These references are often lost or misplaced

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Jamesh76
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 6:05 pm

These references are often lost or misplaced

#1 Post by Jamesh76 »

http://www.archeryhistory.com/recurves/recurves.htm

http://www.archeryhistory.com/recurves/recurvesmain.htm


Yes..... I am searching for a birth year 1976 manufactured Bear Kmag, Super Mag, Kodiak or Grizzly.

Any help? From what I gather, they have blue and green on the front of the riser instead of white?

Longtrad
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Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#2 Post by Longtrad »

I'm not sure if the grizzly's had a blue stripe. I had a grizzly I sold to crazynate that some collectors thought was maybe a 76. I have heard they are hard to date

Captainkirk
Site Admin
Posts: 12787
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 8:19 pm

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#3 Post by Captainkirk »

Give me some time to get to my reference material this weekend and I will give you the particulars you are looking for, James...
Aim small, miss small!

Captainkirk
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Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#4 Post by Captainkirk »

James, I have my copy of Bear Archery Traditional Bows by Jorge L. Coppen handy, but there is a ton of info and much of it random...seems there was never any "magic formula" with the Grayling Bears. Best way to get close is by serial number and then match up the rest. Here are the S/N ranges you need:

1970-1978 Grizzlies begin with KR prefix. They started using green Futurewood in 1973

The Kodiak had a gap in production between 1967 and 1985 so that's out

1970-1976 K-Mag S/N prefix was KU. The '76 model differences were green and blue Futurewood with green tips with forest green glass, as opposed to the '77 model which had random dark glass.

1976 Supermag S/N prefix was KX, same as back through '70. Midnight Black Futurewood w/ blue stripe black glass with FASCOR, Futurewood overlay.

1976 Kodiak Hunter S/N begins with KT Arctic Grey glass with white tips.

Your best bet IMHO would be to find a bow that meets some of the above criteria, then narrow it down. Make sure you ask for and get lots of pictures. Then we can compare notes and dial it in. Remember, many guys on eBay or even forum BST threads "think" they know what they have but are way off. This book helped me ID all my bows except the Griz, which had the S/N removed during refinishing but I was still able to narrow it down to '71 or '72. Even the author, Jorge Coppen, says none of this is written in stone so best you can do is match up as many details as possible. I'm here to help when you find one.
Aim small, miss small!

Crazynate
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Joined: Tue May 23, 2017 9:54 am

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#5 Post by Crazynate »

The kmag and Kodiak hunter both had the dark future wood and a blue stripe. And longtrad is correct the grizzly I bought from him is green/brown and they also came in green/gray. Also my super Kodiak has the blue stripe to. I have never followed serial numbers other than bow 65-69. I've literally witnessed guys coming to blows on who was right regarding serial numbers. It's to silly if you ask me to fight over. There are to many unknowns regarding serial numbers so I just don't follow them at all. I would bet money the grizzly your looking for will be green and brown or green and gray. I've never seen a grizzly with a blue stripe.
Goodnight Chesty Wherever You Are.

Crazynate
Posts: 444
Joined: Tue May 23, 2017 9:54 am

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#6 Post by Crazynate »

I can't find my 76 catalog at the moment so my info might not be 100% accurate.
Goodnight Chesty Wherever You Are.

Captainkirk
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Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#7 Post by Captainkirk »

Crazynate wrote: I've never seen a grizzly with a blue stripe.
Nor have I, Nate. But...a lot of one-off's came from Grayling, so I can't say one doesn't exist. They were using the green Futurewood with blue stripes on other bows at that time.
Aim small, miss small!

Crazynate
Posts: 444
Joined: Tue May 23, 2017 9:54 am

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#8 Post by Crazynate »

They made a ton of odd bows. That's why I never got into dating by coins or serial number. I doubt anyone at bear in the mid 70s ever thought 40 years later guys would be trying to date these things. I've talked with a hole bunch of people that made these bows in Grayling. No 2 ever had the same answer regarding this topic. The one thing I know for sure is these bows were made better than half the bows made today and they are fun to shoot.
Goodnight Chesty Wherever You Are.

Captainkirk
Site Admin
Posts: 12787
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 8:19 pm

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#9 Post by Captainkirk »

They have a cult following, and I freely admit to being "Bear-bit" as graps would say. Something about them that I find terribly intriguing!
Aim small, miss small!

Jamesh76
Posts: 2019
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 6:05 pm

Re: These references are often lost or misplaced

#10 Post by Jamesh76 »

this is excellent!

thanks

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