When I was a kid, I shot aluminum 2219s with 125 grain fixed blade heads of various kinds. Although my arrows were always over 500 grains, I rarely got a complete pass through on all the does and little bucks I shot for several reasons. One, I didn't tune my bow very well and that KILLS your penetration. Two, my FOC wasn't very high because more of the weight was just in the shaft...even though my overall momentum was a bit higher than what I shoot now. Three, the heads I used were usually pretty crappy, ferrules bent easily that sort of thing.
Now I almost always slice right through the bigger bucks I shoot because I fixed all the above issues. Also two elk.
Mauser, I really think a lot of the issues you had with those two hits are due to hitting heavy bone with those steep cutting angle blades on the grizztrick. If you just switched to something like the vipertrick I think you would see a big improvement in penetration when you hit big bone.
You can switch to a 2 blade head if you want but I personally would keep bleeder blades on it. I like the holes I get with my 150 grain mangus heads with the bleeder blades. I know Dr. Ashby really likes his single bevel 2 blades to get every inch of penetration he can but a whitetail is nothing compared to a water buffalo. Some deer are really fat and I just don't see a thin 2-blade hole staying open very well w/o bleeders in that situation, even single bevel. I remember those little half moon holes in the photos of his reports. Also a gut hit I would want cutting in all directions to cut as much tissue as I can.
Keep those blade angles low and I am certain you can push a 4 blade all the way through a big buck from almost any angle with your high FOC & momentum setup. That is what I think I can do with my setup and yours is slightly higher FOC and arrow weight. The only big difference between our arrows we currently shoot is you have a flat bladed hatchet on the end of your arrow and I have a spear. Which goes deeper with the same "push"?
I agree there are so many variables out there, there's no perfect setup. If I KNEW I was going to shoot a deer dead center in the guts I would screw on what I use for turkeys - a 2-3/4" mechanical
