Review: Aftershock Archery Maniac Broadheads
by Brian Wensel-Dewclaw Staff Shooter

The Maniac Broadheads by Aftershock Archery were evaluated during a two-week whitetail-hunting trip to Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois. We were in the woods from sunrise to sunset and really put our equipment to the test.  The weather conditions were at times, intense, and for a period of 4 days we hunted in steady rain.  Prior to the trip, our equipment was sighted in using the 100 grain 4-blade configuration.  Upon return from the trip, more detailed analysis of the product was conducted in both the 2-blade and 4-blade configurations.

Design and Function: 
The Aftershock Maniac Broadheads are constructed of a machined type-3S hard-coated 7075-T6 Ferrule, a one-piece hardened stainless steel .040” cut-on-contact tip and main blade, and a stainless steel .020” bleeder blade.   There are no small screws, washers, retaining rings, crimps, rivets, or rubber bands needed during assembly or operation of these broadheads.  The exclusive, patent pending, ShockLoc Dual-Rail Support and Locking System make assembly a snap (literally)!  These broadheads can be quickly and easily disassembled and reassembled in the field with no tools required.  As mentioned above, they can also function as a two blade broadhead, using the main blade only, or a four blade broadhead with the bleeder blade inserted.  From a design and function perspective, these broadheads are as solid as it gets. 

Aesthetics: 
This is one sharp looking broadhead!  (No pun intended)  The sleek design and chiseled tip make for a rather intimidating piece of gear hanging on the business end of your arrow shaft!  Not much to say about the aesthetics of a broadhead, but this one does look good!

Fit and Finish:
Limited detail to evaluate with regards to the finish of a stainless steel blade.  However, the blades on this broadhead are very well designed!  The patent pending ShockLoc Dual-Rail Support and Locking System just plain works.  When this broadhead is assembled it is solid!  No doubt in my mind, when I draw back on an animal, whether it’s a whitetail here in Virginia or a black bear in Quebec, I am confident that when my arrow passes through that animal the blades will stay in place and do their job!  Absolutely nothing negative to say concerning the fit and finish of this product! 

Ease of Use:
The blades in the two blade and four blade configurations fit snugly into the slim ferrule.  Now I have to be honest here.  For the past few years I’ve been primarily a mechanical broadhead archer.  Having a broadhead that performs as well as this one does, without small screws, washers, retaining rings, crips, etc…was quite nice.  Assembly can be just a little tricky, but nothing serious.  In order to assemble the broadheads they must be snapped into the ferrule.  In order to do so, I found the easiest way is to slightly pull apart the blades while inserting them into the ferrule.  I caution you though, these blades are SHARP!  Inserting them takes some caution, and its not the easiest task.  One wrong slip and it’s a trip to the hospital for stitches!  But we surely won’t hit a broadhead for being sharp!  The Maniac broadheads are about as easy to assemble and use as any on the market.

Performance: 
Out of the package, these broadheads were easily assembled and ready to for business.  Now as I mentioned, I’ve been primarily a mechanical broadhead archer for several years.  That was mainly because of their ability to impact your target just like your practice tips. 

Very little tuning, if any, is required with most of the mechanical broadheads on the market today.  Another problem that drove me to make the switch was a fixed blades tendency to plane during flight.  At times, fixed blade broadheads are just too difficult to get dialed in, especially at distances past 30 yards.

Prior to our trip, limited shots were taken with the Maniac broadheads.  Having only three, I didn’t want to dull the blades through repeated shots into my block target.   But after a few shots with the Maniac broadheads, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the arrow placements on my target placed at 40 yards is virtually identical to my practice tips!  In fact, they were accurate enough to actually make me consider converting back to fixed blade broadheads permanently!  Ok, well maybe not that drastic, the jury is still out.

Upon returning from our trip, more testing was conducted in both the two and four blade configurations out to 60 yards.  Bottom line, this is a great performing fixed blade broadhead and  the arrow groups and accuracy at great distances was very good.  I would be confident in launching one of these broadheads at long distances at an animal.

Summary
Design and Function: The exclusive, patent pending, ShockLoc Dual-Rail Support and Locking System make assembly a snap and they really hit the nail on the head with this product.  Only 3 parts to this broadhead makes it about as simple as it can get, and it is literally one of the most solid broadheads I’ve used.
Aesthetics: Great looking product.
Fit and Finish: Fit couldn’t be better. Broadhead components fit extremely tight, almost too tight!  If that’s possible.
Ease of Use: Easy to assemble, easy to tune.  My ONLY concern is the risk associated with assembly and even more so, disassembly of the broadhead with regards to the risk of slicing your fingers.  The blades fit so tight, that you have to grip the blades to perform the tasks.  Now, tight blades is truly a good thing and I hate to hit them on it.  But, I also am very hesitant to give a perfect 5.0 to any product…so, I’m taking ½ a circle for the safety/assembly issue.
Performance:  The Maniac broadheads perform like field tips and mechanicals.  I had no issue with tuning, maybe I got lucky but these things fly great!  No complaints!

Overall, I will not hesitate to recommend this broadhead to fellow friends, Dewclaw Customers and Pumphouse Outdoors hunters.  Solid product, great design, razor sharp blades, I can’t complain about anything, simply a great product!