Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup

26-03-2021 by

Identifying or Dating Hill Bows

Here is their reponse: 'The serial number should be located on the riser towards the bottom cup. Hold the bow, as if shooting, so the backside is facing you and follow the backside down to where it meets the limb cup. There is a small space that the number should be engraved in.' Shop Bear Archery Compound Bows and more at DICK'S Sporting Goods today. Find Bear Archery Bows at low prices with our Best Price Guarantee. Check the Serial Number. From 1964 and earlier the serial numbers were reset every month, making them very tricky to date. Bear bows from 1965-1969 are dated with with last digit of the year being the first number of the serial number. Starting in 1970 the first part of the serial number was a letter. If you have questions about the age of your old Precision Shooting Equipment (PSE) compound bow, you can call the company's general support line to get help. The only information you need to give them is a number that can be found on a sticker located on the bow itself.

It is by no means unusual for Hill bows to appear on the traditional archery lists for sale pages or on auction sites. Those who buy Hills used often want to identify the model, the basic information about the bow, and perhaps when and by whom it was made. Fortunately, there is a code on each bow that will help with this. The following material is from a small series of posts that appeared on the Hill Shooters email list, supplemented by a post from Craig Ekin of Howard Hill Archery. With this material, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of the model of the bow and who probably made it. The who also helps with the dating of it.

From time to time, as we get more information through the HH email list, we will supplement this page.

I have two Wesley Specials. The serial numbers are: WC 664970 and WC 665066. Do the serial numbers have any meaning other than production sequence?
Gil Moss, Portland, Oregon

Gil...

I am working on a page for identification of Hill bows. Not ready yet. However, I can tell you that your serials:
WC 664970 and WC 665066
can be read as follows: 'W' means it's a Wesley. The 'C' means that Craig built it. '66' means it is 66' long. The remaining numbers are serial and, I believe, once I get organized, can be used to tell when it was built.
More on this whole subject in a week or two.

Richard....
The serial # on my Big 5 is BC 685319
--
'Mike your friend in traditional archery'

Mike.... 'B' = Big Five 'C' = Craig '68' = 68 inches etc.By now I'm sure you're all getting the idea... it's really quite straightforward. What I'm after and contacting Craig about is other variations of the 'who made it' initial, like 'T' for Tim Meigs, etc. and perhaps some reference points for the serial number part to that a bow could be put into a time reference.
I've done similar projects in the identification of antique sewing machines, and all it takes is a sufficient verified data base. However, it's always easiest to go to the source if you can.

The following was provided by Craig Ekin:

Hi Dick:
There are some general ones (rules) that will help out 'most' people. There have been quite a few bowyers over the decades, but the most common are:

5 numbers without any letters or with just an R in front were made by John Schulz. The R stands for reverse handle.

There are a 'few' that have a Y for yew.


4 numbers followed by 3 numbers without any letters were made by Tim Meigs.....ie: 7077 134


2 letters or 3 letters where the last letter is K were made by Ted Kramer and/or his son, Lee. For example: BK is Big Five by Ted and Lee Kramer. BLK is Big Five
by Lee Kramer. BTK is Big Five by Ted Kramer. They worked together lots of the time in the same shop. Early on they did everything together. Later on, they worked
in the same shop but individually.

These letters are then followed by 4 or 5 numbers which are the length of the bow with the serial number of the bow.


And a bow with C in the beginning two or three letters was made here and stands for Craig.


Occasionally, someone would request something unique and that won't fit into this scheme, but this will take care of most of the bows from late 60's on.


Hope this helps. Let me know if you don't understand something or you have a question.


Craig

Hill ID Codes

Here is a photo of two of my Hills.

The first is a brand new Black Bear Carbon. The code can be read as:

'BBC' = Black Bear made by Craig

'64' = bow length is 64'

'5444' = serial number (note that the last 4 has shed a bit of its paint)

'52 @ 25' = the tillered draw and weight (note that making an ampersand by hand with a brush is tough! The '@' usually looks like a small 'e')

Second bow is a Halfbreed and the code would read:

'HC' = Halfbreed made by Craig

'66' would be the bow length

'1961' would be the serial number (kinda low!)

Note: I just laid out all my own Hills for a 'group photo' (Hey, you do it with your family!) and noted the following that is relevant to this topic.

First, I do have a very fancy Cheetah with a fully checkered ebony riser. This bow has no identifying marks on the riser, undoubtedly because the checkering would have destroyed it anyway. I thought it was unmarked, until I noticed as I was posing the photo that Craig had actually signed it in full 'Craig T. Ekin'. This is quite small, on the belly of the top limb just above the riser, and cleverly located in the middle of a knot in the Mountain Juniper... pretty hard to see. This is the only actually signed bow of his I have.

Second, I have two Bear Cubs. This is the 'kids' bow that Hill Archery offers. To tell you the truth, I'm a bit beyond the kid stage, by about 60 years or so, but I love these bows. I have one that is marked 40# @ 23' that pulls 45# for me. It's an older bow but, other than the poundage, draw and length ( 56' ), is not identified with a model or maker initial or serial number. My other Bear Cub is a new one made for me by Craig, also the 56' one. It pulls 27# @ 25' and is the bow I shoot when my arm and/or shoulder are acting up. This one is also only marked with the draw weight and length and the bow length. Bear Cub bows are marked 'Bear Cub' on one limb, however, so you do know what model it is.

Dick

Bear archery serial number

Some additional helpful info:

Tim Meigs worked at Hill from 1977 to 1992.

John Schulz worked at Hill from 1968 to 1974.

Hill Limited Edition Bows

Here is a list of Limited Edition Hill bows that Howard Hill Archery has made:

Commemorative... 75 made... one for each year of Howard Hill's life

Rogue... 50 made

Jungle Cat... 40 made

King of the North... 50 made

Ol' Three Toes... 50 made

Centennial... 90 made

Wild Boar.. 50 made

Scirroco... 50 to be made

DATING YOUR FRED BEAR BOW

Bear Archery Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup


There are several features and changes that were made to the bear bows over the years that will help narrow the age of your bow or your potential investment.
1. The Serial Number: These bows usually have, what appears to be a hand inscription on one of the limbs that gives a serial number along with the length and pull weight of the bow. This serial number works very well for dating Bear Bows from 1965-1969 when the first digit of the serial number is the year of manufacture.
For example, a serial number of 5L212 would be a 1965 Bow.
Prior to 1965, the serial numbers for all Bear bows were started over every month, making these bows almost impossible to date by serial number alone. The 'K' series of serial numbers (for example KZ9672) were started in 1970.
2. Patent Mark: Most of the BEAR Bows we have sold have the logo and the US Patents printed on it along with the date of CANADA 1953. This date that is printed on all bows made between 1953 and 1972 is simply the date of the patent for a working recurve limb and has nothing to do with the actual model year.
3. Decals & Silkscreening: In 1948 the small Running Bear decal was first and then was replaced by the large Standing Bear decal in mid-1953. The large Standing Bear decal also has the words 'Glass Powered Bow' under the Standing Bear.
The large Standing Bear decal was used until 1955 when it was replaced with silk-screening the identification on the bows. By 1956 the silk-screening appeared on all bows.
4. All Wood vs Laminate: If your bow is ALL wood (no laminations of any kind) then your bow had to be made before the mass productions beginning in 1949.
  • If the ALL wood bow has a stamp that reads 'Bear Products' in some form it would have been made before the early to mid 40's.
  • If it is stamped 'Bear Archery' it would have been made AFTER the early-mid 40's and BEFORE 1949.
  • Also wooden bows with a small 'Running Bear' decal can be dated to 1948
5. The Leather Grip: ALL Bear bows had leather grips until 1959. In 1959, the Kodiak Special removed the leather grip and in 1961 the Kodiak did the same, as well as the Grizzly in 1964.
6. The Coin Medallion: Beginning in 1959 all Bear bows had a coin medallion of one type of metal or another. Below are the approx date ranges for the type of coin used.
Copper Coin – 1959
Aluminum - 1960-1961
Pewter – 1962
Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup Brass - 1963 – 1970
Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup Nickel-Silver - 1971-1972
ALL coins were flush with the wood until 1972. In late 1972 the coin was raised above the surface of the bow and came in both gold and chrome covered plastic and are still used in Bear bows today.
7. Manufacturer Location: in 1978 Bear moved all manufacturing and offices to Gainesville, Florida. If your bow shows Gainesville on it then it was made after 1978
8. Model Of The Bow: Check the Model of the bow. Below is a yearly production chart for the most popular Bear Bows.
Wood Handle Take-Down 1969-1972
Wood C-Riser Victor Custom 1973-1975
Magnesium Handle Take-Down A-B-C 1971-1978
Kodiak Static Recurve 1950-1953
Kodiak Recurve 1954-1966
Super Kodiak 1967-1976
Grizzly Static Recurve 1949-1957
Grizzly Recurve 1958-1978
Super Magnum 48 1966-1976
Kodiak Magnum 52' 1961-1977
Kodiak Hunter 58' and 60' 1967-1977
Tamerlane 1962-1968
Tamerlane HC-30 1965-1967Serial

Mathews Monster Serial Number Lookup

Tamerlane HC-300 1968-1972
Kodiak Special 1955-1967
Temujin 1968-1970
Tarter 1968-1972
Victor Patriot 1973-1977

Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup 2472810

Victor 1972
Polar (recurve) 1957-1970

Bear Archery Serial Number

Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup Alaskan (leather grip semi-recurve) 1959-1961
Alaskan (recurve) 1966-1970

Bear Compound Bow Serial Number Lookup

Tigercat 1964-1978
Bearcat 1964-1971
Black Bear 1972-1978
Little Bear 1965-1978
With this information you should be able to get really close to dating your Bear Bow if not pin-pointing it to the year.

Led Edit 2019 Software Free Download
Windows 7 64 Bit Orjinal Yapma Program? Indir Gezginler

Comments are closed.