Bear bows from Gainsville

[guzzi2000]

I know the bows from Grayling are more collectable, but as far as quality and shootability how do the bows from Gainsville compare?

[PAPALAPIN]

I am partial to the bows from the '60's, so in my opinion the Grayling bows are better.  Purely personal though,  The only Gainesville bow I have ever shot is my green stripe takedoawn.  I much prefer my Greyling takedowns.

You may get a differntt opinion form someone that has shot more Gainesville bows,

As far as the bows Bear (Escalade) is making now...they should be pretty kood firewood.

[Bladester]

Firewood?  I admit I'm not wild about the looks of the new bows but have never shot one.  I was considering a new Kodiak.  Are the current Bear bows really that bad?

--Larry

[Jeremy]

I can't speak for many of the new Bears, but the Supreme T/D I had was a real nice bow.  I wish the grip was the "S" grip of the earlier T/Ds, but it was a very nice bow.

The '01 Grizzly I had when I first got back into archery was decent, but LOUD and a bit of a dog compared to the 60's Bears.  The fit and finish wasn't exactly top notch either.  The 2000's A riser was the same in the fit and finish department.

[newell38]

i think the newer bears shoot great.  they are tough as nails and are fairly quick.  i wouldnt trade my newer take downs for anything.  according to the bow doc the same guy currently in charge of the take down line at bear archery worked on the take down line when fred bear was still alive.  he must be doing something right if ole fred had him working for him!

[Grant Young]

I doubt that the newer Gainesville models are that bad as shooters. I have owned a Green Stripe or two and they were actually pretty nice bows. I prefer the looks of the wood in the earlier models but the '80 and '82 models I had shot as well. I never thought anything made beyond '73 or so had the aesthetic appeal as the older models but I could never find much difference from a performance perspective. I even reshaped my Grayling bows to suit me so I'm obviously not overly enamored of "original" condition. I would agree that the quality of the finish and end shaping of the newer Kodiak models I've seen was disapointing but they seemed to work okay. "Good", "better", and "best" are subjective value judgements- I've seen first effort self bows do a fine job in the right hands. I've "souped up" my old Grayling bows a little and actually don't care for the StyleI in its original form- bulky and slow- and don't care for the extreme "S" shape of the styleII risers. Feel-wise, the Green stripe feels better to me than either. If I had only $300.00 to $400.00 to spend the new Bears would be ones to consider, imo.     Grant

[Bladester]

Interesting comments.  I have a T/D I bought in 1985 that I've always been pleased with, but have only seen photos of the recent bows.  Didn't know what the quality was like these days.

--Larry