A question of D6 and quality IW components vs standard

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Mar 11, 2014
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Here is my question as I sit bored off my *** in quarantine. I am going to build new elk arrows. I am sold on ultra micro 4mm and have some Injexions. I am wondering if I am good with a system like the Iron Will D6 insert and collar and their quality D6 steel head or is that smaller ferrule still not worth the risk? In which case I go Firenock and insert or VAP TL - not sold on titanium half outs I guess.

Or do I just bite the bullet on Valkyrie? I know they are awesome, weird fear of lack of BH availability holds me back.
 
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I have VAP’s with the D6 inserts and ones with titanium outserts. The titanium outsert will bend with hard impacts by themselves but I built footers to go behind them and they have smashed concrete and rocks and still spin true and have held up great, I used 75 grain brass D6 inserts and footers and they have been incredibly durable as well. I keep both in my quiver I was able to make them the same weight and use the titanium outserts with mechanical heads and the D6 with iron will. Iron will and VPA are the only heads I trust in D6 for hard impacts. I bent a couple hypos in D6, jury is still out on Sevr in D6 I’ve killed a couple deer with them with no issues yet but with those skinny threads and long head I think the right angle will bend it eventually. If you plan on using iron will heads in D6 I wouldn’t worry about them at all but less quality heads may be a concern
 
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I am thinking IW for Elk and getting a few QAD for backup and cost savings on whitetails - Thanks for the replies
 

Zac

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Bill has stated multiple times that the only broadhead failures by clients came via D6 ferrules bending.
 

Acpinn

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My .02 is worth way less than .02 but know my next arrow build will be a 204id shaft with iron will insert and collar. I recently got their 125gr broadheads and am amazed at the engineering behind them.
 

Bill V

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Zac is right that I have seen a couple Deep Six ferrules come back bent, but they were using aluminum HIT inserts, no Impact Collars, and they hit big rocks. Using our Impact Collars, HITs and ferrules all made of high strength materials, this can be a very strong system.
 

nphunter

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If your going 4mm the D6 is the only way to go. I would do IW inserts with IW collars if I were to do 4mm again. I’ve killed a lot of elk and deer with D6 heads and have never broke a broadhead due to the small diameter. I switched back to 5mm with brass HIT’s and IW impact collars to have more head options after 8 years of D6 I had had enough.
 

TheViking

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After talking to a few buddies (fellow engineers) I went all in on a deep six build.

Easton Injexion (thickest wall hunting shaft you can buy outside of Day Six 250)
Iron Will 75g HIT
Iron Will 10g Ti Collar
Iron Will 100g broadhead

I chose the 75g HIT because of its length to internally foot the inside of the shafts. These 75g d6 HITs are around 2.125” long. These will seriously beef up that front end with solid steel.
The 10g Ti collar is plenty long to cover the joint between the broadhead and the HIT (the weak point).
The IW heads Ti shaft is the strongest out there.

I haven’t tested it yet minus some tuning, but I don’t think it will be easy to break. Even out of my 80# bow.
 
OP
S
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^^ Thats a similar recipe to what I was thinking- I like it. I will probably do the 50 gr IW insert. Im just shooting a whimpy 65# on my RX4 Ultra - trying not to get too crazy on arrow weight
 
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After I have a micro shaft snap off directly behind the half out when it hit an elk a few years ago, I dove down a rabbit hole and started playing around with several micro diameter setups. In my experience with micros, I found that the components up front were the Achilles heel. I had terrible luck when I was running the GT pierce platinums with the GT half out system (this was they system that I had fail that led me down this rabbit hole). I tried the ethics stainless half outs and those components were certainly better, but this was still not as durable of an overall setup as I wanted, I still had several shafts snap off directly behind the outsert on hard impacts. I can't speak to the durability of the Injections because I have not shot them, but I was not overly impressed with the pierce arrows with regards to their durability.

I then built a few of the pierce platinums up with deep six inserts to get away from half outs, while I did like that system better than either of the other half out setups I ran, it still had it's issues. I did not like being limited to only deep six broadheads, (at the time I tried this the deep six broadhead selection was poor, it has gotten better since then). This system was prone to tearing out the sides of the shaft and mushrooming on hard impacts.

The iron will deep six components were not around when I was doing this testing, therefore I do not have any experience with the Iron Will D6 components, but I have to imagine that is a very solid setup if you were to use both the insert and the collar. I think that the collar is a must if you are going to run this setup.

Through my testing I ended up going with the Day Six system, and am very happy with it thus far. The arrows themselves are very tough, I don't think there is a tougher micro diameter shaft on the market. They have the thickest walls of any other micro diameter shaft. Their centric half out system is light years better than the other outsert/ half out sytems I have tried (I never tried valkyrie system, I didnt want to be limited to just their broadheads). The day six system as a whole is incredibly strong. I also like not being limited to only deep six broadheads, or only valkyrie broadheads. Not trying to sell you on day six by any means, just sharing what I found.

I think that the components for micro diameter arrows are catching up. I would expect that the full Iron Will system up front on a tried and true tough arrow would be very good setup.
 

JBahr

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I just completed a shit ton of testing to perfect my arrow setup. I started testing with Day Six then GT Pierce Platinums and finally Victory VAPs.

With Day Six their spine chart pointed me towards 300's (11.2GPI), borderline 250's(12.6GPI) and I was worried about total arrow weight, so I went with the aluminum half outs and the 300's. Arrows tuned great, were very accurate but were way to slow at 580 grains moving at 220fps from a 77lb Mathews VXR with 29.5" DL. I also hit some interior support bars on a 3D target and the half out bent badly. Seeing as their 100gr steel half outs would only add 50 grains to my setup, I got ahold of Iron Will. I tried their titanium collars and a 25 grain D6 insert but still couldn't get the weight down enough to improve speed, so I moved on.

In a search for a similarly spined arrow with a lighter grains per inch I bought some GT Pierce Platinums and Victory VAPs both in 250's to test. (Thank baby Jesus retailers allow purchasing singles these days!!). I tossed the GT and Victory half outs in the trash immediately, fitment was good but they were flimsy. Both arrows weighed the same and took the same IW collar and D6 inserts. I ended up getting both to the exact same weight and both tuned with a IW Steel 25 grain collar and 25 grain insert. They weigh 525 grains with a 125 Grain point, wrap and four AAE Max vanes cut at 30inches. They fly like darts at 275 FPS and both carry a broadhead well out to 75 yards. Getting the collars, inserts and broadheads to spin well was tricky but I think I got it down and am ready to go into bulk production.

For shits and grins I shot through a worn out block into a cinder block. Both arrows held up well, suffering only field point damage. I figured this was a more real life test than direct impact, the arrows would almost pass through the block at this point and it's retired... While refletching a few I noticed the VAP was easier to strip and that was the only deciding factor between them and the GT. So I ended up getting 18 VAP's.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 23, 2018
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I just completed a shit ton of testing to perfect my arrow setup. I started testing with Day Six then GT Pierce Platinums and finally Victory VAPs.

With Day Six their spine chart pointed me towards 300's (11.2GPI), borderline 250's(12.6GPI) and I was worried about total arrow weight, so I went with the aluminum half outs and the 300's. Arrows tuned great, were very accurate but were way to slow at 580 grains moving at 220fps from a 77lb Mathews VXR with 29.5" DL. I also hit some interior support bars on a 3D target and the half out bent badly. Seeing as their 100gr steel half outs would only add 50 grains to my setup, I got ahold of Iron Will. I tried their titanium collars and a 25 grain D6 insert but still couldn't get the weight down enough to improve speed, so I moved on.

In a search for a similarly spined arrow with a lighter grains per inch I bought some GT Pierce Platinums and Victory VAPs both in 250's to test. (Thank baby Jesus retailers allow purchasing singles these days!!). I tossed the GT and Victory half outs in the trash immediately, fitment was good but they were flimsy. Both arrows weighed the same and took the same IW collar and D6 inserts. I ended up getting both to the exact same weight and both tuned with a IW Steel 25 grain collar and 25 grain insert. They weigh 525 grains with a 125 Grain point, wrap and four AAE Max vanes cut at 30inches. They fly like darts at 275 FPS and both carry a broadhead well out to 75 yards. Getting the collars, inserts and broadheads to spin well was tricky but I think I got it down and am ready to go into bulk production.

For shits and grins I shot through a worn out block into a cinder block. Both arrows held up well, suffering only field point damage. I figured this was a more real life test than direct impact, the arrows would almost pass through the block at this point and it's retired... While refletching a few I noticed the VAP was easier to strip and that was the only deciding factor between them and the GT. So I ended up getting 18 VAP's.

Very good info, very similar to the testing I was playing around with. Your finished arrow weight ended up very close to where mine did. Mines a day six 300, with the 50gr aluminum, 125gr head. finished arrow is 530gr, shooting 280 fps, going to be a hammer. I did the cinder block testing also, the day six was the only setup I tested that survived, so it sounds like the Iron Will components, especially the collar made big improvements! Good to know.
 

TheViking

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I did the cinder block testing also, the day six was the only setup I tested that survived, so it sounds like the Iron Will components, especially the collar made big improvements! Good to know.

Was this with the 50g aluminum outsert or the 100g steel outsert?
 

Yote1

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I’ve had good luck with D6 durability and tremendous penetration shooting Midwest whitetail.
 
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