Grizzly Bair C Frame Metallic Press
Pictured here is a rather uncommon C Frame single stage reloading press manufactured by Bair some time in the 1970's. The model is called the Grizzly Bair. The press is marked on the sides with the words Super Deluxe.
If this looks like a Pacific press, that is no coincidence, Bair used to manufacture presses for Pacific in the 60's before branching out on his own.
The Grizzly Bair press is made of cast iron and weighs about 15 pounds. It is threaded to take conventional 7/8 x 14 reloading dies and standard shell holders. The press was commonly it was sold with a set of Bair Cub reloading dies . Note the RCBS type spring loaded primer seater arm.
The Bair Facts
The Bair Machine Company was started in 1955 in Lincoln Nebraska by Harley Bair. According to a newpaper article that appeared in the Lincoln Evening Journal on December 29, 1967 , Harley Bair and his company were being sued by Pacific Gunsight corp for intellectual property theft and a whole raft of allegations.
It all started in 1958 when the Western Gun and Supply Company contracted with the Bair Machinery Company to manufacture parts for Western reloading presses. One of these press designs was a shotshell reloading press created in the mid 1950s by Robert Deitemeyer, an employee of Western Gun and Supply.
Two years later the parent company of Western Gun and supply acquired the Pacific Gunsight Company and the reloading tool products were rebranded as Pacific. At some point Harley Bair decided start producing his own brand of reloading tools using the pacific designs and tooling. In September 1967, the Bair Machine company stopped filling orders for parts from Pacific and two months later found themselves being sued. In the end the lawsuit came to nothing, the courts ruling that Pacific did not really have a case.
Bair reloading tools were sold until the late 1970s but the brand never really took off. Harley Bair became a realestate developer later in life. He died in 2011.
"Pacific Gun Files Suit Against Bair Involving Trade Secrets on Loader" Lincoln Evening Journal Dec 29, 1967 p. 3
1. The Glacier Bair progressive shotshell press was in form and function essentially a Pacific Model 366 press.