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Groves Spitfire Magnum

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TwangDRB

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Feb 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/25/97
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Picked up this Groves hunting bow at a garage sale: Spitfire Magnum, 60",
54# at
28". Says "dyna-stressed on it and it has a cut-out window for
overdrawing broadheads. Anybody know anything about it? Somebody told me
they were (are) made in New Mexico.

John Kelly

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Feb 25, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/25/97
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Yup. Harold Groves just died, but his hands-on bowyer is Jimmy Elrod,
and he's still at it in Albuquerque. I have a 52# Spitfire Magnum (1968,
just like yours, and a takedown Spitfire Magnum III with three sets of
limbs (1995).

They're fast bows: using the same arrow, same chrono, the 52# bow was
precisely as fast as a new 60# Hoyt recurve (not the carbon limb
version).

Dynastressing is pre-stressing the limbs by a)fibreglassing the limb on
one side, while it's bent circular and b)then fibreglassing the limb on
the other side, while it's straightened into unstrung shape.

The limbs are additionally unique vs those of other bows in that the
fibreglas is NOT tapered and Groves uses straight maple, as opposed to
laminated "actionwood." The glue that makes actionwood makes limbs
heavier, therefore makes bows slower.

Do NOT use fastflite strings on the Groves...it'll generally destroy the
limbs with the first shot. Use only Dacron.

JK

Bob Ferrell

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Mar 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/2/97
to TwangDRB

TwangDRB wrote:
>
> Picked up this Groves hunting bow at a garage sale: Spitfire Magnum, 60",
> 54# at
> 28". Says "dyna-stressed on it and it has a cut-out window for
> overdrawing broadheads. Anybody know anything about it? Somebody told me
> they were (are) made in New Mexico.

fyi,
Just to let you know what a "deal" you might have just made -
my 1996 price list shows his takedowns at $495 for the metal handle,
& $750 for the wood handle model!
Sorry to find out that Harold passed away - hope the other guy
carries on with it.
I've had a couple and they were very fast and good shooting bows.
I can vouch for not using fast flite - I got one on trade once which
had a fast flite string on it, and I just had to try a couple shots.
I let the nock come off the string and dry fired it, and the string
split the upper limb down 3" on either side of the nock like a
band saw! It was gruesome.
bob

John Kelly

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Mar 2, 1997, 3:00:00 AM3/2/97
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Yes, that's absolutely going to happen. Harold would reach up and
strangle you, if he knew about it. Worse, he'd tell you, in early Anglo
Saxon, what he thought of you! ARggggh!

Importantly, "the other guy" is Jimmy Elrod, who's been Harold's main
bowyer for at least thirty years, with a few longish vacations. Jimmy's
a craftsman, and a man with a big heart. Harold always credited other
people, including physicists from the A-Bomb project at Los Alamos to
"thousands of archers" for his bow's design. Harold never flinched from
taking proper credit for his own role in archery. But it was Jimmy Elrod
who built most of the best bows, hands-on, as he continues to do.

JK

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