New to my Bear Victor T/D and Bear Formular Silver recurve

[Elmer Keith]

Yesterday was a great day for me. My best friend gave me two dozens of arrow, some tabs, a shooting glove and a few armguards which once belonged to his father who died 5 years ago.
Along with the stuff were two bows:

Bear Victor T/D with black magnesium riser, model A, and a pair of limbs which will have a draw weight of 41# on this 58" bow.
The limbs are white with red tips. Interesting is that on the upper limb there is written "White Knight" with the picture of a knight's helmet from the early middle age.

The other bow is a 66" 35# Bear Formular Silver, white riser and white limbs.

Among the arrows there were 11 arrows with the Bear logo which stated to be used for a bow from 50-55 #. And there was an original Bear arrow made of wood with original feathers, nock and Bear Razorhead!

Are there any suggestions and informations about the Formular Silver, when were they made, and what about the White Knight?

Thank you.

Pics will be addes soon! Promised.

[d. ward]

Vic Burger AKA the White Knight.....team shooter for Bear Archery in the early 70's...Victor was shooting perfect indoor scores...with the now famos White Knight limbs.......pretty cool bows.......bowdoc

[PAPALAPIN]

Just my opinion, and others may disagree.

About he time that Victor Comptmeter bought out Bear Arcehy, their focus seemed to turn more to the compound market that was taking off.  This was the downturn in quality for the line of Bear recurves.  They did away with the wood risers in the Bear Custom Takedowns, and also most of the quality clamp style take downs.  That is when they came out with the Patriot, minute man, '76'er and several other "slide in" take downs.  They kept some of the old line of recurves, but the quality in those also took a nose dive.

My rule of thumb is that if it does not have a flat coin on the riser, it is the new line of Bear "junk" bows.

Even in the '80's when Bear brought back the clamp styl Custom Takedown, the risers and limbs just were not the same.

Don't want to deminish your new find, but that is just my personal opinion.  I am sure some of the regulars here will lamblast me for it.

[shick]

Stephan, just a little to add; My 1980 Bear catalog shows the Formula Gold and Silver bows.  My '77 catalog does not.  Don't know if they were avaialbe in 78 or 79. Your bow was available in 66 and 68".  Laminated hardrock maple limbs.  Your bow is capable of having the weight and tiller adjusted.  I have a copy of the Nov 8, 1963 Life magazine article about Fred Bear and the grizzly that you were looking for.  I will ship you the '80 catalog and Life issue
Hope this helps.  email sent.......Shick

[Elmer Keith]

Thank you for your informations.

Thank you, shick, for your kind offer. I'll send you an email.

[TonyW]

Jack-
In 1973, I wandered into Bart's Sports World and was dazzled by the wall of bows - almost as many as you have now. I bought my first bow, a red striped super grizzly with the Victor decal and raised button. I had been taught the step through method of stringing, and strung and unstrung it every time I used it.
I did this for ten years until someone showed me a bowstringer.
The old grizz has no stress lines 35 years later, and despite my best efforts, no twisted limbs.
That being said, I now have picked up super Ks, kodiak hunters, grizzlys, tigercats, black bears, tamerlanes, and other bows from the 60s and 70s.
The quality may have gone down, but the futurewood bows I collected have no stress lines or twist.
I think that old Fred hired the right people, and learned a lot about mixing epoxy and limb design from the lessons learned in the 50s and 60s.

What I think matters most is:
Was the used bow dry fired?
Was it stored in a hot attic, or standing on one end in a closet?
Did the past owners put fast flite strings on it and shoot light arrows?

[PAPALAPIN]

TONY

You make some very valid points, but my comments are wrapped around my opinion and what I like..  I probably could have been a bit more tactful than indicating that any Bear with a raised button are "junk".  I certainly did not intend to insult the bows hanging on anyones bow rack, especially Elmer's with his new acquitition.  If that was the way it was taken, I appologize.  I certainly don't want ANYONE (except maybe Rich) to come to this forum and get insulted.  That certainly was not my intention.

However, each of us as collectors have a preference for what we want hanging on our racks.  I only have onr raised button and that is on a Super Grizzly that I picked up in a pawn shop in Brunswick Geotgia for $20.00.  At that price I can overlook the raise button.

Part of the "improvements" you site are possibly also due to improvements in material.  Bows from the '60's (especially Bears) are known for stress lines and hazing, but still solid shooters.  Amazing that those old bows hold up as well as they do.

Is a 1964 Kodiak as good a bow as the 1980's Kodiak?  in my opinion, better.  Is a 1968 Super Kodiak as good a bow as a 2007 Super Kodiak?  In my opinion, much better.  The key words here are "in my opinion".

I like to collect recurves from the '60's.  That is my intertes.  I have no longbows but I am not going to say longbows are not as good as recurves,  To each his own.   I have a few bows that are newer than the '60's, but except for my Jack Howards, they are not my favorites.

I do want to thank you for challenging my statements.  Believe it or not they have kind of bothered me.

I would not have appreciated coming to the forum and posting about two bows that I was excited about getting, and having someone say they were "Junk".  

Elmer, again I appologize.  

Tony - talking about who is related to who, your picture has a strong resemblance to the Chandler family.  Any kin?

[TonyW]

Jack -
At least you could have called them "junque." I bought the variety of bows to see how they shoot, and I may have been lucky to get some pristine button bows. I believe that when Bear made bows for Sears and Pearson made bows for Monkey Wards, the money back guarantees made for a very durable product. I think that the resin impregnated futurewood was an experiment to make a bombproof riser. I got a couple of 70s Montgomery Ward "Special Hunters" that are no frills but great shooters.


 
Huh, come to think of it, I guess I do resemble Uncle Jeff.

[Elmer Keith]

Papalapin, you needn't to apologize. You are the experts and that's why I ask you.

The above mentioned bows were just a present of an old friend I know for about 30 years and his father, the former owner of the bows, taught me how to shoot with the bow and arrow.

Before   b u y i n g   a bow, especially an old one, I try the search function here in this forum and if I can't find an answer to my question I would post my question here.

Comparing the Formula Silver with the older take down system I can see some difference in quality especially at the limbs. And comparing the limbs from the mid 70s with my recently bought Bear Grizzly from 1969 or the Tigercat from 1969 I can easily find out that the old bows are much better and more nicely than the bows from the mid 70s.

I would never buy one of those bows called Bear bows from 2007. Not even the Supreme models.

I just don't like the look of them. And I can't understand why they are not built the same way they did in the 60s. This must be possible especially in the times of CNC-machinery.

[PAPALAPIN]

It is all personal taste.  That's why I always say picking a bow is as important as picking a wife.  Pick the wrong one and life will be miserable.  The right wife for me will probably not be the right wife for you.  Same with a bow.

I personally like my little Cajun baby, but Tony will probably prefer a Squaw.

I was luckey and only had to go through two wifes to find the one that fit me best.  By the same token, I have about 80 bows hanging on the wall.  While I have a nostalgic affinity for the bows from the '60's, my favorite shooter is my 2002 Jack Howard JET.

Go figure.