Here at ExNotes, we cover a lot of topics: Motorcycles, motorcycle touring, product reviews, concrete, guns, reloading, and more. And coffee. The thought occurs to me we’ve written a lot about coffee, from the primo Batdorf and Bronson beans provided by good buddy Ren to just about everything else. About now, you might be wondering: Where is this blog going?
Well, I was recently in Tokyo. I gave a class in Singapore and Sue and I thought as long as we had invested the 20+ hours to get there, we might as well stop in Japan on the way home (neither of us had ever visited Japan before). I’ll post a blog or two about the land of the rising sun in the coming days, but for now I wanted to talk about making coffee in our Tokyo hotel room. On these Asian trips, I’m usually up by 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. (there’s a 16 hour time difference between Japan and LA, and my biological clock doesn’t handle it well). They don’t serve coffee in the hotel lobbies over here, so you either make coffee in your hotel room or you don’t have coffee. For me, not having coffee has never been an option.
If you’ve read Riding China, you know that Gresh and I became experts at making coffee at places in China so remote they had to pipe in water and air. Our coffee was always prepared using instant Nescafe, which is almost a crime against nature for folks who enjoy a good cuppa Joe. Nescafe reminds me of that old engineering saying: Halitosis is better than no breath at all. But when it comes to making coffee in a hotel room, the Japanese had a better idea. It took me a while to dope it out and I finally had to read the instructions to do so. When I did, I realized: Clever people, these Japanese are. Take a look.
The water heater for making coffee. I thought the coffee bag would to into the white gizmo below the lid. I was trying to find a way to open it up. When I spotted the Phillips head screws securing it to the lid and I thought I needed a screwdriver, I realized I was on the wrong track. There are no English instructions anywhere on this pot.The bag of coffee. How the hell does it fit into the coffee pot?Ah, the flip side. No instructions in English, but there are pictures. I panicked initially when I couldn’t find the holding fixture the pictures show.Could it be? A cardboard fixture built into the coffee bag?Ah, these people are very, very clever. You heat the water in the pot, mount the coffee bag with its included cardboard mounting fixture in your cup, and pour the hot water over the coffee.It’s genius. Pure genius.And it was a damn fine cup of coffee, too!
Gresh and I sure could have used this when we rode across China. Next time, I guess, if I can find a place to buy these coffee bags. And you know what? As soon as I wrote that last line, I remembered: Amazon is your friend. I did a search on drip bag coffee, and wow, here they are!
I couldn’t let a story about coffee get by without a commercial or two…the first one being for our book, A Cup O’ Joes. Have you picked up a copy yet?
And the second commercial…how about Riding China, from which you can learn all about how two die-hard coffee drinkers struggled across the Gobi Desert, the Tibetan Plateau, and more in China, the land where people don’t drink coffee?
Until this summer, if anyone had mentioned Cordoba to me my first thoughts would have been of Fernando Llamas and fine Corinthian leather. Men and women of a certain age will remember the Chrysler commercials of the ’70s and ’80s:
But I digress. This blog is about the real Córdoba. The one in Spain. I haven’t finished telling the story about our visit to Spain (I still have three or four blogs to go). This blog continues the journey, and our enfoque del día (focus of the day) is Córdoba. We traveled to Córdoba after our visit to Portugal.
Córdoba lies along the Guadalquivir, Spain’s second longest river. The Guadalquivir used to be navigable along most of its length; that is no longer the case.
Córdoba is in southern Spain (in the Andalucia Province) along the Guadalquivir River. The photo at the top of this blog is where we walked across the Guadalquivir River into the center of the old city. The bridge across the Guadalquivir was built by the Romans and for 2000 years it was the only bridge into the city. As we walked across the bridge and entered Córdoba, I noticed a couple posing for wedding photos in the now dry moat.
Ah, the wonders of a decent camera (my Nikon D3300), an inexpensive lens (the Nikon 18-55 that came with the camera), and PhotoShop. I cropped this photo and adjusted its curves and levels to get the image below.Ah, that’s better.
Córdoba is a World Heritage site with an impressive history and stunning architecture. The city was part of the Roman Empire, then it was conquered by the Visigoths, then the Muslims (when it became part of the Caliphate of Córdoba), and finally, the Christians when they conquered it in 1236. When the Muslims were the landlords, Córdoba became one of the world’s centers of knowledge and education.
One of Córdoba’s principal attractions is the Mezquita-Catedral. It began life as a mosque in 784 – 786 AD when Abd al-Rahman I built it. I took the following photos using the fisheye 8mm Rokinon lens I’ve written about before. Using that lens requires doing everything manually (focus, shutter speed, ISO, and f/stop). I’ll usually have to take a few shots to get the camera dialed in using the onboard histogram. I set the ISO high (12,800) to get the speed (i.e., the camera’s light sensitivity) high enough for the dimly-lit mosque interior. That induces a lot of noise into the photo, but the noise mostly disappears when the photos are resized from their native 6000 x 4000 pixel size (at 300 dots per inch, or dpi) down to a 600 x 400 pixel, 72 dpi size for the blog.
Inside the mosque interior with the 8mm Rokinon lens. These interior photos were shot at a very high ISO, which adds a lot of noise to the photos that is not too visible in these reduced size images.A cropped portion of the original photo above. The high ISO noise mentioned above is quite visible in this “actual pixels” viewing size.
Another option for these kinds of shots would be to shoot at a much lower ISO speed (say, 200 or 400 ISO) with the camera on a stable tripod. That would get rid of the noise, but exposure times would have gone up dramatically. I didn’t want to carry a tripod for a lot of reasons, so that approach was out. You might be wondering about using flash, but that’s a nonstarter, too. Most of these places don’t allow flash photography, and even if they did, the flash is only good for a few feet. Available light, no tripod, and high ISO is the way to go here.
This area goes back about 1200 years. The Muslims built it when ruled Cordoba.Our local tour guide explaining more about the mosque.Another indoor photo where the lighting was a bit better.Islamic art and architecture inside the mosque.
When the Christians conquered Córdoba in 1236 the mosque became a church. There are a lot of churches in Spain that started life as mosques. Sometimes several such switches in ownership and religious affiliations occurred in other parts of Europe that had been ruled by the Moors. We’ve been in one that started as a mosque, became a church, and then reverted to a mosque as different factions occupied conquered lands (the one I’m thinking of is San Sofia in Istanbul, which I may get around to writing about one of these days).
So the mosque became a church as the Christians “converted” or executed all who were not Christians. While the artwork and architecture are beautiful, the history is not. During the Spanish Inquisition, the Jews of Córdoba had a choice: Convert to Christianity or die (with death preceded by horrific torture). The church is now referred to as the Mezquita-Catedral, the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The photos below show more of the Mezquita-Catedral.
The f bell tower dominates Córdoba. It was built over the mosque’s dome.An interior photo of the Mezquita-Catedral.A photograph of the church ceiling.A sculpture inside the Mezquita-Catedral.
Ferdinand and Isabella lived in Córdoba for a while when they used it as a base of operations to drive the Moors from Spain. It’s also where the Spanish Inquisition took root. Prior to The Inquisition, Cordoba had three synagogues and a sizable Jewish population. Today, only one synagogue remains and it is essentially a tourist attraction. My research indicates no Jews live in Córdoba today.
A doorway to the Mezquita-Catedral, as seen by the 8mm Rokinon lens.
What used to be the Jewish quarter retains the streets of medieval Córdoba outside the Mezquita-Catedral, and today the area is largely a tourist center. Although the streets are not laid out in a grid pattern, the Mezquita-Catedral tower dominates the town and is visible from all directions. It would be difficult to get lost in Córdoba.
The Mezquita-Catedral bell tower dominates the tourist area.A door handle in Córdoba’s tourist area.A knocker. If you look through our other posts from Spain and Portugal (I’ll provide a set of links below) you’ll see quite a few similar photos.
There are many restaurants in Córdoba, and we enjoyed lunch at one. Most of the restaurants have tables in front on the narrow cobblestone streets, and virtually all meals are preceded by complimentary tapas. After having lunch, we wandered around a bit more. There are about a dozen churches in Córdoba, and most go back to medieval times. I watched a family entering one for a wedding.
This woman was outside a church prior to a wedding. I’m guessing she’s either the bride or groom’s mother. I caught a pretty dour expression when I snapped this photo, but immediately after she broke into a huge smile. I don’t know why I didn’t hit the shutter again.
After Córdoba, it was on to Madrid. We traveled on Spain’s high-speed rail, running at speeds of around 220 mph. That was really cool.
A high-speed Spanish train. Their rail network is impressive.
So there you have it: Córdoba. I didn’t see Fernando Llamas nor did I encounter any fine Corinthian leather. But it was still fun, the city’s dark and inhumane history notwithstanding.
Wow, did I get lucky with this…a coffee and motorcycle spot just a few miles from home. It used to be that I had to ride all the way up Angeles Crest Highway to Newcomb’s so I could hang out at a motorcycle destination where like-minded people stopped for something to eat and to admire other motorcycles. Then Newcomb’s closed, a victim of the down economy and the pandemic. There was another cool spot Gresh and I spent an evening at in Chongqing, but the chances of me riding the Enfield across the Pacific to get there are slim. And then, I noticed Rev’d Up Coffee and Classics in Claremont. Claremont is the next town over from where I live. I’d seen Rev’d Up before, but I figured it was just another Gen X or Millennial (or whatever they’re calling themselves these day) Starbucks refugee trying to cash in on the coffee craze with a little moto mystique thrown in as sort of an artificial sweetener. Boy, was I ever wrong; there’s nothing artificial about Rev’d Up or its owner.
Steve Solis, motorcyclist and Rev’d Up proprietor, taking a break from Bike Night cooking duties.
Steve Solis is the guy who owns and runs Rev’d Up. He’s a good guy, a lifelong area resident, and a rider. Steve’s personal ride, a Sportster, is usually parked inside the restaurant seating area during normal business hours, but he brings it outside during bike night.
Steve’s personal ride – a Harley Sportster with an extended front end and apehangers.
The theme of Rev’d Up is bikes, classic cars, and hot rods. Steve has a couple of vintage bikes on display in the restaurant windows, and there are cool moto things throughout the dining and coffee sipping area.
A Honda Dream on display in one of the Rev’d Up windows.Another vintage Honda on display at Rev’d Up.Older motorcycle helmets. I wore one of the Peter Fonda Captain America helmets in the ’70s.
In keeping with the Rev’d Up theme, the menus are displayed on car hoods suspended from the ceiling. One is from a Camaro, the other is from a Datsun.
The breakfast and lunch menu. On Bike Nights, Steve is out front making Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwiches. They sure smelled good.The coffee and other specialty drink menu. I have to try the Easy Rider.
I asked Steve what the best kept secret was. His answer? The Easy Rider espresso. He said it was his favorite drink. Next time I’ll try it.
The best part of any of these gatherings is always wandering around in the parking lot, taking in the bikes, and talking to the riders. There’s no set theme regarding the bikes. Harleys, choppers, Ducatis, KTMs, BMWs, Triumphs, and more. They were all there.
Check out the SU carb and the velocity stack on this Shovelhead chopper. Where does the rider’s leg go?The Harley Panhead engine, one of the two best-looking Harley engines ever made. The other one is the EVO motor. Those Panhead valve covers are impressive.A full view of the Panhead chopper.Bike night is not all about choppers. The colors on this helmet and motorcycle stood out.Another classic and beautiful motorcycle. The 748 was a later version of Ducati’s 916. They look good.There are no better colors for a classic BMW boxer twin than gloss black with white pinstripes.As we were leaving, this Triumph pulled into the parking lot. All marques are welcome at Rev’d Up. It’s a cool place.
Rev’d Up Coffee and Classics is located at 212 West Foothill Boulevard (that’s Route 66) in Claremont, California. It’s definitely worth a stop, and I’d say it’s a worthwhile place to take a ride. Maybe I’ll see you there. Look for the orange Enfield in the parking lot; if it’s there, I will be, too.
Jaws. Nearly everyone has seen that movie. Many of us read Jaws, the book that preceded the movie. It’s been said that Peter Benchley based it on Moby Dick, another novel about a big white fish and a man obsessed with killing it. But people in the know…well, they know that Jaws had a different source of inspiration. It was the Matawan Creek maneater, a Great White shark that swam 11 miles upstream, in fresh water, and ate a bunch of people in and around Matawan, New Jersey. It all happened in 1916.
The New Jersey beachside resorts were having a tough year in 1916. It started on July 1 when Charles Vansant, a 28-year-old man from Philadelphia, went for a swim in the Atlantic Ocean along the Beach Haven, New Jersey shoreline. Vansant took his dog in the water with him. The dog suddenly disappeared, and then Vansant was attacked. Other swimmers heard Vansant screaming and went to his aid. A gigantic Great White shark followed them as they desperately pulled Vansant to shore. Vansant bled to death a short while later.
Fast forward five days to Spring Lake (another New Jersey resort), and 27-year-old Chris Bruder was attacked while swimming in the Atlantic. Lifeguards in a boat pulled him from the water, but Bruder bled to death before they reached the shore.
Shoot up the Jersey coast another 30 miles to Matawan. A few days after Bruder died, Thomas Cattrell (a retired fishing boat captain) was walking home and while crossing a bridge over freshwater Matawan Creek (which flowed into the Atlantic), Cattrell saw a large shark in the water below. He warned swimmers, but no one took him seriously (Matawan Creek was, after all, a freshwater creek). The next day, on July 12, 11-year-old Lester Stillwell went for a Matawan Creek dip; he became the shark’s next victim. Two of Stillwell’s friends swimming with him watched as he was pulled under and the water turned red. The boys ran into town for help, 24-year old Stanley Fischer accompanied them back to the creek, and he entered the water to search for Stillwell. It was Fischer’s bad luck that the shark was still eating Stillwell. Fischer tried to free Stillwell from the shark; the shark had a better idea and took a few bites out of Fischer. Fischer died a few hours later in a local hospital.
After attacking Fischer, the shark left the area and headed back toward the Atlantic Ocean. While swimming toward the ocean and still in freshwater Matawan Creek, the shark attacked 12-year old Joseph Dunn. Dunn survived, minus a leg. Dunn was the shark’s fifth victim.
If you’ve ever watched even a single episode of The Sopranos, you know you don’t mess with people from New Jersey. The Jersey coastal communities went into high gear, and after harvesting hundreds of sharks, they found the one responsible for the attacks. It was an 8½-foot Great White, and when the Joisey boys cut it open, various parts of the aforementioned people (and one dog) spilled out. The Matawan Creek (and surrounding community) attacks are believed to be Peter Benchley’s inspiration for Jaws.
So…about that photo at the top of this blog. The bridge is a Jersey Central railroad bridge that crosses Matawan Creek only 100 yards away from where Fischer and Stillwell were attacked. Amazingly, the open-mouthed shark painting was accomplished in under 35 minutes, in complete darkness, by an artist who goes by the name Tattoo Bob. I don’t know his last name or even if Tattoo Bob is his real name; he wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
All of this hit home for me. I’ve been in Matawan many times, and it’s not that far from where I grew up. When I was a kid, we used to swim in the freshwater creeks in New Jersey (they all ultimately flow into the Atlantic). A big day was to go down the shore and swim in the ocean. Jaws didn’t get published until 1975 (I read it when I was in the Army in Korea, when the novel was first published). It’s a good thing, I guess, that I didn’t know any of the above about Matawan Creek back in my youth. If I had, there would have been no way I’d enter the water, and even today, I won’t swim in the ocean. I’ll stick with much safer things, like jumping out of an airplane or riding a motorcycle.
Command Sergeant Major Emory L. Hickman died way too young. He was 48 when he passed, and that was just a few years after I knew him. He was a tall, lean man with a salt and pepper crew cut, and like most of the noncommissioned officers I knew, he had a southern accent. I only knew him for a year and that was more than a half century ago, but during that year he taught me something I value to this day. Sergeant Major Hickman taught me how to shoot a handgun.
I first met Sergeant Major Hickman shortly after he was assigned to the Rutgers University Reserve Officers Training Corps detachment. The Army held these kinds of cush assignments out to very senior NCOs as they finished distinguished 30-year careers. Sergeant Major Hickman earned it: He served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and he had the rows of ribbons showing that and much more. As with all Sergeants Major in the US Army, it was always “Sergeant Major,” never “Sergeant” or “Sarge.” Only a very tiny percentage of NCOs make E-9; addressing such men as “Sergeant Major” conveyed the respect they deserved. After I knew him, he was promoted to Command Sergeant Major, and just in case you ever encounter someone with that exalted rank, all three words should be used, as I did at the beginning of this blog.
The last half century has been a contest between my marksmanship skills going north and my vision going south, but thanks to the good Sergeant Major and what he taught me, I’m holding my own. I still sometimes dazzle folks at the range. What I’d like to do in this blog is talk about the fundamentals, tips, and techniques Sergeant Major Hickman taught me. I don’t shoot competitively these days, but I can still keep my shots in the black. If you use the tricks and techniques Sergeant Major Hickman taught me and if you practice a lot, maybe you will be able to do the same.
In 1973 when I picked up my MacManus 1911, my father and I both thought of ourselves as above-average shooters (Dad was a world-class trapshooter, and I did okay with a rifle). We assumed we could do well with a handgun, too. That is, until I came home with my 1911. We tossed a soda can about 20 feet out in our backyard and shot at it (in those days we could do that). I went first and emptied an entire magazine without hitting the can once. Dad had a laugh and then he tried. He didn’t do any better. We concluded that pistols were just not accurate.
I felt that way until I met Sergeant Major Hickman. He had heard about my MacManus award and he asked if I’d like to learn how to shoot the 1911. You know what my answer was. The Sergeant Major and I spent a lot of time on the Rutgers Campus Police pistol range over the next year. What follows is what he taught me.
1. Get A Grip
Forget all the Hollywood silliness. We don’t hold guns sideways like gangbangers, we don’t shoot from the hip, we’re not interested in how fast we can empty a magazine (the video above notwithstanding), and we don’t fire more rounds than the gun holds.
A handgun should nestle in the web of your hand, and it should form a straight line with your forearm. In this photo, the camera focused on the rear sight, which is not the way to do it. Focus instead on the front sight.
Back in the day, it was all about bullseye competition, and that involved shooting with iron sights and one hand only. Sergeant Major Hickman showed me how to stand at about a 30-degree angle to the target, place the pistol firmly in the web of my hand, close my eyes, and bring my arm up to point the pistol at the target. “When you open your eyes,” he said, “the sights should be on the bullseye.” He continued by telling me that if I had to twist my body or move my arm to bring the gun to the bullseye, my stance was wrong. When I could close my eyes, bring the gun up, open my eyes (both eyes), and the sights fell naturally on target, my grip and stance were correct. The grip should be tight, but not so tight that my hand trembled.
Pachmayr grips are my favorite for a 1911. They fit my hand perfectly.
I like fancy grips, but fancy doesn’t put shots in the black. Over the years I’ve found the best grips for a 1911 are Pachmayrs. I have others that are prettier, but the Pachmayrs offer the best control and consistency. You can still get Pachmayr grips on Amazon.
2. Front Sight Focus
When I fire a round at a target, I don’t see the target. It’s a Jedi (read: Sergeant Major Emory L. Hickman) mind trick. When my gun fires, all I see is the front sight and the bright orange propellant flash. When I see the front sight outlined by the muzzle flash, I don’t need to see the target. I know the bullet is in the black.
Focus should be on the front sight. The target and the rear sight should be blurred. The sights you see here are Millet sights installed by good buddy TJ.
I start by putting the top of the front sight at 6:00 on the target’s black bullseye, but my focus quickly shifts to the front sight and it stays there until the firearm discharges. The target and the rear sight will be a blur, but the front sight will be sharp as a tack. It’s where all my concentration is, it’s the only thing I’m interested in, and per Sergeant Major Hickman’s instruction, I will have both eyes open. I’m not worried about what my other eye sees. My total focus, my total being, is on that front sight. That’s the biggest secret in handgun shooting. Other things are important, too, but not as important as front sight focus. Front sight only. It’s hard to do, but when you do it, this single thing will improve your shooting more than anything else.
3. Breath Control
When I’m ready to shoot, I take a deep breath, I let it partly out to what feels like a natural pause point, and then I start squeezing the trigger while continuing to focus on the front sight. Sergeant Major Hickman told me that’s what it takes. He went on to tell me that the Soviet marksmanship training unit (the Soviet Army’s pistol team) had researched what made the difference between simply hitting in the 10-ring versus hitting in the x-ring (the x-ring is a smaller circle within the 10-ring used for breaking ties). The Soviets found that their top target shooters, without realizing it, were actually firing between heartbeats. They didn’t realize they were doing this, but they were. That’s info only; we’re interested in holding our breath at a natural exhalation point for the second or two it takes to focus on the front sight and squeeze the trigger. Speaking of which…
4. Trigger Control
Point one on the topic of trigger squeeze: Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
The trigger finger pad should engage the trigger, not the first joint of the trigger finger.
Sergeant Major Hickman taught me that when shooting a single action semi-automatic or a revolver in the single action mode, I should put the pad of my trigger finger (the part of my finger midway between the tip and the first joint) on the trigger. He explained that while I was focused on the front sight, I should start squeezing the trigger, but not think about it. The front sight will be aligned in the blurry rear sight, but it won’t be possible to make everything freeze on the target. The front sight will always have some motion on the target. The Sergeant Major told me not to worry about that. “The only way to make everything motionless is to be dead,” he said, “and you’re not dead.” Sergeant Major Hickman told me to simply hang on to the front sight and steadily increase trigger pressure. Just focus on the fundamentals, he said, and the groups will get smaller. Let the target swim around. Maintain a good grip. Hold the right stance. Focus on the front sight. Breath control. Trigger squeeze.
5. Be Surprised
What you want, the Sergeant Major said, is for the gun to surprise you. What you don’t want to do is anticipate the shot and then jerk the trigger. That will cause you to flinch (to jerk the gun in anticipation of the shot), and the gun will be pointed somewhere other than the target when it discharges. When I did it right, I was (and I still am) surprised when the gun fires. In fact, when I’m really doing it right and concentrating on the front sight, I do not even hear the gun fire. When that happens, you know you are on your way. Sergeant Major Hickman was right: Seeing the orange flash and not hearing your shots means the bullets are in the black, and that is a good feeling.
6. Dry Firing
You can’t do this with most guns chambered for the .22 Long Rifle cartridge, but you can dry fire until the cows come home with any centerfire handgun, and I do. A lot. I have a small black dot hanging in my office that I use for a target, and I spend a bit of time nearly every night dry firing a handgun at it. It is one of several tricks Sergeant Major Hickman taught me. I’m focused on the front sight when I do this, and I’m looking for it to not move when the hammer falls. I want the front sight to remain motionlessly centered in the rear sight groove (and the top of the front sight to remain even with the top of the rear sight) when the hammer falls. Doing this on a daily basis improved my shooting significantly some 50 years ago; doing it today on a regular basis keeps me sharp.
7. A Penny (or more) For My Thoughts
If you can balance a penny on the front sight and it remains in place when the hammer falls, you are making progress.
Here’s another trick the Sergeant Major taught me: Balance a penny on top of the 1911. Or a nickel. Or an empty case. You want it to stay put when the hammer falls. When that happens, it indicates that I didn’t jerk the trigger. When I can do that consistently, I know I’m doing well.
8. The Bic Trick
A Bic wrapped in masking tape. Read on…this gets interesting.
Here’s yet another cool trick Sergeant Major Hickman taught me: Take a Bic pen and wrap tape around it in two places so that the pen fits snugly but with no resistance inside the barrel. Put the rear end of the pen all the way into the barrel. When dry firing, the firing pin smacks the back of the pen and the pen will jump forward.
The tape should be wrapped to a diameter that fits snugly without drag in the barrel.Loaded and ready to shoot.My indoor target. The pen will shoot out with surprising velocity. Don’t point it at anyone and use a pad so the pen doesn’t shoot through the paper target.Look at that…a Bic group!
If you stand like you would when live firing, but with the pen’s tip a couple of inches from a target taped to a wall, the pen’s point will imprint on the target. Do that a few times and you’ll get a group, just like you would if you were firing live ammo. Do it a lot. It will help you to master the fundamentals described above, and your live fire groups will shrink. Trust me on this: They will shrink a lot.
9. Live Firing
I have never been able to shoot a handgun well without substantial time on the range. Let me say that again: I did not get better without substantial live fire practice. I spend a lot of time on the range, and it helps to keep my skills sharp. I fire two to three hundred rounds through a handgun every week. If you don’t have a sponsor or you don’t reload, you better be rich because factory ammo costs are going to roll up pretty quickly. I don’t have a shooting sponsor, so for me, reloading is the way to go. Here’s a good place to get information on how to get into reloading.
10. The Surprise Empty Chamber
Here’s another great training approach Sergeant Major Hickman shared with me: Have a buddy “load” your gun, but without you seeing what he (or she) is doing. What you want your buddy to do is sometimes load a live round, and at other times, to load no round (or an empty case if the gun has a loaded chamber indicator). You want to not know if you are dropping the hammer on a live round or an empty chamber. That’s going to tell you immediately if you are jerking the trigger (or flinching). If it’s not a live round and the gun twitches when I drop the trigger, I know I still have work to do. When I can drop the hammer and the gun remains motionless, I know I’m making progress.
11. Empty Cases at an Empty Head
Empty cases? Yep. They are surprisingly useful training aids for improving concentration, especially when bounced off your noggin.
Sergeant Major Hickman used to stand behind me when I was shooting and throw empty .45 cases at my head. At first I felt the cases hitting my head and I reacted (the Sergeant Major wasn’t being gentle). But after I became one with the front sight (I can’t emphasize the front sight enough), I stopped feeling those .45 ACP empties hitting my head. I’d have little welts afterwards, but I stopped feeling the cases when they whacked me. I realize this is a trick that’s kind of out there, but it sure helped me hone my concentration.
12. The Right Load
The last thing I’ll mention is that having a load optimized for your handgun really does make a difference. If you don’t reload, your options are limited to buying a bunch of different factory offerings and seeing what works. If you reload, though, you can develop a load tuned to your handgun. We’ve done a number of blogs on the optimal loads for different guns, and I’d invite you to peruse our Tales of the Gun page to read what we’ve found works best in our guns. I’ve found that a 230-grain cast roundnose bullet over 5.6 grains of Unique with an overall cartridge length of 1.250 inches is a very accurate load. Another favorite is a 185-grain cast semiwadcutter bullet over 5.0 grains of Bullseye with that same overall cartridge length of 1.250 inches. So does 4.2 grains of Bullseye and a 200-grain cast semiwadcutter bullet (and again, the same overall cartridge length). Be advised, though, that most 1911 handguns won’t feed these last two loads if the gun has not been ramped and polished. If you need your 1911 ramped and polished, look no further than TJ’s Custom Gunworks (he’s the best there is).
A Half Century (and a ton of lead) Later
So here I am, 50 years later, writing about my 1911 mentor, Sergeant Major Emory Hickman. I remember that first range session with him like it was yesterday. After listening to him and practicing what he taught me, my skills improved to the point where I could easily keep all of my shots on paper, with 80 percent of them hitting the black bullseye. When I got to that point, I asked the Sergeant Major if I should have my 1911 accurized. In those days, I wasn’t even sure what “accurizing” entailed, but it sounded like the right question to ask. Sergeant Major Hickman smiled. “Sir,” he said (I was, after all, a Second Lieutenant), “may I put a few shots downrange?”
I handed the 1911 to Sergeant Major Hickman. He loaded a magazine, inserted it in the 1911, released the slide to chamber the first round, and became the visual definition of intense and perfect concentration. Five shots later, there was one ragged hole centered in the bullseye. That one ragged hole wasn’t much larger than the hole a single .45 bullet would have made. “Maybe you could get it accurized somewhere down the road, Sir,” he said. “but for now, I think it’s good enough.”
The 1911 featured in this story is a Rock Island Armory Compact 1911. My Rock Compact 1911 has been extensively upgraded by TJ (of TJ’s Custom Gunworks). This handgun is 100% reliable with any of the loads listed above (and factory hardball ammo).
There’s a new motoflick due for release momentarily, and it promises to be a great one. You can’t watch Speed Is Expensive yet, but you will be able to very soon. Speed Is Expensive is the story of Philip Vincent and the Vincent motorcycle. A Vincent was the first motorcycle ever to break the 150 mph barrier (Rollie Free was the bathing-trunks-only rider, who shed all other clothing and rode stretched out on the saddle to reduce drag), and a Vincent became the most expensive motorcycle ever when one sold at auction in 2018 for 1.2 million dollars. They are mythical motorcycles.
The movie will be on Netflix in the near future, or you can pre-order Speed Is Expensive on Amazon now. I’m going to watch it as soon as it’s available. Watch for a review in the near future.
Vincents have always had an aura of incredible power and exclusivity. I see them at the Hansen Dam Britbike meets in my part of the world (it’s where I grabbed the photo at the top of this blog and the others below). The Hansen Dam events occur once or twice a year at Hansen Dam, about 70 miles from my home. All the photos you see here were from events in the 2004-2008 time frame, which means it’s been about 15 years since I’ve attended. I need to get out there again.
I have a few more Vincent photos from Hansen Dam, and I thought I would share a few of them here.
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On occasion, I’ll post a blog that’s a general update and a peek into what’s coming down the pike. I’ll be on another secret mission to Asia next month, returning to one favorite Far East locale and visiting another for the first time. They each have a vibrant motorcycle and auto culture and I’ll get as many photos as I can. You can bet I’ll have several blogs on both places. It’s going to be fun.
We’re quite happy to welcome British Motorcycle Gear as an ExNotes advertiser. BMG is a New Jersey moto shop with very high quality motorcycle clothing, parts, and more. Good buddy Andrew Capone is the owner and he’s good people. In addition to being a Jersey Boy (as is yours truly), Andrew is a serious rider, a motojournalist, and a world traveler. He’s Motorcycle.com’s “go to” guy on all things related to the Isle of Man, and there’s a chance he may even pen an article or two for us here on ExNotes. Gresh tested and reviewed British Motorcycle Gear products here on ExNotes and it’s good equipment. And here’s even more good news: Andrew is offering an exclusive discount to ExNotes readers. Just punch in the code BMGJOES when checking out, and you’ll get an 11% discount on everything (except gear that’s already on sale, and Halcyon mirrors and goggles). Check out the British Motorcycle Gear website; I know you’ll enjoy it.
Joe Gresh is headed to a New Mexico vintage motorcycle show and the Motorado event in the near future, and you’ll read about that right here. I’m looking forward to reading all about it. Mike Huber, Bobbie Surber, and Rob Morel all have more stories in work for you. Mike is BMWborne on a transcontinental blitz, Bobbie is headed off on another motoexpedition to points south (as in way, way south), and Rob is working a few more projects up in Washington.
One last note: Our request for financial site support (or, as some would call it, my high tech begging) is doing quite well. Thank you to all our supporters. We appreciate it greatly.
Joe Gresh’s “Call to Arms” post had a lot of positive results for us (thank you, everyone who contributed), and we’ve had a lot of folks ask us to make it easier to support the site. So that’s what we’ve done.
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California’s Pacific Coast Highway is one of the best motorcycle roads on the planet, and I never miss an opportunity to travel it. One of my favorite destinations on the Pacific Coast Highway is Hearst Castle. We’ve written about it previously here on ExNotes.
As the title of this blog implies, base camp was in Cayucos, California, instead of Cambria (more on that below). And from a photography perspective, instead of lugging around my boat-anchor, full-frame Nikon D810, I took the smaller and lighter Nikon D3300 with a “walking around” 18-55mm lens and a Rokinon 8mm (a super wide angle). I’ve been using that combination more and more lately.
The Rokinon 8mm super wide angle lens. Manual everything, it’s fun to use and it does a surprisingly good job.There’s not much in San Simeon, so people who visit Hearst Castle usually stay in Cambria. We stayed a stone’s throw away from Cambria in Cayucos, which is just north of Morro Bay.
Most folks who visit Hearst Castle stay in Cambria, a touristy, kitschy spot just down the road from San Simeon (the Hearst Castle location). This time we tried Cayucos, a tiny town that’s a bit further south down the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s friendlier, less expensive, and for my money, a lot nicer and more enjoyable than Cambria. Sue and I stayed in the Sunset Inn, a bed and breakfast in Cayucos. If you’re in Cayucos, the Ludano restaurant is the place for dinner (William Randolph Hearst was a regular here while building Hearst Castle). For a more casual Cayucos dining experience, Duckie’s (near the Cayucos Pier) is an awesome walkup seafood restaurant (try the fish and chips; they were great).
Hearst Castle, as seen through the Rokinon 8mm super wide.The Neptune swimming pool at Hearst Castle.One of the Hearst Castle’s guest bedrooms.The Hearst Castle dining room.Hearst Castle’s indoor swimming pool.
The Rokinon lens is strictly a manual affair. It doesn’t autofocus and it doesn’t work with the camera’s automatic metering features. It’s manual everything…focus, f stop, ISO, and shutter speed. The focus part was easy…I simply cranked the focus ring all the way over to infinity (with a wide-angle lens, that works). For ISO, shutter speed, and f stop, I used the camera’s histogram. Shoot, check the histogram, adjust, shoot again, check the histogram, adjust, and keep going until things are just right. Too dark, and I adjusted the shutter speed, the f stop, and the ISO until the histogram showed everything between the histogram upper and lower limits. Too light, and I made adjustments in the opposite direction. For the money, the Rokinon lens is a lot of fun, and I like the effects I get with a wide -angle lens. Some folks don’t. That’s okay. It’s my gear and these are my photos.
As mentioned earlier, I also used the Nikon 18-55mm lens on this trip. It’s not the sharpest lens but that’s okay. I’m not the sharpest matzoh in the box, either, and a matching lens fits me well. When I shoot in RAW (the camera’s capture everything, sort-it-out-later-in-Photoshop mode), the 18-55mm lens works surprisingly well, like in the photo at the top of this blog. It’s a shot of the Cayucos Pier, in which I did a little bit of post-processing to darken the sky and the water. I’m pleased with the results.
While we walked the pier, we talked to folks who were fishing from it. The fishing was good: Halibut, perch, and one fellow had landed a 4-foot shark earlier in the day (I wish I had been there when that happened; that would have been a hell of a picture).
The Nikon D3300 digital single lens reflex camera and the 18-55mm zoom lens that comes with the camera. It’s not a super sharp lens, but it’s not super expensive, either.
I took the photo below with the 18-55mm lens just a few miles up the Pacific Coast Highway. These are elephant seals and I liked how this photo turned out, too.
One of several elephant seal vista points along California’s magnificent Pacific Coast Highway. The two in the water was grunting loudly at each other in a domination contest. These seals can weigh up to 5,000 pounds.
You know, the discussions about lenses, cameras, and photography can go on endlessly. Sometimes all you need is a cell phone. I was blown away by the photos Joe Gresh grabbed when he recently visited Laguna Seca after riding his Kawasaki ZRX from New Mexico. Joe shot all of those with his iPhone, which is a much easier way to go on a motorcycle. When I travel with a digital single lens reflex camera on a motorcycle, the camera and a couple of lenses steal a lot of saddlebag space. There’s advantages and disadvantages to everything, I guess.
Old Creek Road out of Cayucos is a fun ride.
Riding the Pacific Coast Highway is a bucket list ride, and if you get an opportunity to do so, you should grab it. The area I’m describing in this blog is roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Pacific Coast Highway is currently closed around Gordo (well north of San Simeon), but that still leaves a lot of nice riding on the table. One of the best rides is Old Creek Road northeast out of Cayucos. It’s a lightly traveled and grand road, full of twisties, and it cuts through the California wine country to link up with State Route 46 (another fine road through the wine country). A few miles further east, 46 intersects Highway 41, and that’s where James Dean lost his life in a car accident (there’s a sign marking the spot). There are a lot of interesting things and a lot of interesting roads in California.
Rifles, that is…two Ruger rifles. I’ve written about them before, but it’s been a while since I shot either one and with the stream crossing to the West End Gun Club almost manageable these days (more on that later), I thought I would take them out to the 100-yard range. I shoot handguns regularly (at least a couple of times a week) on the indoor 50-foot pistol range closer to home, but there are times when the high-powered-rifle-on-a-football-field-length-range itch needs to be scratched.
The two Ruger rifles in this article are two of my favorites: A Davidson’s Circassian-stocked Mini 14 (the one in the photo above) and the Ruger GSR (GSR stands for Gunsite Scout Rifle). The Davidson’s Mini 14 1was a 2009 offering with (as the name implies) a Circassian walnut stock. Back then the Circassian Mini’s $700 price seemed high, but I’ve been at this for a while and I know that when a gun’s price seems high it only means I’m buying too soon. The price will always catch up with the calendar, and that’s certainly been the case with this rifle. It originally came with two 30-round mags and a flash suppressor. California being what it is meant I couldn’t own the rifle as Ruger built it. I had to leave the 30-round mags with the out-of-state dealer, and because of the flash suppressor, it had to ship to the Class III dealer here in La La Land.
Circassian walnut from the port side. It sure looks good.The California-legal muzzle brake. I wonder what the California legislators were smoking when they passed that law.
The California Class III dealer replaced the flash suppressor with a muzzle brake (which I think looks even more intimidating and I had to buy a 10-round La-La-Land-legal magazine for my Mini.
Circassian walnut from starboard side. This is the fanciest Mini 14 I’ve ever seen.
You might be wondering: Where can I get a Mini with a stock like this one?
The short answer is: You can’t. I watched the gun sale websites for months looking for a Davidson’s Circassian Mini 14 until I found one with nice wood (most had straight-grained, broomstick grade wood). When I saw the one you see here, I pounded (and I’m glad I did). You just don’t see Mini 14 rifles with wood like this one. It’s all mostly black plastic stuff on the range these days, which is almost a crime against nature.
The Techsites rear sight on my Mini 14. It has a slightly smaller aperture and better adjustability than the stock Mini 14 rear site.
I’ve done a few mods to my Mini 14 to improve its accuracy, and I’ve detailed this in prior blogs (I’ve provide a link at the end of this article). The Reader’s Digest version is I’ve added a Techsites rear aperture sight to replace the Ruger sight, I’ve glass-bedded the action, and I’ve done a fair amount of experimentation to find the right load.
So how does the Circassian Mini 14 shoot? It does very well. I grabbed two loads: A full metal jacketed load with Hornady’s 62-grain bullet, and another with Hornady’s 55-grain V-Max bullets. You can see the results below.
A bunch of shots at 100 yards with one of my favorite loads: The 62-grain Hornady full metal jacket boattail bullet and 25.0 grains of XBR 8208 propellant. This ammo was necked sized only, which usually is more accurate in my Mini 14. I held at 6:00 on all targets shown here.Another 100-yard Mini 14 target with two different loads, both using the 55-grain Hornady VMax bullet and 24.5 grains of ARComp propellant. The very tight 5-shot group was shot with bullets that were not crimped. The larger group was the same load, but the bullets were crimped. Surprisingly, both loads were full length resized. As mentioned in the photo above, neck-sizing usually provides better accuracy in this rifle.
The second rifle in this Tale of Two Rugers story is the Ruger GSR in .308 Winchester. This is an amazing (and amazingly accurate) rifle, but it didn’t start out that way.
How I purchased this rifle is kind of a funny story. I had oral surgery to start the process of installing two fake teeth, and the doc knocked me out with anesthetics. They warned me I would be in no shape to drive home, so good buddy Jim Wile volunteered to do the driving. Jim’s gone on to his reward (RIP, Jim). On the ride home, in a drugged but conscious state, I told Jim about this new GSR rifle Ruger had introduced, and we somehow managed to convince ourselves we each needed one. They say you should not buy guns when you’re under the influence. Like Hunter Biden, though, I didn’t heed that advice and Jim followed my lead.
The Ruger GSR on the range at the West End Gun Club.
The GSR is Ruger’s interpretation of the Scout rifle concept first put forth by a gun writer named Jeff Cooper. Cooper’s concept was a short-barreled rifle that would hold a scope in a forward location and make for a sort of do-anything long gun. Steyr built the first commercially available Cooper-inspired Scout rifle, and then about a decade later Ruger followed suit. Mossberg has one now, too (good buddy Johnny G has one). The Steyr is crazy expensive, the Ruger started out at a reasonable price but has since gone kind of crazy (along with everything else), and (in my opinion) the Mossberg is the best value (it’s a fine rifle and one I’ll probably own some day).
The left side of the Ruger GSR. Note the laminated stock, which provides a very stable bed for the barreled action.The GSR as seen from the right.A Ruger .308 selfie.The Ruger’s aperture rear sight. It’s similar to the original Mini 14 site. Techsites doesn’t offer a replacement rear site for the GSR; if they did, I would have a Techsites rear sight on this rifle.The Ruger GSR flash suppressor. It’s the same type that originally came on the Mini 14. On a bolt action rifle, it’s legal in Calilornia; on a semi-auto, it is not.
When I first took delivery of the GSR, it was a real disappointment. As had been the case with half the guns I bought in the last couple of decades, it had to go back to the manufacturer. The problem was that the rifle printed way to the right, and there wasn’t enough adjustment in the rear aperture to get it back to the point of aim. I returned it to Ruger, they greatly relieved the stock around the barrel, and I had it back in about a week. When I took it out to the range the same week it was returned, I was astonished by its accuracy.
A target I shot a few years ago. The GSR can be amazingly accurate. The difference between the two groups is probably due to how I held the rifle. The upper group is one of the best I’ve ever shot with open sights.
But that group above was then and this is now. I had not fired the GSR in a few years. I grabbed two loads for this rifle (a load I had developed for my M1A Springfield, and a box of Federal factory ammo with full metal jacket 150-grain bullets).
Federal American Eagle .308 ammo. I bought a bunch of this a few years ago for the brass; this ammo was about the same price as .308 brass.My reloaded ammo. This load shoots extremely well in my Springfield Armory M1A.
I only fired a couple of 5-shot groups at 100 yards with the GSR. It was getting late in the day, I was getting tired, I had not fired the rifle in a long time (shooting is a perishable skill), and I realized I wasn’t giving the rifle a fair shake.
With the same rear sight adjustment used for the previous GSR target shown a couple of paragraphs above, the Federal factory 150 grain load shot high and to the left. The group is considerably larger than the load with 180-grain Noslers and Varget propellant.Another 5-shot group, this time with 168-grain Sierra hollowpoint bullets and IMR 4064 propellant (the accuracy load for my Springfield M1A). The load doesn’t perform as well in my GSR as it does in the M1A, but it’s still substantially better than the Federal factory ammo. It’s why I reload.
That stream crossing I mentioned at the start of this blog? Lytle Creek flows across the dirt road going into Meyers Canyon, and it can be a real challenge at times. With all the rain and snow we’ve had this past winter, the reservoirs are full and the snow up in the San Gabriels is still melting. You may remember the blog I wrote about the time I high sided my Subie attempting a crossing. The stream is down a scosh since then, but it’s still not an easy crossing. Here’s a video I made on the way out on this trip after visiting the range with the Mini 14 and the Ruger GSR.
I’ll be shooting the GSR more in the coming weeks now that I’m back into the swing of shooting a .308 off the bench, so watch for more stories on it. I think I can do better than the groups you see above.
