Rage 40 KE Broad Heads

Ok, I did not want to cloud or take away from my report and Stacie’s harvest, so I thought I would start another thread about these broad heads.

It is no secret here that I’m a fan of the Rage broad heads. Although I was a little hesitant when these new 40 KE heads came out from Rage designed for the lighter poundage and lower KE bows that are often used by Kids and Women. Stacie pulls back 48 lbs with her DXT and I always had some concern in her using a normal 3 blade Rage expandable head as you hear all the bad penetration stories about Rages, even though I have never witnessed these horror stories myself in my experience with Rages over the last couple of years. This Fall I had put these new 40KE heads by Rage on her arrows but was still concerned, because them being new and her unable to test these on a live deer or animal until now.

I have to say that I’m extremely impressed with the results and utter damage of this broad head after witnessing her harvest on Saturday. She hit this deer just about perfect slightly quartering away and tore up both lungs and penetrated out the far shoulder. The arrow did not go completely through, but penetrated enough to go through the vitals and stick out through the far shoulder, with only 48 lbs of draw weight. After replaying the video footage you could tell it was not a complete pass through as the arrow was sticking out her left side, but you could not see that the broad head really did penetrate and come out the opposite shoulder until we recovered the deer. The other thing I noticed on the fotage was blood instantly pumping out of the entry wound. The entry hole was a huge slit, that I was meaning to measure but would guess it in the 2-2.5″ range. The blood trail was incredibly easy to follow as we pretty much just walked along right up to the deer and she even had blood at the point of impact, which is always a good thing. The flight is the same as her field tips, which gives her and me extra confidence when the moment of truth arrives. I know it is only one deer, but so far I’m impressed with these Rage 40 KE broad heads out of Stacie’s set up and she will continue to use them, because confidence in my equipment ( in this case her equipment) gives me the edge I/WE need.

Great post Rob and it proves that the Rage broadhead did what it said it would do…plain and simple!

Let’s not kid ourselves here. Every person will at some point in there hunting careers have a bad experience with just about every hunting piece they own. If you hunt as much as I do it’s bound to happen. That being said there have been some doubts about the Rage broadheads and what they may or may not do. The long and short of it is Rage broadheads DO PERFORM most of the time. That’s really all you can ask of your hunting equipment that it’s dependable enough to perform most of the time!

Well said guys
I’m still using the Rage 2 blade and have NOT had any problems with them

Great info Rob

Thanks for sharing and Congrats on a great hunt!

Jeff

now that some one has come up with with a tread about this i i have question. i am shooting a hoty and have it at 50 pounds. would you say yo go with the 40 ke or the regulars because buy this time next year will be hopefully at 55-60 pounds. so what do you think.

I’d try the 40 KE, I am sure they will work with the added weight down the line.

The video was impressive! Thanks Rob for the product review!

Anyone elso have field experience with the Rage 40 KE Broadheads?

Chris, depending on your arrow weight you are below but getting close to the magic KE line they (Rage) suggests going with the regular 2 or 3 blade. I would give these 40KE a try this year and if you jump up to 60 lbs of draw by next year, go with a regular 2 or 3 blade then.

The difference is the 40KE is suppose to have a little smaller cutting diameter (1.5″)with the blades set at more of an angle to allow for better penetration. It is a 2 blade head.

I’ve only killed one deer with the 2 blade rage and it was quartered away. Watching all the huting video I see that the rage has not alot of pass through shots. When the new 40ke’s came out I’m thinking of switching just to get more pass through I’m shooting a 64lb DXT shooting around 253 fps. The heads shoot great and I don’t believe the 1/2 will make that great of difference. Hopefully I’ll get the chance too wack some more with the 2 blades to help with my decision.

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Watching all the huting video I see that the rage has not alot of pass through shots.

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Abster, that was sort of my point above, although it may not have been very clear. Stacie’s shot appeared like the broad head on film did not pass through either. However, after retrieving the animal this was not the case and to top it off we had a blood trail from both sides of the deer. Besides honestly, I could care less if I have a pass through when there is that much blood to follow. In a split second Stacie’s deer had blood flowing out of the entry wound.

On your one deer harvest quartering away you probably hit far shoulder square and did not penetrate past that. How was your blood trail on that shot?

not much due to the arrow entering behind the last rib the deer only went 120 yrds though I liked that like I said I still have some heads to make my decision I hope I’m getting the urge not to pass these doe’s that I’ve been seeing probably wait for the perfect shot really want to get it on video after not getting my bear kill on video due to low light it’s becoming an obsession and I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good points Lip,
This past weekend I harvested a mature doe with the Rage 3 blade. Right thru the lungs, complete pass thru and a hole my shotgun would envy, both in and out. Performance was identical to the buck my brother in law shot week prior with a slick trick, also a perfect lung shot. My point is, hit thru the chest almost all well made broadheads will get the job done; there is no broadhead made to man that will erase a bad hit. Most episodes of poor penetration can end up being traced to a bad shot, some other malady or episode that just went bad at the moment of truth.
The only thing that keeps me trying expandables, other than curiousity, is the field point accuracy or confidence.
Yes,, my ultimate steels, wasps, slick tricks all flew like my field points, but the large entrance hole of the Rage has my interest peaked-and what an entrance hole it was. On a side note, the only expandable I had NOT open up was the steelhead, not may times but enough to make me switch to the sidewinders with the wings on the blades-those opened up everytime on impact-both target and deer.
So, before the bashing of expandables starts back up again-just remember that most of the time it had nothing to do with the broadhead and everything to do with the shot.
Get them thru the lungs and they die—-everytime.
Congrats on a great deer!!!!!!!!

Jeremy

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really want to get it on video after not getting my bear kill on video due to low light it’s becoming an obsession and I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Addicting isn’t it. I know all to well.

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The only thing that keeps me trying expandables, other than curiousity, is the field point accuracy or confidence.

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So, before the bashing of expandables starts back up again-just remember that most of the time it had nothing to do with the broadhead and everything to do with the shot.

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Great points also DOC!

For me it is all about confidence. I know that arrow will end up where ever I shoot it, A point often forgot about when talking about the Rages or any expandable for that matter is there ability to fly straighter with less drag in the wind. May not matter much here in MN but when you Hunt out West wind is always a factor.