1961 or 1962 Kodiak Magnum

[warpedarrow]

I have what I always assumed was a 1962 Kodiak Magnum.  Today I was doing some research and ran across an answer from Wade Phillips in a thread that mentions a late '61/early'62 that had a photo with the black painted coin.  I really can't tell the difference between pewter and aluminum but mine has a coin that appears to be the same as the one in the photo. Not that it really matters other than to satisfy my curiosity, but I would like to know as best as I can what I have.  Was there a substantial or even noticeable change in the profile of the bow from 1961 to 1962?

[PrimitiveSniper66]

61 Kodiak has green glass and the 62 kodiak has the grey glass, the magnums are the same way, the wood was differant to , african rose wood in 61, and the 62 has brazilan rose wood

[warpedarrow]

I would call the color of the glass a  gray green.  Asked my wife what color it was and she said greyish green.  I compared it to two kodiaks on the rack and the glass, overlays, and coins match.  I assume what you are calling grey would be similar to the 1959 Kodiak Special which after aging took on a green tint.
I can probably pull up the email from when I bought one of the Kodiaks from a fellow up in Wisconsin that is quite knowledgible about old Bears.  I remember our discussion about it and want to say 1962 but my memory is slipping quickly with approaching old age.

This bow is quite a bit darker than the late fifties gray glass bows and I can't tell the difference between rosewoods.  This wood has some almost black grain in it.

[Jack Shanks]

Sounds like a '62 Magnum to me. I have owned several from that year. The green glass on the '61 is very easy to distinguish over the gray glass of the '62 plus the lighter colored African rosewood in the '61.

[Ray Lyon]

Here's pictures of my 1962.  The glass has a greenish hue to it, but that's the yellowing of the finish combined with the gray glass.  When you see a 1961 with the green glass next to it, it's a noticeable difference.  The 1962 KMag is one of my quietest bows.  I just harvested a nice doe with mine using some vintage Microflite arrows with Bear Razorheads.  

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[warpedarrow]

Ray,  your glass is coming through as brown on my computer.  LOL  From the grain of the wood I am pretty sure that all three of the Kodiaks that I have with the black painted coin are 1962s. I would definitely call my glass green though if I had to chose between grey or green.

I did some more research on the 1961s and the wood did not have as much grain visible as the wood in the '62s.  I guess now I will have a find a Kodiak and a Kodiak Mag from 1961.

[zepnut]

Top-61 Kodiak Mag
Bottom-62 Kodiak Mag
 
 
 

[warpedarrow]

Zepnut, i had been exchanging photos with Jack via email and he sent a picture very similar to yours.  I had sent a picture of four K mags stating that the bottom one was the bow in question and sure enough it looked like a 61.  I came home from work and picked up the bow in question and thought  that it sure looked like a 62.  I sat down and happened to look up at the bow rack with the K mags and saw a 61.  I took it down and shot a photo just like yours.  Scary thing is that I don't remember buying the 62.  They both are really sweet bows.