Well after many years of wanting one of these beauties I finally pulled the trigger on a mint Type 1 A Riser serial number 1490 !

This has been my personal 'Holy Grail' bow and I finally just dug deep in my pockets and also will be selling several bows to do it.

Now I need to track down some suitable limbs.  I think I'll be looking for some white tips - any advice on how to determine the age of the limbs?  Did they have matching serial numbers with the handles?

I pull 28" so I am hoping to find some right around 50Lbs.  With my other bows 58" to 62" seems to work well - if I remember correctly are the #3 limbs 60" on an A Riser?

Here is the picture Abear (Chris) had of it:
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That sure is a beauty there. Looks like like your wait was worth it.

Good for you & congratulations.

Congrats.

Yes, #3 limbs will make a 60" bow.

Congratulations!
That's a beauty right there. And yes #3 limbs will make a 60" bow length. To stay in line with 1970 vintage, look for white tip limbs with gold lettering. Real early production will have "dimples" in the limb wedges.
1970 limbs are abundant and easily found.

Good Luck and Enjoy!

......Philip

So you're the lucky buyer.  I hardly slept last night and was looking again this morning.  There was relief, but some sadness, when I saw it sold.  

Congratulations!  Now I bet you're not going to sleep until you get your hands on it.  

Yep, it was me.  I was up all night myself and eventually couldn't take it anymore     :eek:    
This was a tough decision for me for one reason only - the financial part.  
This bow definitely straped me out as far as cash goes - and I will be selling some bows to help cover it - but how often does one of these show up in mint condition - and being sold by someone you have zero concerns about buying from?
Now that it's settled there is definitely a big feeling of relief.

Like you said Lon - now the wait begins!

Thanks for the info Nick & Philip - one thing I never worried about was having a place to go for good info! - Or a bunch of guys who would understand me needing to show her off!

Terry

TB, good for you.  Enjoy it.
Shick

Beautiful!! They are getting major scarce!

Congratulations Terry you wont be sorry they are getting harder to find every year. Ron.

Thank guys!  I kinda feel like I've been "lucky enough" to get one, especially in this condition!

Hey Ron - how are you doing?  One of the hardest decision bows I'll be selling to help finance this A Handle is a sweet 55lb 64 Kodiak that I think I bought from you a while back?
I'm definitely hanging on to the 50lb'er I got from you not to long ago - that bow has the prettiest wood (Bubinga?) in the riser that I have ever seen in a 64 Kodiak - not to mention hopw sweet she is to shoot!

How is your hunt going for the Hill style bows or have you found some that fill the need?

Get them limbs for it and go kill something , congrats on your new , A , have fun with it.......
,,,,,,Sam,,,,,,,

You are going to be very very pleased with that riser. Congrats.       :cool:

Beautiful riser.You won't be disappointed.

Wait till ya see her in person!!!!Thank you

I too was agonizing over both of the bows Chris was selling, both are on my wish list, If I could have swung it I would have purchased both.

Very Nice!!! That is next on my list, But I have this feeling it's going to take a while to find one. Especially one like that ......

I highly recommend NOT using modern limbs on an original A riser. Or B for that matter.

Do what you want ofcoarse but ONLY use Grayling limbs in Grayling handles........PERIOD.

They will fit like they should and not put any stress on the lip of the socket.

Modern limbs are shorter "limb butts" and do not seat deep enough into the socket. If you enlarge the locator hole, yes it will allow the limb to seat but not properly and socket failure "broken"
will render your riser to be a wall hanger!

I also disagree that the modern limbs are better than Grayling limbs. PapaBear did quite well with vintage limbs  
Use Grayling limbs and Enjoy.

...........Philip

Philip-

I appreciate your comments on my response concerning modern Bear limbs. My experience has been this:

I have a Type 1 "A" riser that I shoot frequently. I have a set of Keith Chastain Wapiti limbs that were made for it, but before I had those made, I shot it with new, Gainesville limbs from another bow which I just slightly modified by enlarging the locating hole on the limbs.

I did, however, first measure the the new limbs against the older set of Grayling limbs that came with the riser; there was, in this case, absolutely NO difference in any of the dimensions involving the pocket fit. Certainly, if there were differences, I would have not used the newer limbs on it.

Perhaps this was just an anomaly in the limb construction, but I had no problems at all.

I do, though, think that the newer T/D limbs are better than the old ones!

Terry,
Very nice.. great to get some chatter on some rare vintage archery items on this forum. It keeps you bringing the page up when the neat stuff is the hot topic..the items we all dream of but many will never own, your in a elite group, enjoy the bow..Roy

Great score Terry for sure.

Congrats!!