Trypanophobia: An irrational fear of medical procedures (such as injection) using needles. The origin of “trypano” is Greek, meaning auger (a device used to drill a hole) and phobia, also Greek meaning fear.

Thus the name “Trypan” is apropos for the latest in the Rage line of slip-cam mechanical broadheads.

This new, 100-grain head features a streamlined, needle-like titanium ferrule and two-inch cutting diameter. It also creates what Rage calls a “slap cut” entry hole “in excess of 2½ inches.” It features thick .039-inch stainless steel blades. They’re razor sharp and sit in a swept-back, blade-angle configuration at the shot. They are the thickest blades Rage has ever used in a broadhead (the original Rage Hypodermic has blades that are .035-inch thick.) They carry just a ¾-inch inflight profile.

Rage’s Slip-Cam Technology

All rage Hypodermic broadheads employ slip-cam technology. Simply stated, the blades lay nearly flat against the ferrule and are held in place by a polymer collar that’s designed for a single shot. Upon impact, the blades slide back through a groove in the ferrule while spreading their wings, so to speak, until they hit the ferrule’s base and reach their maximum cutting diameter. This creates minimal friction during penetration while also creating a slim profile during arrow flight, which greatly aids accuracy.

A 3-pack of Trypan broadheads that includes 6 shock collars retails for somewhere around $49.99.

The Shock Collar

Rage has also given these heads a new collar. This one is a grey polymer and called the Trypan-specific Shock Collar. The collar is keyed to the notches in the Trypan’s blades so it can never be put on incorrectly. The only downside is that they are a one-shot phenomenon, making it impossible to practice with the broadhead itself unless you do as I did during my testing (see below). You can purchase additional shock collars in a 20 pack for $8.99.

Field Test

I have been a big fan of Rage Hypodermic heads for years and have used them to successfully take game ranging in size from rabbits to an 800-pound Nilgai bull, one of the toughest critters around. They are one of the few broadheads that I can honestly say that, once my bow-and-arrow combination has been precisely tuned, will shoot pretty much exactly the same as field points of the same grain weight at distances both short and long.

I was also a huge fan of the now-defunct Rocky Mountain Titanium Ti-100 and Ti-125 replaceable-blade broadhead, the first to use titanium for its ferrules. It was so tough I actually shot (and recovered) 24 whitetails in a row with the same Ti-100 ferrule, simply changing blades between each animal.

So when the Rage Trypan arrived on the scene I was anxious to have a chance to shoot and hunt with them.

First I took two dozen Trypans out of the package and weighed them on an electronic grain scale. I found that all weighed somewhere between 99.2 and 100.2 grains — well within my own personal tolerances when building hunting arrows for long-range shooting. Next I paper-tuned my 70-lb. Bear Moment compound bow with Carbon Express Maxima Red SD arrow shafts — more on those in an upcoming blog post — with 100-grain field points and got it sighted in to 70 yards with the aid of a Spot Hogg Hogg-It 7-pin bow sight.

Next I returned to the paper tuning rack and shot an arrow through paper tipped with a Trypan head. To save collars, I actually took one of the original blade-lock collars from one of my old Ti-100 heads and replaced the Trypan collar so I could shoot the broadhead multiple times without going through a bazillion collars. Perfect bullet hole.

On the range I checked the Trypan — as well as a Rage practice broadhead tip — against the sight pin settings from the field points. They were identical, even at the longer distances. This makes practice so much easier since I could now use any type of target I wanted, from bag targets to 3D animal targets, without fear of wrecking or losing a pricey broadhead. And shoot I did, four mornings a week for a month prior to my first hunt with this rig.

I had a chance to make a quick trip to South Texas in mid-June to hunt Axis deer, a super fun and challenging bow hunt for perhaps the tastiest critter on the continent. And while I was ready to sneak around and shoot out there a ways, when it finally happened for me I was in a make-shift brush blind 20 yards from a water tank in 100-degree afternoon heat. The 175-pound buck I shot quartered right in front of me at all of 12 steps. The broadhead sliced through an onside rib, penetrated the vitals, and lodged in the offside scapula. They just can’t take a lot of that.

When I recovered the animal, I slid the shaft out of the chest and examined the broadhead. It looked perfect to me. So back at camp I cleaned it up, spun it on the shaft to make sure all was well, then took it out and shot it into the 10-ring at a target at 30 yards. Pretty impressive. So impressive that I’ll be hunting with Trypans often.

A 3-pack of Trypan broadheads that includes 6 shock collars retails for somewhere around $49.99. More info is available at http://www.ragebroadheads.com/hypodermic-trypan/.