Maybe it’s me. I just can’t get excited about $40K motorcycles. I’ve seen the uber-offerings from Harley’s Custom Vehicle Operations (kind of sounds military, doesn’t it?) and that supercharged Kawasaki a few years ago. Those are and were priced in the stratosphere, too. The whole thing just reeks of people who have more money than brains. Way more. Like I said, maybe it’s just me.
The latest obscenely expensive bit of garage jewelry comes from Ducati in the form of the 2022 Ducati Panigale V4 SP2. It’s that rattle-can primer gray Ducati you see in the photo above. The Panigale V4 SP2 is an enhanced version of the V4 SP that shaves a bit over two pounds off the weight of the motorcycle. Can two pounds really make a difference? Yes, Ducati and the magazine writers breathlessly exclaim, if it’s two pounds taken from the right places.
Give me a break.
Especially give me a break when you consider the dilettantes who buy these machines. I’ve seen them up on Angeles Crest Highway in the parking lot at Newcomb’s. They are the same types who add carbon fiber bits and pieces to their Gixxers. Most of them, like me, are afflicted with Dunlap’s Disease (you know, when your belly done lapped over your belt buckle), so the point of shaving a few ounces here and there off the motorcycle is lost on me. Skip a meal, dude. Get to the gym. You’ll accomplish more.
So, I’ll set my benchmark: A $40K motorcycle that costs $40K because it has a miniscule amount of extra horsepower and weighs 2.2 pounds less than the standard model…well, that’s too much. You don’t need to spend stupidly (I can think of no other word) to buy a motorcycle you can have a lot of fun with. But that’s a topic for another blog.
With the pandemic more and more in the rearview mirror, local car shows are making a comeback. If you’re into cars and photography, this is a great way to spend a morning. We recently visited a show at the local Ford dealer. It was hot, but it was fun, and I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
The 55 and 56 F-100s you see above were awesome, as was today’s cover image. My favorite was probably the baby blue Galaxy convertible you see above.
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From time to time Gresh and I have written about a few of the great people we worked with over the years. For me, Gordon Smith is at the top of the list. Gordon was the real deal: Movie star good looks, charisma, Ivy League credentials, war hero, successful senior executive, successful entrepreneur, and a man who deeply understood what leadership is all about. I worked for Gordon in the early ’90s, lost track of him for a couple of decades, had dinner with him about 3 years ago, and learned of his passing about a year and a half ago. Gordon had 92 years on this planet so I guess he got his money’s worth, but knowing he is gone makes the world seem a lot emptier. He was a little frail when we last met, but he still had his razor sharp mind, his Boston accent, his full head of hair, and his amazing wit and gracious charm.
Gordon Smith as a young naval aviator.
Gordon Smith was a naval aviator (a carrier pilot and commander) who flew 244 combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. He’d been shot down, he’d been run over by an aircraft carrier after a failed catapult launch (keel hauled, he called it), he’d been decorated for valor numerous times, he was one of the top people in Naval Intelligence, and the list goes on. I can’t do his Navy career justice here, but I strongly suggest you take 5 minutes and read the tribute one of his fellow admirals wrote. I’ll give you a couple of links at the end this blog. Trust me on this: Gordon Smith was one hell of a man and a true leader.
Commander Gordon Smith in action aboard the USS Oriskany.
How I met Gordon is an interesting story. I had been laid off at Aerojet Ordnance and I took a lower level job at Sargent-Fletcher, another So Cal aerospace company. Sargent-Fletcher was a nice company but I wasn’t happy with the culture there and after six months, another offer floated in for a VP-level job in Orlando (it came about as a result of my earlier job search). So off I went to make my mark in Florida building military lasers, where I loved the work but hated the area. Central Florida, to me, was heat, humidity, and cockroaches so big they fought you for the covers at night (the Floridians call them palmetto bugs, but you can’t fool me; those things were cockroaches). I knew I had to get back to southern California. I don’t mean to insult anyone with my comments about Florida, but it is what it is. You’re young; you’ll get over it. Mea culpa.
The call came in from Sargent-Fletcher early one Friday morning after I’d been in Orlando for six months. They hired a new president (that would be Gordon Smith), he heard about my brief pre-Orlando stint at Fletcher, and he wanted to meet me. On Saturday, the next day. It was a redeye flight, I forgot to bring my dress shoes, and the next morning I was in Gordon’s office in a suit and tie and my running sneakers. We had a good interview and he asked me what I wanted. I gave my Miss America answer: A meaningful position, a chance to make a contribution on a winning team, you know, the standard Miss America “I like long walks on the beach and I want to work for world peace” bullshit interview response.
Gordon smiled. “I mean money,” he said, rubbing the fingers of his hand like he was counting cash. “How much do you need?”
Gordon Smith around the time I worked for him. His leadership skills were incredible.
Hmmm. I guess I should have thought about that earlier, but truth be told, I had not. I gave an obscenely high answer, which I regretted even before I finished saying it. I was desperate to get back to southern California, and I just blew it, I thought, by being greedy.
Gordon smiled. “The number I had in mind was…” and then he offered $2K more than what I had said. I kind of locked up mentally. Let’s see, I thought, he asked how much I wanted. I said X. He came back with X plus $2K. I had studied negotiation tactics. It wasn’t supposed to work that way. I didn’t know what to say. Gordon smiled. He knew.
You should never accept a job offer immediately, but what could I say?
“I’m your boy.”
“What are you doing for dinner?” Gordon asked. My mind was still thinking about what had just happened. I had a flight back to Orlando the next day. I told Gordon we hadn’t made any plans, and he said, “Good, come to my restaurant for dinner.”
“Sure,” I said. “You already have a favorite restaurant here in So Cal?” I knew he had just become the president at Sargent-Fletcher.
“I own a restaurant here,” Gordon answered.
“You own a restaurant?” Sometimes, I can be incredibly smooth.
Gordon’s restaurant was the Nieuport 17, and it wasn’t just a restaurant. It was one of the swankiest dining experiences in the world. It had (as the name implied) an aviation motif. When Sue and I pulled up and gave our keys to the valet, a tall, elegant man in an exquitely-tailored suit approached. “You must be Joe, and you must be Sue. I’ve heard so much about you.” It was Wilbur, Gordon’s Nieuport 17 partner and co-owner. Wilbur escorted us in to the lobby, which was decorated with photos of famous aviators and astronauts. Gordon’s picture hung on that wall. Wilbur saw me eyeing the photos. My gaze fixed on one autographed by Neil Armstrong. Yes, that Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. “Neil is usually here,” Wilbur said. “If he’s in tonight, I’ll introduce you.”
Gordon joined us and asked if we’d like a tour of the restaurant. It was awesome. All the wait staff were dressed in some sort of pseudo-Navy nautical uniform. The chefs and their helpers damn near snapped to attention when we entered the kitchen. It was “Good evening, Admiral,” and “How are you this evening, Admiral?” all around. All hands were on deck.
When we (we being me, Sue, and Gordon) sat down for dinner, Wilbur came over and asked if he could join us. “I haven’t had dinner yet,” he explained. Sure, no problem. Wilbur asked what we liked best from our prior visits, and I explained it was our first time in the Nieuport 17. Wilbur showed some surprise, and then he held his arm up and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, there were at least eight waiters and waitresses at our table. “Bring Sue and Joe a sampler of everything on the menu,” Wilbur ordered, and the wait staff went to battle stations following those orders. We weren’t hungry after sampling literally every main course, but hey, I couldn’t be impolite. We both went with the chicken with Morel mushrooms. It was heavenly.
I spent four years at Sargent-Fletcher, and on every one of those days I couldn’t wait to get to work in the morning and I always stayed late in the evening. I hired on as the QA director, and then one morning Gordon called me to his office to tell me he had just fired the engineering director. “Wow, that’s a bold move,” I said. “Who’s going to run Engineering?” Gordon looked at me and smiled. I knew. I had a new job. “Okay,” I said, “but who’s going to take over Quality?” Gordon continued to look at me and smile without speaking. Okay, so I’d be wearing two hats for a while. A year or so later, I had another call to come to Gordon’s office, and he told me he had just fired the Operations director. “Wow,” I said. “Who’s going to run the plant?” Another Gordon smile, and now I was wearing three hats. I loved that job, we had the plant back on schedule in short order, and Gordon kept showering me with raises. His idea was to pay people more than they thought they were worth. It worked. But that wasn’t the best part. Gordon would tell me what he felt the company needed; he never told me how to go about making it happen. He knew how to lead. Find the right people, pay them more than they think they want, then get out of their way. It was awesome.
Here’s the link about Gordon’s career I mentioned earlier. If you would like to read about Gordon’s decorations for valor (including the Silver Star), those are here. Rest in peace, Admiral Smith. You earned it.
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The .35 Whelen is an interesting cartridge. A wildcat formed by necking .30 06 brass up to .35 caliber, it’s been called the poor man’s .375 H&H, but the price of ammo would suggest it’s anything but a poor man’s cartridge. A box of 20 factory rounds when I checked just a few minutes ago ranged from a low of $50 to a high of $72. For 20 rounds? Gimme a break!
My .35 Whelen Ruger No. 1. They didn’t make too many of these and mine has exceptional Circassian walnut. It’s not for sale.
I like to shoot, but I’m a cheap SOB and truth be told, I don’t like beating my self up with factory .35 Whelen recoil. Roll that up with the good luck I’ve been having with good buddy Ralph’s Boudreau Bullets in several handguns and I wondered: Could I have Ralph make .35 caliber powder-coated pistol bullets sized to .359 inches? You see, cast pistol bullets for the .38 Special or .357 Mag are ordinarily sized to .358 inches (the sizing operation occurs after the bullets are cast when they are swaged down to the desired diameter). But .358-inch diameter bullets probably wouldn’t work in the Whelen. The .35 Whelen rifle has a bore of .359 and shooting bullets sized to .358 would allow the propellant gases to escape around the bullet as it traveled down the barrel. That would melt the sides of the bullet and create God-awful leading. A tighter fit (with .359 bullets) ought to work better, and powder-coated cast pistol bullets are inexpensive. Inexpensive is good. Did I mention I’m a cheap SOB?
Boudreau 158-grain powder-coated pistol bullets with candy apple green powder coating. These are sized to .359.
I’ve loaded jacketed pistol bullets in the .35 Whelen before, I’ve loaded cast pistol bullets, and I’ve also loaded cast rifle bullets from Montana Bullet Works. The Montana bullets are great and the Whelen performed well with them. The jacketed pistol bullets worked well. The cast pistol bullets I tried before didn’t work well (you can read about that here). The premium cast Montana Bullet Works bullets are not cheap (nor should they be). I wanted something inexpensive so that I could play with the Whelen at recoil levels comparable to a .22. Maybe Ralph’s powder-coated pistol bullets would work.
Montana Bullet Works cast rifle bullets. These are very accurate, but they cost as much as jacketed rifle bullets.
Ralph obliged, and when my .359 158-grain cast semi-wadcutters arrived, the fun began. I did my research on the Internet about what loads other folks had used with cast pistol bullets in the .35 Whelen, or at least I attempted to. Like everything else on the Internet, opinions were all over the map.
I make .35 Whelen brass from older .30 06 brass that I had already reloaded a few times by running the cases through a .35 Whelen full length resizer. Not every case survived the neck expanding operation.Loaded .35 Whelen ammunition with Boudreau’s 158-grain powder-coated bullets. Later loads seated the bullets out further for an overall cartridge length of 2.910 inches. I don’t use a crimp on these bullets and I neck size only.
I initially went with what one forum commenter fervently quoted: Low charges of Trail Boss were the way to go with 158-grain cast bullets. He was wrong, as least as far as my Ruger No. 1 is concerned. I tried 13.0 grains and the groups at 50 yards were (no kidding) about a foot in diameter. This might be okay for a shotgun, but not a rifle. The groups were lousy, but I noticed that the bore was clean. Ralph’s powder coating, which had worked well in keeping a handgun bore clean, worked well in the longer rifle barrel as well.
These groups were typical of all loads tried (except the last one).A nice clean bore with Trail Boss powder. There was no leading.
I next tried Unique propellant (first with 13.0 grains, and then with 15.0 grains), which had worked well for me in the past in a variety of cast rifle loads for other cartridges. Nope, both of these loads shot lousy groups, too, and they leaded the bore way more than Trail Boss. Trail Boss is actually a faster powder than Unique, so the slower-burning Unique was driving the bullets to higher velocities.
Bore leading with Unique. This stuff doesn’t dissolve with Hoppe’s or any other commonly-used bore solvent. You’ve got to scrub it out with a bore brush.
Then it was on to Bullseye. I found a few references to these loads in various forum comments, but Bullseye is a dicey powder and I wanted a better load data source than some yahoo on a gun forum. I hit paydirt when I found an old Ideal reloading manual and it had a Bullseye load for the .35 Remington (the .35 Whelen was still a wildcat cartridge when this manual was published and there was no load data for it). I figured with the .35 Whelen’s bullet weight and case volume, I wouldn’t get into trouble using the .35 Remington load. I tried it and I tried a few others with a bit more powder (there were no pressure signs), but nope, it was not to be. I still had terrible groups at 50 yards.
Loads from an old Ideal reloading manual. It was a place to start.Bullseye loads in the .35 Whelen produced no leading.
Hmmmm. Maybe it’s a powder position thing, I wondered. I called Ralph at Boudreau’s Bullets and chatted with him. Ralph explained that when the powder doesn’t fill the case, powder position makes a huge difference in accuracy even in a 9mm pistol cartridge. Okay, I can fix that, I thought. So after loading my brass again with the same light Bullseye loads, I inserted a cleaning patch in each cartridge to hold the powder up against the primer. Still no cigar, though: The groups remained stuck on atrocious. It was cool, however, seeing the cleaning patch threads dissipate downrange in the scope after each shot. One good thing that came out of the Bullseye loads was that they didn’t lead the bore. Well, maybe two good things: I didn’t blow myself up. Okay, three good things: None of the bullets stuck in the bore.
I was just about ready to give up trying to make the powder-coated .359 Boudreau bullets work in the Whelen when my mind returned to the powder position question. Okay, I thought, the cleaning patch wad trick (a noble thought) was a bust. But Trail Boss might still be the way to go, even though the lighter load wouldn’t group. Those earlier 13.0-grain Trail Boss loads left a lot of unoccupied space in the case. The beauty of Trail Boss is that you can load all the way up to the bullet base (thereby completely eliminating the powder position issue, as the case will be full) without overpressurizing the cartridge. So that’s what I did. I measured where the base of the bullet would be at a cartridge overall length of 2.910 inches and I filled a case to that level with Trail Boss. The magic number was 19.3 grains. I adjusted my powder dispenser and went to work.
19.3 grains of Trail Boss powder in my RCBS powder scale. The powder flakes look like little Cheerios.19.3 grains of Trail Boss in the .35 Whelen cases. The powder stack just touches the bullet base. The propellant is held in place and it provides a nice, even, repeatable burn.
The next day I was on the range at the West End Gun Club. I’d been reading more forum posts about 158-grain semi-wadcutter bullets in .35 Whelen and the feel I got from them was that most people were shooting at 25 yards. You know, turning a grizzly bear rifle into a close-range gopher grabber. Okay, that’s an old reloaders trick: You want tighter groups, just move the target closer. So for the first six of my 19.3-grain Trail Boss loads, I shot at a 25-yard target and wowee: Finally, a group!
19.3 grains of Trail Boss and the 158-grain Boudreau powder-coated bullets at 25 yards.
It wasn’t a great group (I’ve shot tighter groups at 25 yards with a handgun), but it was a group. It was a clear indication I was on to something. So I next set up a target at 50 yards.
The same 19.3 grains of Trail Boss at 50 yards. I can’t explain that flyer off to the right. But the other five rounds were looking better. More work is necessary. I have a path forward.
That group was gratifying. I can’t explain the one flyer off to the right (the trigger broke cleanly on that shot and it felt like it should have grouped with the others…maybe it hit a fly on the way to the target). The other five shots went into a group about the size of the bullseye, but biased to the right. That’s one thing I noticed with all of these light loads: They shoot to the right.
When I returned home, I photographed the muzzle. It’s the photo at the top of this blog. I was pleased to see how clean it was. It had the same appearance as occurred before with 13.0 grains of Trail Boss. There was a kind of swirly thing going on near the muzzle inside the bore; I think that is a combination of melted lead and powder-coating paint behind the bullet as it exits the bore. The rifling was clean, as in no lead.
There are a few more things I should mention: When you’re loading at these reduced levels, the brass doesn’t really expand or stretch. Neck sizing works just fine. Also, when you’re loading cast bullets, you have to flare the brass case’s mouth (I use a Lee tool for this) so that the bullet can get an easy start into the case. If you don’t flare the case, you’ll shave the powder coating and lead off the sides of the bullet, both of which will degrade accuracy. And one more note…you’ll see in these photos that I seat the bullets pretty far out for an overall cartridge length of 2.910 inches. The bullets are not contacting the rifling at that length, and there’s enough of the bullet in the case to keep it aligned. I’m not worried about setback (the bullets moving under recoil) because the Ruger No. 1 is a single-shot rifle.
The gray arrows point to a very slight flare. You have to flare the cases before seating the bullets or the case will shave the bullet as it is inserted into the cartridge case.The bullet seating and crimping die in my RCBS Rockchucker press. Seating and crimping are performed in two separate steps.
After I seat all the bullets to the correct depth, I then back way off on the bullet seater (again, denoted by the upper arrow in the above photograph). I’ll next screw in the die body (denoted by the lower arrow) until the reduced crimping radius in the die body interior contacts the mouth of the cartridge. At that point, I’ll adjust the die by screwing it in just a little bit further. What I’m doing is adjusting the die so that it removes the flare, but does not crimp the case mouth. You can see the results (i.e., the case mouth flare removed) noted by the red arrows in the photo below.
The upper arrows show the case mouth after the crimping die has removed the case mouth flare. These are not crimped; I adjusted the die to just remove the flare. The lower red arrow indicates the depth to wihch I neck sized these cases.
Back to the cost issue: As you read at the start of this blog, a box of 20 rounds of .35 Whelen factory ammo goes for anywhere between $50 and $72. By my computations, the reloads you read about here cost under $6 for a box of 20 rounds.
So what’s next? Well, the brass is in the tumbler and I’m going to load more. Same load, which kicks about like a .22. Then I’ll try reducing the load slightly to see if that improves things. Stay tuned; you’ll be able to read all about it right here on the ExNotes blog.
Another day on the range, and another set of test results. These are the first loads I’ve tried with Boudreau’s 158-grain powder-coated semi-wadcutter bullets. I loaded the Boudreau bullets into .38 Special cases for evaluation in a Colt Python and a Smith and Wesson Model 60. My first reloads were with Accurate No. 5 powder.
158-grain Boudreau bullets in candy green. Boudreau’s makes a good bullet.Fresh .38 Special reloads. The candy green color goes well with brass cases.
These days, you take what you can get when it comes to reloading components. I previously developed accurate .38 Special loads with Bullseye, Unique, Power Pistol, and WW 231 propellant (you can read about them on our Tales of the Gun page), but I haven’t previously loaded .38 Special with Accurate No 5. It was the only powder my reloading shop had in stock, so I bought a couple of bottles to try.
Classy-looking ammo.Accurate No. 5 propellant.
Finding data for powder-coated bullets is a bit dicey, and it’s even more difficult with Accurate No. 5. There’s load data on the Accurate website, and they recommended a load range of 5.3 to 5.9 grains for this powder with a 158-grain powder-coated bullet. I loaded at 5.4 grains (0.1 grain above the minimum) to try in both my Colt Python and my Model 60 Smith and Wesson (both of which have been massaged with custom triggers from good buddy TJ’s Custom Gunworks).
Colt Python results at 50 feet. Not bad for an initial load. Subscribe to the ExNotes blog for future load tests.Smith and Wesson Model 60 load results at 50 feet. This is not too shabby for a snubnose revolver.
I recently tried Boudreau’s 9mm 125-gr bullets and I was very pleased with the results (you can read about that here). I’m just getting started developing loads for the .38 Special with the Boudreau powder-coated bullets.
9mm ammo reloaded with Boudreau’s powder-coated bullets.
You may have noticed that Boudreau’s Bullets is now an advertiser on the ExNotes site. I like the product and we want to share the knowledge with you. You can call the number on their site; ask to talk to Ralph. He’s very knowledgeable and you will be in good hands.
You might wonder: Where did I get that fantastic cover photo? The photo shows Trooper Ralph Dowgin, a New Jersey State Trooper who went on to command Troop D (the Troop that patrols the New Jersey Turnpike, the most heavily-traveled road in the country). I actually met Trooper Dowgin when I was a boy (my Dad knew him). The photo came to me from my good buddy Mike B, who retired as the New Brunswick, New Jersey, Chief of Police. Like they say, it’s a small world.
The story of police and military motorcycles is an intriguing one, espeically as it applies to the US War Department, Indian, and Harley-Davidson. During World War II, the US government bought motorcycles from both Harley and Indian, but the positions taken by Harley and Indian were worlds apart. The Feds told both manufacturers they had to stop producing for the civilian market and focus exclusively on military motorcycles. Indian did what they were told. Harley told the government that they, not some government bureaucrat, would decide who to sell motorcycles to. Harley called the government’s bluff, and they got it right. The War Department continued to buy Harleys as Harley continued selling to the civilian market, and the results were predictable: When the war ended Harley still had a civilian customer base and Indian did not. Indian struggled for a few years trying to regain market share, but the damage was done and the handwriting was on the wall. Indian went under in the early 1950s.
If you buy a copy of The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles, understand that it describes the market as it existed when the book was published in 2001. Things are a little bit different now. Future plans call for an update to include today’s military and police motorcycles, but that’s far in the future and the book will sell for a bunch more than $9.95. I’ll have a Kindle ebook version at some point in the future, too, but it’s not going to be immediate. For now, it’s print only, and it’s only $9.95. Spend the bucks, make a friend for life, and don’t forget: Click on those popup ads!
