Crimson Talon is the flagship model of an unique line of broadheads manufactured by 2XJ Enterprises. They are unique in using blades shaped as airfoils to spin the broadhead (and arrow) in flight. The broadhead then becomes the stabilizing force for the flying arrow, this is opposite of traditional setups which depend on vanes or feathers to impart spin. According to 2XJ the airfoil blades result in broadheads that shoot like fieldtips and leave a spiral wound channel that "cannot close or clot".
I have personaly used Crimson Talon broadheads with two different bows and have taken four whitetail deer with them, In addition we have sold dozens of packs of Crimson Talons and received feedback from many users in our shop. With both my bows I found that the Crimson Talon broadheads did indeed shoot just like my fieldtips. With the first bow (Bowtech Extreme VFT) I used an arrow with a 4 inch vane fletched straight. With the second bow (Mathews Switchback) I used the Bohning Blazer vane which is only about 2 inches long. Not only did my arrows shoot to the same point as my fieldtips, they also grouped every bit as well as my fieldtips. At 20 yard I had to shoot each arrow at a different spot or I ran a big risk of damaging an arrow.
Of the dozens of customers that bought Crimson Talon broadheads in our shop almost all found they could group their fieldtips and the Crimson Talon together. We found that archers who could not group thier Crimson Talons with their fieldpoints either needed their bow tuned or they were shooting underspined arrows. Once their bow was tuned or they tried a stiffer arrow they were able to shoot broadheads and target tips together.
A good broadhead must be accurate and Crimson Talons live up to their accuracy billing. However a good broadhead must also perform well on game. We have had mixed results on deer with Crimson Talons. When they first came out in 2003 we got many reports from the field of recovered broadheads with broken or mangled blades. I personaly shot a deer and my broadhead had one blade broken off and the other two folded over. This was disapointing as I expect most broadheads to be reusable with a blade change or quik sharpening.
I am happy to report that 2XJ Enterprises has fixed this problem by going to a much thicker blade then that on the original Crimson Talon broadhead. In 2005 I took three deer with Crimson Talon broadheads and every head was reusable and not one blade was even bent. The new, thicker blades have not just worked for me, they are working for our customers as we are no longer getting any complaints from the field.
If you choose to use Crimson Talon's you should take some extra care when practicing. The airfoil blade can be tricky to back out of targets. 2XJ suggests shooting them into a foam target , pushing them through until the broadhead can be unscrewed from the back side, and then pulling out the shaft minus the broadhead. I have shot the new, heavier bladed Crimson Talon several dozen times into a Field Logic "Block" target and have been able to back them out without catching or bending the airfoil blades. I let the shaft rotate in my hand so the blades can follow the spiral channel they cut in reverse. (when I tried the same thing with the original thin bladed broadhead the blades bent into an unusable shape almost instantly)
