Saturday 1 October 2011

Bohning Killer 4" Vanes Review

Barry O'Regan- Bohning Pro Field Staff, Staff Shooter - T.R.U. Ball Staff Shooter.

I have conducted a test of Bohning’s 4 inch Killer Vanes.

The weather conditions to say the least were less than ideal, a mild easterly wind, cloud and some drizzle and mud!

The Setup

To ensure straightness and durability I purchased 6 broad heads, 6 field points, and 3 Easton Aluminum 2314 arrows and 3 X-Weave 200 arrows.

I then cut the arrows down to ensure they would all weigh the same, approx 300 grains. All six broad heads weighed in at 125 grains each, all field points weighed in at 100 grains each.

I fletched the Bohning Killer 4 inch vanes using the Bohning Helix Tower putting a 2 degree twist on the Bohning Killer Vanes on three aluminum shafts (Easton 2314s) and three PSE Carbon X-weaves 200s.

I then placed silver duct wrap on the carbon arrows so readers would be able to differentiate between the black X-Weave carbon arrow groups and the black Easton aluminum groups.

Both Bohning Killer Vane aluminum and carbon arrows came in at approx: 400 grains with 100 grain field points.

Both Killer Vane equipped aluminum and carbon arrows came in at 425 grains with 125 grain.

I will be shooting both sets of arrows (Generic Broadhead Tipped and Field Point Tipped) at 40 yards.


I also decided to shoot Bohning Blazer vanes on my Hot Pink Victory 400 arrows which also came in at 400 grains with 100 grain field points. I wanted to see how my Bohning Blazer equipped Victory arrows would stack up in grouping and accuracy against the Bohning Killer Vane arrows.

For my test I used a typical compound hunting bow, my 2008 Hoyt ProElite Compound Bow measure out at 29 inch draw length with a 58 # draw weight.

                                                                                                                                  
                                                 Generic solid broadhead
Top arrow Easton Aluminum. Lower arrow Carbon X weave with silver foil on the shaft.

Test Results with Field Points

My tests with field point in the accompanying photos show the following:

• Bohning Killer Vanes on both Easton Aluminum 2314 arrows and Bohning Killer Vane Carbon X-weaves 200 equipped with 100 grain field points.

• Photos show both Bohning Killer Vane aluminum and carbon shafts shot at 40 yards with my 40 yard sight pin into our target butts shown in the first photo on the far right

Results: I got great groups and awesome accuracy.



Test Results shooting Bohning Blazers against the Bohning Killer Vane

After removing the broad heads, I then fitted both the Bohning Killer Vane Easton aluminum and X Weave carbon arrows with 100 grain field points.

I then shot the Bohning Killer Vane equipped Aluminum and Carbon arrows at 40 yards, and then shot the Bohning Blazer Vane Victory arrows using my 40 yard sight pin.

I was curious to see how all three types of arrows with two different style of Bohning Vanes would group.

Results
• Extremely tight groups. Interesting observation though, I fired 3 different sets of 3 arrows and got three separate groups. The Bohning Killer Vane Easton aluminum arrows grouped together.

The Bohning Killer Vane equipped X Weave arrows grouped together and finally the Bohning Blazer Vane Victory Arrows grouped nice and tight as well.
Test Results with Bohning Killer Vanes and Broad heads

Photos show Bohning Killer Vane arrow, both aluminum and carbon shafts outfitted with 125 Grain Broadheads and fired at 40 yards, using my 40 yard sight pin.







The Result

• The broad head equipped carbon arrows with Bohning Killer Vanes grouped low, but grouped together and the broad head equipped Bohning Killer Vane aluminum arrows grouped slightly higher but grouped together. (as you can see in photos below)

• All in all I received great groupings, though both the broad head equipped aluminum and carbon arrows were 25 grains heavier, both sets of 3 arrows each showed a little right and low a couple of inches from the bulls eye! The groups were great in both sets of 3 arrows.

• A minor sight adjustment would put them in the centre of the bulls-eye.

Novice Shooters give a turn with Bohning Killer and Blazer Vanes

There were two novice Bowhunters, who shoot bare bow compound (Kyle and Kristen) at the range; both have only been shooting for a month or so.

I thought to myself, I wondered how Kyle would fare shooting both the Bohning Killer vane aluminum and carbon arrows with field points.

I gave the Bohning Killer Vane Easton Aluminum and X-Weave Carbon arrows to Kyle to shoot at 30 yards.

Results

The photos were surprising, as their current arrows do not even come close to grouping as tight as the Killer Vane arrows. Though to be fair their lower premium arrows did not seem matched to their bows.

Kyle's Results

What is just as interesting is again, the (silver tape wrapped) Carbons grouped together and the Easton Aluminum arrows grouped together.




Both sets of identically spined and evenly weighted arrows fitted with Bohning Killer Vanes would just not mix it up preferring to group Easton aluminum arrows to Easton aluminum arrows and X-Weave carbon arrows with X-Weave carbon arrow grouping.

Bottom line seems to indicate Aluminum arrows group higher with little drop when fitted with field points or broadheads with outfitted with the Bohning 4 inch killer Vanes.

Kristen's Results

I took my Bohning Blazer equipped Pink Victory arrows and photographed Kristen shooting them at 30 yards.   The Killer Vane equipped arrows were a tad heavy at 400 grains for her 30 # draw weight on her bow.  So I elected to let Kristen to try out the Bohning Blazers with a 3 degree helical and see how they would perform.


Certainly the end result with there two novice Bowhunters whose skill is currently limited at 30 yards and with only a month of practice says it all, with the smile on Kristen's face.

Conclusion

In the hands of an experienced archer, with a quick sight adjustment, your Bohning Killer Vanes, whether on aluminum arrows or carbon arrows.

You can feel confident that even when equipped with broadheads your Bohning Killer Vanes will fly true and hit their mark consistently to give you outstanding groups.

Bohning Killer Vanes on aluminum or carbon arrows perform just as well when equipped with field points will ensure great flight, accuracy and tight groups.

In the hands of novice archers, like Kyle and Kristen, Bohning Killer Vanes or Blazers will steer your arrow more accurately ensuring its hits the target face.

Kristen's Face says it all, Bohning products "Improving a Bowhunter’s face value one shot at a time".

1 comment:

  1. TOTALLY biased review with the brand name plugged so often it read like a Bohning advertisement. Also there is no way those aluminium and carbon shafts are going to produce groups that close to each other at 40 yrds. I shoot the same shafts 2314 xx75 as well as pse xweaves with the same bhead and screw on field points. All 2314 aluminiums are thicker so they sit higher on the rest. Also you can't fit the same nocks due to different internal diameters so this means different nock thickness on the string. Both these factors will change the angle of the shaft to the string (i.e. nock high, nock low) and the tightness of the d-loop on the nock. Finally, there is 70+ grains difference in weight between these shafts -the 2314's are much heavier than the x-weave 200's. There is No Way at the same length with the same point weight the 2314's can weigh the same - total BS. Both types of shaft can't EVEN have the same insert -the standard 2314 insert weighs 35g. The xweave inserts weigh 11g. They have different spine and different FOC. And there is No Way a lower poundage recurve is going to reproduce similar groups with the same shafts. What a lot of marketing BS..

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