Pearson Mercury Hunter / Marauder T/D?

[Curtis Haden]

Seeking some information for a friend.  He was asking me today about an old Ben Pearson bow.  He thought it was a "Mercury Hunter", and he described as a take-down recurve.

From the searching I've done here, and on "archeryarchives.com" it seems to me that he's probably thinking of a "Mercury Marauder".

Does anyone know if Pearson offered the Mercury Hunter in a take-down model, or just the one-piece?

My friend owned one years ago, and is interested in acquiring another one.  He said the one he had pulled about 70#'s and he just couldn't shoot it well enough at that weight, but would like very much to find one around 50-55#'s.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Curtis

[Australiamick]

Curtis

There was a Mercury Hunter as well as a Mercury Marauder. The Marauder was a two piece bow that fitted together in the same way that a Ben Pearson Signature bow did with the alloy knuckle joint system. As far as I know the Mercury Hunter was always a one piece bow.

The mercury designation that was applied to these bows signifies that the bow was fitted with a small canister which was partly filled with mercury. It was a handshock dampening system, I believe.

There's plenty of Ben Pearson Hunter bows for sale on **** most of the time. You shouldn't have too many problems finding one, either with or without the mercury canister system.

By the way, I'm no expert. I was around in the days when they were first released and I have fond memories of them. I regularly shoot my Ben Pearson Signature and KM Special to this day.

Good luck

Mick Smith