Talk about a crazy, wicked looking, innovative broadhead!

I first saw the Thorn Crown broadheads at the Archery Trade Association (ATA) show and talking with the original designer.

When I finally got my hands on them, I couldn’t wait to put them to the test to see if they were the real deal.

It kind of looks like a mace, a medieval weapon.

Typically, I like broadheads to have a really wide cutting diameter, rather than a concentrated cut. However, I’ve never killed anything with an 8-blade broadhead, and I’m imagining that it would make a hole that is pretty difficult to close up.

Each of the blades are stainless steel and are 0.040 inch thick. So, they are really thick blades. They are arranged with the smallest diameter first, 5/8 of an inch, then 6/8 of an inch, 7/8 of an inch, and 1-inch. So, that’s where you get the total of 3.25 inches of cut.

That’s a lot of cut!

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Thorn Crown Broadheads Testing

I tested the Thorn Crown broadheads for flight, edge sharpness and edge retention, for penetration and for durability.

Let’s see how the Thorn Crown performed.

Flight test

I was able to pop a balloon at 70 yards with the Thorn Crown.

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Sharpness test of the Thorn Crown

I tested the Thorn Crown for out-of-the-box sharpness. It was able to still cut paper after 5 strokes of a carbon arrow shaft.

Penetration Test

I tested the Thorn Crown for penetration by shooting it into ballistic gel, fronted by 2/3-inch foam matting and 1/2-inch MDF.

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Durability Test

I shot the Thorn Crown into 1/2-inch MDF five times. Below is the result.

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Final Thoughts on the Thorn Crown Broadhead

So what do you think of the Thorn Crown?

Like I said, I’ve been wanting to test it because it’s just so unique.

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A wicked cut

Cut is one of the many factors to consider when selecting a broadhead.

I typically want a wider cut out of my broadheads, because wider cuts tend to produce a better blood trail.

There’s more likelihood that you’re going to reach that extra artery and the holes are typically harder to close up.

But, I’ve never shot an 8-blade head before now. And, I’ve got to tell you, when it went into the target, or went into the gel and I pulled it out, man, it just ripped them apart.

So this is a wicked wound channel that honestly, I want to shoot into an animal just to see what happens.

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Great flight and durability

I was really impressed with its excellent flight. It was very accurate.

I chose ahead of time to test this for the durability compared to a mechanical. And the reason I did that is that it has eight blades. Each of those four individual 2-blade heads would be hitting the steel plate that I typically use for fixed-blade broadheads.

I thought, “There’s no way that’s going to hold up to the steel plate.” But given it’s such a big cut size, let’s test it as I would a mechanical. And as you saw, it did extremely well for the mechanical test.

Now, I was curious and I want to see what would happen through a steel plate so I shot it into the steel plate as well and it punched a really nice 8-blade hole through the 22-gauge steel plate. But as expected, the head itself just did not hold up to the steel plate.

But honestly, that wouldn’t hold me back from using it in a hunting situation given its flight and given just the wicked wound channel and the way it held up to the MDF.

This broadhead is not a gimmick. This is something that really could do some serious damage.

So great job, Thorn! Love the innovation. Keep it up. Great job.

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Other fixed-blade reviews:

• Afflictor Fixed Blade Broadheads
• Cutthroat Broadheads
• Dirt Nap DRT broadheads
• Bishop Holy Trinity Broadheads

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In this review, I took an in-depth look at the Muzzy Trocar broadheads.

I know, the Muzzy Trocar head is not new. It has been around for a long time, and I’ve used it in some of my other tests, but I’ve never done a comprehensive test on it alone. So, that’s what I did.

Muzzy Trocar design specs

The Muzzy Trocar and it’s a pretty cool-looking head. And as you can see, it has a short overall profile, which is going to aid in flight.

It also has offset blades. In the above picture, you can see that the blades are arranged in a right helical offset pattern, which helps with rotation and aids in flight, keeping them more accurate, due to a spinning effect. This feature makes it different than many other 3-blade broadheads.

And, then within the animal or any medium it hits, the blades will continue to rotate. It’s going to create a decent wound channel inside the deer or other animal as well.

The ferrule of the Trocar is one-piece construction of steel, with a really nice, small, but stout tip.

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The blades are all steel as well and they’re 0.035 inches thick, with a cutting diameter of 1-3/16 inches.

So, it provides a pretty decent size cut, just one 1/16 of an inch bigger than the standard 1-1/8 inch cut. This head is 100 grains.

Now, another thing about them is they have a 3-point blade retention system. The blades are held in place at three different points just to make sure that you don’t lose a blade, even on hard impacts.

They have a nylon washer at the bottom just to help secure them snuggly to your arrow.

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Performance tests

I was eager to put these to the test. I tested them for long range flight, edge sharpness, edge retention, for penetration, and durability.

As always, in these tests, I used my Bowtech SR6 set at 72 pounds. I used Bishop Archery FOC King Arrows in 460 grains.

All right. Let’s see how the Muzzy Trocar performs.

Long-range flight

the Muzzy Trocars flew great at 70 yards. I was able to pop a balloon with no problem.

Out of the box sharpness test

In the out-of the box sharpness test, the Trocar was able to cut paper after five strokes of an arrow shaft. And, I will add that by the way they cut the paper, they are some of the sharpest blades that I’ve ever tested.

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Ballistic Gel Penetration Test

I shot the Muzzy Trocar through ballistic gel to test penetration. The Trocar penetrated 9 inches, which is pretty impressive penetration. See picture below.

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Steel plate test

In the steel plate test, I shot the Muzzy Trocar through .22 gauge steel plate five times.

As for the holes themselves, you can see below that it really does make three “slits” rather than three big triangles.

You get a little bit of an extra curl because of the offset blades, but it’s not the most impressive wound channel compared to some others like the Exodus broadheads. (That one opens up much more of a triangular hole than it does three slits). But, in terms of durability, the Trocar did very well.

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Muzzy Trocar broadheads review | Final Thoughts

So what do you think of the Muzzy Trocar?

I’ve got to say, it’s a performer.

I know this head has been around for awhile, and it can easily be overlooked by many, with all of the new heads that are coming out. But, this head definitely has a lot going for it.

This is a pretty stout head.

It flew fantastic. It penetrated really well, made a nice wound channel, and held up pretty well.

So, check out the scorecard below and see how it compares to other similar heads like this and see if it’s the right head for you on your next deer hunt.

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In this review, I tested a mechanical called the G5 DeadMeat broadheads.

Right off the bat, I was very impressed by the design. First of all, it’s a 3-blade head and it has a cutting diameter (when blades are fully depoloyed) of 1 and 1/2 inches, which is nice.

That cutting diameter is perfect for whitetail deer, turkey, smaller hogs, and so forth.

I’m typically a fixed blade guy, but I’m constantly looking at the latest and greatest broadheads, and always willing to try some new mechanicals.

The G5 Deadmeat broadhead at first glance

Flight

These heads fly incredibly well. They come with a ballistic match point which looks just like the regular head’s shape that’s basically a practice head. It flies just like the regular head would fly.

They are also  extremely forgiving. Now, I realize that a lot of heads fly very well. My bow is really well-tuned. I can pop balloons with fixed blades out to a 100 yards, but this is on the extra forgiving side for sure. So, I love that.

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Head Construction

On the downside, I don’t like that it’s just a metal injection molding. I’m not a huge fan of that. It’s still good, and it’s better than a lot of aluminum heads, but it’s not as good as machined heads (of course, it would cost a lot more if it were a machined).

However, it is still a solid steel and it has a two-piece ferrule. It is a few different composite pieces of steel, but it is, in essence, 100% steel.

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In the first test, I shot the DeadMeat through a 3/8” piece of plywood. This is my favorite thing to do with mechanical broadheads, so that I can see how well they deploy upon entrance. It also helps me see how well they penetrate and hold up to the plywood. In many ways, it’s similar in consistency to bone.

If they don’t hold up to plywood then I’m not going to be hunting with them for sure.

So let’s see what happened with the DeadMeat in the 3/8-inch plywood.

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In the testing, I used a footed Hexx 330 arrow with a total weight of 500 grains and I shot it out of a Hoyt Carbon Spyder 30 at 73 lbs.

Plywood penetration test

After shooting into the plywood, the blades were not near as sharp. So, they dulled significantly such as metal injection molded blades will often do.

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Something to watch for

I have known someone who had one of the three heads in his pack that had blades that would not deploy at all. Upon further inspection, he found that there is a groove that the blades slide up and down in.

This groove can contain small burrs, which is what was preventing his blades from opening. He talked to G5 about it, and of course, they replaced them. But, that would be something to test before you shoot them to be sure the blades are sliding and opening effectively. 

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G5 Deadmeat Broadheads | Final Thoughts

These heads have good durability. I’m impressed with that. They have a really good cutting diameter size for a 3-blade and it will really make a nice hole.  

In addition, flight is extremely good. You should always have a well-tuned bow. But, this head would be extremely forgiving, even with a bow that is not optimally tuned.

While this head would not be my first choice on an elk (those bones can be really tough, and I would want to be sure to use a fixed blade head on an animal like that), I’m sure it would take an elk if you hit it in the right place.

But, it would be great for hunting whitetail deer, turkey and small hogs.

Overall, I give this head a thumbs-up.