A Banshee according to Irish folklore is a ghost or spirit which wails horribly in order to announce the approaching death of a loved one.  But referring to the Banshee from Golden Key-Futura, it can be classified as a broadhead, silent and accurate, which when released from a bow produces a quick and clean death to any wild game in its path!!

Golden Key-Futura recently announced this new concept in a cut on impact two blade design.  Upon inspecting the Banshee you can immediately recognize that the surface area is unique and reminds me of a sharks tooth.  The design allows the slender point to penetrate easily yet the last quarter inch expands into a full cutting width which measures 1.125?.   This I feel is wide enough to ensure a good blood trail.  The rear edge of the broadhead is also unique in that it is sharpened.  This allows the broadhead to continue cutting if for some reason it is pulled from the wound.  The Banshee gives the archer a total cutting area of just over three inches, not including the over ½? length of the rear edge.  Not bad for just a two blade broadhead.

The single piece stainless steel non-vented blade is one of the thickest on the market coming in at .048?.  It is affixed to an aluminum ferrule via two screws. This concept makes it very easy to change blades while not sacrificing strength.  The ferrule itself consists of a rounded body with a tapered cone style head.  The tapered head allows the body to easily continue through the wound channel.  At the end of the Banshee ferrule expands outward.  This design allows the arrow itself to meet minimal resistance in order to conserve kinetic energy.

The Banshee comes straight out of the package assembled and razor sharp.  I can attest to this as it passed both the shaved arm test as well as the paper slice.  It also maintained its sharpness after several passes through a block foam target.  The blades can either be touched up or replaced by simply removing the two screws and exchanging blades.  Now the final question is would a non vented blade with this type of thickness and cutting width affect accuracy?

The best way to find out is to take them to the range.

Test were conducted on my hunting setup which consists of an ACC 3-60 arrow cut to 28.75? and with a broadhead weight of 410 grains.  Each arrow was spine tested on an arrow that was known to have a centered insert.  All broadhead points spun perfectly and true ensuring quality alignment between blades and ferrule. 

The arrows were shot from 20 yards into an American Whitetail dense foam target especially designed for broadheads.  Volleys of two arrows were shot for 10 rounds with a total of 20 shots.  At this distance all shots were placed well within a two inch circle.  So the earlier stated theory has been put to the test and passed.  The non-vented broadhead stood the test of being shot at close to 300 fps (298) with accuracy.

Many people believe only two blade broadheads are fine for lower poundage bows, light arrows or traditional equipment.  To me my test confirm this broadhead is lethal on any bow combination in order to harvest North American big game animals.

Design 4.0 out of 5
The broadhead, even though non-vented, is very accurate because of it low surface area design.  You would think that the cutting diameter would suffer but it is not the case coming in at 1 and 1/8?.  The sharpened back edge makes it a lot easier to pull out of targets just as I am sure it would have an effect for some reason if pulled out of game.

Toughness 4.0 out of 5
The design strength is complimented by the blade thickness as well as the rounded ferrule.  The simple one piece blade design doesn?t have any fancy features that could go wrong.  Just a well designed two blade broadhead.

Sharpness 4.0 out of 5
The cut on impact head and blades were razor sharp out of the package.  Even after several shots through a multiple layered target still revealed a sharp blade.  Touch ups on the blades are a little harder due to the flared blade but I prefer to replace them which is very simple.

Accuracy 5 out of 5
No groans here when affixed to a well balanced arrow as well as a tuned bow.

For more information or the 2004 New Product Guide, see your local GK dealer or distributor or contact:

GOLDEN KEY-FUTURA, Inc
PO Box 1446
Montrose, CO  81402-1446
970-249-6700   (fax) 970-249-4108
Web Site - www.GoldenKeyArchery.com