I picked up a few of these old gold aluminum arrows with 4 blade broadheads. The only marking is the #20 on the arrow. Any idea of what they are?

Thanks, T4

Tru-Flite, I believe.

That head had a few names attached to it. I have some glue-on type marketed by Shakespeare.

The shafts as well. Tru-Flite

This particular broadhead has been made by Mid-Western Engineering, Gas-Lite Co., and Tru-Flite. It is most commonly known as a "Silencer". There have been actually dozens of variants off it,...screw-in design, glue-on design and one where the blades were fitted to a swaged aluminum shaft. They have been made in two and four blade models,...some of the two blades did and did not have a slotted ferrule. Some were nicely made and some almost pieces of junk,...for example the rear ends of the ferrules on some glue-ons were almost rectangular and certainly NOT round. The blade shapes on the different designs were always very similar to what you have here, but if you compared any two models closely you could see the differences. The first design of this broadhead came out in the late 1960s and, depending on the model and company, they were made into the mid-1990s. These broadheads were, for the most part, economy broadheads that seldom appeared on higher priced arrows.

Bud B, I remember those heads. True Flight marketed wood arrows too. In 1975, the heads I remember the most were True Flight, Wasp, Ben Pearson, Satellite and my favorite the Bear Heads.

I remember the ones that were fitted to a swaged shaft. Were actually two separate blades that kinda of clipped onto the shaft. Maybe a collectors item, but a real piece of junk as far as a broad head. At least that style was. The blades had a penchant for sliding off the shaft upon impact.

T4? Looks like that head might have bit a deer? ( Unless that is rust on the blade?) What bow does it take to launch the shafts? Hope that You got some of the GOOD broad-heads and can bring home a deer with them.

Half of the old arrows had some nice Bear heads on them. I hadnt seen these before. I hope the arrows shoot well out of 50# bows.

T4

One of my first sets of store bought arrows used those heads. May even have a couple in a box somewhere? True Flight arrows where available at the Kmart type stores back then.

Shakespeare sold them as Thunderbolt model hunting arrows. They were swaged and notched for the heads.

I had a dozen of those. They were the first aluminum arrows I had ever owned. They came crested with black and red paint. I cut everyone of the ends off and installed threaded inserts. Worked a lot better that way. MP

George, you have a link to that pic in larger format? I would like to read that advertisement.

Thanks.

The "Thunderbolt" designation referred to the arrow with the swaged end. The broadhead design was the "Silencer" model Mark IV and is identified by the ABCC as bhd. #1141.000 manufactured by Mid-Western Engineering (marketed & sold by Shakespear) and first introduced in 1970.

weigh it , you wont believe how heavy those early arrows can be 660g with out a point

As a side note. I bought those arrows at Shau Powell Sporting Goods, in downtown Kalamazoo. The salesperson was a female archer by the name of Joan Gallihugh. Anybody ever hear of her? MP

Kmart sold them.

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