Thought it was a Grable but limbs say Fireball

[skitterwalker]

Well the guy said it was a Grable. It has a similar handle and site pins tapped in the riser just like a Golden Eagle Hunter. But when I gingerly started removing the old camo paint on the limbs the words "Dickie's Archery Co Three Rivers MI" appeared in red letters. On the other limb Is Fireball wth a red fireball. I could of swore it was a Grable. maybe  even an early Darton Executive. I'm not disappointed bc it's a great shooter and I learned a lot about Root/Shakespeare. Now I'm going to see if I can get some info on Dickie Roberts. I know he was a champion archer. I'd like to put the bow back to original so if anyone has got Fireball pic I'd love to see them. Old bows have stories and that's what make them neat.    [/url] [/IMG]  [/url] [/IMG]  [/url] [/IMG]

[DennyK]

WOW, Long ago I had a Grable forgot I owned one until I saw your pictures! Enjoy your bow. Looking foreware to seeing your restored pictures.      Denny

[DennyK]

Wish I could remember which model it was.    Denny

[TOEJAMMER]

If you post  it on the Vintage Archery site you might get more info.

[Ron LaClair]

Phil Grable lives close to me and I've known him since 1960. We use to belong to the same archery club and I shot many tournaments with Phil and also hunted with him many times.

I also knew Dickie Roberts though he was not a friend as was Phil. Dickie took the Michigan State Field Archery Championship away from me in 1966. We were tied after the field and hunter rounds and Dickie shot a perfect animal round to beat me. He was the National Field Archery Champion at the time.

Dickie's "Fireball" bow that he made was a wood riser with a double hump in the limb. The bow you have is a Grable aluminum riser made by Phil and the limbs were made by Dickie who copied the Grable limbs. I know this because I just got off the phone with Phil. He told me Dickie copied his limbs and put his name on them and used the Grable risers. Phil said what you have is a "bastardized" bow...Phil's words..    

Phil said it was probably made sometime in the 70's and it's hard to know how many he made, only Dickie would know that. I'd think it was a pretty rare bow and one worth hanging on to

Phil is 82 years old now and still hunts. I still have a bow that Phil gave me in the 60's. It's a prototype that Phil called a "One of a kind"

[Ron LaClair]

Here's a couple of Dickies Fireball recurves with the wood riser. I can't imagine why he would put his name on a Grable bow.

It looks like the Fireball limbs would fit on the Grable riser if they were cut at the joint

   

[dsturgissr]

Dickie Roberts was a good friend back in the 60s. Shot a lot of arrows with him and shot my best scores and took a few animals with his Fire Ball bows. He had a small factory in Three Rivers Mi in the 70s and besides his custom Fire Balls he made a generic recurve that he sold to several archery shops who put their own names on. Also he made compound bow limbs for Pete Shepely and came out with his own compound bow. Some time in the 70s the factory burned to the ground and Dickey went through a divorce. He worked for Proline Archery for a while and also American Archery Co. The riser looks more like an Archery 2000 riser than a Golden Eagle. Ron I was there when you and Dickey shot for the state championship and it went down exactly like you said. Dickie was shooting a Hit Archery Black Ace bow at that time. The Fireball was a copy of the Hit bow.     Denny Sturgis Sr

[Ron LaClair]

Hi Denny, glad you jumped in on this. Phil doesn't have a computer so I couldn't email a picture of the bow but when I described it to him he told me what I said.

Dickie was one heck of an archer, the tougher the competition got the tougher he got. He thrived on pressure.      

I had the privilege of shooting on the Michigan team with Dickie, Jim Pickering and George Clouse  at the International Indoor Open at Cobo Hall in 1966. We had some very good archers in Michigan in the 60's

[skitterwalker]

Thanks everyone for their comments. I also really appreciate you guys giving me the leeway to ask about this type of bow here. It's not exactly the traditional masterpieces I see carved and shaped out on this forum. I got this bow for from a guy who's family was big into competition archery. It was his dad's bow. He almost didnt wan't to give it up. I told him didn't have to and that I would be ok with that but he honored the deal. I honestly didn't know I had but it was so cool looking.I did promise him I wouldn't sell it and I would let my sons shoot it. My bro-in-law knew what it was bc he used to shoot competition and remembers these bows being around when he was younger. So, I'm really happy that I did get a story to this bow. I hope that it is ok to remove the paint on the limbs with mineral spirits. Right know I'm researching competition shooting and learning about form from my bro-in-law. I still love to shoot my Mongoose and Browning, but there is something special about the way this old target bow shoots.

[SELFBOW19953]

You might want to find out where any handwritten info-length, weight, serial number, etc-might be located in case the mineral spirits remove the finish.

[cmh]

Very interesting thread..... Look forward to seeing that bow restored  

[skitterwalker]

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Just wanted to show everyone what I did with the bow. It took a lot of elbow grease to get the camo paint off. I decided to leave it as it was with the old crinkle finish.Thanks for everyones input.