Muzzy Broadheads

What Muzzy makes for bowhunters

On this site, Muzzy shows up in three archery types:

• Broadheads: fixed-blade heads, hybrid heads, and crossbow versions
• Arrow rests: the Mantis II, a bowfishing rest
• Bow quivers: a single-arrow bowfishing quiver

Muzzy also sells bowfishing bows, arrows and kits under its Muzzy Bowfishing line. This site doesn't list bowfishing bows or reels, so they aren't in the grid.

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So this page covers the families and what separates them, not how many packs are listed this week. Most specs in the grid come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks them. A dash means the listing left that box empty. A blank is not a zero, and it's definitely not a guess.

Quick glossary before the numbers start. A grain is a tiny weight unit (437.5 of them make an ounce). Cutting diameter is how wide the blades cut, tip to tip. Blade thickness is the steel's thickness, measured in thousandths of an inch.

How to read a Muzzy broadhead name

Muzzy uses two naming systems at once, which is very on brand for archery.

• Numbers: the older fixed heads go by model numbers, like 207, 209, 225 and 281
• Names: the newer families have names, like Trocar, One and MERC
• Letters after Trocar: TI, HB and HBX each mark a different build
• "Crossbow" in the name: a version built for crossbows, marked crossbow-rated in the listing

So "Trocar HBX" means the Trocar family, hybrid build, crossbow version. Once you see it that way, the grid reads like a menu instead of a license plate.

Lineup notes: Muzzy broadheads by family

The numbered fixed-blade heads

These are the classic three- and four-blade designs. Per their listings:

• 207: 75 grain, three blades, 1-inch cut, .020-inch blades, six per pack
• 209: 100 grain, four blades, 1-inch cut, .020-inch blades, six per pack
• 225 MX-3: 100 grain, three blades, 1 1/4-inch cut, .025-inch blades
• 281 MERC: three blades, 1 1/8-inch cut, .030-inch blades

The 207 is the only 75-grain head in the Muzzy grid. Everything else listed is 100 grains or heavier, so check that your arrows are set up for a lighter head before you pick it.

Quick math on blade thickness: .020 inch to .030 inch is half again as thick. It's the difference between a paring knife and a thin chef's knife. Thicker steel bends less on a hard hit; thinner steel weighs less for the same cut.

The Trocar fixed heads

Trocar is the family the brand gets asked about most. The name comes from the trocar tip, a three-sided point, and Muzzy's Trocar 3-Blade page describes:

• 100 grains, with a 1 3/16-inch cut
• .035-inch stainless blades with a right-helical offset
• A solid one-piece stainless ferrule (the body the blades attach to)
• Replacement blades sold separately

The maker says the right-offset blades work with right-offset, right-helical or straight fletching. If your arrows wear left-helical vanes, read that sentence twice.

Then the TI versions. The Trocar TI 100 Vertical Bow and the Trocar TI Crossbow both list .039-inch blades. The vertical-bow head is 100 grains; the crossbow head is 125. The plain Trocar Crossbow lists 100 grains and a crossbow rating.

The Trocar HB and HBX hybrids

A hybrid broadhead mixes fixed blades with blades that open on impact. Muzzy's pages describe both the Trocar HB and the crossbow HBX the same way:

• Four blades: two fixed and two mechanical
• 1-inch fixed cut, opening to 1 5/8 inches, for 2 5/8 inches total
• .035-inch blades and a chisel tip
• 100 grains, stainless ferrule

The maker says the mechanical blades stay tucked tight to the ferrule in flight, and that the fixed blades are offset to put spin on the arrow. Mechanical heads aren't legal for hunting everywhere, and a hybrid has mechanical blades. Check your state wildlife agency's broadhead rules before you buy one. The mechanical broadheads page covers expandable designs across brands.

The Muzzy One

Muzzy's 2019 announcement describes the One as a fixed head machined from a single piece of stainless steel, with three .046-inch blades, a 1 1/8-inch cut and a hybrid chisel and cut-on-contact tip. The announcement lists a 100-grain head in vertical and crossbow versions. The listing in the grid is the 125-grain One, marked crossbow-rated.

One piece means no blades to replace. That trades replaceable blades for a head you sharpen as a unit.

HB or HBX: the same layout, two launchers

The maker's pages give the Trocar HB and the Trocar HBX the same blade layout, the same 100-grain weight and the same cutting diameters. The X is the crossbow version. In the grid, the HBX listings carry the crossbow-rated mark and the HB listing doesn't. So if you shoot a compound, you want the HB; if you shoot a crossbow, the HBX. Uncle Walt asked why they didn't just call it the "HB for Walt." He shoots a crossbow. I told him the X already means "for people who crank their bow." He took that as a compliment.

The 3 Blade Crossbow

A six-pack of 100-grain, three-blade heads with a 1 3/16-inch cut and .020-inch blades, per the listing, marked crossbow-rated. It's the straightforward crossbow head in the grid. The crossbow broadheads page sorts these across brands.

Muzzy bowfishing gear in the grid

Two bowfishing pieces show up here:

• Mantis II Bowfishing rest: listed with full containment, meaning the arrow can't fall off the rest
• Single Bowfishing Arrow Quiver: aluminum, bow-mounted, holds one arrow

Bowfishing arrows are heavy and usually tied to a line, so a containment rest makes sense there. The compound bow arrow rest page and the bow quiver page cover hunting rests and quivers across brands.

How to choose within the Muzzy lineup

Bow or crossbow first

The crossbow-rated field in the listings does the first sort. Crossbow heads in the Muzzy grid run 100 to 125 grains. Your crossbow maker usually names a bolt and point weight in the manual. Start there, not with the head you like the look of.

Then grain weight

My one opinion on this page: there's no universally "best" grain. Arrow weight and head weight have to match your setup. The reason you can check: grain weight changes the arrow's front-of-center balance and total weight, and both change how it flies. Muzzy heads in the grid come in 75, 100 and 125 grains. Quick math: 125 grains is about two-sevenths of an ounce. Small on a kitchen scale, big at the front of an arrow.

Then fixed or hybrid

Fixed heads have blades that don't move. Hybrids add blades that open on impact for a wider cut. The fixed blade broadheads page and the broadheads page explain the trade.

Then blade count and thickness

Three or four blades, from .020 to .046 inch thick, depending on the model. More blades means more edges in the cut; thicker blades bend less. Neither number decides alone. Match it to your draw weight and arrow, and check your state's minimum cutting-width rules.

Then pack count

Muzzy packs in the grid come in threes and sixes. The older numbered heads (207, 209) and the 3 Blade Crossbow list six per pack. The Trocar, Trocar TI and MX-3 list three. Quick math: if you want one head to check flight with, one to resharpen and rotate, and a few in the quiver, three goes fast. Six gives you room to set one aside after a hard hit without opening a second pack in the truck. Count the arrows you actually carry in a hunting quiver, then add the ones you'll sacrifice to checking groups.

Then practice

Muzzy's FAQ says its practice blades were discontinued in 2017. So you practice with field points, then check your hunting heads group with them before the season. Shoot a few with the real heads into a target made for broadheads. (My physical-therapy brain wants you to warm up your shoulder first. Nobody shoots well cold.)

Who can skip the broadhead part entirely

If you only shoot targets in the backyard, you need field points and a good target, not broadheads. The archery target page covers that. If you only bowfish, the Muzzy rest and quiver in the grid matter more than any of the hunting heads, because bowfishing uses its own points on its own arrows. And if your state or season doesn't allow mechanical blades, skip the HB and HBX and stay with the fixed families. That's still most of the lineup.

Sharpening, blades and care

Muzzy's FAQ is plain about it:

• Resharpen any Muzzy blade whose edge is intact and not badly dinged or gouged
• Hold the blade with small forceps while you sharpen
• Most commercial sharpeners work, per the maker
• Replacement blade kits exist for most heads
• Touch up blades in the field, since riding in a quiver can dull them

The one-piece Muzzy One doesn't take replacement blades, so it gets sharpened as a whole head.

Broadheads are sharp from the package. Keep them in a hooded quiver or a closed case, and handle them by the ferrule, never the blades.

Muzzy facts

Here's what Muzzy's own pages state:

• Founded: 1984, per the Muzzy page on the FeraDyne Outdoors site
• Home: the brand's pages sit on the FeraDyne Outdoors site, which lists Muzzy among its brands
• Bowfishing: Muzzy Bowfishing describes nearly four decades in the sport
• Warranty: authentic Muzzy broadheads, original owner, RMA number required before any return; a defective head is exchanged or replaced with the same product

The warranty excludes damage from negligence, accidents, improper use or modification. Read the full terms on the maker's site before you mail anything.

Write the head weight and blade thickness on the case lid in marker. In October, in a dark garage, that lid is the only spreadsheet you'll have.