Had same thing happen with rage last weekend, did not deploy, got about a 1 in. penetration and arrow fell out when deer jumped out of feeder pin, with no blood trail. of course deer didn't go down, didn't have a limp, looked for her 3 hours she was not close to mortally wounded. went out next morning shot a muzzy fixed blade, same exact shot, same distance out, same distance down, perfect pass thru deer fell within 30 yards. i have been talking the rage up for 2 years, after last weekend i'm dome with the rage. free rages anyone. 100 grain / 3 blade.
oh, and i did see the doe shot the first morning when leaving to come home, looked pretty healthy to me. TO EACH THEIR OWN

My brother has shot rage for a while, or used to I should say.

He said that when he climbed in his stand and nocked an arrow he noticed one blade was a bit loose. He readjusted it and got it back in place and sat back to wait for his quarry. After a short wait it was on, he loosed an arrow on a fallow doe at 20 yds and upon deployment he said he could see his arrow wobbling like crazy and could hear a thumping sound....
One blade must have deployed in flight and caused the arrow to fly funny. He was upset to see the arrow plunge to a stop just shy of the doe and spook her off.

This is one of the main reasons I avoid pretty much all mechanicals and this one included.

had that happen with rages several times shootin the target. fired one anyway to see what would happen, and at thirty yards it was way low and right. no good. rages have so much that can go wrong its not worth it. fixed blade or simple mechanicals. i like the spitfires. havent bow hunted for awhile, but, the last four animals i shot didnt make it 100yrds all added up. huge cut radius, simple, and fly great!!!

I have used mechanicals for about 7 years and the only deer that I have lost (one) was due to a bad shot. I prefer the spitfire and have been 100% with it. I don't choose to use mechanical becuase I am lazy, it is because they fly exactly like the field points and I have confidence in them. Confidence goes a long ways.

I have had one bad experience with a broadhead and it happened to be a Rage. I made a perfect shot on a doe, right behind the shoulder, and she dropped in her tracks. The problem was that the arrow deflected up and went through her spine. I lost confidence in the Rage in that one shot due to the deflection.

I have hunted with people that swear by Rage and have hunted with people that swear at the mention of Rage.

any time you are shooting from a low position you have the chace of deflection up... but you also have to remeber when a deer drops at the sound of a shot it drops down and away.. meaning that one side of their body will be higher then the otherside...when shooting from a low position/ground we think its deflection upwards but more or less its actually the position of the deer. Of course if we all made heart shot all the time we would never have to worry about it... unfortantly I'm not the good.

I do like rage two blades becuase I think it cuts way more of the lungs via cut area on a high shots, causing the lungs to fill up quicker..just my 2 cents. I like rage but I'm also anal about the the o-rings.

I was shooting from about 10' off the ground...but I see your point. It could have been caused by many different things, but it is the only time that it has happened to me and it just happened to be the one time that I switched broadheads.

I have talked to 3 other people that have had the same issue, but I have talked to more that have never had a problem. Personally, it just shook my confidence in them but the incident seemed to fit with this thread...

High shot on 128lb doe this weekend in Oklahoma

double lunged but as you can see very high shot from tree stand..blood on her chest is from rolling her over..she went exactly 35 yards line of sight



doe hanging upside down but gives you an idea of why i like a large two blade expandable vs three blade fixed...three blade leaves more of a gun type exit and enterance.. as you can see the two blad leave a larger gaping wound.

This is very true

Stik N string,
I have never met, known, or heard of a PH that is willing to let you try a mechanical broad head on dangerous game. If they are willing to that meens it is an out fit that does not really know much about bow hunt. and do you really want to be chasing somethign that is goign to try and kill you with people who dont know much about it? They have done trials on several different mechanicals against Cape buffalo and other animals. guess what, they did not work as well (if at all). In many states you can not even hunt any game larger than a deer/blackbear with a mechanical. Alaska is one of them. Why you might ask, it is because the lack of penetration. no matter how you slice it this si what it is.

So you are still telling me that if these guys who have been having issues used a slick trick, a rocket ultimate steel, or a single bevel Maasi, that they would have still only gotten their two inches of penetration? yeah not the case. and the studies have been done to back me up. Look into Dr. Ashby's reports and tests.

however I do agree with you on this statement. If the shot is PERFECT on a thin skinned light muscled/boned ( AKA DEER). and the rage does not open. with a 3/4" hole it will still kill a deer. but how many shots have you gotten that have been a double lung, heart and vessel shot? sense that area is less than an inch or so, I doubt it has happened. If you have pulled it off more times than not, my hat is off to you. and you need to join the national archery team and go to the olympics. Cause we are sure to bring home the gold.

As far as the whole tunning the broad head or the bow issue, it is simple. you tune BOTH.
Broad heads can be a problem. one blade that weighs a couple grains more can throw everything off. that is why you weigh the ferrel on the gr scale, then the blades, then the total thing once it is puttogether. all broad heads to hunt with should be +- 3 gr in total. once attached to your arrows you weigh your arrows. if they are more than +- 5 gr than you dont figure out why and fix it. take out all the varriables. Did you cut the arrow to the right length to get the correct spine? Did you square off the arrows before setting the insert. How did you apply the glue for the insert, spin test? yes all this makes a difference in how your arrows perform. If you build/purchase quality arrows build or have them built RIGHT and tune your bow right with those arrows using field points, then you will get good flight out of your broadheads once you put them on those arrows. But how many actually do all this?

Jigfish,
I should have worded it differently, I should have stated a majority of people are lazy or dont have the knowledge.
However I was speaking in generalities.The fact that you like rage broadheads does not make you lazy or a bad person. To each their own. If they work for you than go for it.
A majority of the time if people get offended by another persons generalized comments there is some truth that they fall into and that is why it gets to them.

This is the main reason people complain about them IMO

100% right. If you don't make the shot it doesn't matter what you use. Period. End of story. That is my point.

My bow is tuned to shoot bloodrunners, grim reapers, and magnus the same as my field points. I shoot mechs becuz I like huge holes.