Today, I’m going to be testing a head designed specifically for turkeys… the VPA Turkey Spur.

Now, even though this head is designed specifically for turkeys, I put it through my normal test protocol. That way, you can compare the results with other broadheads, and see if it might be a good fit for you.

So, let’s get started looking at what I found out!

The VPA Turkey Spur Up Close

Here’s a good look at the head. Man, what a really cool looking design! I’ve never seen another broadhead like it!

The VPA Turkey Spur broadhead is machined out of a single piece of carbon steel.

The cutting diameter, at its maximum, is 1-1/8″, which is pretty standard for a three-blade broadhead. That’s exactly what this head is… a simple three-blade broadhead with a pyramid tip to give it extra durability. The idea is that the initial tip will penetrate really deeply into the animal.

Here’s a look at the part of the head that is dull, which is supposed to add knockdown power on a turkey.

There’s about a quarter of an inch of the second blade that’s not sharpened, all the way around, just to give it some knockdown power in releasing or transferring the energy, that’s built up from the momentum, into the animal

The duller part of the blade is also supposed to help decelerate the speed of the arrow and slow down the penetration, so that the bird really feels the full impact of the arrow. And then, it’s sharpened again on these ends.

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11/21/2024 09:18 pm GMT

Testing Of The VPA Turkey Spur Broadhead

I was eager to see how the VPA Turkey Spur performed!

For the testing of the VPA Turkey Spur broadheads, I used by BowTech CP28 set at 72 pounds. I also used Bishop FOC King arrows for most of the shots. (On the really hard impact shots, I used the Bishop FAD Eliminators, because they can really take a beating!)

Flight Forgiveness Test

I shot one field point and then one of the Turkey Spurs at 30 yards. It had moderately forgiving flight.

Initial Sharpness Test

In this test, I measured how much force it takes to cut a wire with the blade of the head. The lower the number, the better.

It took 450 grams of force to cut through the wire which is a 7.5 on a 10-point scale.

Penetration Test I: 2/3″ rubber mat, 1/2″ MDF, Clear FBI Ballistic Gel

It penetrated 7-1/2″ of ballistic gel that was fronted with a 2/3″ rubber mat and 1/2″ MDF.

Edge Retention Test: (Sharpness After Penetration Test I)

It only took an extra 25 grams of force to cut through the wire. That is a great result!

It took an extra 25 grams of force to cut through the wire which is a 9.5 in a 10-point scale.

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11/21/2024 09:14 pm GMT

Penetration Test 2: Layered Cardboard

It penetrated through 56 layers of cardboard.

Angled Shot Test: 1/4″ MDF And Carpet

The Turkey Spur penetrated the angled MDF with no problem at all.

Durability Test #1: 1/2″ MDF (Max 3 Shots)

I shot the Turkey Spur into 1/2″ MDF 3 times and it was in excellent condition afterwards.

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11/21/2024 09:23 pm GMT

Durability Test #2: 22-Gauge Steel (Max 2 Shots)

It held up really well through the steel plate. And you can see the tip got a little bit blunted, but the edges held together really well and it made decent holes. They’re just really small especially for a turkey head.

Concrete Test

I shot the Turkey Spur into a concrete block. It actually stuck!

Here is the Turkey Spur after all the durability tests (going through the MDF three times, a steel plate two times, and then sticking into the concrete). Man, the entire tip went into the concrete! That was some deep penetration into that cinder block. And, the cinder block was tougher than the other ones I’ve used recently, here in Texas. But, it held together fairly well through all of that. The edge still stayed relatively sharp (it did get a bit of tip curl from the steel plate test. And, there’s a little bit of a wobble to it.)

Final Thoughts On The VPA Turkey Spur Broadheads

So what do you think of this broadhead?

It performed really well in all the testing. The flight was good, the penetration was good, and the durability was good. It definitely has a lot of strengths.

But when it comes to really choosing a broadhead for a specific animal, like in this case, turkey, I’ll be honest, I don’t really get it.

You know, I understand the design, but it doesn’t really add that much more lethality for turkey over any three-blade 1-1/8″ cut like a Montec or something like that. I mean, maybe it has a little bit more knockdown power with those blunted blades in the back.

When it comes to hitting the heart, lungs of a turkey and really putting it down fast, I want the biggest cut I can possibly get.

There are a lot of other fixed blades with a bigger cut than this.

And, there’s also a lot of mechanicals and hybrids with a much bigger cut than this.

So, if you like using these and they work good for you, that’s awesome, more power to you!

I really enjoyed testing it. But, I am not going to put this on the end of one of my arrows on a hard earned shot on a turkey. I’m going for a much bigger cut to put that bad boy down as quickly as possible.

I’ve got two scores for this head. The actual raw score that it got was 79.44, which is seven golden arrows…

…But as a turkey broadhead, which is what it’s designed and marketed for, I gave it five golden arrows.

In this review, I tested a really cool broadhead called the Trifecta.

I had gotten quite a few requests for this, and I was able to connect with Rob Schneider, the owner of Trifecta, and the designer of this broadhead.

I was super excited to test these out!

For the testing of the Trifecta Fixed Blade broadheads, I I used my Bowtech CP28 set at 72 pounds. I used a Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the shots, and the Bishop FAD Eliminators for the really hard impact stuff.

The Trifecta Fixed Blade Broadheads Up Close

Let’s zoom on in here and check out this cool-looking Trifecta Fixed Blade.

Here’s a good look at the Trifecta head. Man, this is one wicked-looking broadhead! So much to go through!

First of all, it’s all steel construction. It’s all made out of 420 stainless steel and it has a super short overall profile.

You get 1 and 1/4″ of cut one way, which is a really nice size cut for a fixed blade…

And, then you’ve got the leading blade that’s 3/8 of an inch of cut. So, the total cut is over 1.68″. The leading blade is really small, but it’s a stout 0.040″ of thickness, which is good on the upper end of thicknesses as far as blades are concerned...

But, the main blade has a thickness of 0.078″. Wow! It’s almost twice as thick as the other blade. It’s more than twice as thick as most fixed blade heads on the market. So, I was really impressed with that.

The main blade of the Trifecta is pretty vented in the 100-grain model. But, in the future, they’re coming out with 125-grain and a 150-grain that are going to be solid. So, I’m really looking forward to that.

But, with the current version’s blades being this thick, even though it’s vented, I imagine they are going to be pretty durable. And, I imagine that tip, because is supported so well, and it’s so small, that it’s going to be pretty durable too.

The Trifecta has a nice, single beveling all the way around on both of the main blades and the front blade. So, they’re really easy to sharpen it because they’re at a really steep angle. I would imagine they are going to hold up well and not get much edge chatter because of the incline there to that bevel.

So, I love the fixed blade. But, what’s really cool about it is that you can just use the same ferrule and switch out the blades and put in a mechanical blade or a hybrid broadhead because there’s a fixed blade in the front, and then the mechanical blades in the back.

And, it either comes in this model which is 1.87″ of cutting diameter or this model that’s 1.65″ of cutting diameter.

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11/21/2024 10:04 pm GMT

The neat thing about the Trifecta heads is that you can switch out the fixed blade for expandables on the same ferrule.

So, you can just switch out the blades with the same steel ferrule, based on your setup and based on what you’re hunting. If you’re going after a smaller animal, you might want to use mechanical.

If you’re going after a bigger animal like a deer or elk, you may want to use the fixed blade or in between. There are all kinds of modularities to it. So, I love that!

But, for this test, I tested the fixed blade version.

Trifecta Fixed Blade Testing

Let’s see how the Trifecta fixed blade broadheads performed!

Flight Forgiveness (1 Field Point, Then 1 Broadhead At 30 yards)  

The Trifecta had very forgiving flight in this test, with both the fixed blade and the field point hitting on top of each other.

Initial Sharpness Test

For the out-of-the-box sharpness test, it took 225 grams of force to cut through the wire.

Penetration Test 1 (2/3″ rubber mat, 1/2″ MDF, FBI Gel)   

The Trifecta penetrated 8.5″ into the ballistic gel that was fronted with a rubber mat and 1/2″ MDF.

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11/21/2024 09:54 pm GMT

Edge Retention Test (sharpness after Penetration Test 1):

It took no additional force to cut through the wire which gives it a 10 on a 10-point scale!

Penetration Test 2 (layered cardboard):

It penetrated through 61 layers of cardboard.

Angled Shot Test (1/4″ MDF/Carpet):

The angled MDF test was no problem at all for the Trifecta.

Durability Test (1/2″ MDF max 3 shots):

The head is in perfect condition after 3 shots through the MDF.

After 3 consecutive shots through the MDF, the Trifecta head was still in perfect condition!

Durability Test (22 gauge steel plate max 2 shots):

And after 2 shots through the steel plate, it held up extremely well. There’s just a slightest little nick in the blades.

And then check out these holes on the steel plate. Man! For a single bevel like this, that’s one of the best S-cutting I’ve ever seen. You could see the rotation of the blades opening up a really nice wound channel.

Concrete Test:

I shot the Trifecta into a concrete block and it stuck!

So here’s a good look at the head after going through the MDF 3 times, the steel plate 2 times, and then embedding in the concrete. And man, it held together very well. These thick blades did the job. Even with the rotation, it held together.

Sometimes with a hard impact in a single bevel rotation, you get a bit of twisting, but these blades are thick enough to where that didn’t happen.

The tip got a very slight bit of a twist to it from that rotation, but very, very little. Ane, the edges just have normal wear from hitting the concrete, but very impressive durability.

Final Thoughts On The Trifecta Fixed Blade Broadheads

Well, what do you think?

Man, this is a winner of a broadhead!

There are a lot of broadheads that are kind of in the middle of the pack that you go, “Yeah, they did pretty good.” And, every once in a while, there’s that rare one that really stands out. This one definitely stands out!

I really was surprised. this head got the highest score of any fixed blade head that I’ve tested so far through 2022-2023.

The Trifecta fixed blade was the highest scoring fixed blade broadhead that I’ve tested to date!

So, these are really worth a look. I mean they flew incredibly well. I couldn’t believe how well they flew. Honestly, they’re just so forgiving.

The Trifecta penetrated super deeply, with super good rotation. I did a separate rotation test and it penetrated into the clear ballistics gel 13″ and rotated 90 degrees. That’s a lot of rotation in gel! And in animal, it’s a lot more than in gel because that’s pretty restrictive.

That little blade in the front held up super well and it adds a little bit of FOC to your setup there. The super thick blades did well even sticking in the concrete and blowing out the back, a back chunk of a concrete. I’ve never seen that before.

So man, I can’t wait to use this head on some hogs and really eager to see the 125-grain version and 150-grain solid. I look forward to testing those.

Fantastic job, Trifecta! This is really a winner and it’s definitely worth a look.