Bear Grizzly Recurve Bow Serial Numbers
Here ya go tman: How To Date Bear Bows A very common question from beginning Bear bow collectors is how to determine the age of a bow. Precious Moments Lovepreet Sandhu Mp3 Download. There are many features and changes applied by Bear over the years which will help you in determining your bows model year.
Jul 29, 2008 Bear kodiak Hunter Discussion in '. The serial numbers for all Bear bows were started over every month. Grizzly Static Recurve 1949-1957. Apr 10, 2017 This is topic Bear Grizzly Identification Guide 1949-1969 in forum. About identifying Bear Grizzly bows. Grizzly and all 3 had a gl serial number.
Note - A great deal of the credit for the following information is due to Mr. Al Reader of North Haledon, New Jersey. Al has studied Bear Archery for many, many years and is considered by everyone as the King of Information regarding Bear Archery collecting. First, if your bow is all wood, meaning that there is no laminations of any kind, then your bow had to be made before the mass production beginning in 1949. If your all wood bow has a stamp which says 'Bear Products' in some form, then it had to be before the early-mid forties. If your all-wood bow says 'Bear Archery', then it had to be manufactured after the early-mid forties and before 1949.
Wooden bows with a small 'Running Bear' decal can be dated to 1948. Another way is to look for a leather grip. All Bear bows had leather grips from those first Grumley’s in the late 30’s until 1959. In 1959, the Kodiak Special dropped the leather grip, and in 1961 the Kodiak followed suit. The Grizzly kept the leather grip until 1964. Yet another way to help determine the age of your bow is to look for a coin type medallion in the riser. Beginning in 1959, all Bear bows had a coin medallion of one type or another.
The coin was copper in 1959, then changed to Aluminum in 1960-61, and Pewter in 1962. Brass coins were used in 1963-1970, and nickel-silver in 1971-72. The coins were all flush with the wood until 1972. Advanced Installer Full Crack. Then in late 1972 it was raised above the surface of the bow. These raised medallions came in both gold and chrome covered plastic and are still used in todays Bear bows. How About Serial Numbers for Dating?
According to research done by Al Reader of New Jersey, who by the way is considered by most to be the most knowledgeable Bear collector alive, serial numbers work very well for dating Bear bows, but only for the years 1965-1969 when the first digit of the serial number is the year of manufacture. For example, a serial number of 6Z3884 would be a 1966 bow. Prior to 1965, the serial numbers for all Bear bows were started over every month, making these bows almost impossible to date by serial number alone. The 'K' series of serial numbers (for example KZ9399) were started in 1970. Even looking at the catalogs is not a sure way of dating a Bear bow, as sometimes the pictures were used for more than one year, even though there might have been changes in the woods used, or the colors available. Remember also that Bear had to take the next yearns catalog to the printer in late fall of the prior year. This means that bows for that catalog or model year had to be available to take pictures of in the fall before the catalog was printed.
For this reason, you will find bows of a particular year with features of the previous year. A good example would be the few known examples of the 1954 Kodiak II (Compass Kodiaks) with the small 'Running Bear' decal which was actually discontinued in late1953.
Most 1954 Kodiak II’s will be found with the large Standing Bear decal which replaced the small Running Bear decal in 1954. Another example would be the few known 1959 Kodiaks which don't have a coin medallion which were supposed to be on all Kodiaks beginning in model year 1959. Obviously these bows were made in late 1958 before the medallions became available to the factory. Sometimes showing the bow to a knowledgeable collector is the only sure way to get an accurate date of manufacture.