Bear Young Gun Review

Editors' review

Most bows built for a growing kid are toys - molded plastic risers, training wheels, a draw range that stalls out before the child's first real deer season. The Bear Young Gun is the exception, and that is the whole point of it. Developed with Team Primos and marketed as the closest a young archer can get to Dad's bow, it takes Bear's adult Truth 2 hunting platform and scales it down onto a cast machined aluminum riser instead of a starter chassis. A single unique-to-Bear rotating cam gives it 14 draw-length positions from 14 to 27 inches, and the limbs tune from a backyard-safe 15 pounds up to a 50-pound whitetail draw weight. That span is the promise: one bow that carries an eight-year-old backyard shooter all the way to a teenager in a treestand, without a mid-growth upgrade in between. Produced across 2009 and 2010 - badged "Truth 2 Young Gun" the first year and simply "Young Gun" the second - it was Bear's answer for the parent who wanted their kid learning on a real bow, not a placeholder.

Finish

The Young Gun shipped in a single finish: full-coverage Realtree APG HD camo across the riser and limbs. APG was Realtree's do-everything pattern of the era, blending bark, limb and open-timber elements to break the bow's outline in early-season green woods as readily as in late-season browns. For a youth bow that will spend much of its first year leaning against a garage wall between backyard sessions, the dip-coat holds up reasonably to the knocks and handling a kid's gear takes. There were no solid-color or target-finish options here - Bear positioned the Young Gun squarely as a scaled-down hunting bow, and the lone camo dress reflects that intent. A young archer who wants a splash of personality adds it with aftermarket string silencers, a colored peep or a wrap, none of which the factory finish gets in the way of. It is a simple, honest finish that matches the bow's job.

Riser

The riser is where the Young Gun separates itself from the youth-bow category. Instead of the molded synthetic risers common on kids' bows, Bear used a cast machined aluminum riser - the same construction philosophy as its adult hunters, scaled to a shorter, lighter frame. Into that riser Bear integrated dual-arc string suppressors, one on each side of the string, and on a bow this size they do real work knocking down post-shot string oscillation. Like the rest of the Truth 2 platform, the riser keeps its reflex minimal - Bear's stated route to a more forgiving, accurate shot - which matters on a 6-inch brace height that is already short by adult standards. At 29.75 inches axle-to-axle the package stays compact and maneuverable in a ground blind or a cramped treestand, which matters more for a smaller-framed hunter than raw forgiveness does. The whole bow weighs 3.2 pounds bare - light enough that a ten-year-old can hold it steady for the few seconds a shot takes, but with enough aluminum mass to avoid the twitchy feel of a plastic bow.

Grip

The grip is a slim, direct-to-riser design with side plates rather than a bulky screw-on module, sized for a smaller hand. A young shooter's palm sits low and close to the riser's pivot point, which is exactly what you want while a new archer is still learning to relax the bow hand - there is little to torque. In my experience the single most common mistake new shooters make is gripping too hard, and the Young Gun's narrow throat quietly helps by not giving the hand much to wrap around. It runs a touch warmer than a bare aluminum grip in cold weather thanks to the finish coverage, though a strip of grip tape or a slip-on sleeve is a two-dollar fix for a kid hunting late-season mornings. As the archer's hand grows, the grip stays comfortable well into the teen years - it was never so small that it becomes unusable at a 27-inch draw.

Limbs

The limbs are compression-molded - Bear's long-running limb technology, the same process behind its adult lineup - seated in pivoting aluminum-cast limb cups that keep the limb-to-riser fit square as draw weight changes. That pivoting cup is the detail that lets the Young Gun cover such a wide weight range without going out of tune: as you back the limb bolts out, the cups rotate to keep everything seated. Draw weight adjusts through those limb bolts with the Allen wrench that comes in the box - no press and no pro-shop trip, one bolt on top and one on the bottom. The lighter version spans 15 to 40 pounds and the heavier version 20 to 50 pounds, so a parent picks the version by how far they want the bow to reach. Fifty pounds at a 27-inch draw is a legitimate whitetail setup, comfortably above the common 40-pound state minimum for deer. The compression-molded limbs carry a durability record across Bear's line that a first-time buyer can lean on - this is not an experimental design being tried out on a budget bow.

Eccentric System

The heart of the Young Gun is its rotating modular cam - a single unique-to-Bear eccentric Bear called the Rotating Modular Cam System with Multi-Draw. It offers 14 draw-length positions in one-inch steps from 14 to 27 inches, more adjustment than any other youth cam Bear built, and every position is set by rotating the module rather than swapping parts. Bear rates the bow at 270 fps IBO (the industry-standard chronograph speed at a fixed setup), but with an asterisk that matters: that figure is measured at 27 inches, 50 pounds and a 250-grain arrow - not the standard 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup a full-size bow uses - because the Young Gun physically cannot reach those numbers. Read against its own kind, 270 fps is brisk for a youth bow and plenty of speed to drive a broadhead through a deer's vitals inside 25 yards. Let-off is 70 percent - the share of peak weight that falls away at full draw - so a kid holding a 40-pound peak is actually carrying about 12 pounds while they settle the pin. That light holding weight is critical for a young shooter whose arms tire fast; it buys the extra seconds to aim instead of rushing. The trade-off of a 70-percent let-off is a slightly shorter valley than the 80-percent bows, but on a learning bow the firmer feel reinforces a consistent anchor. Best of all, following the child up in draw length as they grow is a five-minute module rotation - the entire reason a family buys this bow over a fixed-size one.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the Young Gun, the first thing you notice is how unintimidating it is. The rotating cam ramps up gently to a peak a young shooter reaches without the whole-body heave a stiff adult cam demands, then eases into the valley and settles onto the back wall. There is no aggressive speed-cam hump to fight, which is precisely right for the audience. The dual string suppressors and axle-mounted dampeners keep the shot civil for a bow in this price class; the shared Truth 2 hardware points to a release that stays in the hand rather than jumping out of it. I have handed bows to enough first-time shooters to know that a noisy, buzzy shot teaches flinching faster than anything else, and the Young Gun's relatively settled release is one of its quiet advantages as a teaching tool. The 6-inch brace height is short by adult standards and asks for reasonably clean form, but on a compact youth frame it is a fair trade for the speed it buys. Held at full draw, the 70-percent let-off and the 3.2-pound mass work together - light enough to hold steady, heavy enough not to wander - so a kid can hover the pin instead of stabbing at the target.

Usage Scenarios

Picture the path this bow is built to take. A nine-year-old starts in the backyard at 20 pounds and a 16-inch draw, shooting foam targets after school. Two summers later the same bow is dialed to 30 pounds and a 20-inch draw for a first youth deer season from a ground blind with a parent alongside. By the time the archer is fifteen, the limb bolts are cranked toward 50 pounds and the cam rotated out to 26 or 27 inches, and the Young Gun is a genuine whitetail bow in a treestand - no new purchase in between. That is the single scenario it is designed for, and it handles it well: close-range whitetail and hog hunting inside 25 to 30 yards, backyard practice, 3D club nights for a growing shooter, and small-game roving. It is not a long-range target bow - the short brace height and youth-scaled speed are not meant for pins stacked out to 60 yards - and a physically large teen with a 29- or 30-inch draw will top out its adjustment. For its intended envelope, though, it covers more of a young hunter's development than almost anything else in its class.

Versions

Bear sold the Young Gun across two model years and two peak-weight options. In 2009 it was cataloged as "The Truth 2 Young Gun" in a 40-pound version (spanning 15 to 40 pounds) and a 50-pound version (20 to 50 pounds), each offered as a bow-only unit or as an RTS (Ready-to-Shoot) package. In 2010 Bear dropped the "Truth 2" prefix and sold it simply as the Young Gun - unchanged in geometry and hardware, in Realtree APG HD camo. The ready-to-hunt package is the version most buyers want: it adds a Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit rest, a Trophy Ridge 3-pin fiber-optic sight, a wheel peep, a Trophy Ridge four-arrow quiver, a stabilizer and sling, and a nock loop - everything needed to shoot straight out of the box. At launch the bare bow ran around $300, with the fully rigged package priced above that. Choosing between the 40- and 50-pound versions comes down to the child's age and how long you want the bow to serve: the 50-pound version reaches a full whitetail draw weight and lasts deeper into the teen years.

Bear Young Gun vs Bear Apprentice, Diamond Infinite Edge

Bow	Bear Young Gun	Bear Apprentice	Diamond Infinite Edge
Version	2010	2011	2015
Picture
Brace Height	6 "	6 "	7 "
AtA Length	29.75 "	27.5 "	31 "
Draw Length	14 " - 27 "	15 " - 27 "	13 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	15 lbs - 50 lbs	20 lbs - 50 lbs	5 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	270 fps	265 fps	310 fps
Weight	3.2 lbs	2.9 lbs	3.1 lbs
Let-Off	70%	70%	75%
Where to buy Best prices online	$249 to $325 Compare prices	$52.1 to $220 Compare prices	$119.99 to $600 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Young Gun's closest cross-shop is Bear's own Bear Apprentice, which Bear added a year later, in 2010, as its other adjustable youth bow - Bear credited the Young Gun's success for the expansion. The two are close cousins: both run a 6-inch brace height, a 70-percent let-off and a complete ready-to-hunt package, and both use a modular cam to grow with the archer. The Young Gun is the slightly bigger, faster of the pair - 29.75 inches axle-to-axle and 270 fps against the Bear Apprentice's more compact 27.5-inch frame and 265 fps - while the Apprentice reaches down to a 15-inch draw position for a smaller first-timer. The wider-reaching alternative from another brand is the Diamond Infinite Edge, the benchmark "one bow for the whole family" design. Where the Young Gun is purpose-built for the childhood-to-teen youth window, the Diamond Infinite Edge stretches further in both directions - a 13-to-30-inch draw range and a 5-to-70-pound weight range with 80-percent let-off - so a parent, a small child and a full-grown adult can all shoot the same bow. That extra span is the Infinite Edge's whole argument, and it out-adjusts the Young Gun at both ends. The decision comes down to priorities: the Young Gun (or the Bear Apprentice) for a dedicated real-hunting-bow feel sized to a kid, and the Diamond Infinite Edge for the maximum-adjustability bow no one in the household ever outgrows.

Summary

The Bear Young Gun is a genuine hunting bow shrunk to fit a growing archer, and that is what lifts it clear of the toy end of the youth category. Built on the adult Truth 2 platform with a cast machined aluminum riser, compression-molded limbs, dual string suppressors and axle-mounted dampeners, it delivers 270 fps at its youth-scale 27-inch, 50-pound rating and a 70-percent let-off that lets a young shooter genuinely hold and aim. Its 14 draw-length positions from 14 to 27 inches and a peak-weight range reaching 50 pounds are the real story: one bow, priced around $300 bare at its 2009-2010 launch, that follows a child from backyard foam targets to a treestand whitetail without a mid-growth replacement. In my experience the bows that teach kids to love archery are the ones that shoot like the real thing while forgiving a beginner's form, and the Young Gun's settled shot and light holding weight do exactly that. It is an excellent choice for the parent who wants their child learning on a scaled-down real bow rather than a placeholder, and it is particularly strong for close-range whitetail and hog hunting and years of backyard practice. Buyers who want a single bow a full-grown adult can also shoot at a 30-inch draw should look at the Diamond Infinite Edge, and those wanting the same idea in a slightly more compact Bear frame should look at the Bear Apprentice.