GETTING READY FOR SOUTH AFRICA

[Paolo Mauritania]

Today I received the GrizzlyStick shaft test pack with the 315 gr. Asby and the 200 gr. Samurai Overkill, including the field points of the same weight for arrow tuning. Can't wait to start.

 

[jpomazi]

Very exciting. I sent you a dm.

 

[Buffalo1]

What game do you plan to hunt ? What is you anticipated equipment setup?

 

[Ravensview]

That is a good looking broadhead, looks solidly constructed, I usually shoot zwickys but that is for white tails, black bear and an occasionally an elk hunting trip.

 

[buckmarkhunter]

What an exciting time. Best of luck on your journey.

 

[Paolo Mauritania]

What game do you plan to hunt ? What is you anticipated equipment setup?

Guys Thanks to everyone for sharing the trepidation of the preparation time. From my time when I was living in Africa is going to be a major quantum leap in the size of the game [mostly warthogs, few western hartebeest, rohan antelopes and some gazelle].
I plan to get one Buffalo and a couple of plain games wildebeest and a zebra, or kudu; however having the kids in college, I would be more than happy with the buffalo only, since cape buffalo are getting expensive.
I am a traditional guy, my top tackles are: two Howard Hill LB's 65# Big Five, and 75# Legend Stick, and a Black Widow PCH-X recurve 50# for which I have ordered an extra pair of 60# limbs. My draw is 28".

I plan to take the 75# LB with a fast flight string, however when it come to arrow set-up I am in the experimentation phase; I got some good tips from Jpomazi, and I am basically looking at three different shafts: Grizzly TDM 170, 240, 320 [test pack]; the Easton FMJ Big Game 250, and the Carbon Tech Rhino 70/90. All with either the Grizzly or the Ethicsarchery outsert-insert due to my few occasions of having the insert pushed into the shaft on warthogs shoulder bone impact.

I got these two broadhead, the usual single bevel 312 gr. Ashby and 200 gr. Samurai from Grizzly; I am getting a lot of positive feedback on the 200 gr. Maasai or similar convex blades configuration when it comes to toughness and penetration. I bare shaft test them with the field point of identical weight.
I am sold on Dr. Ashby predicaments, the arrow I used in Africa were never below 600 grains with FOC around 20% and the Zwikey No Mercy (for carbon) or Howard Hill broad heads (on Port Oxford) ; however my experience is that, not using a center-cut arrow rest, dynamic spine matters if you want to get close to perfect flight, and not ending up with either a too short or too long arrow.
My arrow are always 28.5" long at the base of the insert, and my peripheral shooting instinct is working around this arrow length, I'd rather not change that drastically after all I only got one shot.
Just adding weight to the front do not solve the problem of getting close to the right dynamic spine, its a matter of testing. For center shot bows, or compounds I believe is a different matter, but I can speak only for recurves.
So far I have seen that the 312 BH does not allow much flexibility, the 200 BH with some extra weights adjustments on the insert gives me more flexibility to play with tuning the dynamic spine. The target is ~900 grains for the buffalo and 650-700 grains for the plain games; EFOC 20% >
On a note, the Grizzly Ashby 312 forged is a great BH, however I got some feedback on potential issues with the ferrule attachment braking off in some instances, and some chipping of the blade; I have been working in engineering for long time, and I do not believe both the problems are intrinsic to the BH design, but rather to the quality control on the forging, and quenching-annealing process. These needs to be right on the spot if you want to get the material properties (hardness) right, and avoid common problems associated with forging that results in structural weaknesses. Grizzly is coming back with a single concave bevel and a revised ferrule design.
I'll keep everyone posted, and if anyone have some suggestion please come forward, and thanks for the interest.