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When was my sweet-shootin' Dynastressed 52" 60# Groves Spitfire built and...if there's a hint in that number, was it built by Jimmy Elrod, Howard Groves, or..?

Mine has a very similar serial number, in the nice handwriting shown in the inset photo. I believe it to be a 1969 bow.

Crooked/Kerry.. yep, same bow, same measurements.. I've always assumed that "69" indicated year...maybe that hyphenated 9 that we both have means "september." Maybe that 3-digit number refers to the number of bows so-far that year.

Got mine in maybe 94' from an Albuquerque archery shop..was somewhat banged-up so I had Jimmy Elrod refinish it.

That Phenolic piece in the riser makes this a very heavy bow.

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Is Jim still alive?

Jimmy Elrod's son is reportedly around (maybe in Belen) but I suspect Jimmy is gone. A buddy has a Jimmy-Groves, built after Harold passed. Very colorful collection of bakelite.

My Spitfire Magnum has the brown quilt pattern glass and has L-3254-2. I assume the L stands for left, but the rest is Greek to me. Frisky only wishes that he had the real Holy Grill of recurves.

anybody know the era with brown quilt?

Woven fiberglass is pre 1970 for sure, maybe 65 or earlier. When I sold Groves bows in early 70's they were solid color fiberglass.

Then my bow was built by Harold. I almost gave it away a while back. it is perfect shape, I better hang on to it.

dean if your bow was built by Harold then it was pre 1960 and looks completely different. Very few of those around. Harolds son told me serial numbers didn't signify build dates. Woven glass was also around in the 70's according to what I was told first hand.

Did Jimmy Elrod have Harold's forms then?

BSBD, What's the basis for saying that Harold didn't build any after 1960? This seems at odds with everything I've read...he only introduced the Spitfire in 1959; it seems unlikely that he wasn't still building some himself throughout the 60's.

Jimmy Elrod was Harold's main bowyer.

Saying that woven fiberglass was still around in the 70's and using it on all your bows are two very different things. Heck there probably is some woven fiberglass still around somewhere.

I have a Groves "Spark" with brown woven fiberglass #L-2076-8 , 54" - 25# @ 28" it also had brown flocking on the riser that was worn off I'm going to reflock it.

Billstick

Harold and Faye didn't even open their first shop until 1961. That shop later burned.

Actally, Harold,was,building the spitfire from the beginning in 54 in his dug out basement in Los Alamos. Here is number 71, late 54 or early 55. Only thing not original is the leather wrap.

Elrod built the vast majority. Harold had different people sanding, tillering, cutting risers etc. cueman is correct on the dates.

I was told the Spark was made as a kids bow from the Flame Hunter. It was cut in half and shortened. Groves had problems with some of that woven glass during glue up and had to trash a lot of those bows.

I watched Harold work on limbs in 1994 or 95, watched him receive an order for a gigantic Bubinga beam about then, watched him do a little Dynastress work. Nonetheless, Jimmy was the main bowyer at that time (and later). The son wasn't involved, possibly until Harold passed due to reported issues. I had the impression that it was Jimmy alone who looked out for Harold's personal welfare.

jk, you are correct about the dates. My dad shot Harold's bows almost exclusively, and he and Harold used to talk on the phone regularly. In fact, Harold and Jim built my dad a 52lb. 64" Mag II about 1990 or so. Wasn't Jim Harold's son in law? Seems like I remember than being the case.

I don't know much about Jim.seemed like a good, kind guy who was very careful about his craft and brave enough to laminate a few wild-color-combo risers after Harold passed.

I adjust the grip a little on mine. It had an abrupt thing going on above my bow hand that irritated my thumb knuckle.

Dean, I think you described your grip "adjustment" a while back here...do you have a link? Makes sense for shooting off the shelf...

I installed a Bear Weather Rest on mine, despite the arc-ed shelf that I asked Jimmy to make...to mount the rest I had to create a shim, level to the top of the broadhead cutaway. Contact cement.

I remember Harold advocating flipper rests.

So From what I gather from the above post,is that there is no way to tell what year the bows were made? Even with the serial number.

John, that bow now has a Pararest mounted inside of the broadhead cutout. It is really disgusting how tolerant that bow is for arrow spine.

What arrows are you shooting? 30" 600 reads here, want to try some 500s.

Are Spitfires risers cut to center?

It depends on when they were made whether they are or aren't cut to center. I've seen them that were, and I've seen them that were 1/8" shy. Some of the takedowns that Harold built on the Pro Line compound magnesium riser are past center. I have one of those.

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