Bear arrows, Early 50s

[TRAP]

Anybody have any pics of Bear Archery arrows from the early 50s?  I'm trying to match some arrows to a 1953 K4 that I'm really enjoying shooting. Everything I have found are black and white photos. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[crazynate]

Can't wait to see why guys have. The oldest I have are some cedar kings I bought from Bud Grays neighbor. Those aren't from the early 50s though.

[TRAP]

What year are the cedar kings Nate?  Add a pic.

I made some cedar king repros that were all white once.

[crazynate]

 

[crazynate]

There ya go trap. Not sure what year they are. But they had 1960 Razorheads on them when I got them. The arrows match my 62 kodiak special with that blue. So pretty lol

[Gator1]

Those are really nice

Thanks for sharing.

[TRAP]

Cool arrows.

[crazynate]

Thanks

[NIGEL01]

Those are awsome!  Now I've got an idea for my next dozen!

[Wade Phillips]

Trap –

I’m partial to the great looking and great shooting 1950s Bear Arrows and have a couple dozen original boxes of Bear arrows from the 1950s. Bear’s X-200 (wide center band), and X-300 (narrow center band) are my favorites and well documented in the 1955-1959 Bear Catalogs.

The boxes below all have misc broadheads on them that Bear put on their arrows prior to the introduction of the Bear Razorhead, so they would be dated 1955.

 
   

 
   

 
   

 
   

[Wade Phillips]

Trap -

As I mention above the X-200 & X-300 are dated 1955 and later.

They were preceded by Bear's original A- series of Arrows, which had cresting patterns and feather combinations that were not nearly as detailed or as colorful as the X- series.

crazynate -

Just so everyone is clear, the A-40 Cedar Kings in your photographs should not be confused with Bear's original A- series.

The A-40 Cedar Kings were made after Bear's 1950s arrows as I am certain you know, from reading your text above.

[Wade Phillips]

Trap -

If you don't care for colorful or red, this is a dozen unusual 1955 full length dipped X-200 Bear Arrows in what I call the WWII OD color scheme...

They still have the original Hills Hornet broadheads attached with the original plating on the cutting edge of the broadheads.

A 62 year old, all original, unused and unsharpened box of Bear Hunting Arrows.

Not nearly as much eye-appeal as Bear's red/white patterns, which may help explain their unused condition...

       

[Wade Phillips]

As a side note about the WWII OD full length dip. The reason I call it that not only is the color WWII Army OD green, but also because Fred Bear's personal hunting arrows made during WWII had the same OD green color.

Incidentally, the personal arrows of Nels Grumley and KK Knickerbocker here at the Arsenal, also have the same OD green color shafts.

Of course they were all associated with Bear Archery and were all friends so would not be an accident that they were using the same or very similar OD green dip...

One might also speculate that OD green paint was also the most readily available paint color during WWII as so many items were routinely painted that color for the war effort. It is likely that most government contractors (like Bear) had some of this color on hand and used it for many other purposes, especially with so many shortages during the war.

[TRAP]

Thanks for all the great pics Wade.  And thanks Gary for the pics you emailed my way.  I will post a couple of them here for you.

I love the 55-59 Bear arrows as well.  I was looking in Bear Catalogs and I saw that  the X-200s were offered in full length White, OD Green and ??? Blue maybe?

I'm a huge fan of OD green. Growing up as a military brat, most everything my father dragged home was OD Green. My camping and hunting accessories were all OD green and most of my hunting clothes were military surplus as well.

While the black and white printed catalogs give you an idea of what the arrows looked like, these great old collectibles in full color are amazing.

[crazynate]

Being a former Marine almost everything I have is painted OD green lol.  I have piles of hunting arrows that color.

[TRAP]

These pics were sent to me by Gary Schoenberger

 

 

I'm thinking the green capped arrows are early 1960s models and the blue feathered arrows are late 60s.

Great stuff.

[crazynate]

Pretty arrows right there.

[papabear08]

Green arrows are late 50s x300s which were discontinued in 1960. The white are A series early 60s and were purchased with a 1964 Kodiak.
Don't know if trap still has it but I also sent a pic of pre razorhead x300s when the box said " for those who want the best" before they changed it to "finest". Cedar King A series arrows came out in 1960 also.

[TRAP]

Got a pic of the box Gary but no arrow pic

[Wade Phillips]

This is a 1956 Bear X-300 Arrow with 1956 Bear Razorhead that I had Fred sign at one of the Bowhunter Nationals at Clinton Indiana during the 1970s. Actually had a dozen of them and Fred signed them all. Then later when my collector friends learned I had a dozen, they slowly began to talk me out of them, one at a time.

Interesting that this arrow has the same color scheme as Gary's green arrows, but has just two small bands rather than Gary's four small bands. Not sure what year they changed the X-300 to have the four small bands, but do have a box of X-300s with 1960 Razorheads that have the two small bands. Actually the 1960 Razorhead was miss-named as images of it are in 1958 & 1959 photographs.