handirifle
02-08-2015, 04:33 AM
The wound channel created by a bullet has to be more devastating than one from a broadhead
That depends on MANY factors.
Lets assume the broadhead is sharp and either a 2, 3, or 4 fixed, blade head. It will cut a wound channel that is anywhere from 1" to 1.5" wide, and usually clear through the animal. Leaving a massive amount of hemorrhaging behind it. This can and will happen from an arrow shot at 150fps and up. I have had my heavy arrows (800gr) with a 2 blade single bevel head, cut ribs on entrance and exit side, and completely through the shoulder gristle on 300lb boar hogs, from a 55lb recurve, that barely shoot 150fps.
Leaving a spiral wound channel all the way through. The hog ran less than 20yds before bleeding to death.
Bullets can vary so widely in construction, the terminal velocity is critical. But take a bullet like a 400gr .458 bullet at 1300fps (factory speed on a 45-70). It can plow a .458 hole clear through a hog as well, but will do very little in the way of creating a very large would channel inside. Bullets ideally will open just inside the hide, and completely expand in a few inches, and punch through the other side (hunting bullet, big game example). But as we all know all bullets do not work the same way.
I shot a mule deer several years ago, with my 308, and Nosler Etips. Range was 180yds, and the entrance and exit wounds barely looked bigger than a 223. Internal damage was the same, a nice .308 dia hole all the way through both lungs. He ran 50 yds before piling up.
Of course a broadhead could be dull, or blade break, etc, but I find it nearly impossible to truly compare any arrow kill to a gun kill. I always hear talk about the KE of an arrow, vs a bullet. That means zip. An arrow cuts and causes bleeding, period. Bullets, usually cause massive tissue destruction and hemorrhaging from shock and concussive force, not cuts.
As was mentioned, sandbags stop bullets but not arrows.
A long time ago, I bought a roll of ballistic nylon, the stuff they used to make "bullet proof" vests from. I sewed several layers together, and fired .357. 38 spcl, and several rimfires at it, with no penetrations beyond the first 2 of 4 layers. The first fixed, three blade arrow I shot destroyed the arrow. Not on the nylon, but on the rocks 10 feet behind it when the arrow flew through the nylon so fast it hit the rocks and broke. That arrow may produce a relatively small amount of KE, but it is applied to a razor sharp edge, and not much stands up to it.
That depends on MANY factors.
Lets assume the broadhead is sharp and either a 2, 3, or 4 fixed, blade head. It will cut a wound channel that is anywhere from 1" to 1.5" wide, and usually clear through the animal. Leaving a massive amount of hemorrhaging behind it. This can and will happen from an arrow shot at 150fps and up. I have had my heavy arrows (800gr) with a 2 blade single bevel head, cut ribs on entrance and exit side, and completely through the shoulder gristle on 300lb boar hogs, from a 55lb recurve, that barely shoot 150fps.
Leaving a spiral wound channel all the way through. The hog ran less than 20yds before bleeding to death.
Bullets can vary so widely in construction, the terminal velocity is critical. But take a bullet like a 400gr .458 bullet at 1300fps (factory speed on a 45-70). It can plow a .458 hole clear through a hog as well, but will do very little in the way of creating a very large would channel inside. Bullets ideally will open just inside the hide, and completely expand in a few inches, and punch through the other side (hunting bullet, big game example). But as we all know all bullets do not work the same way.
I shot a mule deer several years ago, with my 308, and Nosler Etips. Range was 180yds, and the entrance and exit wounds barely looked bigger than a 223. Internal damage was the same, a nice .308 dia hole all the way through both lungs. He ran 50 yds before piling up.
Of course a broadhead could be dull, or blade break, etc, but I find it nearly impossible to truly compare any arrow kill to a gun kill. I always hear talk about the KE of an arrow, vs a bullet. That means zip. An arrow cuts and causes bleeding, period. Bullets, usually cause massive tissue destruction and hemorrhaging from shock and concussive force, not cuts.
As was mentioned, sandbags stop bullets but not arrows.
A long time ago, I bought a roll of ballistic nylon, the stuff they used to make "bullet proof" vests from. I sewed several layers together, and fired .357. 38 spcl, and several rimfires at it, with no penetrations beyond the first 2 of 4 layers. The first fixed, three blade arrow I shot destroyed the arrow. Not on the nylon, but on the rocks 10 feet behind it when the arrow flew through the nylon so fast it hit the rocks and broke. That arrow may produce a relatively small amount of KE, but it is applied to a razor sharp edge, and not much stands up to it.