# One Of The First V-Bars



## Steven Bressan (May 6, 2009)

Although they are quite popular now, the V-Bar Stabilizer did not exist until around 1969. Prior to that there was a gentleman at many of the National events that had a container of mercury attached to the back of his bow. That, with a long stabilizer, kept his shooting consistent.

I shot a Colt Grand National in 68- 69. The bow came with a stabilizer that looked like a tuning fork and hung out in front of the bow. I asked my father to drill and tap the center so that I could add a stabilizer, purely for more weight. Eventually I turned the Colt stabilizer to the back of the bow and had a long rod in front from Shakespeare that was filled with mercury. I really liked the way the bow felt with this setup. It balanced perfectly and my bow did not move when I released the arrow.

I ended up winning the 1969 JOAD Championships in Detroit that year. Eventually someone made the U adaptor so that anyone could balance their bows.

What I liked most was that I could sit the bow on the floor and use the V-bar as a rest. There just was never enough room on the racks to put my bow there.


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## cerelestecerele (Aug 5, 2019)

You wouldn't happen to have any pictures of any of those lying around? I'm curious to see them. 
How big were the mercury filled rods? I'm guessing they were made of steel as mercury destroys aluminium pretty spectacularly, and glass would be too fragile. Did it slosh?
The only related picture I've seen is this rod from 1968 which looks like a croquet mallet but the mercury is in the container at the tip, not the rod itself.


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## kballer1 (Aug 31, 2010)

Ben Pearsons Lord Mercury bow came with a stabilizer that had mercury in it.


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