Dating Bear Limbs

Jay Bow · February 05, 2016, 07:32:00 PM

Is there a way to date Bear take down limbs?
Mine is numbered 1B-01520
Thanks Ben

Blackhawk · February 05, 2016, 09:47:00 PM

I've not seen anything that can definitely date limbs by the serial.

There are some general guidelines that I follow:

White tip Grayling = 1969-74

Red tip Grayling = 1974-78

Green tip Gainesville= 1980-90

Do not know about later limbs, but that recently released book about collecting Bear may have more details...so I will have a look at my copy if the Super Bowl is boring.

Interesting topic...

Hud · February 06, 2016, 04:48:00 PM

I tend to agree and would add, I have Blue that were made between White and Red. Green tips came out in 1984 with the GS riser. If you have a CD collection of Bear Catalogs, you see most.

Blackhawk · February 06, 2016, 06:42:00 PM

Yeah, forgot about the blue.

Also, the white limbs from the Grayling years could have either red or black tips.

Hud, I thought the greenstripe TD came out in 1980 with green tip limbs. Am I wrong?

Jay Bow · February 06, 2016, 06:55:00 PM

These that I ask about are green tips, barely , they are clearly wood grain and more brown than green.

Hud · February 07, 2016, 10:24:00 PM

Lon,
You are correct, the 1980 Gainsville Green Stripe was put in the 1981 catalog, according to the following. There is a chapter on take-down limbs. I have not seen this book by Jorge L Coppen.

https://books.google.com/books?id=JM12CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT122&lpg=PT122&dq=History+of+Fred+Bear+TD&source=bl&ots=uhIhLBEpLI&sig=ukJI1IdkNiuJ0nblIysiVVPyJus&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijgPixmO fKAhUT02MKHfoGDDoQ6AEIZDAN#v=onepage&q=History%20of%20Fred%20Bear%20TD&f=false

Hud · February 07, 2016, 10:30:00 PM

Bear Take-down history:

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=14;t=000521

Hud · February 07, 2016, 10:32:00 PM

Early Bear History

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=14;t=000521

Jay Bow · February 08, 2016, 05:40:00 PM

Thanks for all the info.
Ben

alex321 · March 11, 2016, 04:28:00 AM

oh I am glad someone has asked this as I have just bought a pair of limbs secondhand...

Does anyone have a clue on their age? The serial number is:
TDb-12
5-099

I have written it how it appears on th limbs, spread over two lines.
Cheers
Alex

Roy from Pa · March 11, 2016, 06:31:00 AM

How about dating a C wooden handle? The serial number on it is C-2052. I bought it new in 1971 or 72. Just can't remember which year it was.

alex321 · March 11, 2016, 09:38:00 AM

Hi Roy,

This thread is specifically about dating limbs and not risers or bows.

There are lots of threads on dating the riser\\bow, they should be more help to you.

It took me ages to find a thread about dating only the limbs.

Cheers
Alex