Pick my broadhead - Cape Buffalo

[H50]

I’m hunting with Wintershoek/Johnny Vivier Safaris. I’ve hunted with them a few times before and my brother has hunted with them for years-Great outfitters and guides. Johnny was awarded International PH of the year at last year’s SCI annual convention in Reno. I was supposed to hunt with them in Limpopo in August but had to postpone my trip to next summer due to a last minute work issue. Let me know what you think of my crossbow setup. Lots of information on traditional bow hunting set ups but with a 20” Ravin crossbow bolt that must be used to protect your warranty there is only 300 grains of weight. There are very few broadhead options out there above 300 grains and 600 grain total weight is too light according to Ashby and other experts. Thatbis why I jumped to the 600 grain Bishop broadhead for 900 grains of total weight. With the crossbow shooting the heavy arrow at 290 FPS I should have plenty of penetrations and potentially a total pass through. I was worried about accuracy with such a heavy broadhead but the Ravin is shooting extremely tight patterns.

I know Jerry at South Shore Archery makes custom made bolts of heavy weight but they would probably nullify your warranty with Ravin if that is a concern. Which model of Ravin are you going to use? Also what kind of practice target are you using that can handle a 600g broadhead?

 

[MSJ]

I'm shooting the Ravin R-29. I use the Rinehart block targets designed for crossbows but the broadhead eats it up fairly quickly. I purchased a tool on line to assist in getting the bolts out when buried deep in the self healing foam. It works great.

 

[mikecatt13]

I've only just started messing with heavy bows, how do the broadhead being discussed differ from the German Kinetics (not the knock offs). I shot a (meat) water buffalo around 1000 pounds recently with an 83lb elite answer, FMJ DG arrow, weight tube, and GKs (around 970 grains). Full pass through at 25 yards. Certainly not a cape buffalo but I was impressed with the first test

 

[MSJ]

I'm not familiar with the German Kinetics. I've been mainly focused on the kinetic energy, momentum, penetration, and FOC Need to cleanly kill a cape buffalo. Since I locked in to the ravin crossbow and proprietary bolt and chose not to customize a bolt, my only variable was the broadhead. To get proper penetration Ashby and others say you need an absolute minimum arrow weigh to 750 grains but most recommend more. Since my bolt only weighs 300 grains I needed a broadhead that weighed a minimum of 450 grains and I couldn't find any in that weight that met other Ashby recommendations so I went with the Bishop 600 grain broadhead which vis me total weigh to 900 grains. With the speed of the Ravin bow at 290 FPS with this set up (430 FTS with 400 grain set up) I far exceed the minimum KE, momentum, penetration, and FOC guidelines I've found for Cape Buffalo. However, this is all on paper and I was wondering f anyone had any field experience with a similar setup on a cape buffalo. I'm encouraged that the setup flies accurately and deeply penetrates my crossbow blocks. An interesting read that I have relied on heavily in addition to Ashby's essays, is a book by Jim Aken entitled, "Engineering Arrows for Enhanced Hunting Performance". It takes the physics of arrows and penetration to the layman's/readers digest level and is very informative.