Is this a recurve or a longbow?
Pennsylvania
I'm thinking this would be considered a recurve although it doesn't look like any I've ever seen before. I inherited this bow from a family member. It's a 53# Bear grizzly that appears to be fairly old. I know a lot of traditional guys post here so I thought I would post some pics to see what you guys thought. Would you attempt to shot it or just hang it on the wall?
It's a static recurve. When it's strung it looks like a recurve. It was created by Bears bowyer Nels Grumley. It's a step between a longbow and a recurve with improved performance over the longbow.
I wouldn't shoot it. It's too valuable to chance breaking it.
Why not shoot it? That's what it was made for. Check it out well, if there are no signs of any real damage or material faults it should be fine to shoot. Use a stringer to string it up, and don't over draw it.
spider1
At your draw it probably is OK to shoot.
:)
Yes, there are many advantages, like being able to shoot great bows with few worries ;)
Bows like that are few and far between but not million dollar collectors items. It won't put the kid through college, know what I mean. The materials were pretty good for the time and if there aren't any noticable flaws like delaminating or cracks, that bow should be shootable. It was made to be drawn to 28", so I would put a limit on it there. jmho.
By the way, that bow is a Deerslayer, made between '48 + '53.
Thanks for the replies, I think for now I'm just going to hang it on the wall. I really would hate to break it because it appears to be in very good shape. Besides, I can't hit the broadside of a barn with traditional gear, although I do enjoy trying. I would love to hunt with traditional gear someday but I have to get better first.
Spider1 you have me confused, you say the bow is a Deerslayer but it has Grizzly written on the limb??
That is a cool lookin' bow! I prolly wouldn;t take a chance blowin' it up, either.
No...it's a Grizzly made around 1952. The Grummley bows had the name on them, this is a Bear Grizzly, made after Nels left the company. Bear made the static recurves up till 1953 when the full recurves came about...Bear's first full recurve was the 1954 Kodiak. The only ones you don't want to shoot are the Grizzly and Kodiak with the aluminum lam....they are likely to fail. I know several folks who use them regularly and hunt with them as well.
My bad, sorry, I didn't see the Grizzly Mark. It doesn't show up on my 'puter.
I figured with the running bear sticker and the longer brush nocks that it was a Deerslayer. The running bear was used from 48-53. And as George said, the static tip Grizzly was made up to '53 when they switched to the working recurve limb. The aluminum laminated bows were made from 49-51 and the '51 grizzly was one of them, but yours isn't. That makes yours a '52 or '53. In '53 they started making the working limb recurves and they were stamped with a 1953 Canada patent. So I think George nailed it. Right around a '52 Grizzly.
SPider- you ever been on ANTIQUE ROADSHOW?! ;-)
No, but I did stay at a holiday in express once :)
Actually, over on the wall, dating older bows is a regular question. I pick up a lot of stuff, especially on the old Bears. But George knows a lot more about the "older" bows than I do, cuz he was there...and I mean that in the nicest possible way :)
Spider gave me this link and it has been helpful to me. I got my second Kodiak magnum this past month. And my 2 bows fall neatly into categories described on the site.
Closely as I can figure, the brown/red one was made in '70 and the green/blue one was made in '74. That's going by the color of the medalions, etc.
Keeping with the theme of this thread, how do you like the ends of these limbs on a Big East Mountain bow by Fedora, Jr?
It is 60" long and 46# at 25.5 inches. Specially customized by & for M. J. Fedora, Jr.
It looks like a recurve until you get to the last 6 inches of the limbs. Has the big thumb rest like his dad's bows.
OK, I have another question for you experts. Does anyone know of a bow company from Mckeesport PA? I picked up a longbow at a yard sale several years ago, but the brand name is worn off. All I can read on the label is Mckeesport, PA
Yes, that would be Cravotta Brothers Archery, East McKeesport, Pa. They are long-since out of business. They made the Blackhawk brand of bows...some really nice ones. They also made a lot of cheaper, entry-level bows. They packed it in shortly after the compounds took hold. Cravotta also made bows for other entities during the 1960's and early 70's.
That's a neat lookin' bow Art! How'd you get it?
25.5? That should fit SPider perfect! :)
Don't you be messing with my buddy Perry. The guy I bought it off of thinks I stole it from him. I'd be interested to see if the original owner would like to get it back.
YEah, ya might have a gold mine there, Art! ;-)
There's not much about Fedora's I like... the bows, or the businessmen.
