Holy grail of longbows?

[johnnyc]

I know everyone has different tastes, but are there any longbows out there that have a similiar reputation or following as say a Bear Kodiak?

[Horney Toad]

Not that I know of. There is no longbow near as popular among collectors as a bear kodiak recurve.

The old/new Howard Hill longbows are fairly popular.

[raghorn]

Grumley?

[Larry m]

Collectable or Shooter?
Longbow or recurve?

[Blackhawk]

The Howard Hill would most likely be the longbow closest to Kodiaks in collector interest. Now if it's Bear, yep...the Grumley is the one.

Fred Anderson's longbows have a huge following among many as do the famous Shrew hybrids.

I am finding it tough to put down the Griffin and Centaur which are outstanding shooters.  However, their collector interest in the future is dubious.

[Larry m]

I would like to find an original Howard Hill longbow. The only one's I have had the pleasure of looking at were at the Archery Collectors Show last year at Cabela's. I believe the display was owned by Bob  Burton. I feel fortunate to own a nice Grumley Deerslayer. I guess a Holy Grail for me would be a bow owned by Art Young. Now that would be something!!!

[johnnyc]

Well, if not collectable, maybe I should go with good shooters.  Maybe I should ask what were some of the more popular longbows being used for hunting during the 50's-70's... a good solid hunting longbow?
  Main reason I'm interested is I just seem to shoot my Montanna longbow better than my recurves, but my old recurves seem to be more fun.

[Blackhawk]

Bob Burton has an outstanding book in the works that will cover the Hill bows.  I had a chance to see an advance copy last month and placed my order for one of the first 100 coming out later this summer.  It is an awesome work filled with good info and quality color photos of rare Hill bows.

[Larry m]

Johnny
Some of the early to mid 50's Bear Polar's can be found in hunting weights and 64". Matched up with the right wood shaft you can get some nice and very affordable performance. Up to Kodiak, wellllllllll perhaps not! But nice none the less.

[Chuck_Delsandro]

Personally I've never found a good shooting LB    :eek:  , and finding an attractive one is even harder. I guess I just find curves more appealing than thin straight sticks    

[Bjorn]

Glen St. Charles made longbows that were as good as it gets. Pearson made longbows too, I have an advertisement from 1954 that shows HH shooting the 'new' Pearson takedown fiberglass bows.
I have one of the bows too; and it ain't no 1959 Kodiak!
Probably the best one of the 50's era is what Larry recommends-a hunting weight Polar.

[oldbohntr]

I agree that the old maroon glass Polars are really useable and pretty bombproof.  However, I've always preferred the Bear Cubs for a great low-cost longbow. The early honey-colored glass(made in '53 and '54, I think) one with straighter reflexed-limbs is better in my opinion, than the later black glass almost semi-recurve Cub.  Cubs were made in weights up to 60#, so are not just for kids and ladies. I just picked up a 57 pounder for about $60 on the auction site, and it's a fine shooter.  

I agree with Bjorn that the Pearson T/D recurves from the 50s were usually not great performers.  I have a 61 pounder that is real decent, however.  

Lots of other brands and makers, but only Hill and John Schulz longbows come to mind as classics from that era.  

Some long time makers of customs certainly qualify, though the level of collector interest is questionable.   Tim Meigs has been making bows forever, as Lon says Fred Anderson(not that he's so ancient, but he's been doing it forever!), Dan Quillian and others I can't think of right now.  Cliff Coe made a bunch of bows for decades in Michigan and every state certainly has a number of  similar old (local) bowyers from way back who made lots of longbows.    

I shot longbows for decades, and loved them, but -for me, the reflex-deflex limb and today's hybrid custom bows have brought "longbows" to a new level of performance and shootability.  The classic recurves were often comfortable, extremely fine performers - but, that's not something I'd say about those older longbows.

[Larry m]

Yep Tom
I have one of those early 50's Cubs at 60#'s and it is a stout working longbow. If I recall I paid $50 for it. Have been reading how Earl Hoyt designed his Sky Rogue in the late 50's and shelfed it due to the shooting appeal of the recurves. To bad because he was certainly on to something. Time proved that. Most longbows I have shot from the 50's, 60's and even 70's were the typical D style or HH and no comparision to the shooting of a fine recurve. It wasn't until the late 80's that I became aware of the deflex/reflex design and it's shooting performance. I now shoot several different bowyers models and love the performance of these nice shooting bows.

[Lucas K]

Several of the old British makers from the turn of the last century are collectable.

[Hit-or-Miss]

Jack Howard bows seem to be a solid investment.

[Sal]

Blackhawk Archery made a couple of models in the early 60's that they called recurves but we would call longbows.  The Yellow Jacket and the Scorpion.  I've acquired a few of them for a good price on the auction site, they come up often enough.  Those bows are a bargain and really good shooters.  

These bows have little collection value, mind you, but they're good "working" bows.