Vintage heavy Super K

[kbetts]

I've got a line on a 65#, '71 or '72 Super K.  Comes with the spring arm quiver and five micro flights.  The only thing I don't like is the factory sights.  Condition appears to be excellent.  What's the ball park worth of the bow?  She's a beaut, but I don't want to over pay.

[tomsm44]

I have a '69 70#er that was given too me.  Great shooter and wicked fast with my 530 gr arrows, don't have any built specifically for it.  Just a little heavier than I want to hunt with but fun to shoot occasionally.  I've seen similar ones to mine go for any where from $200 to $450 on £&@¥ depending on condition.  I'm nowhere near an expert, just what I've seen.

Matt

[kbetts]

Oops.  Forgot about this forum.  Thanks.

[Bjorn]

Frankly the weight goes both ways; most people looking for that bow want 45-50. I say pay what it is worth to you look at closed auctions on the auction site and go from there. If you can see and shoot the bow before you pay that's worth money right there. In today's market 300.00 is ballpark IMO for that bow. The quiver and arrows are not worth much.

[Horney Toad]

sometimes heavy bows are sought by collectors rather than shooters. The collectors market is down from years past. I agree with the other guys here. $300 is a ballpark figure.

[warpedarrow]

The weight is a bit of a misfit for the bow type.  Super Ks were more of a target bow by the mid sixties and heavy weight and target do not go together.  I probably would not even be interested in the bow for my collection.  It is too heavy to be a shooter, or at least a pleasant shooter for all but the strongest of archers.  There is probably a very small market for that bow.

[PAPALAPIN]

I have to respectfully disagree with Warpedarrow on the Super K being a "target Bow".  The Super Kodiak was introduced in the last half of 1967 as a replacement for the Kodiak.  It is a  supurb hunting bow and was Fred Bears bow of choice after it was introduced,

Warpedarrow may be thinking of the "Kodiak Special" which was a target bow.

I agree that about $300 is ballpark.  If you can handle 65# comfortably, go for it.  If 65# is too heavy. it is still a great collectible.   Not many around in that weight.  

The downside is the routed sight.   If you don't want the sight on it, you can remove it and put a cover plate on it.  They pop up on e8ay a lot.  the 5" model is what you need.  The sight itself may be an easy sell to a collector.  They are hard to come by.

Just my thoughts.

[TonyW]

65 pounds was Fred Bear's optimum shooting weight.

(PS - Whenever you look at one bow, the market is limited to one buyer! You are the market!)

[PAPALAPIN]

Tony.

I'm no expert but I thought he normally shat a 70# on really big game and even heavier on the elephant and Water Buffalo.

Correct me if I am wrong.

[TonyW]

Fred "normally" shot at polar bears with 70 pounds.
Optimum hunting bow weight he wrote about was 65 pounds, and if Fred needed a tad more zip for a longer shot, he wrote that he just pulled back a tad more.
I'm sure Fred took a stab at heavier weights, but "optimum" is not "maximum."

[warpedarrow]

Oops!  I stand corrected.  I absolutely was thinking of the Kodiak Special.  I need to let the coffee soak in a bit prior to having an opinion.  But I still think that the pull weight is a tad heavy for the bow to have much appeal to many potential buyers.  Not many of us will get to go on a grizzly or elephant hunt.  There are a few guys out there that like to pull heavy bows but they are definately in the minority.

[kbetts]

Hopefully I'll get to pick it up today.  The gentleman is the original owner.  I'm sure I can pull it as most of my bows are 60# and I have a 68# I shoot on occasion.  I'll post some pics when I get it in my hands.

[highlife]

One thought on reducing weight. I bought a 75 pound 1968 Super Kodiak and what I did to make it more enjoyable to shoot was to narrow the limbs up. I took masking tape and ground off equal amounts on each side until I got it down to 65 lbs. Not only did I decrease the draw weight but the narrower limbs look really nice and it actually increased the arrow speed due to the limb mass weight loss.

[PAPALAPIN]

Back in the 60's Bear produced more 45# bows than any other hunting weight.

Yhese days guys seem to use heavier weights in every day hunting.  Now I hunt with a  57# Jack Howard GameMaster Jet.

65 and 70# bows were really uncommon...probably special order.

[stagetek]

Depending on the condition of the quiver and the arrows, I think 300.00 is a very good price.

[kbetts]

Picked it up today.  Absolutely beautiful.  Its a good sign when you pull into the parking lot and the seller has a 15 yo truck that is the cleanest there....

[kbetts]

To update, there is no routed sight.  It is an aftermarket model that was added.  I removed it to take off the pins and then put the aluminum "bar" back on.  It was a clean job and I think I'll keep it on (my tab tucks nicely between it and the riser).  Pics coming as the string was too short and I had to buff it out some.  Shiny, but gorgeous.  My first two 2219's were almost touching.

[kbetts]

 

[Ken Sorg]

Looks like a 71 and what did you give for it? That weight is sweet and raises the value IMO. I picked up a 1970 55# for 125.00. Knew it had 2 holes in it, it was the other 4 that caught me off guard. Bow is perfect other than the swiss cheese so it is now just a really sweet beater bow!

[kbetts]

Bow, original spring arm quiver, and 5 micro flight arrows for $225.  The arrows were too weak and light, the string he gave me, too short.  Still no stress lines.