VPA 125 gr. 2-Blade Vented

[Buffalo1]

This BH has the nickname of "The Penetrator" because it penetrates so well. It is a very well constructed head that should break bones and penetrate very well. I would be using this BH with a 50# Elite Ritual. Arrow is Easton Axis 27" Does anyone have first hand experience or knowledge of this BH? I am interested in accuracy & blood trail information?

 

[Lee M]

This BH has the nickname of "The Penetrator" because it penetrates so well. It is a very well constructed head that should break bones and penetrate very well. I would be using this BH with a 50# Elite Ritual. Arrow is Easton Axis 27" Does anyone have first hand experience or knowledge of this BH? I am interested in accuracy & blood trail information?

I’ve used the VPA 3 blade 150 grain non-vented for 8 years. Tough as nails and you just resharpen between uses. I’ve taken quite a few plains game and deer with them with impressive results. Accuracy was great, full penetration always. Also never had any real difference in flight from field points. I did try some heavy 200-300 grain 2 blade solid VPA’s in a heavy arrow combo in 2016 but didn’t get a shot at the giraffe i was looking for. VPA’s are all a solid chunk of steel so i can’t imagine any issues. At 50 lbs a sharp 2 blade is a good choice for penetration.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

You should PM John Lusk (@Bowhuntr64 ), our resident expert here on AH, and ask him if he has tested this broadhead. If he hasn't, you can probably send him a 3 pack and he'll run them through his extensive testing process.

 

[Buffalo1]

375 Ruger Fan,

I know the broadhead is tough- John Lusk test not needed in this situation.

My concern is will this broadhead cause good bleeding for blood trailing ?

I have killed hogs and warthogs with this BH and had blood trails. Have killed kudus with no blood trail. I am somewhat bumfuzzled about this BH and blood trails. Am trying to reach out to see what experience other bowhunters have had with this BH. Tks

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Buffalo1 perhaps you are hitting the kudu in the wrong spot. Or your 50# bow, 27 inch with a 125 gr BH is a bit undersized for kudu. I've hit elk with a 70# draw weight, 29 inch and 125 gr G5 Montecs and not achieved a pass through. I am moving up to 200 gr BH (testing VPA 2 blade, single bevel vs Ironwill ).

The tests @Bowhuntr64 run are more than just how tough is the broadhead. Your stated concern is good bleeding and blood trail. What is needed to have a positive impact on these? Penetration (a pass through shot certainly helps), so sharpness and edge retention is important. What the wound channel looks like. A single bevel cuts differently than a double bevel, see photo below from one of John's test videos.

I looked at the Lusk Archery Youtube channel listings and didn't see your BH.

 

[BourbonTrail]

General info related to your question:

Blood-trail is a factor of blood loss and exit hole size and quantity. Sharpness and cutting diameter give you hemorrhage. Toughness enabled cutting after a bone strike. Penetration allows you to get through the vitals, and a chance at a pass through for that second bleed hole. Oh, and if you don’t hit major arteries, no hemorrhagic bleeding.

If your broadheads are the slightest bit dull you will lose effect due to the elastic capillaries and smaller vessels moving around your broadhead. If you cutting diameter is too small, you can’t cut as much (not the problem here). I use a straight razor strop to hone my broadheads every day during a hunt. Tougher materials survive bone strikes, but they are harder to sharpen. Penetration is a matter of momentum retention. This is helped by high FOC and small diameter rigid arrows.

 

[rookhawk]

You know what I wonder about this broadhead? I'm wondering if the vents erode penetration.

We all understand that a single bevel is efficient due to the fact they must do less work (in physics) than a two bevel blade to cut through the medium. By the fact of their single bevel and the helical on the vanes, that's how you get the S-Cut that causes such significant bleeding. It's the rotation that is causing organ and tissue twisting during the cut that enhances their damage also.

So do the holes in the VPA penetrator above create drag on the rotation that nullifies or neuters the normal torque damage the organs of a regular single bevel? I'd be concerned that it would. Of course the steel plate tests show you that nice S-cut at penetration because its not going through a liquid/gel medium (like organ and muscle) but does it impact rotational damage inside the animal? Maybe.

The best way to show the damage of a single bevel is to wrap a T-shirt over the broadhead and rotate the arrow the amount of degrees that the single bevel and helical vanes are estimated to turn that arrow over the wound channel length of a the shot. So say 120 degrees. When you do that to the T-shirt and pop the blade through, you look at the unraveled T-shirt and see the internal damage done that wasn't just a straight cut. That's the theory of what its doing to animal organs during a shot. All that rotational drag or resistance that those holes are causing from the VPA vented model may undermine that very desirable rotation and continuous S-Cutting.

 

[Buffalo1]

I just recently used the 125 gr. vented, 2-blade VPA on a bowhunt for antelope. Had a complete pass thru on a 16 yd shot- traveled 32 yds and keeled over- one kick and dead. Double lung takeout.

Since it was such a short distance the animal never really had time to generate a blood trail. However, the animal's side was covered with blood on his side that he was laying on due to loss of blood.

Still don't have an answer to my blood trail question.