# Bear Delta V



## jmoose77

Bear Delta-V was introduced in 1981 and I'm pretty sure they made more than 7. I sold one on ebay a couple of years ago.
Bear at the time called it a programmed bow and claimed it was the fastest compound made,they had it advertised as the world's fastest compound.
[I*]Bear Delta-V Spec's*,
_50% Let-Off
45" ata
Bowstring 39"
Glass color: Plantinum metallic
Handle: Twilight blue, cut 1/2" past center
Draw Lengths:26" thru 33"
Draw weight:40 thru 70 Lb
Mass weight: 5lbs 15oz._[/I]

Good luck with your search on this bow and if I can find any additional info I will post it...Moose


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## Howattman54

I don't know about the Delta V being the fastest bow, but it was sure as hell the LOUDEST!!!! And with a "stripped" weight of a shade under 6 pounds, it wasn't exactly a feather to haul around, either.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bear in 1982 and he commented that he didn't like the Delta V, primarily due to how hard it was to work on. If I remember correctly, you had to have a special stringer or a bow press just to change the string (which was a frequent occurence given the wear inflicted by the string-stops, or "speed blocks" as Bear called them). 

Howattman


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## Orions_Bow

They did make more than 7 of them, I'm not sure on the numbers but there is more than 7 of them floating around. The Delta V was ahead of it's time really. I would say at that time it was the fastest bow on the market even though it didn't hold that record for long. Bows really started making some progress at that time but the Delta V was about as state of the art as you could get when it came out.


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## xibowhunter

they had to make way more then seven i know someone who had one.too bad he couldn't shoot it or any bow for that matter


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## Huntnjerms

I got the story wrong. My friend was told that the one he purchased back in 78-80 was one of the first seven sent out to some shops.


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## 500 fps

If I remember correctly, a bow report by Norb Mullaney had the AMO Velocity at 228 fps. I've got 2, one of which is pro shop new condition, with the manual. I've heard they e really loud, but I'll probably never shoot them.


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## Huntnjerms

Definatly LOUD!!!


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## archeryhistory

I have 3 in the collection. It was the only bow that I know of that was banned from some field courses because it sounded like a 22 rifle when shot. 
Fred Bear really did not even like the compound bow. Many dealers would not work on them. So many cables and a large financial loss for Bear. It is a great collectors bow.


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## Huntnjerms

Does anyone know where to get the speed/string stop blocks, or something that can be used in the place of them?


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## toxo

*Delta V*

I use to sell them.......and work on them.......Cars had less parts then that bow........Loud? It was not loud, but i did lose my hearing when it shot,LOL


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## meanv2

I was shooting an 80# Bear Delta V when I tore my shoulder up. I paid for that for a few years


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## williamcr

I remember that bow. There was a man that brought one in to the bow shop I worked at in about 1982. The bow was very loud and very fast. I remember the bow very well. I had never seen such a thing. I never worked on it but I could easily see where it would be a nightmare.


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## Welshman

I shot one of those back in '80 or '81. I shot it once then handed it back to the proshop owner. It was fast, loud and I thought it was gonna blow up.


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## BEARCOUNTRY

*Delta V*

Did they ever make the Delta V's in left hand models???
If they did I would like to purchase one!

PM me if anyone has some info on one.

Thanks


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## BEARCOUNTRY

ttt


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## BEARCOUNTRY

ttt


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## archerm3

ttt


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## Bowdon

I had a friend that hunted with one for years and took a lot of deer with it. It was fast in it's time and every loud it sounded like some one slammed the barn door going off. As you can see Mathews was not the first to have string suppressors


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## jmoose77

BEARCOUNTRY said:


> Did they ever make the Delta V's in left hand models???
> If they did I would like to purchase one!
> 
> PM me if anyone has some info on one.
> 
> Thanks


I have never seen a Lefty Delta V but they did make them.


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## Kill Shill

Fred didnt like compounds much at all, but yeah, he hated the Delta V. Fred at that point had sold the company and was just hangin around for something to do. Bear Archery gave more than 7 of these to various astronauts from that era and used it as and Ad tie in, being named after the Moon shot rocket model. It was the fastest for its day now.
They made a 1 cam version of this bow too under the Jennings name.


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## Trailcam Addict

Huntnjerms said:


> A friend of mine has a Bear Delta V. He bought it brand new a looong time ago, and I was recently able to pick him up a second one. When he purchased the bow, he was told that there were only 7 made. I have found old ads, and some pics on Archery History, but no real facts or articles.
> 
> Does anyone know just how many were produced? We're also looking for any tuning/setup information, instruction manual etc.
> 
> The bow that was just purchased looks like it could use a set of the steel cabels, and also needs the string bumpers/stops.
> 
> Any help would greatly be appreciated. Someone, somewhere out there has to know something, or know a guy who does!!! Thanks



I have one as well that needs a set of cables and have come very close to gettin ahold of some... Waitn for a guy to call me back sounds promising tho.. let you know more info as it comes to me


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## Trailcam Addict

*huh*



Huntnjerms said:


> A friend of mine has a Bear Delta V. He bought it brand new a looong time ago, and I was recently able to pick him up a second one. When he purchased the bow, he was told that there were only 7 made. I have found old ads, and some pics on Archery History, but no real facts or articles.
> 
> Does anyone know just how many were produced? We're also looking for any tuning/setup information, instruction manual etc.
> 
> The bow that was just purchased looks like it could use a set of the steel cabels, and also needs the string bumpers/stops.
> 
> Any help would greatly be appreciated. Someone, somewhere out there has to know something, or know a guy who does!!! Thanks


I have one also lookin for a set of cables and have acquired a old bear dealers number, and he was gunna look in his stuff for me some cables,,, let you know more info as it comes to me.


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## TrotterMatic

jmoose77 said:


> I have never seen a Lefty Delta V but they did make them.



I hate to dig up an old thread, but here I go anyway!


No left hand models of the Delta-V were ever made, but there were plans to make them at one point. The riser was expensive to produce and the demand for a left hand model was very low, so none were produced.

The castings for the riser for the Delta-V were expensive because of its complexity. If fact, the casting design won an award for Bear Archery at the time.

Mark Trotter


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## TrotterMatic

Kill Shill said:


> Fred didnt like compounds much at all, but yeah, he hated the Delta V. Fred at that point had sold the company and was just hangin around for something to do. Bear Archery gave more than 7 of these to various astronauts from that era and used it as and Ad tie in, being named after the Moon shot rocket model. It was the fastest for its day now.
> They made a 1 cam version of this bow too under the Jennings name.


The Delta-V name does have a small connection to the space program, but it was not named after the moon rocket (Saturn V). It was named after the engineering term for a change in velocity. The triangle symbol for Delta"Δ" stands for change and the capital V stands for velocity. The term Delta V (ΔV) is used in frequently in spacecraft when a rocket is fired as a measurement of how much the spacecrafts speed has changed.

In the name of the moon rocket, Saturn V, the "V" is the roman numeral five. In the Delta V, it's simply a "V".
So it's not a Delta Five, It's a Delta V.

Dick Lattimer of Bear Archery named the bow the Delta V.


By the way, The Jennings UniStar was not a one cam version of the Delta V. Totally different cabling setup used.


Mark Trotter


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## Kill Shill

Bear definetly advertised the name connection with space program and gave several astronuts a copy.
Ofcouse the Jennings Unistar and BEAR DV were different bows, they shared the same cam and pylon. 1 and 2 cam bows are always cabled different.


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## ham120

I've got a brand new delta v only had about 50 arrows put throw it and i've got the instruction booklet with it too. i pulled it out last night to show my son and the power bumpers had crumbled away!!!! so can anyone help me?


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## TrotterMatic

Those power bumpers do tend to become brittle over the years. 30 years is a long time! You need to take care trying to use any bow that old. 
Sorry, I know of no replacement bumpers anywhere for the Delta V, however my father would sometimes use old tire inner tube rubber cut into a long strip about an inch wide and wrap that around the bumper pylon as a bumper replacement. It's not pretty but it works and the softer rubber makes the bow quieter.


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## NEVADAPRO

Definitely more than 7 made!! I had 10 hanging in my Pro Shop at one time!! And there were never any lefties made! It's kinda weird...the design and engineering that went into that bow was remarkable. But the bow sucked!!! Then the Jennings Uni-Star came along (completely different bow) and although some things seemed as though they were from the same parts bin....the Uni-Star was 100% a better bow!! Faster and quieter and much easier to maintain!! AND...the shop owner didn't pass out (literally) when a Uni-Star crossed the front door!! The same could not be said for the Delta-V!!!LOL!!!!!!!!


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## jimbow56

I remember seeing one hanging in a sporting goods / hardware store in the early 1980's and hoping that wasn't the direction that archery was headed. Thhhhwaaaapppppppp!

Sent from my DROID X2


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## jmoose77

The Bear catalog from that time shows they were going to sell left handed Delta V bows. They even listed a number in the catalog of 4180 L.H. for it. 
I guess they were going to see how much interest they would get before building lefties.


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## bavariangoose

I currently have two Delta V’s that I plan on “bringing back to life”. I have the 1982 Bear catalog for reference so I will try to be as accurate as possible. I had to cut an Alphashox in half as a temporary “speed block”. If this thread is still open I will post some pics of the progress.


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## Martin_Shooter1

Diggin up an old thread............I knew a fella back in the 80s that had one. It was extremely loud. It was very fast! And one day at a bow shoot.......the thing blew up on him and cables flew everywhere. He went it back and they warrantied the bow. Wasn't for me!


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## archeryhistory

A good source for the Delta V Trotter design bow 
http://www.trottermatic.com/phoenix_bow


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## onemore17

*Bear delta v*

I have one if anyone would be interested


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## onemore17

Bow is still available.


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