American-Hunter.com

The Grim Reaper mechanical is a unique head. It is a 3 blade, swing open type mechanical, but with a few distinct features. First the tip has 3 small blades inserted on the three flat sides. Without the blade inserts it looks very much like a muzzy tip, and also screws on in the same manor. The 2nd unique feature is the blade retention system. The head uses springs and a collar to hold the blades closed without the use of O rings or rubber bands. The collar pushes the springs forward. which in turn put pressure on the rear of the blades. This keeps the blades closed until the head impacts something to force them open. I found this system worked very well for normal practice, and the head never failed to open. I did however find that with severe impacts, the heads still opened properly but the springs would break not holding the blades closed upon repeated shots. I really don’t see this as a problem because you can purchase spare springs, and it only happened when hitting the plywood and steel drum. Since you need to replace the blades after shooting the heads before hunting with them, I would just replace the springs as well. I really don’t think you would have this problem on an animal. Plywood and steel drums are tougher than deer parts, and like I said the heads opened fine on the first shot, and the springs only broke under really severe impact.

In the orange it started to open on the front side, and by the time the head exited it was fully open. In the plywood the head fully opened, and penetrated up to the back of the blades. I did manage to bend in the body of one head slightly on the 2nd shot through the plywood. It only happened once, and only on the 2nd shot, but it is something to consider. In the Steel drum the Grim Reaper penetrated the first side, and the tip stuck in the far side. It did break off the tips of two blades, but no cutting surface was lost.

Overall these heads did fairly well in my tests, and the trocar tips with the blade inserts did improve penetration in most every material. I am not sure how much extra damage they will do in game, but they sure don’t hurt anything. The heads tested are actually last years model, and it is my understanding that the manufacture has or is currently making improvements to them to strengthen the main body. If this is the case an already good head will only get better. They have some great features and a couple of minor weak points, which is pretty much the case with all heads. I can see no reason not to use them if you like the positive features, and trocar style tip. Just pick up a few extra springs when you buy your replacement blades.