Why Aren't You Shooting 125-Grain Broadheads?

Sometimes bowhunters will follow trends like lemmings, even to their own detriment. Back in the early ’90s, when I was in my early teens and just starting to bowhunt, pro shops pushed maximum arrow speed. If your bow was slow, you modified your arrow and accessories to make it faster. Since my first hunting bow had a 40-pound draw weight and two wheels, it made a drying coat of Valspar seem fast. To compensate, I outfitted it with a big overdraw rest, through which I could shoot even shorter, lighter lightweight aluminum arrows than my draw length would allow. Those arrows were tipped with 85-grain broadheads. I shot some deer with the setup but didn’t recover many of them.

Of course, today’s top bowhunting trend is completely at odds with the speed craze of the ’90s. While compiling new products for the archery section of this year’s Gear Annual, I couldn’t help but notice how many 150-grain (or heavier) two-blade broadheads are on the market now. More hunters than ever are realizing that arrow momentum, which can be greatly increased by a heavier arrow with a high front of center, leads to better penetration on game. These days it’s not unusual for some hunters to brag about finished arrow setups weighing in excess of 700 grains, with 200-grain broadheads.

No doubt, such a heavy arrow will zip through a whitetail. But for hunting, there is a point of diminishing returns when shooting extremely heavy arrows through the average compound hunting bow. The reduced speed creates a lobbing trajectory. Whitetails are jumpy critters with a fairly small vital area. Missing high or low by just a few inches can be the difference in a quick kill and a non-fatal hit. Laser rangefinders can offset some of the pitfalls of a slow arrow, but not every whitetail stands still long enough to take a precise range, draw and settle the pin. An arrow that shoots fast and flat enough to use a single sight pin, from 10 yards to 25+, is an undeniable advantage on deer.

And so, with all of the above in mind, I propose that we bowhunters start a new trend: Stay away from the extremes and stop making things so damn complicated. Accept that a reasonably quick arrow is a good thing, but so too is a little extra heft up front. Perhaps the fastest, easiest way for most bowhunters to hit the compromised sweet spot is to start shooting 125-grain broadheads instead of 100-grain blades.

THE 100-GRAIN STANDARD

Chances are, if you head to the archery section of Bass Pro and grab the first package of broadheads you see off the shelf, they will weigh 100 grains. Same goes for the field points on the indoor range of your local pro shop or on the ends of your new crossbow’s bolts. Though lighter and heavier points have always been available, 100 grains has long been the archery industry standard, and it still is.

My predecessor for this column, Jeff Johnston, surmised in HUNTING several years ago that the reason for the persistent 100-grain standard is simple carryover from the speed craze of yesteryear. Most bow manufacturers still publish speeds based on the International Bowhunter’s Organization (IBO) specifications. In a nutshell, IBO specs call for a 350-grain arrow through a 70-pound bow at 30 inches. It’s a ridiculous standard for hunters. Few if any bowhunters shoot finished arrows that are that light—especially out of a 30-inch, 70-pound bow.

Still, there remains a desire to see the speed on a chronograph, and so bowhunters stick with light, 100-grain points to help achieve that. Most broadheads are thus manufactured to the same weight because that’s what sells. Of course, 100-grain broadheads work just fine on deer. It’s just that 125-grainers work a little bit better. And if you’re thinking of following today’s trend and switching to a heavier setup, a simple point swap is the easiest way to get started.

125-GRAIN BENEFITS

One immediate benefit in switching from 100 grains to 125 is an increased front of center on your arrows. On my hunting arrows, which are 30 inches end to end, including point and nock, the balance point with a 100-grain field point is about 17.75 inches from the end of the nock, resulting in a FOC of 9.2%—not bad, but not great, either. Switching to a 125-grain point puts the balance point closer to the end of the arrow, 19 inches from the nock, providing a FOC of 13.2%, right in the sweet spot. The 25-grain weight increase doesn’t reduce speed much (only by about 5 fps, according to my chronograph), but it does add a few foot-pounds of kinetic energy and about 5% more momentum.

Does that extra energy, momentum, and increased FOC result in better penetration on whitetails? It has to. I have a 28-inch draw length and shoot a 60-pound bow, usually tipped with a fixed 3-blade broadhead. It’s definitely not a heavy setup. Yet, if I hit the offside shoulder bones on a deer with my broadhead, it almost always breaks them, and if I don’t, the arrow passes through and sticks in the dirt on the other side. I shot 350-spine Carbon Express D-Stroyer arrows last season, which weigh 8.9 grains per inch, along with 50-grain outserts. I can’t tell any difference in my group sizes with the heavier points vs. the lighter ones, and that’s been true for every arrow setup I’ve tried. I also haven’t found much difference in point of impact, especially inside 30 yards, which is where I do my whitetail shooting. A very slight sight pin adjustment usually does the job.

WEIGHING HEAVY

Big, 150-grain+ broadheads are, for now, mostly available as specialized cut-on-contact models with either two blades or two blades with small bleeders. They also tend to be expensive. But many of the more popular fixed-blade, mechanical and hybrid broadhead styles are now available in 125-grain options, in addition to the standard 100-grainers. Broadhead manufacturers achieve the extra 25 grains on the popular designs in a few different ways, sometimes with beefier collars or blade retention systems, and sometimes by adding (or not removing) extra material to the ferrule. If the broadhead uses interchangeable blades, they’re usually the same blades for both 100-grain and 125-grain styles. Again, the switch from one to the other couldn’t be easier.

If you really want to increase your FOC and finished arrow weight but prefer a mechanical broadhead or just don’t want to be limited to an expensive 2-blade, there are numerous weighted insert, outsert, and half-out options on the market that can really make a difference when paired with 125-grain broadheads. That’s how I’ve put together my personal hunting arrows, which have a finished weight of about 475 grains.

Though I favor today’s trend of heavy arrows over the speed craze of decades ago, the truth is both speed and high FOC have practical benefits for whitetail bowhunters. Using a 125-grain broadhead allows you to enjoy some of those heavy arrow benefits without much hassle, and without completely sacrificing your arrow speed. Maybe 100 grains is still the standard point weight—but if we all start buying 125s instead, it won’t stay that way for long.

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