# Grim reaper failure



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

A friend of mine shot a buck last night, nice double lung shot, only thing was he never saw the deer go down, and ended up finding it almost 600 yds away. Upon finding the arrow, he had complete pass through, and the forward deploying blades were still in the forward folded position. Obviously shot placement is key, but I never thought that broad head could pass through without opening like that, but sure enough the entry and exit holes are tiny. He shot it with a pretty strong crossbow, but gave me the rest of his reapers for my compound. Anybody else heard of this and should I be wary to use them? (Avoiding any fixed vs mechanical debate please ha).


----------



## jmyers8 (Aug 2, 2013)

A lot of mechanical are not meant for shooting out of crossbows could be your problem. Did he get both lungs seems pretty far to run even with it not opening 

Sent from my VS840 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

Yeah I saw it this morning, it was a legit double lung but high lung, still died within a half hour but made it a heck of a long way. I'm thinking he shouldn't have used them with carbon crossbow bolts. 


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## ostbucks98 (Apr 14, 2004)

i thought the crossbow concern was premature opening.

Sent from my ZTE-Z990G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

I'm not sure what failures have happened with forward opening mechanicals. I plan on using one with my next compound kill to check it out, I've seen some pretty massive blood trails with other compound hunters. In not real familiar with how expandables work on a crossbow bolt. To see a broad head completely pass through without opening is odd regardless of type of bow. 

posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

Yeah, usually the issue is premature opening with crossbows. Can't say I've ever heard of a failure to deploy from a crossbow. Maybe just a freak incident...

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

But I will say, it shows a lot about his crossbow/ arrow combo if he can drive an arrow completely through a deer with out the blades opening... lots of energy required for that!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

Yeah, I know he shoots a Parker that's a few yrs old, it's gotta have as much ass behind it as my 65# diamond. I'm no archery god so I can't help but wonder if the short length and light weight of a Xbow bolt has anything to do with it. 


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## Bad Bub (Jan 17, 2006)

dsoy28 said:


> Yeah, I know he shoots a Parker that's a few yrs old, it's gotta have as much ass behind it as my 65# diamond. I'm no archery god so I can't help but wonder if the short length and light weight of a Xbow bolt has anything to do with it.
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


The short length on a crossbow bolt will hurt the penetration compared to a compound arrow. That's why crossbows are using 150#+ draw weights, trying to make up the difference. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## bmiller (Apr 19, 2011)

My gurss is that the reapers in question weren't aligned right or "broken in". I had the same experience a couple years ago with brand new heads. One blade opened but not the other two. And that was the problem I found. Fold and unfold those blades if they're tight adjust and shave down the aluminum gromets. It worked for me and yes they do leave great exit holes

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

A good idea, never thought of that. 


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## Huntinbull (Apr 10, 2004)

Any broadhead with mechanical/moving parts is just more potential failures.

Sent using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## NorthSouthOhioFisherman (May 7, 2007)

I have never been a fan of mechanicals for reasons like this...

I am having trouble figuring out how a deer lived for a half hour not breathing and having two small holes in the diaphragm. lol


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

I just said it died WITHIN a half hour, but it certainly lived long enough to run over 500 yds. And he said he saw it cough blood at least once.


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## hopintocash2 (Aug 14, 2011)

i use mechanicals out of my xbow and they have been great, however they are the o-ring style. best broadheads i have ever used, every deer i have shot with them never made it out of sight. NAP scorpion xp. they quit making them some years back, so i bought all i could find as well as rebuild kits. i am using an older, slower xbow, but 30 and in, it is spot on.


----------



## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

They've been fine for me so far, we could debate fixed vs mechanicals all day (again) but they both have pros and cons. Mechanicals can go wrong but I guess I'd never heard of anything like this happening which is why I posted. Anyways the last deer I shot with a 2 blade rage I was off a few inches but the rage broke through one shoulder blade and cracked the second one on the way through. Chisel tip rage I think. As far as fixed blade, I've been happy with the redhead fixed blades, NAP makes the hell raisers for 15 bucks cheaper (even has the NAP tm and package) and puts the redhead name on them. I use em for whackin geese. 


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

Huntinbull said:


> Any broadhead with mechanical/moving parts is just more potential failures.
> 
> Sent using Ohub Campfire mobile app


yes but if he would have hit it a little high with a small fixed blade some of us would be saying thats why we shoot a big huge mechanical. The deer i shot with my grimm reapers this year had an entry hole the same size as the exit which was huge. I will say read the directions again. Not to insult anyones intelligence but they are stupid confusing to set up right. Try the ones left in a target and see. You could even try them with the xbox


----------



## NIGHT MAGIC (Jun 13, 2011)

been using grim reapers for years very rarely do deer travel more than 30 yds after hit had 2 does and a 9 pt this year and none made it more than 20 yds truly an awsome broadhead, they also stand behind their product, broke a couple of blades and they sent new heads to replace them


----------



## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Bad Bub said:


> The short length on a crossbow bolt will hurt the penetration compared to a compound arrow. That's why crossbows are using 150#+ draw weights, trying to make up the difference.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


It's not exactly the short length of the crossbow bolt, or, in our case, a crossbow arrow. If the projectile you're firing from a bow has fletching on it, it is an arrow. A bolt has no fletching. Anyway, a crossbow arrow is short because the crossbow's "power stroke", or, the length the arrow remains on the bow string, is short. This is why X-bows need to be 150lbs in draw strength. The "power stroke' is much longer on long bows, or vertical bows. 

I had a buddy of mine using mechanical broadheads out of his old Horton X-bow. I looked at them one time and discovered they were all frozen shut! The weather had done a number on them! I told him that he needed to replace the broadheads! He asked why, since he had never fired them. I demonstrated how they had frozen up, and he immediately went and got new ones!


----------



## OnyxHunter (Nov 17, 2013)

I know that Grimreaper makes a version specifically meant for the speed/power of crossbows.


----------



## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

You have to make sure the cup lines up with the folded blades. You can force that cup on in a way that it doesn't let the blades open. Once you have it on the arrow, open and close the blades manually AND CAREFULLY! They should snap open and closed with little effort. I'm guessing they were jammed closed by that collar.


----------



## firemanstevec34 (Apr 14, 2008)

Shot a buck using Grim Reapers with my crossbow 3 years ago. It was a quartering away shot. Watched him run off with my arrow sticking out of the side of him. Three of us looked for hours for him. No blood trail to follow either. Forward to last year. Shot a real nice buck with my muzzleloader. When I go to pick up the meat from my butcher, he said I lost most of the tenderloins on the one side due to an abcess. He then hands me my Grim Reaper and about 4 inches of the arrow still attached. It was still in the deer. It was the buck I shot the year before.


----------

