Hi guys, this is NUSensei.
As many of you probably realise, I'm a relatively young
guy and a late starter in archery.
So, I've missed out on a lot of milestones of archery
development and technology.
Today, I'm working with this bow
a Bear Minuteman.
This particular bow belongs to a visitor who received it
from her grandfather and I had the opportunity
to restring it.
The Bear Minuteman is a bow first introduced in 1974.
According to Bear Archery Traditional Bows,
A Chronological History by George L Coppen
the Minuteman was intended to be an economical
tournament and hunting bow.
The riser was made from magnesium alloy
and the colour reflected the riser length.
Red, white or blue for a 66 inch bow
and Little Delta Green for a 60 inch bow.
Most specimens you might see, will have a black hand grip
though many come without, as is the case with this one.
The limbs are made from Maplewood and fibreglass
with these dark limbs being the heavier of the limb options.
With this 60 inch bow, the limbs are rated at 45 lbs.
This bow also has the Bear Hair arrow rest
and the Silent arrow plate that comes as standard with the bow.
Being a takedown bow, the limbs simply slide in to place.
The string that I made for this bow is a green B50 dacron string
with Evo15 green and black serving, a combination
that I think matches quite well with the colour scheme.
I've set the brace height for this bow to around 7 inches
but bear in mind that dacron tends to stretch quite a bit
and I made quite a few mistakes in crafting the string.
Enough show and tell, let's give this vintage
bow a few shots.
Do remember, for what it is worth, that I am not a
traditional barebow shooter
and I'm just enjoying a piece of piece of history.
So, my thoughts on the Bear Minuteman,
wow, that's a pretty fun bow to use, I was meant to be
training today, but I have actually spent most of the day
shooting this bow.
It's actually very delightful to shoot.
Even without the grip it feels comfy, it feels light
it feels balanced, shoots really sweetly
and my 500 spine arrows come out really nicely out of
this bow.
Unfortunately, I can't keep this bow, I have to return it
to it's rightful owner, but definitely a great pickup
and a great hand-me-down.
I know a lot of trad shooters really stick with the
wooden bows, but if you can get your hands on one
of these or similar bow, then it's worth it.
It's really fun to shoot, a nice recreational casual bow
but something which you kind of want to use.
What I like about this, the magnesium riser feels about right.
I've used other magnesium risers before, particularly
the Samick Agulla, which is a target bow which is
quite heavy and clunky, this is a lot more elegant
if you can call that, it doesn't look very elegant,
but it feels elegant and I think that even the colour
scheme, and surprise, surprise green is my favourite colour.
I think it is very appealing to use.
So, yes I do like this bow.
I'm not yet a convert to barebow trad shooting, but,
since I have spent like the last 3 hours shooting this
I'd say that I could be persuaded with a bit more practice.
I guess the other thing is, it's great to see how far
we have gone in archery.
I mean, this was cutting edge back in the 1970s and we
have gone from this...
to this.
You know, I am showing my age, I'm a fairly young guy
I actually grew up with these bows.
This is, to me, it's vintage and it feels wonderful to use these bows
and I guess that if you grew up with these bows, then,
that hasn't changed, these still shoot very nicely
So, as a younger modern guy, I am very impressed with
the Bear Minuteman.
If you can find one second-hand, then I think you will be
in for a nice surprise.
These are really nice bows to have around.
Hope you enjoyed this video guys, this is NUSensei,
I will see you next time.