you get to see all the feedback on what broadheads are actually performing well in the field. So we're gonna cover that as well. So let's go ahead, let's get into

How The Testing Actually Worked

Zakk Plocica 4:55

it. It's a lot. Um, I think it's important we recap a little bit too, you know, when we talk about the data that was collected for these broadheads, it's important that we understand the methodology. Again, that how it was um captured, right? The baseline is the field tip side of things, right? So accuracy for these broadheads was measured from the pneumatic shooting machine that they used in the testing. So that we know that machine eliminated all human error, all torque, any shot variances entirely, right? In 2025 and 2026. And in 2025, 12 field point, 12 arrows were shot with field points in a roughly a two-inch circle at 70 yards from a tune bow. And then in 2026, they had six arrows with the gold tip field points that averaged right around 3.77 inches. So those are the baselines that we're measuring everything against when it we talk about the accuracy side of things. Everything is compared against those. Um there were two metrics that were tracked. So there was the extreme spread, so the distance from the outermost arrow to the outermost arrow, which is, I think, pretty easy to understand, right? The outermost arrow from the outermost arrow. And then the mean radius. So the average distance from the center of the group to each individual arrow. So the mean radius is less sensitive to one outlier flyers, which makes it more statistically honest number. So when I reinforce group size in this episode, I'll use the mean radius when I can because it tells you more about the real group than the extreme spread does. Drag was measured by running each broadhead over the Garmin chronograph. So this is kind of cool too, right? So it was measured at half a yard and then again at 60 yards. So the velocity loss between those two points fed into the precision cut archery ballistic engine gives a drag coefficient for each broadhead. So the lower the drag constant means less velocity loss, less wind drift, a flatter trajectory, more energy retained downrange. And I'll tell you right now, the study confirmed that every single broadhead in both years had more drag than a field point. I don't think that's a massive surprise, but it's something that I think is overlooked quite a bit. Um, and that's every single broadhead versus field point. Every single one had more drag than a field point. You need to keep that in mind when we talk about sight tapes, right? So there is no broad head that hit the same place as your four uh field point did at long range. That's important at long range. So if you're hunting past 50 yards and you're using a field point sight tape, your sight tape may be off. It may be lying to you. So we're gonna talk about that as well as we get into things. Um, when we talk about the sound side of things with the broadheads, that again was measured by the Archery Sound Lab. Um, and it was done independently, not by James Yates or Easton. It was done by Jamie at the Sound Lab. And again, um, he has that purpose-built sound chamber that uh isolates aerosnoise from the external sounds. So it's got a 22 decibel floor, and the results were validated against outdoor measurements to within a uh half a decibel. So all the results are weighed for how a white-tailed deer hears, which is about an octave higher than what we hear. So it says that uh deer are more sensitive to higher frequencies, which I could see that. Um and they say that's the number that matters in hunting situations, which makes sense. And the the decibel scale is logramythic too. So a 10 decibel increase is roughly double the perceived loudness, not 10% louder, but it's double. All important things to remember when we talk about broadheads, broadhead

Accuracy Results That Stand Out

Zakk Plocica 8:51

selection. So let's get into the accuracy side of the data now. So starting with the category averages because they frame everything for this, right? So in 2025, field tips average roughly a two-inch group at 70 yards from the machine, which is quite impressive, right? Two inches at 70 yards, you're on to something. That's some guys, I'm sure, can do it, but the average you know, bow hunter isn't doing that. So the mechanicals averaged four inch groups. Field points two, mechanicals four. Now the fixed blades averaged six and a half to seven inches, substantially more than mechanicals and field points. So in 2026, field points, the group was a little bit more open. It was 3.77 inches, mechanical averaged 4.83 inches, and then near fixed blades averaged 10.07 inches. Now, the the fixed blade number looks scary, pretty alarming, right? Um, but it says that the precision cut archery team noted it was pulled upward by a few really loose groups, and they were explicit the average is useful for the broadhead pattern, not as a universal claim about all fixed blades. So some fixed blades in the study were competitive with average mechanicals. So the best performing fixed blades are not as far behind the best mechanicals as the average suggests. So that's why it's important to look at the data and choose the broadheads utilizing the data. That's where the data comes into play, I think. Um, but it doesn't lie, mechanicals are more forgiving across the board. You have to be more selective with your fixed blade field points, or field fixed blade field points, fixed blade broadheads. Um, so here's what the data found on specific broadheads. In 2025, the th the top three mechanicals were the Sever 2.0, the Schwacker 261, and the Thorn Rift 2.2. So Yates described them in this video as he said they were literally ripping apart veins and breaking arrows from two to three inch groups. That's that's impressive. That's what you want. So essentially they're field tip equivalents. So just they group and shoot at long ranges extremely well. And then the Beast Titanium and the Sever 1.5 hybrids were right behind them at about a three and a half inch group. So the rest of the mechanicals were roughly four to five inch uh inches. Uh, with the larger, more complex designs, the bigger ones, um, they were grouping worse. So obviously, when the broad head is a little bit more streamlined, a little bit smaller, it's gonna it's gonna group better at distance. And you can see that the severs, the 2.0, the 1.5, the Schwacker 261, and the Thorn Rift all performed very, very well when it comes to the accuracy side of things at distance. Uh the fixed blade uh standout in 2025 was the Evolution Jackal. There's been a lot of talk about that. That blade has that fixed blade has just performed very well. It produced three-inch groups from the machine twice. So it was very consistent, shot extremely well. And nothing else in the fixed blade category came close. So when we're talking about distance, fixed blade selection, you've got to be very cautious on it and really think about it. You've really got to spend time behind the bow, tuning the bow, and making sure that bow is shooting as it should be. Uh, the slick trick standard four blade and the grim reaper micro Hades were second and third at around five and a half to six inches. Um, the average fixed blade otherwise was six and a half to seven inches. Now, 2026, the biggest accuracy surprise of the entire study was the Grim Reaper Fatal Steel by Mean Radius. It grouped tighter than the gold tip field point baseline. That is crazy. So the Grim Reaper Fatal Steel, I see being a big uptick in sales and those based off of this study because it was field point accurate. That is fantastic. So I don't think anybody saw a broadhead was, you know, anticipated seeing a broadhead beat uh fill tip grouping. I mean, that's just don't anticipate that, especially at those distances. Uh the sever hybrid 2.0 was nearly identical to the field point, so good to know. Um, by extreme spread, the top four were the fatal steel, the evolution Jekyll wide, the speed titanium, and the sever hybrid 2.0. On the fixed blade side, the evolution Jekyll wide was the best by mean radius. And the iron wheel wide, which uh is used as the fixed blade control in the vein testing, uh specifically because the sides of it also performed well by mean radius in 2026. So there's some really good, when we talk about accuracy side of things, um, fixed blade broadheads to to look at. And then on speed, um it says the precision cut archery page dedicated specifically to this question is definitive. 290 feet per second versus 325 feet per second showed no systematic difference in group size or mean radius. Um a few broadheads got slightly better, faster, a few got slightly worse. Overall, though, speed is not a driver of broadhead accuracy problems. Uh, so that's eliminates the argument that you can't fly broadheads at high speeds, which you know, I had to really step back and think about that because I always, when we talk about like tuning a bow and stuff, I've always lived in that 280 to you know low to mid, 290 feet per second range with my bow. Um, just because they've always been, it seems like it's been more forgiving when we talk about tuning and consistency. But based off the study now, and we know the bows are shooting extremely fast nowadays, right? All the bows are fast, especially when you put in the high performers like the the ARC series from Matthews. They shoot fast. The Sicario, I mean, your higher poundage bows, your long draw guys, you can shoot those faster arrows. And according to this, not really suffer any accuracy issues. So you really get the best out of both worlds. You get a better trajectory of flatter flying arrow. I mean, that's a win all the way around.

Drag Data And Sight Tape Reality

Zakk Plocica 15:16

So now we're into aerodynamic drag, right? So let's look at this. So if if if we paint a picture on this, the I think the best way to really help visualize it. So let's say you're on a mule deer hunt where you know you shoot those greater distances, right? Say you've you're on a mule deer, it's let's call it 68 yards. Um, you range him at 65, right? So your range is off by three yards. If your arrow is dropping a half inch per yard at distance because of broad head drag, that ranging arrow could be the difference between a kill shot, a wounded animal, or a complete miss. So this is not hypothetical. That is what the drag costs in real hunting terms when you're looking at um when you're at distance, right? So drag is something you really need to be considered of whenever you're choosing your broadhead, especially for you guys shooting those longer distances. So the 2025 study calculated drag on 26 different points, five field tips, 11 mechanicals, and 10 fixed blades, all measured the same way on the same baseline arrow. The top five lowest drag slots were all field points. Obviously, right? A field point is gonna have less drag than a broadhead, just purely based off the design. Um, but here's where it's it kind of gets a little bit interesting, I think. The lowest drag broadhead tied for first were the Thorn Rift 2.2 and the Beast Titanium. Those had the least amount of drag. Right behind them, uh, all essentially tied for second place, were the Evolution Hyde, the Schwacker 261, and the Sever 1.5. So the Hyde was um, I think pretty surprising since it has that larger front blade that deploys on contact, but the body is streamlined enough that it outperformed a lot of the uh competition on drag. So then when we look at the fixed blade side of things, the the Magnus Stinger two blade, which is incredibly popular uh for good reasons, and the iron wheel solid 100 grain both outcompeted several mechanicals on drag. Uh the Magnus Stinger is obviously it's a little bit longer, two blade design, and the streamline profile worked well aerodynamically, uh even as a fixed blade. So the ironwheel solid said uh has no venting, no exposed blade, just a solid four-blade profile, and the construction is more aerodynamic than expected. Uh both of these are fixed blades that outperformed some of the mechanicals on drag. So good to know. There's, I mean, there's so many different factors you got to consider with broadheads. Uh, and we'll kind of go through the framework and kind of you know break it down a little bit more just so you don't become overwhelmed because again, it overwhelms me. Um, and one important thing to note about this so the drag list and the accuracy list are not the same, which is interesting to me. The thorn rift has the lowest drag and was top three in accuracy. So the thorn rift is what they said the most complete package in the study. I probably need to carry thorn rifts. Just seems like an overall good broadhead based off flight characteristics. Um, again, a the Sever 2.0 was the best grouping mechanical, but had slightly more drag than the 1.5, which is weird to me. It's you know, that's why we have data, I guess. It's just not what you would expect. Um is what it is, though. The iron wheel solid has uh low drag for a fixed blade, but it's not the uh best grouping fixed blade. So you have to know which metric matters for your specific situation. This is what's important. So if you're a western hunter, western hunter, and you're shooting those further shots, right? 60 plus yards, drag should absolutely be a priority for you. If you're a whitetail hunter hunting in the thick vegetation, close shots, let's call it within 25 or 30 yards, drag is not the priority for you. You should prioritize accuracy and terminal performance and sound, I think, right? Those are what we're looking for. To me, that makes sense at least. Maybe not to you. And like I said, this is very there's still a lot of ways you can interpret, uh, interpret this data and apply it to what you're doing. Um, and then I think this is important to reiterate and for to say again and again, and just a reminder, it's a good reminder specifically for myself, because it's not something uh I think most people take into consideration whenever they start messing with broadheads, right? Um make a broadhead-specific sight tape. The study confirmed it clearly, every broadhead had more drag than a field point. That's not surprising, but you don't really, a lot of people don't think about it. They just like, this is the sight tape that I've got, this is what I've confirmed, I'm gonna put a broadhead on here. So they all hit lower at distance. Um, if you're hunting those for this is where it really matters. If you're hunting those longer or needing to take those longer shots in hunting scenarios, 50, 60, 70, 80 yards with a field point sight tape, you may be off. You're probably gonna be off. Based off the data, you're definitely going to be off. Um, so precision cut archery has software that makes broadhead sight tapes easy. Um, and I'll link it in the the show notes for you guys to go to. Um, but we know now with this, right? If there's that much different in drag depending on the broadhead that you go with, and some of them are more than others, you need to have a sight tape specific to the broadhead that you're shooting. So if you've invested in a good site, which I know a lot of the guy, you guys that follow our podcast and watch our stuff, a lot of you guys are heavily um in archery. And if you've gone with some of these new or high-end sites, you get multiple sight tape wheels, which are nice that you can interchange um with yardage wheels that you've already confirmed on there. So you can have your arrow set up for the off-season, right? Where it's a field tip, and then you can have your sight tape wheel that you've confirmed with your broadhead and swap those out and interchange them versus have to make a lot of adjustments with your site. So that's one of the great things about the new sites that are available now, is they offer that and you can just swap your sight tapes out based off the arrow configuration that you're running. But you need to go through and you need to true the data and you need to make sure that the data is correct. I think it is very, very important that you you take the time and spend with all of your equipment. And that means shooting your broadhead that you're gonna use and confirming that it is flying true, especially at the distance if you're gonna be shooting those longer shots. You just need to understand what. What the the arrow and broadheads are doing in flight and the flight characteristics of it. And you can read all the data in the world that you ever wanted, but to really see it and put eyes on it and have it perform for you is a whole nother thing. And that's what builds confidence with you and your equipment. So spend the time with it. I think it's worth sacrificing a broadhead when it comes to getting ready for the season because we know even if you use those ballistic matchpoint, like kind of broadheads, right? They're supposed to match the broadhead you're shooting. They're still not true. So the drag is still going to be different. And if it's different, it can impact your sight tape. So I personally think it's worth going and sacrificing one broadhead, shooting it, testing it, and making sure that it is performing as it should. The great thing about the Severs is you can lock the blades. That is one of the cool features I really like about them. I really wish I could sell Severs in my store. Like I know they would do extremely well. It's a fantastic broadhead, along with all the other broadheads, but Severs got some really unique things that they offer, and one being the locking blade, so you can use it as a use it to practice with prior to taking it out. So make sure you have and you have confirmed your sight tape with your broadheads. The drag testing that they did confirms that any, no matter the broadhead, doesn't matter the broadhead, there is more drag on it than a field point. Therefore, it's going to impact the flight and the trajectory of your arrow the further the distance. Keep it in mind. Take the time out, confirm your sight tape with your broadhead. Okay.

The Mechanical Deployment Physics Debate

Zakk Plocica 23:26

The controversy side of things right now, right? And it's it's not so much, man. I mean, it it is what it is. I'm looking at this objectively. And like I said, it whether you like, dislike these brand new manufacturers, the people involved in them, it doesn't matter. We're looking at this subject objectively. Um, I think there were some valid points brought up in a lot of education um that the video that Josh Bomar just put out provided on things to consider when it we talk about the deployment of a mechanical broadhead. So the controversy, it is what it is, man. Um, I'm not I'm not a controversial guy, right? I don't feed into these things. I could care less. I'm not gonna be someone that's gonna hop in here and and and stir the pot just for visibility clicks and any of that. But whenever I see something, I think you can take information from it and use it constructively in order to make better decisions. I'm gonna talk about it. And that's what we're gonna do with this. And um, like I said, I think he did a really good job with the video. I watched it a couple times and try to take some notes on it, and what he said made a lot of sense. Um I think it is important that we understand the physics behind the argument, argument, right? And I think when we understand it, it's going to help, it's gonna help me and it should help you evaluate every mechanical broadhead you ever buy moving forward. So that's what we're gonna do. That's what we're gonna talk about. So the we're talking about specifically with mechanicals, the deployment force. Speed has put out some videos. I think painting some broadheads are not a good light. Josh Bomar saw he wanted to address that. Um, so when you when we talk about it, there are people in the broadhead world testing how much force it takes to deploy a mechanical broadhead by simply pushing it uh against a force gauge in a static position. So basically holding it in your hand and pushing it closed against a scale or pushing it against a scale. And then there are other people, Josh, Beast, and those guys, who are saying that the test is completely irrelevant to how broadheads actually perform in a hunting situation. So I think both sides are making make real arguments and both should be taken into consideration. And to evaluate those arguments, you need to understand. I needed to understand the difference between the static mechanics and the static mechanics and the the, as I choke over my words, dynamic mechanics of mechanical broadhead deployment. So the static mechanics measure force on an object at rest. No acceleration, there's no momentum, no inertia. It's just a steady force that is applied to a stationary object. Dynamic mechanics, on the other hand, measure the forces of an object in motion. So where acceleration, momentum, inertia, and impact forces all interact simultaneously. These are two different branches of physics and they produce completely different results on the same object. So now, which one applies to broadheads traveling at 280, 290, 300 plus feet per second and impacting an animal? Dynamic. It's always going to be dynamic, right? To help understand this a little bit. At least I think. Maybe I'm wrong here, but I thought I thought this was a very good explanation and demonstration. So he used his truck, right? So if you accelerate forward with the doors open, the door swings shut. The door's inertia wants to stay behind as the truck moves forward. Now, if you slam on the brakes from any kind of speed, the door swing open. Why? Because the truck stopped, but the door's momentum kept it moving forward. The door didn't change, the hinges didn't change, only the dynamic force acting on the system changed. That's what he was trying to show and display. And I think he did a good job with it. So a mechanical broadhead works pretty much the same way, right? So the instant it impacts an animal, the feral, the main body of the broadhead, decelerates incredibly fast, right? That's what it does. It impacts something, it has to slow down. So, but the blades still have momentum from flying whatever speed you're shooting, right? These compound bows shooting 280, 290 feet per second, they the blades still have momentum. So that inertia combined with the blade geometry engineered into the design drives the blades to the open position. So that is dynamic deployment. I hope I explained that well. And the forces involved are completely different from what a force gauge measures when you push it against a scale with your hand. So now I think here's the important nuance about that. And this is where both sides of the argument, I think, have valid points. A broadhead that requires almost no force to deploy statically means you can almost breathe on it and it opens. That's a real problem as a bow hunter, right? Premature deployment does not end well. If you're putting it in your quiver, if you're knocking around and the broadhead just deploys, it's a safety hazard, it's a flight hazard. It is never going to do what you need it to. As soon as the broadhead deploys prematurely in flight, you know that arrow's gonna just do something crazy and wonky and you're gonna end up with a wounded animal or a completely missed animal. It's just not good. Anything that can deploy a broadhead too easily is a problem. And I see that's why some people have a fear of mechanical broadheads, right? Failure to deploy, premature deployment. There's more variables, more factors, more moving parts. But with the design of a lot of these new broadheads, you don't really have that if you're buying a quality broadhead, which I which we know you can vet now based off all the testimonials and all the the social media and stuff that's out there from not the manufacturers themselves, but the end users who are posting the content. So there's that. We do not want it to deploy too easy. That's a trill problem. So from there, on the other side, a broadhead engineer to require almost no dynamic force on impact, one where the physics of deceleration and inertia do most of the work, can deploy reliably even at lower aero speeds or on shots that don't hit perfectly, right? So that's a genuine engineering advantage. The best mechanical broadhead design solves both of those problems, right? It doesn't deploy too easily when at rest, and it deploys easy enough whenever you shoot it into an animal. Uh so it resists those accidental static deployments, like I said, and it takes real force to open it with your thumb while requiring minimal dynamic force to open it on impact. These are two completely different engineering problems with two different solutions. They can be designed for independently. And according to um what Josh said, how he went into his explanation of the engineering behind their the Beast Broadhead, and he did, and then he went through, if you haven't seen the video, he did a really good job on it, like I said a hundred times, but he did some tests. I mean, and it was it was legitimate, man. I mean, the way it deployed dynamically versus statically was was impressive. And he did an excellent job of explaining it, and the tests he showed, I think kind of validated that. Um, so what this means whenever you're choosing a mechanical broadhead, a static force gauge test tells you something real about the accidental deployment risks, and then the dynamic deployment reliability tells you something real about whether the head will open when it counts on an animal when you're on a hunt, um, and the different angles that you encounter that you're shooting. So you need both pieces of information, I think. And uh a smart buyer doesn't dismiss either one of those arguments. I think they're both valid. You just have to look at them objectively, both of them. They both mean something. That's what that's my thoughts on it. That was my takeaway from the controversy that they're kind of going back and forth with. But I thought it was a really good learning point and it kind of opened my eyes and made me think about things. And some of it you we already know, but it was good to to look at it, understand the engineering that goes into some of these, the testing and why the testing is important and how we can apply it to our decision framework when it comes to broadhead selections, in particular mechanicals. So that's that's that, right? And the questions worth asking when you evaluate a mechanical broadhead, I think, are going to be these right here. Does it have a track record of deploying on contact with, you know, whatever it is, crazy angles whenever it hits an animal? And does it deploy reliably at specific aero speeds because lower speeds mean less dynamic force? So, and what, and then the other thing you can look at is what do real hunters have to uh say about it and what's their experience, what if they reported using it? So look at those different things. And like I said now, the great thing about social media is we can look at and see all of the testimonials and real users' experience, not just from the manufacturer, because of course the manufacturer is gonna claim they have the best, but real end users, real independent testing, and uh help make decisions. I mean, if you watch any YouTube videos or you watch any social media, especially as we get closer to the season, there's gonna be a ton of dudes killing stuff and showing the broadheads and stuff that they've used. And much believe it or not, majority of them are not paid. So I think uh both sides of this particular debate are they they both make real engineering points about the trade-offs of both. And um now you have the physics to evaluate those arguments yourself, and that's exactly where you should be as a hunter making a decision that matters, right? Know the information, understand it, and be able to apply it. So I'm curious your guys' thoughts on that whole situation and that controversy going on. Um, what are your thoughts on it as far as what's important to you? Did you take anything away from it? Drop some comments and let me know. Um, I'm I am very curious because, like I said, it was very informative, at least for me. And uh, you know, I constantly feel like I'm learning from all sorts of different people, constantly a student of the game, and I enjoy listening to other people, taking the information and then applying it myself. And um, you know, maybe some of it's valid, maybe some of it's not. The best way to know is to honestly test it yourself. So I'm taking away some of that information and taking into consideration with my broadhead selection.

Broadhead Noise And Deer Hearing

Zakk Plocica 34:14

So from there, let's move into the sound. I think this is important too. Um there's the testing with the sound, I think was important for a lot of bow hunters, right? And again, it's opinion-based. I've already seen the comments about between the bow and the arrow, which which is more important, and uh me thinking about it. I think both matter, right? The sound of the bow and the arrow. But if I had to prioritize one, I would probably prioritize the sound of the arrow. Right? Because it makes a continuous noise towards the animal. When the animal has a noise coming at them, they identify it as a threat. Therefore, they duck, they move, they get out of the way. That's their goal, right? Don't get shot, don't get eaten. So I would prioritize the sound of the arrow over the sound of the bow. Obviously, the best win to the best case scenario is you prioritize both of them, and they're both quiet. Um, but my first thought is arrow. So the 2026 study tested uh all of this, and the spread from the quietest broadhead to the loudest was about 15 decibels, which on a logarithmic scale is roughly three times as loud. So that's the difference between an arrow that comes in quiet and one that is screaming as it's coming in at a deer at 25 yards, which gives the deer a real opportunity to get out of the way. So the quietest broadheads were the streamlined fixed blades and several mechanicals that I think caught some of the guys off guard. I, you know, I figured the the mechanicals all would be a good bit louder, but apparently not. So the Fev, the Sever family as a whole, the 1.5, 1.5 hybrid 2.0, were among the quietest broadheads tested. So Sever's really doing a good job. I wish Sever paid me, by the way. And I wish I could carry them in their shop because we rant and rave about them, just how well they perform. But they do, man. I mean, it's hard to deny. Like I said, I don't get there's this podcast, is is just me talking about things I read, see, and things that I've tested. I don't care what you buy. I'm just giving you my information. So don't take this as I'm trying to sell you a broadhead. Not doing that at all, man. I don't care what broadhead you buy. But I mean, the data backs it that the Sever family is fantastic. Um, and uh there's some of the quietest broadheads tested and close to the quietest fixed blades. Um, the Beast Titanium and the Evolution Fury uh were also in the quietest tier. Um, so they all share a similar design. It's streamlined, minimal exposed surface area, no venting, no cavities. That's what a quiet broadhead looks like. So whenever you're making a broadhead decision and quiet and sound is important to you, consider those things. The actual streamlined design, um, there's no vents, no cavities in order to make additional noise. On the loud end, though, I think obviously anything vented, any of your vented fixed blades were gonna be the loudest. I mean, if you've ever shot a vented fixed blade, I always question like why you would want something vented personally, and I know people shoot them in with a lot of success, but they're just loud. Um, if you ever shoot one, you you know. Uh, and then mechanicals with large exposed blades or internal cavities were louder than average. The slick trick standard four blade was loud enough that in the the combo noise testing, the vein choice barely moved the needle when it was on the arrow. So even the quieter veins, the thing was still loud. Um, the combo noise test is the most important finding in the sound selection. So this is important. So after the 2025 study, people pushed back and said the vein noise doesn't matter once you add a broadhead. The broadhead dominates. Yates formally tested it in 2026 by crossing the quietest and loudest veins with the quiet and loudest broadheads. Um, what the precision cut archery website actually shows is the flex fletch 360 stayed quieter than the SK2 across every broadhead pairing. And the FFP360 with the Tulu, a quiet fixed blade. So the Tulu, if you're looking for something that's quiet, the Tulu is um one of the quietest fixed blades, was one of the most quietest total arrow packages in the test. The SK2 with just a fill point was already louder than the FFP360 with the slick trick on it. So, what is the lesson from this? What do we learn? Both halves of the system matter. You have to take both into consideration. It's a system, and you've got to engineer the system to work together. So if you have something loud up front and something quiet in the back, it's still gonna be loud. If you have something quiet in the front and loud in the back, it's still gonna be loud. Both need to be quiet if that's what you're prioritizing, as I think most people should. It should be somewhere in their priority list. Um you can't do one without the other. All

A Simple Framework To Choose

Zakk Plocica 39:16

right. So now we've got all of our accuracy data. We've got our our drag data, we've got our deployment physics and the noise data. Let's pull this into a framework we can actually use. A lot of people are still not happy with this. It's hard to deny. A mechanical is hard to argue with on the flight data, right? Better average accuracy, quieter options, more forgiving on your vein uh vein choice. It just makes sense for a lot of people. Now, especially newer people in the game who don't understand how important tuning is, how to broadhead tune a bow, how to make sure their bow is tuned correctly, and who have poor fundamentals and poor shooting technique, right? Because if you have any of those, you're fighting against yourself when you throw a fixed blade on there that is already difficult to get to fly consistent accurate out to distance. So you need to keep that in mind. If you if you're somebody that's in this sport and you've done it for a while and you understand all of this thing, you can really get away with a lot. If your shooting technique is good, you perform under pressure, you can run a bigger fixed blade with a smaller vein because you know your capability. You don't crumble under pressure. A lot of people are not like that, especially your everyday bow hunter. For a lot of people, it's gonna make sense to go with a reliable mechanical broadhead. It's just gonna save them a lot of headache and they can just focus on shooting the bow and slowly getting better. And when they decide they need to move into something with more penetration, maybe because of where they're hunting or what they're hunting, they can do that once they get further in the game. But I think for a lot of people, it's hard to deny just what a mechanical brings to the game. But also, I understand if you've ever been burned by a mechanical broadhead, if it ever didn't deploy, um, if you just didn't get the penetration you wanted, whatever it is, fixed blade makes sense. I mean, there's still a lot of fixed blade purists out there, and a lot of my buddies only shoot fixed blades, and these guys, but but they understand everything that goes into it. They understand how critical vein selection is in order to steer that that um that broadhead. They understand the tuning side, they understand how to broadhead tune, and it just makes sense for them. So, which one should you go with? You need to consider those key things. That's the first question. Mechanical or fixed blade, you need to consider your shooting capability, your tuning capability, your understanding of you know, your ability within a high-stakes scenario or high pressure situation that you're not going to fall apart. You need to be, and then you need to look at the distance that you're shooting as well. Um, and make a decision that way. So, again, I will go on record to say most people should shoot a mechanical broadhead. Don't crucify me for it, guys. If you're a fixed blade guy, I get it, but not everybody is or needs to be. Question two, what is your priority? Right? Is it accuracy, drag, or noise? So if you're a Western hunter and you're shooting those longer distances, 40, 60, 80 yards, drag should be your one of your top priorities. So, with that, some great options. I'd be looking at probably the Thorn Rift 2.2 from the 2025 study. It had the lowest drag of any broadhead tested and top three in accuracy. Or the Sever 1.5 or the Grim Reaper Fatal Steel. If you're somebody hunting out west, you want to remember drag is important. You need to have a sight tape that goes along with that broadhead, but you want to um prioritize drag. And those broadheads right there, they had the least amount of drag and were fairly accurate and you know, top performers in both. But if you're somebody that's a whitetail hunter, you're in that higher, thicker vegetation, your shots are fairly close, 25, 30, 35 yards uh on pressured white tail. If you're here in the East Coast hunting in North Carolina, I think drag should not, it really doesn't matter, right? I think noise is the priority at that point. So you want to engineer something that is going to be extremely quiet. And I think to me that makes sense, right? You're that close, it's that quiet in the woods, your shots are that close. Drag, I mean, your trajectory within that yardage, it it's not, it's nothing crazy. Um, so I'd probably build something personally. That's what I do majority of my hunting with, or my hunting style that I've had the opportunity to do is I would personally look for something like a sever, 175, 2.0, maybe the hybrid option. Um And I would run an AE max stealth. That's that's what I'm running, guys. So 175 or a 2.0. That's what I will be running with an AE max stealth on the back of it. Um and just so you guys know, it's gonna be so Sever came out with a new broadhead. Um, it's the it they no longer have the collars on it. And I've got them and I've totally forgot the name of them. It's but it's it does, it's got a magnet retain the blade, so you don't have to worry about a a collar or an O-ring on it anymore, which is kind of cool. So that's what I'm gonna be using this year. Um, if you're a fixed blade purist guy, that's what you shoot. Fixed blade is like through and through for you, uh, and you want the the best flying head that the data supports, the evolution jackal uh and the jackal wide uh from 2025 and 2026 are great options. And then finally, question three does the broadhead fit your specific hunting situation? I think this is the this is the the question that the study can't really answer for you. Uh I mean it the study tells you how broadheads fly, it doesn't tell you how they perform on, you know, a quartering away elk at 40 yards with, you know, a crazy tough shot angle. Um your experience, other hunters' experiences on the animals that you're hunting, and then the terminal performance data from independent sources, I think that fills in the rest. That's what you've got to look at, right? Your experiences, others' experiences, and that's gonna help you decide based off your hunting scenario or situation. I mean, a lot of it, I think you can based off the data, these these are good performing broadheads, and we we know most of these broadheads are backed. Um, there's plenty of user um data out there that that backs how well these perform. If you just go look at a couple different videos or on social media. Um, but that's critical too, right? We gotta we gotta think about all aspects of it. How does it fly to get there? And then what happens when it hits the animal that you're shooting? Those both of those pieces matter. And um obviously the testing that was done on these was just the actual flight characteristics, not the what happens when they impact. But there's plenty of data out there that you can reference and you can talk to plenty of people. A great way to, you know, get other people's experiences is going into your local bo shop if you have the ability to and sitting at the counter and talking to guys there. Um hopefully the techs that are there aren't trying to sell you on one thing, they're selling you on, you know, they're just providing good data, you know, which is the goal with this. And then, you know, use the information that you've got and apply it to your build, what's going to work best for you based off your scenario, your your capability. Um I think that's the best approach on this. So there's some really great options this year, guys. I think some other good things that we've seen, like especially for like whitetail hunting, you know, obviously the ones that were in these reports, but the G5 Mega Meets were fit have performed exceptionally well for a whole lot of people. Um, the deadmeats, which is the one and a half inch cutting diameter, have done really, really well. We've seen the Grim Reaper White Tail Specials, that front deploying uh broadhead, just devastating. I can confirm it flies very well within you know 40 or 50 yards, as long as your bow is tuned. Um, so there's a lot of really great options out there. But these is the information that you can you can critically look at and apply to your situation. And I would encourage you to do that whenever you make your decision on your broadhead selection this year, right? What broadhead are you shooting? Then you need to pair your veins with your broadhead. Remember that. You got to build the system and you need to consider those things and then the shaft that you're gonna be shooting. All important. Think about it logically. And then whenever whatever you decide to go with, whatever you build, take it out in the field, take it out at your house, and confirm it shoots as it should. Confirm your bows tuned, confirm that your sight tape is good, confirm that the broadhead flies as it should and it deploys and it opens like it should. All critical things. So, two years confirmed, best all around mechanical sever 1.5 hybrid. Two years in a row. Quiet, accurate, it dominated both speeds. The speeds were 290 and then 325 plus feet per second. The best accuracy by mean radius was the Grim Reaper Fatal Steel. It beat the field tip baseline, and then the best combined drag and accuracy was a Thorn Rift 2.2, lowest drag, top three accuracy in the most complete package. The study found. The best fixed blade accuracy was the Evolution Jekyll, and then the Jekyll wide, and then the quietest fixed blade option was the Tulu. So there you go. Those are some really great options. Obviously, there's other ones out there. If you're gonna go with them, just do your own testing, do your research, do your um do the legwork in order to make sure it's gonna work for you, your scenario, your capability, and the species that you are hunting. So, three things I want you

Best Picks Plus Three Takeaways

Zakk Plocica 49:09

to take away. I'm gonna wrap this thing up, right? One, the best flying broadhead is not automatically the best hunting broadhead. External ballistics is one piece of this. Like I've said, the terminal performance is another. Know the difference and use both when you make a decision. Two, both your vein and your broadhead contribute to how loud your arrow is in flight. If you're building for a quiet system, you have to engineer the entire system. That's both halves. And then three, make a broadhead sight tape if you're hunting past 50 yards. The study confirmed there is no broadhead that hits with field points at long range. Guys, shoot long range, confirm your sight tape, have a sight tape specific for your broadhead if you're shooting those longer distances. Just makes sense. Do your due diligence so that you do not have a bad season based off a piece of equipment or equipment failure.

Tools Links And Gear Discounts

Zakk Plocica 50:09

Your equipment in and out, test it, confirm it, make sure it works. So go to Precision Archery Cut or Precision Cut Archery Excuse me.com. Um tons of data there. You can build your sight tapes there. It's great. The bad, the the broadhead accuracy and noise plots are there. The interact they're interactive, they're free. Uh, you can click on any of the dots to see the actual photos of the error groups that produce that data downrange. And it so it makes everything we've talked about today visual and real. So there you have questions on it, you can go there, click it, check it out. Um, lots of great information on it. Like I said, guys, take your time with it. Um, broadhead selection is important. It's important you pair your broadhead with your veins, right? You got to build a system. You need to make sure that you've got enough vein on the back of that arrow to steer the broadhead that you are choosing. So, you fixed blade guys, you need a little bit more lift, which is gonna have a little bit more drag in order to steer that. If you're a mechanical guy, you can get away with a little bit less lift, which has a little bit less drag. Um, but you need to be realistic with your shooting capability and what your capability is performing under pressure on the on your hunt, on the hunt of a lifetime, lifetime at weird, crazy angles. You know, if you're somebody that just doesn't always have it all together, you know, go with a little bit of vein on the bit on the back of that thing in order to correct that arrow, lift that arrow a little bit faster so that your shot is not impacted nearly as negatively as it could be. And when it comes to broadheads, I gave you guys the works, man. There's a lot of great ones out there, a lot of ones that are tested and true. If you got questions on them, you can always hit us up here at Extreme Outfitters. My guys would be more than happy to help you out, answer any questions. Go to your local bow shop, talk with the text there, talk with the customers that come in, get their experiences, what worked well for them, and then test it yourself, right? Confirm your the information, confirm the data, test your bow, make sure your bow is tuned, and then take the broadhead out, test it down range, make sure it's performing as it should. That's it, guys. That's another episode of the Archery Project. If you never, if you need anything, head over to the website, extremoutfitters.com, use the code ArcheryProject, save you some money, get you some new broadheads. Don't forget we got a brand new custom arrow builder. You can custom build any arrow that we sell, any of the shafts. You can do one at a time, or you can build full dozens, 18, it doesn't matter. You can build as many as you want, custom build them out like you like, choose the knocks, choose the wrap, choose the vein, vein configuration. We can do it for you. We'll build it, we'll ship it out to you. As always, appreciate you guys following along. We will see you guys in the next episode of the Archery Project.