By Jerry Long, June 18, 2010 

The final test, broadhead flight, of my Africa set up made me happy for nearly 24 hours.  Even if part of that was a Monday… 

I was pretty comfortable going to Africa with my normal set up.  The outfitter recommends 64 ft/lbs KE for the plains’ game I am pursuing.  My Bowtech SWAT launches Cabela’s Stalker Extreme 55/70 arrows out at 274 feet per second generating 62.75 ft/lbs of kinetic energy (KE), details below.    Anecdotally, until one gets into eland, water buffalo and other larger critters the general thought I heard was, “Your whitetail set up is sufficient for plain’s game.” 

2009 Bowtech SWAT – 376.8 gr arrow 

  • Cabela’s Stalker Extreme 55/70 cut to 26.5″ with 3 Blazer vanes and one 4-inch wrap
  • 26 5/8″ measured to AMO standard
  • 69.75 lbs (maxed out)
  • 14.6 gr on string (Fletcher TruPeep 8.8 gr, string loop 5.1 gr, tied string nocks .7 gr)
  • 376.8 gr arrow
  • 274 fps (three arrow avg)
  • 62.75 ft/lbs KE (actual, initial)
  • Calculated (using Archer’s Advantage) downrange KE and trajectory:
    • 20 yards – 8.9 inches drop, 58.1 ft/lbs KE

Always worried, though, about the KE delivered by my short carcass’ draw length I did a little meddling with Archer’s Advantage and found that the 2216 XX75 Easton aluminum arrow would add about 100 grains to my set up.  Those 100 grains only increased kinetic energy by roughly two foot pounds, though.  Although I really can’t imagine what two foot pounds feels like, it hardly seemed worth it to switch things around.  However, when I asked about my set up on Bowsite’s Africa forum the unanimous recommendation was to go with this heavier set up.  So, I decided to investigate heavier options a little further. 

Note:  Not being familiar enough with the concept of momentum versus kinetic energy I’ll forgo that discussion.

Shaft Selection

Weight tubes for my Stalker Extremes entered the equation as an alternative to aluminum arrows.  I did some market research and found them not to be widely available in much selection.  Additionally, discussions involved rattling from poor “universal” fit and difficulty managing arrow spine.  This made me think them not the best solution.  Also, a Mostly Archery general theme you should be familiar with by now is that I want economical solutions to gear problems.  Sure there are $120 per dozen bare shaft carbon-aluminum arrows on the market.  That is just not economical.  I felt good old standby $49 a dozen XX75 Easton aluminums would do just fine. 

There just happened to be a XX78 2216 shaft in the lost arrow bucket down at my archery club, West Allis Bowmen, so I picked it up, cut it off and did some paper testing – perfection.  $75 down at the local archery shop and I had the components to assemble a dozen XX75 2216 arrows.  My, how feathers have gotten expensive over time…  Since I wanted to create a maximum weight forward arrow (Forward Of Center) I chose 4-inch feathers as my guidance system with no wraps.  FOC with this set up is 11.8%.  I’d still prefer another 2-3% FOC, but as you’ll see I think it will suffice.

2009 Bowtech SWAT – 476.8 gr arrow

  • Easton XX75 2216 cut to 26.5″ with three 4-inch feathers
  • 26 5/8″ measured to AMO standard
  • 70 lbs (maxed out)
  • 12.3 gr on string (1/4″ G5 Meta-Peep 6.5 gr, string loop 5.1 gr, tied string nocks .7gr)
  • 476.8 gr arrow
  • 250 fps (three arrow avg)
  • 66.00 ft/lb KE (actual, initial)
  • Calculated downrange KE and trajectory:
    • 20 yards – 10.8″ drop, 60.3 ft/lbs KE

With a few tweaks here and there to the bow I’ve been shooting these arrows since April.  The trajectory is different enough at 250 fps that I’m not as confident as I was with my 262 or even 274 fps set up.  Meaning, yardage estimation is more critical to avoid high or low shots.  With either of those set ups I could reliably back another 10 yards off our 3D leagues’ stakes and still reliably “kill” the animal.  With this set up I stick to the pre-arranged course and focus on shot execution.  With the type of hunting anticipated, blind hunting over water holes, 20 yard or shorter shots are expected. 

Broadhead Selection

I like broadheads to be reliable and economical.  Not cheap, economical.  At about $28 per three pack the Wasp JakHammer and the Slick Trick Magnum both fall into those categories.  I don’t consider $39 per three pack to be economical.  However, considering one pays for a wounded animal whether recovered or not in Africa and my generated kinetic energy, (relatively low due to limiting draw length) mechanical broadheads are out for this adventure.  While the four-blade Slick Trick Magnum is a great head I thought, again considering my generated kinetic energy, that a cut on contact broadhead was in order.  The Magnus Stinger 100 grain four-blade was my first consideration.  I took a nice 132 pound Florida feral hog with this head a number of years ago and was impressed with its performance.  It took two arms and a lot of back muscle to remove the pass through arrow from the ground.  Santa Claus delivered eighteen of these great heads awhile back. 

The Slick Trick Magnum, the Wasp JakHammer and the Magnus Stinger.

This is where my being happy on a Monday comes in.  I drug the Stinger equipped arrows and the SWAT up the basement steps dreading what the point of impact would be.  Would I have to employ any of the methods discussed in Broadhead Flight Means What?in order to make field points and broadheads impact together?  Apprehensively I fired the twenty yard group of field points and then broadheads.  Things were looking up.  Then I shot the thirty yard group and the tension in the pit of my stomach disappeared.  On to forty and all was well.  I must have smiled for at least the next 6 hours.  I was happy for the next 24 hours or so even though part of that was a Monday.

A thirty yard group.

    

“They” recommend 18 arrows on an African safari so after my elation subsided I picked up another 1/2 dozen shafts and components.  Unless my bow blows up again (see BowDekeTastrophe) this set up is what I’m shooting in Africa.  Hopefully I’ll be as happy with its performance there as I was on the practice range.

happy hunting, dv 

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