Afflictor Broadheads Review (Hybrids) | The Inside Information

Written by John Lusk on 12/30/2020. Posted in Bowhunting / Archery, Deer Hunting, Hunting

I had been wanting to test the Afflictor Hybrid broadhead for a while. So, when I finally got my hands on some I was excited to test them out.

Afflictor Hybrid Construction

I have used tested and used other hybrid broadheads on the market, but the Afflictor heads are different than other designs. They have a main cutting tip that’s about 1/8-inch thick, made of 420 stainless steel that is extremely thick and sharp and will not fold over.

They also have a feature they call a “drive key,” that also functions as a bleeder blade that opens up the main blades, but also cuts extra tissue.

Afflictor 1-3/4″ Hybrid vs Afflictor Ultraviolet | The differences

On the 1¾-inch Afflictor Hybrid (or, K2 Hybrid as Afflictor calls it), the drive key has little prongs on it. They are designed in such a way that if they hit hard bone, they will shear off by design, so that the head can continue to penetrate. In fact, everything about this head is designed for penetration.

Afflictor also offers a head called the Ultraviolet, that is purple in color. At the time of this publication, it is the only purple broadhead on the market.

The Ultraviolet has a little bit different design. The main tip of the Ultraviolet is longer and more swept than the original Afflictor Hybrid. Due to that design, it has a little bit better penetration.

Another difference is that the Ultraviolet has non-shearing drive key that functions as a bleeder blade. So it’s a half-inch wide and will open up the blades and continue to cut tissue.

With the Ultraviolet broadhead, you get a 1¾-inch cut and plus the ½-inch bleeder, for a total of a 2-inch cut.

Afflictor also makes a 1½-inch  model of this as well and it also has the ½-inch bleeder, for a total cut of 2 inches.

Both versions of this broadhead fly extremely well. They are both 5/8-inch thick in profile, which is like most other mechanical heads on the market. The specs and construction are top-notch.  They also spin very well in flight.

On impact, the drive key comes down and the blades open. There is also a pretty strong o-ring that keeps the blades from rattling during flight.

The NAP Killzone is my standard for comparison testing, as it’s been around for many years. It’s a really reliable and super strong head. However, it doesn’t penetrate very well, so anything I test should penetrate better than the Killzone.

For comparative purposes, I tested penetration and durability in comparison to the NAP Killzone broadhead.

Penetration Testing | The Setup

If you have seen any of my broadhead tests on mechanicals, you know that when I do comparative tests, I don’t test them on animals. The reason I don’t do this is because they don’t hold any value.

Different bones have different densities and bone geometries. Every animal is different. In addition, shooting angles on animal bone could have varied results, which would not provide good insight into how the broadhead truly performs.

So, I use a uniform medium to simulate animal anatomy as best as I can. I use carpet on the front and the back to simulate animal hide. I also use a rubber foam to simulate tissue and ½-inch plywood in the middle to simulate the bone.

Then I use a few more layers of rubber foam toward the end for padding, followed by another 3/8-inch plywood at the end just in case it were to make it through all of that.

I also have a thin sheet of cardboard in the very front to get a visual on how well the heads deploy on impact.  

Penetration Test #1

I first tested the Killzone head, followed by the Afflictor 1¾-inch head and the Afflictor Ultraviolet.

In the penetration test, the Ultraviolet out-penetrated the others by a wide margin. Of course, the Ultraviolet it has that more swept initial tip and also has the 1½-inch cut, and that solid drive key. Those factors made all the difference in this penetration test.

Take a look at the Afflictor 1¾-inch cut broadhead. The 1¾ inches plus the ½-inch bleeder provides 2¼ inches of cut. The blades came all the way through the ½-inch plywood after going through the carpet and the rubber mat and the cardboard.

The NAP Killzone tip came through the wood, the blades did not. The NAP has a good, long tip that’s really tough. But the blades didn’t do any cutting on this test. All the broadheads in this test held up well in the penetration test.

Initial Cut Size

When inspecting the opening cut, the Ultraviolet opened 1½ inches from the main blades and then ½-inch from the bleeders and the bleeders stayed intact.

The 1¾-inch Afflictor Hybrid opened 1¾-inch on impact and then had the drive key bleeders cut  a ½-inch and those stayed intact as well.

The NAP Killzone advertises a 2-inch cut, and it actually cut a little over two inches (2-1/4 inches).

So, all the heads in this test opened well.

Penetration Test #2: Angled Shot

In the next test, I performed a steep angled shot.

I first shot the Killzone and it stuck right in. Then, I shot the Afflictor 1¾-inch Hybrid. It stuck in, but angled off a bit. Lastly, I shot the Afflictor Ultraviolet.

In the diagram below, you can see that the Killzone and the Ultraviolet penetrated through the back of the wood. The Killzone point come through the wood but not the blades. The Killzone also broke off at the ferrule and broke my arrow.

The 1¾-inch Hybrid went through all the layers of carpet and foam and cardboard and made a deep cut in the wood, but it skimmed across the top of the plywood.

Penetration Test #3: Afflictor Ultraviolet into 22-gauge steel

In this test I shot the Afflictor Ultraviolet into 22-guage steel, backed with a 3/8-inch sheet of plywood, a ½-inch sheet of plywood, 4 rubber mats and a Rinehart target behind it.  

Because I didn’t want to break another arrow, I used the Mammoth Arrow by Bishop Archery, which are guaranteed for life.

The Ultraviolet went through the 22-gauge steel plate and poked through the back of the 3/8-inch board about a ½-inch. The tip held up really well.

The blades of the Ultraviolet not only went through the steel plate, but they opened up as well, which is very impressive.

When I have shot other heads into steel and plywood in this manner, they only hold up when the blades don’t reach the steel plate. But here, the blades held up and even opened up inside of the steel plate. Even the drivel key was still intact.

BONUS: Afflictor K2 Mini Hybrid Tests

I’ve shot the Afflictor K2 Mini broadheads not only in tests that I perform, but also in the field. I’ve killed turkeys, hogs and deer with these heads and they’ve always performed very well.

The K2 Mini is basically the same as the other hybrids (the Afflictor 1-3/4” Hybrid and the Ultraviolet). The K2 just has a shorter overall profile.

I have shot these at long range and know that they fly very well, so I did not put them through a flight test as I typically do with the other heads.

K2 Mini Up Close

Below you can see the K2 Mini up close. And again, it’s just like their other K2 Hybrid, only it has a shorter ferrule, which is going to aid in flight, since it has less surface area.

So let’s put it through the test and see how the Mini performs.

K2 Mini out-of-the-box sharpness test

The K2 Mini was able to cut paper after two strokes of the arrow but not after the third.

Penetration test of K2 Mini

I shot the K2 Mini through a rubber mat, backed with 1/2″ MDF and ballistic gel. The results are below.

K2 Mini durability testing

I shot the K2 Mini through 1/2″ MDF that was backed by a Rinehart target. See below.

K2 Mini steel plate test

Usually, I don’t do this test with expandable broadheads, but I also shot the K2 Mini into a .22 gauge steel plate because they typically don’t make it through the first time. But, this one made it through the first time just fine. The second shot did some damage. See below.

It was pretty impressive for a mechanical like the K2 Mini to make it through the MDF four times and through the steel plate twice.

Conclusion

In this Afflictors broadheads review I learned a lot. I didn’t really know what to expect from these heads. But, I have to say I was impressed. They have a very low profile and will fly really well and shoot accurately.

I didn’t expect them to open so well, penetrates so deeply and hold up as well as they did through that medium, unlike some other heads I’ve tested.

The Ultraviolet’s penetration was extremely impressive, especially on the angled shot, as they not only penetrated the steel plate and the plywood, but also deployed the blades.

If you are looking for a fool-proof hybrid mechanical head, the Afflictors are going to fly like a dart and hold up well so you can kill some big game!

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