Mechanical broadheads
Mechanical broadheads (also called expandables) fly like field points and open on impact to cut a hole 1-1/4 in to 2-3/4 in wide. Best for broadside double-lung shots on whitetail and mule deer where a big blood trail matters. Not the elk or moose choice: the deploy mechanism can fail on heavy bone.
How mechanicals fail
Rear-deploy heads (Rage Hypodermic, Trypan, X-Treme) rely on rubber O-rings to hold blades closed at draw. Cold weather stiffens the O-ring. Front-deploy heads (Grim Reaper, some Wac’Em) rely on a spring collar. A partial-deploy on a scapula hit means one blade cuts, one blade rides, and the wound track skews. Real risk on shoulder-forward angle shots.
Rage Broadheads
Rage created the modern rear-deploy mechanical broadhead. The Hypodermic, Trypan, and X-Treme are still the biggest hole per grain in the whitetail woods. Check your state law: mechanicals are legal in most states but not all (Idaho and Oregon restrict big-game).
Fixed, mechanical, hybrid. Which one and why.
Fixed is legal in every state, cut-on-contact penetrates when the shot is quartering, mechanical opens the biggest hole on a broadside double lung. We flight-test at 20, 40, and 60 yards, log field-tip vs broadhead impact drift, and note every state where the head is restricted.