Back in January while attending the 2004 ATA show, I stumbled onto a product booth with an interesting line of broadheads produced by 2XJ Enterprises, Inc. At first glance they looked like a bunch of damaged broadheads with bent blades. I took one look at them and wondered how in the world could these broadheads fly straight with bent blades; these broadheads must be a nightmare to tune.

Crimson Talon

However, once I put on my scientist’s thinking cap and had a discussion about the broadhead’s design with a product specialist, the logical aerodynamic properties involved became apparent. Although the blades of the broadheads appear to be simply bent, they actually feature a patented “Spin-Tite Airfoil technology™”.

The aerodynamic properties of the airfoil blades spin stabilize the arrow from the front. The rush of air that passes over the airfoil blades when launched from a bow, almost instantly forces the arrow to spin-stabilize.

Right about now, you’re probably thinking that’s what helical vanes or feathers do. If you are, you are indeed correct. However, by spin stabilizing an arrow in the traditional way, from the rear, with four or five inch fletches, you are losing valuable kinetic energy through excessive wind drag. You achieve the desired arrow stabilizing spin, but you loose valuable arrow speed and kinetic energy in the process.

If you are ever fortunate enough to witness slow speed video photography of an arrow equipped with a typical helical fletch, you will notice plastic vanes ripple and flap during flight. The soft plastic material does the job but in a relatively inefficient manner.

Realizing all this, the engineers at 2XJ Enterprises, Inc. set out to design a better mousetrap. They discovered that by spin-stabilizing an arrow from the front of the arrow -- in this case with rigid surgical stainless steel cutting blades -- instead of from the rear of the arrow with standard flexible plastic vanes, arrow rotation was much faster, arrow speed improved and accuracy improved. Because the spin stabilizing force is being exerted from the front of the arrow instead of the rear, a straight fletch arrangement can be used. Furthermore, fletches with a shorter length can be used.

Viper Venom

Typically a four-to-five-inch long fletch is used for hunting purposes, however a three-inch straight fletch arrangement is all that is needed when shooting Crimson Talon or Viper Venom broadheads.

If you shoot a two-prong style arrow rest, this is good news. Shooting a straight fletch arrangement guarantees fletch clearance through your favorite two-prong arrow rest.

As hunters, we shoot arrows equipped with flesh cutting broadheads with the intent to inflict a lethal hemorrhagic wound. The faster the hemorrhaging occurs, the shorter the blood trail. The shorter the blood trail, the faster the recovery of our quarry. It only makes sense that one would seek out a broadhead that will inflict the most tissue damage possible.

This is true, but penetration is an integral part of the equation, which determines the severity of the wound. An exit-wound in particular often determines how copious a blood trail will be.

Bowhunters often struggle with the decision of using a large cutting diameter broadhead to inflict more tissue damage such as those provided by certain mechanical broad heads or using a smaller cutting diameter broadhead in order to increase penetration. The trick is finding a happy median. The Crimson Talon and Viper Venom broadheads provide the deep penetration you expect from a fixed-blade design with a truly innovative method of inflicting massive tissue damage rivaled only by large cutting diameter mechanical blade designs – all this with the accuracy of a field point.

Most fixed-blade broadheads utilize cutting blades that essentially cut a straight wound channel through flesh. The broadheads produced by 2XJ Enterprises, Inc. produce a Spiral- Wound ChannelTM. The airfoil design of the primary cutting blades not only promotes arrow spin stabilization, they also continue to rotate as they cut through tissue.

The spiral- wound channel produced does two things: The cutting area is greatly increased and the hemorrhaging that results is more severe.

The staff at 2XJ Enterprises, Inc. consulted with a NASA flight surgeon prior to designing their line of broadheads. They discovered that when tissue is cleanly cut in a straight line with a razor, the wound has a tendency to close back on itself. Although hemorrhaging does occur, it is slowed. When tissue is cut at an irregular angle, such as in the case of the spiral wound channel produced by a Crimson Talon or Viper Venom, the wound is less likely to close and hemorrhaging is more severe.

In addition to the spiral-wound channel, the smaller bleeder blades located between the larger airfoil blades are oriented in a 59.8-degree offset angle. This offset angle further increases the hemorrhaging effect.

NASA Flight Surgeon Dr. Arthur Arnold explains, "The skin of animals has surface tension. Think of skin as saran-wrap covering left-overs -- poke your knife into that wrap and it will split wide-open.

"Making a cut in the correct direction keeps an incision from gaping open and bleeding uncontrollably. If a broadhead wound parallels tension lines the wound never opens and bleeds little. Traditional 90° and 180° offset blades typically cut parallel to these lines. In contrast however, these 59.8 ° Offset Kore-Kut bleeder blades completely disrupts the skin and underlying musculatures ability to close. In fact, the patent-pending 59.8° Offset Kore-Kut design results in gaping wounds that leads to uncontrollable blood loss. It is simply a genius design,” Dr. Arnold added.

I will admit, at first glance at these cutters, I questioned whether they would penetrate well. I thought surely the angled shape of the primary airfoils would be more susceptible to friction being applied to the curved blades as they passed through tissue, as compared to standard straight fixed-blade broad heads.

Most broadheads penetrate well through soft tissue. However, when something hard such as bone is encountered, penetration becomes a big issue for any broadhead. To further maximize penetration through hard tissue, the new Crimson Talon features EZ-Flex BladesTM that flex downward as they encounter rigid bone. The hardened steel chisel point and flexible design of the primary airfoil blades facilitate deep penetration and ensure complete pass-throughs on game.

Replacement blades are available for the Crimson Talon and Viper Venom so practice with them as often as you like. I discovered both fly just like my field points, so I only occasionally practice with them.

Take the Crimson Talon or Viper Venom Broadhead for a spin this season and ensure the recovery process for your quarry is easy and humane. Good Hunting.

For more information on the 2004 Crimson Talon and New Viper Venom broad heads, visit the 2XJ Enterprises, Inc. web site at http://www.spintite.com/