bigbulls

An aquantance of mine has a Kodiak that he bought many years ago and, can you believe this, never used. He shot maybe 50 arrows through it and has had zipped up in a " sock" in his closet unstrung from then on. This bow is in near mint condition with the only mark on it is jut above the shelf where the few arrows rubbed the riser. The limbs are in perfect conditiion with, literally, not a scratch on them and all of the laminations are perfect. He even has the original string with it with out a single fray, although I wouldn' t use it.

It' s a 60 inch bow and rated a 55 pounds and has the lighter green glass laminate on the outside of the wood..

He has offered to sell it to me and Just off the top of my head before I saw it I told him about $150.00 and he semed to be OK with that. What would you guys pay for a Kodiak like this. I am out of my realm here in the traditional stuff but I have REALLY been wanting to get into it. Could this be one of the rare things that come along every now and then?


Thanks for any info guys, I appreciate it.

Been doing some research and found out it was made in 1964.

Arthur P

If he' s willing to part with it for $150, and it' s in as good condition as you say, then waste no time about it. Snap it up! If the back of the riser is a smooth curve, without peaks at each end before fading into the limbs, it' s probably a ' 61 model and sold for $59.95 new. The 64 model came with dark gray glass.

IrishLad32

That' s not vintage, that' s a relic in traditional archery! If he' s willing to get rid of it for that price go for it.

Brandan

bigbulls

Thanks for the replies guys. It is definetly a ' 64 year bow. The glass looks green depending on the lighting. Looks more like an olive drab color. Could pass as gray too though.I figured this would be a great deal. Gonna talk to him tomorow.



This might need a new thread but what do you guys reccomend in gettng started with traditional archery? I have used compounds for about 12 years so archery is not new to me just the traditional version.

As a beginner in this I think I would probably be better off with alluminum arrows? Certainly would use feathers for the fletching.

How heavy or light (aproximately) shoule the total arrow weight be?

Do you like a finger tab or glove better?

I will replace the string, any reccomendations on that?

Most likley will use two blade cut on contact heads like Magnus, Modoc, Zwickey. Any brand in particular better or worse than other heads?


Any other info you guys could give would help tremendously.
Oh, and don' t worry I won' t be hunting with it for at least a year.

Thanks again.

Arthur P

Okay, ya threw me on the glass color thing. Bear used glass about the color of this print sometimes. Se la vie, se la guerre.

Arrows: Aluminum or weighted carbon. I much prefer aluminum for many reasons. You can make excellent wood arrows, but they do have a set of maintenance issues.

In deference to the age of the bow, I don' t think you should go below 8 or 9 grains per pound of draw weight. I prefer 10 to 12 gpp for all my shooting with stickbows. That bow will likely last you a lifetime if you don' t abuse it.

Tab or glove? The answer to that is YES. A tab always gives me a smoother, more consistent release than a glove and is my first choice for target shooting. But it isn' t as handy as a glove. A glove is always ready on my hand and is my first choice for hunting.

B-50 dacron. Nothing else. Fastflight or any other strings of that type will shear the limb tips off that bow. Either endless loop or flemish will work, but I' ve noticed a few things recently... Some guys at the club have been bringing out older bows this year. Seems like the endless strings shoot quieter and squeeze a bit more performance out of the oldies than the flemish do - and to a greater extent than switching string types on a new bow does. That' s not a scientifically tested fact, just a casual observation, but it has impressed me enough that I' ve put an endless string on my old Pearson, and would put an endless string on anything made pre-1980.

Magnus and Zwickey for sure. Bear Razorheads. Even Steelforce, but I think they' re a little delicate and easily bent. Snuffer and Wensel Woodsman for 3-blade heads. There are a lot of good heads. As for a bad head, anything made by Satelite.[X(]

CAJUNBOWHNTR

Talk about timing.I just traded a guy some bow junk for a Kodiak Magnum 52" .It has the green limbs and a gold medallion.The patent says canada 1953.Anyone have any idea how old this bow is?Also, it has a groove in the lamination on the underside of each limb tip where the string rests.Is this normal?It looks pretty symetrical.I went out last night and shot it with a beman ics 400(390 grains)This gives me about 8.5 G/# at 45#.I' ll be darned if the first shot at 10 yds did' nt hit about 3 " off the bull. Been a long time since I shot fingers.I' m throwing my fingers open a little instead of relaxing my hand.I will tell you that there is something neat about a stick and a string and nothing else.My 12 year old came out while I was shooting and was highly smitten also.I think his quote was something like" wow,cool that' s fine as frog hair, who are you Byron Ferguson"
Anyway BB sorry for the thread hi jack

CB

Arthur P

Cajun, the string groove is factory standard.

But you do make a good point about the release. You push with the bow hand, pull with the string hand and, when it' s time to shoot, you simply quit holding the string. You do not turn loose. You do not release. You do not flip your fingers open. You do not DO anything. You' re already holding the string and you simply quit holding it. Easy as pie.

Yeah, right. Don' t we all wish?

CAJUNBOWHNTR

I prefer a tab and have been shooting with an el cheapo glove.I get a much cleaner release with a tab.The magnum model is shorter at 52" and a probably a little harder to shoot than the Kodiak at 60" .I can' t explain it but I just seem drawn to that old bow.If I can get good enough with her at close range I might taker her out for a spin later in the season.Who knows I may have to swap forums

CB

eightwgt

Arthur

I liked your comments about the release of the string.... I like to read differant peoples explanation of the how to release with fingers.....
" Just stop holding the string"

So as a further detailed desciption do you simply relax your fingers ?

I am just curious.... I have not shot traditional in many years but am starting a new Reflex / Deflex bow soon (when my parts get here) so I am paying close attention here.....
I used to be quite an instinctive shooter - I could wing shoot, squirrel hunt, you name it - I was 20 then, 39 now so its been a while but I cant wait to get back into it.....

Anyway - look forward to hearing your answer.

Tom

Arthur P

eightwgt, even though that' s the actual result, I don' t like saying I relax my fingers. That implies that I DO something to release the arrow. The string leaves your fingers too fast for you to consciously let the string go and get the fingers out of the way. Releasing the string leads you to anticipate the shot and will cause plucking, double clutching and all kinds of release problems.

Like I said, I prefer to approach it like I' m already doing something by holding the string back and I simply stop doing it. The string moves the fingers out of the way and escapes.