Picked up a Shakespeare Wonderbow at a flea market the other day.....Bow is in great shape with a few nicks and dings.....Info on lower limb: 35+# H61223C 62" the Ocala Model X17 Front and back of limbs are olive drab green, don't have a clue about the wood but it is a sharp old recurve. Put a string on it and shot some GT3555's and seems to shoot really well. Any info about the year? What is it worth? Can draw and hold this baby all day. Put on a set of whiskers and this bow shot dead quiet. Almost forgot, what is the proper brace height? A new B-50 58" string with about 10 twists falls in around 8 1/2 inches. Thanks

I collect a few vintage recurves. My favorite is the Shakespeare Ocala. I love the grip, it is smooth and shoots with good speed. Here is a pic of my Ocala with my Rose Oak, they are both 55# at 28" and are within 8 fps with B-50 strings. You picked up a great bow. Sodbusterjim.

Brace height is about right. Can't help you with the age. Those are good bows, and on e-bay, around 75 to 100 dollars. They are not too popular today. At least not as much as the Bears.

Check archeryarchives.com. They have all the info on the older Shakespeares and you can usually get a range of manufacturing years plus the correct brace height off the website. I love the old Shakespeares and in time hope to pick up at least several more (I have 4 now).

The Ocala (60 & 62 inch), and it's little brother, the Kaibab (56 & 58 inch), were top of the line hunting bows for Shakespeare. They are gaining in popularity nowadays as folks actually get to see more of them on auction sites. They are very well designed (Ernie Root) and smaller versions of their high quality target bows....the Root Pendulus Supreme, and the Shakespeare X-10 Professional.

Without a photo, it's hard to tell you the year it was made, but they were made in weights from about 30 pounds to over 60 pounds, normall with risers of bubinga, like the one shown in photo above. If that bow was capable of using non stretch strings, it would shoot with modern bows of similar design. Comparing the limb geometry with your Rose Oak, you can see why the Stahl bow is faster; shorter working limbs, deeper curve and higher preload. That Ocala will drive nails however.

There good bows, That was the first new recurve I bought when I got out of the army in 1969, and was also the bow I killed my first buck with since being in the army. George is correct , I would say either bubinga, or shedua, for riser wood, I really liked mine and thought it really looked cool at the time , wish I still had it about 100 bows later, LOL enjoy your new bow.

I just picked a 62in 45# Ocala up on Craigs lsit. Really surperized how much I like the bow. Got a used Martin Venom the same week and they are close in speed and of course I am shooting the $40.00 bow better...ha... Really like it better than several bear and Ben Pearson bows I ahve. I will definately pick up a couple more Shakespeare bows. Thought I would put this for others future reference.

I have an Ocala x-17 62" 50# and it shoots very well. The purists will cringe but I shoot full length 2213 eastons and 125grn heads and it shoots accurately and very smooth.

try this out shakespearearchery.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-necedah-wonderbow.html

Reaper, if you still have this bow .... It was made in August of 1996. There is a key to the serial number.

I just got a 66 Ocala that is 45# and in really nice shape. Can't wait to see how she shoots.

Here is more detailed information on the Ocala from the Shakespeare archery blogspot that includes the types of wood (benge and zebrawood) and the brace height (7 7/8").

http://shakespearearchery.blogspot.com/2015/02/shakespeare-x17-62-ocala-x- 17-and-rare.html?m=1#uds-search-results

Your bow was made in August 1966. Oh, I see Phil stated that.

I have an earlier Ocala and Kaibab with the riser design like yours that is shown in the picture above. They are one of the most efficient designs made. My Ocala is 60# and the Kaibab is 45#. I have been looking for a heavier Kaibab that was made from 1966-1968 and they are tough to find-that shows the popularity.

I wouldn't be surprised if the post-68 Ocalas are even better shooters than the'66 and '67's...but that zebrawood sight window and the curvy lines in the early models, versus the blockiness of the later ones, makes me like the early ones best.

Peter-- I bet if you compare the limbs on your 58"Kaibab and 62"Ocala, you'll find that they are almost exactly the same length. This is just like the early Howatt Hunters and Hi-Speeds, I believe; the riser length changed between models, but the limbs were identical. Howatt and Root both knew that a great limb design was worth hanging on to... and those were truly some of the best ever, IMO.

You are absolutely right Kerry...I did the comparison before. Same limbs...longer riser.

The same is true of the 50's Root bows...the Gamemaster and Fieldmaster have the same limbs...difference is the height of the sight window.

I feel the same way about the blocky riser of the later - especially 70 and 71 models.

I had and sold one of the later Ocala's. It was no different in performance than the earlier models but I like the looks of the 66-68 models better as well.

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