In case your bow doesn’t have enough oomph to take down whatever beast you may be hunting, the folks over at Rac-Em-Bac might have the solution for you. Their new Bow Mag cylinders allow you to insert a .38 special or .357 magnum round inside their arrowheads that discharge upon impact. They work with both standard arrow shafts or crossbow bolts. Be sure to check all local laws to be sure these are even legal to use for hunting in your area before you start playing Hawkeye from The Avengers, or Rambo if you were around in the 80’s. They retail for $39.99 for a pack of six over at RaceEmBac.com.
Check it out in action below
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Oh… I can’t wait until the ATF tries to classify this as a DD.
They better not, this sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. A step closer to explosive arrows.
If anything, they would classify them as AOW’s like existing powerheads/bangsticks.
How can the round achieve anything close to an effective velocity with no barrel?
saw the second kill?
the hole the round made was not very deep…
they just picked the lead out….hm…
I can’t tell if that is the jacket or if that was the brass. I do find it disconcerting that they do not have any data to show on penetration/velocity. I like the idea for fun on hogs if it is at least quiet from firing in the hog and if it will do the job. Though not for the price if the are one time use.
While the plastic sheath might not retain pressure, I’m guessing it holds together enough for a couple of thousand psi to be generated, giving the bullet enough velocity to be equivalent to shooting game at contact range with a snub nosed revolver.
Doesn’t this completely ruin the good properties of an arrow (deep penetration and quiet), without giving really anything from the round fired?
I mean, sure, the shock will probably put down something small like those hogs if you hit them in the head but would anyone risk shooting a larger game animal with these? An inch of penetration, a lot of sound and some shock force from the bullet. Seems awfully gimmicky.
Psht, never happen.
insert the bullet and a little explosive = fancy explosive-tipped arrow
thats about the most use you’ll get out of this.
This is an AOW, isn’t it? Smoothbore handgun with no pistol grip.
doesn’t a mud covered Arnold use this to disable a predator?
.357 magnums are too puny of Arnold, He went with a 40mm HE round.
How would each of these bullet heads not count as a firearm requiring an FFL transfer?
No barrel or legitimate chamber means no firearm. I doubt these are generating any significant pressure, much less velocity. They are the functional equivalent of holding a loose cartridge against a target and whacking the primer. The only reason it is the bullet moving forward – and not the arrow flying back – is that the mass of the bullet is lower than the combined mass of the arrow, shell holder, and brass.
To the best of my knowledge, every state that I’ve ever hunted – NY,PA, FL, MT, AZ, ID – would call this an explosive projectile that is not legal for hunting – at least not during archery/crossbow season. The one exception would be hogs hunted on private land in Florida. There, when on private land, hogs are considered property, not game animals, so you can try whatever methods you can dream up.
IIRC Powerheads or bangsticks, require a permanently installed shaft longer than 26″ to avoid being classified as a firearm. Since this bullethead is a screw on, I’m not so sure.
So someone has revived the notion of mounting a bang stick on an arrow. How very retro. haha
Pretty sure this is illegal in Texas… seem to recall regulations say no poison or exploding tips. If you answer “it’s not exploding, its a pistol” then you’re hunting with a pistol and that might not jive with location / season / game restrictions.
Plus all the other comments about how this seems like a bad idea for sport hunters.
Not being a bow hunter, I’ve always assumed that part of the challenge was tracking the dying quarry after a hit, because arrows don’t kill on impact? Might this reduce that necessity? I’ve heard tales of losing, or being unable to track a wounded animal in dense or difficult country, or because it curls up to die in a weird place…
On most game I’d trust a through and through, 1-1&1/4″ broad head wound channel more than I would a low velocity .38 caliber bullet impact.
It does make for some interesting options for the reloader. Knowing its supposed to blow up, you are no longer worried about staying in safe SAMMI approved pressure range. So light bullet, and lots of *really-fast* powder will make for some nice pyrotechnics.
What’s that? Fill up the entire case with bullseye? YES SIR!!! 🙂
i know a guy who tried something like this by glueing a pistol primer to the tip of an arrow shaft.
he shot it at a brick wall, primer popped, the arrow reversed direction, and almost took out his eye.
this sounds like a dangerously terrible idea.
It would probably be safer in this case (if not from the law) to pack the shaft with some kind of fast pistol powder – when the bits heading back at you have so much more surface area than mass, they won’t get far.
this would almost warrant a totally new hand load recipe
Yeah, since you’re pretty far from the round when it detonates, I’m interested in seeing what it does with a .357 loaded to capacity with the fastest burning powder available.
Makes more flash/smoke.
Once the bullet unseats the pressure curve isn’t going upwards any more.
Might be better off with flash powder or black powder- closer to a detonation than anything smokeless.
wait…what if you mounted an arrowhead to the front of the bullet you put in the arrowhead?!?! Mind. Blown.
Figure out how to incorporate a knife and a slingshot, and you have the perfect weapon!
Shooting feral hogs, vermin, coyotes and such would be legal in some places with these things according to the website. The casing that the bullet is in blows up so they are not reusable. At about $6.50 a pop. not counting the cost of the ammo, they ain’t exactly cheap entertainment. I’m sure some people will buy them just for the novelty of them.
“Personally, I would think some type of bang stick arrow using a 22
blank or similar behind an arrow head (kind of like a nail gun) would be
more effective.”
Agree. Something like this:
http://www.swivelmachine.com/html/rimfire.htm
http://www.laruetactical.com/ruger-10-22-deluxe-arrow-conversion-kit
need to make a .223 version and pack the front with binary explosive
“OMG! This might be illegal!”
I cant believe how pussified people have become. Bunch of ninnys.
Ignore those laws!
Enjoy your prison rape.
Im a pussy because i think this is overkill and dangerous? Just use a rifle and you cant call yourself a bow hunter if you use this during bow season.
Practicality: 0%. Cool factor: Unlimited. Fun: Can’t wait to try.
Wouldn’t it be cool to find other ways to launch bullets? I bet they could make something to fire the bullet near the user, where the bow is. Then add some kind of tube to add pressure and increase the velocity.
As an archer…WTH?!
This is a solution looking to solve a non-existent problem. At an reasonable range the terminal effectiveness of a good broadhead will perform with comparative effectiveness to this contraption. Moreover, what happens when you miss, hit a rock, and send a bullet over yon horizon?
Hunting with crossbows during archery season is one thing, but this is something else entirely.
useless shit is useless
Think about what this tip weighs loaded as compared to the 150 gr points most guys are using . Arrow flight must be poor, this is one of the most ridiculous ideas I have seen in a long time. The answer to a problem that does not exist. If you need this to be a successful bow hunter get out of the sport because you are making the rest of us look stupid.
Well. If you want to kill some “thing” with a bullet and not leave behind any traditional firearm type forensic evidence this might be the way to go. No rifling on the bullet dug out of the corpse. Pick up your trash left behind and head home. No pieces of the device, no shell casings. Why, no officer. I don’t even own a gun.
Yo dawg this is xibit we heard you like guns and bows so we put a gun in yo bow so you can shoot bullitz while you shoot arrowz….
It’s just a power head – we have been using these for decades to kill sharks.
You’ve been shooting sharks with bows & arrows? Underwater?
And, now for bow-fishermen… You can “blast your cast”! And, why not? Doesn’t everybody like the taste of gunpowder & jacketed hollow points, in their fish soup?
This could be greatly improved so that the bullet could reach maximum velocity.
I saw a video of a guy shooting a giant gummy bear with it. Not only did it not penetrate at all, but it also destroyed the guys arrow. He then showed himself shooting the gummy bear with a wasp 100 grain and it blew right through the gummy bear. Not only are these things expensive to shoot (7$ per unit and 10$ for an arrow plus the expensive .357 round) but they are not as effective as a regular broadhead.
Why not just use a gun? Seem like useless invention to me