Joe Berk

A custom .375 Ruger…

About six years ago I had an urge to build a custom rifle. Some folks consider a custom rifle to be one you build from the ground up. For others, a custom rifle is one you buy off-the-shelf and then modify. My idea of a custom rifle starts with a barreled action (the metal parts) and an unfinished, semi-inletted stock (I’ll explain that “semi-inletted” descriptor a few paragraphs down). I had built rifles like this a couple of times in the distant past and I had the urge to do it again.

A tray full of .375 Ruger cartridges. I included a .223 Remington in the foreground (it’s the one on the left) for comparison. The .375 Ruger is a powerful round!

My objective was to build a rifle chambered for the .375 Ruger cartridge. The .375 Ruger was a joint project between Hornady and Ruger. The idea was a cartridge faster than the .375 Holland and Holland (a classic African big game cartridge), but shorter so it could cycle through a standard-length rifle action. When the .375 Ruger came out 10 years ago, everyone who tested it said it hit both marks. That was enough for me; I needed a .375 Ruger rifle in my life.

It had been a long time since I tackled a project like this, and I was surprised when I looked for a stock. Three or four decades ago several outfits offered semi-inletted stocks. Most of them were in Missouri (I guess that’s where all the good walnut is). The stock companies I knew decades ago (Fajen, Bishop, and others) are gone. The demand isn’t there. Millenials don’t shoot much, gun laws are more restrictive, and shooters today go for black plastic (there’s no accounting for some folks’ taste, I guess).

A semi-inletted stock is one that 95% inletted (that’s what the stock companies say); what is euphemistically implied is that you need to do just a bit more to fit your barreled action to the stock. That 95% inletting claim always brings a laugh, because final fitting of the action to the stock takes a ton of work…something way more than the implied final 5%.

The English walnut blank I selected and the barreled action that would go into it.

Richard’s Microfit is an old-line gunstock company right here in So Cal. I called Richard’s to ask if I could visit and personally select the piece of walnut I wanted, the answer was yes, and it was time for a ride out to the Valley.

Stock blanks at Richard’s Microfit. There were these and many, many more. Visiting the factory and selecting the one I wanted was a lot of fun.

Richard’s had a lot of lumber and I selected a piece of English walnut with lots of figure and grain that ran lengthwise (what you want in a magnum rifle, as it makes the stock stronger). The contrasty grain was a difficult to see in the blank, but the Richard’s people knew how to mist it with water and that made the walnut come alive. I specified a solid black rubber recoil pad, an ebony pistol grip cap, and a matching ebony fore end tip. The price went up, but I don’t do this sort of thing very often and the heart wants what the heart wants. My heart wanted ebony accents.

Few rifle manufacturers sell barreled actions today (they all used to), but Howa still does and they had one in .375 Ruger. It is a stout thing with a stubby 20-inch heavy barrel. Howa makes complete rifles under their own name and they also sell to other manufacturers (the Weatherby Vanguard, one of the world’s great rifles, is made by Howa). A custom rifle I built 40 years ago (a .30 06) had a Howa barreled action and I knew from that project they were good.

I took a good 80 hours to fit the barreled action to the stock, but I was in no hurry (it’s easy to take wood away; it’s a lot harder to add it back on), and I glass bedded the action with AcraGlas for added accuracy. That involved coating the barreled action with a release agent, mixing epoxy and glass fibers and slathering the mix in the stock, placing the barreled action in the wet epoxy, and then clamping it all together while the epoxy cured. A day later, I pried the barreled action out of the stock and oila, the action now had an exact fit to its glass bed.

Glass bedding the .375 Howa barreled action in the stock.

The next steps involved shaping the stock exterior and the ebony accents to my tastes, and then sanding everything with 100, 200, 400, and then 600 grit sandpaper. That required another 60 hours. Then it was on to applying the finish. I like TruOil. The drill is to apply the first coat of TruOil heavily (to allow it to fill the wood pores and soak into the walnut), wait a week, and then use 0000 steel wool to remove the excess. Then came TruOil Coat No. 2, a 24-hour cure, and more steel wool. Then another coat and another 24-hour cure. It would be 10 coats total in this manner. With each coat of TruOil the inner beauty of the walnut emerged further. This is one of the best parts of building a custom rifle…finishing the stock and watching the walnut wake up. It becomes a living thing, changing colors and character as the light hits it from different angles.

Somewhere around Coat No. 8 or 9. It’s starting to come together. This was way too glossy for a hunting rifle, but a final steel wool scrub would knock it down to a more subdued and refined appearance.

The feeling of satisfaction that comes from fitting, bedding, shaping, and then finishing a custom gun stock is profound and difficult to describe. Applying an oil finish is the best part. You get a high gloss finish, which can be left that way, or you can knock it down with the steel wool again for a sublime satin low gloss finish. That’s what I did. Shiny looks good but it is reflective and that’s bad for a hunting rifle. And that’s what this .375 is: A hunting rifle. For pigs, to be specific.

On the range with my custom Howa rifle and its 4X Weatherby scope.

While all of the above was going on, I found a used 4X Weatherby scope in a local gun shop’s parts bin. Old Weatherby scopes are stunningly clear and they generally go for something north of $200 when you find them (which isn’t often because they stopped making them more than 30 years ago). I prefer a simple 4X scope even though few manufacturers offer them (it’s mostly variable-powered contraptions today, something I view as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist). The gunshop guy told me I could have the old Weatherby scope for $25. I couldn’t pay him quickly enough. I mounted the scope that night.

How does the rifle shoot? I’m happy to tell you that the answer is very, very well, and it does so with nearly every load.

The Howa and my cast bullet loads. These are accurate and hard hitting. The jacketed bullets are even more accurate, but the cast bullets are close enough for government work.

Not too shabby for cast bullets. Everything came together on this one…the English walnut stock, the glass bedding, the Weatherby scope, and the load development effort. These groups were shot at 50 yards.

I built the .375 rifle to shoot cast bullets. They’re less expensive, they’re cool, and I have a local caster who makes good ones. For my cast 275-grain bullets, I use 30.0 grains of SR 4759 propellant, a load that consistently delivers tight groups at both 50 and 100 yards. I use the same powder and charge weight with 270-grain jacketed soft point Hornady bullets, a load that is scary accurate (as in one-hole, 5-shot groups at the 50-yard mark).

The plan is to hunt pigs with cast bullets, but the rifle is accurate enough to go after grasshoppers with the jacketed load. I haven’t shot the jacketed bullets at 100 yards yet, but I will the next time I’m at the rifle range. Both loads, according to the reloading manuals, are pushing the bullets at about 1800 feet per second. Recoil at those velocities is just shy of being unbearable (it’s stout, but manageable). This rig is a shooter, it’s a powerhouse, it groups well, and it’s fun!

Hey, check out our other Tales of the Gun stories, and for another take on building a modern sporting custom rifle, take a look at this Tavor X95 project!

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Header images: An update!

Yep, we’ve added a few new header images at the top of our blog again. Every once in a while we like to add a few more, and on occasion we’ll blog about what they are. Every time you visit the blog, one of a dozen or so images randomly pops up at the top of our blog. If you’ve wondered what they are, today is the day your ship comes in! Here’s a brief explanation of each…

This is the original ExNotes blog header image, which will still pop up from time to time. I love this photo. I took it on the ride through Colombia in Mompox, a mystical town tucked away in a magic land. I’d like to invite you to read the blog I wrote on Mompox a few months ago. If you look real close, you’ll see my good buddy Juan, who I rode with in Colombia and on the CSC Western American Adventure Ride.

Ah, the whales Scammon’s Lagoon, Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur. Gresh and I are going to ride there in March. It’s one of life’s real treats. We’ll be blogging the entire trip, and we’ll be insured with BajaBound Insurance (the best there is).

Wow, another Guerrero Negro photo, this time after the bikes had been put away for the evening at the Don Gus Hotel. I love the hotel and the restaurant (and the bar, too!) at the Don Gus Hotel. This was on one of the CSC Motorcycles Baja adventure rides.

One of the best parts of any Baja adventure ride is the cuisine. These are tacos we enjoyed on the recent ride with Janus Motorcycles. The food down there is fantastic!

Janus Motorcycles parked along the Malecon in San Felipe. This was a great Baja ride, and the Janus machines performed perfectly. It was a grand adventure. Hell, they all are!

A photo of Jordan Swartzendruber (on the left, hugging the center line) and Devin Biek (on the right), both on Janus Motorcycles. We did about a thousand miles in 4 days on these 250cc motorcycles. It was one of the coldest rides I’ve ever done, but we had a grand time!

Ah, my old Daytona 1200 on the road near Shiprock, New Mexico. I grabbed this photo during the 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally, in which good buddy Marty and I rode 5,000 miles from Mexico through the US and on into Canada. It was a grand adventure!

This is another photo from the 2005 Three Flags Classic, somewhere on the road in Arizona. There were over 400 motorcycles in the ’05 TFC; I rode the only Triumph in that event!

A lot of folks get their shorts in a knot when they see this photo. It’s Elmer, my good buddy and mature Mexican rattlesnake catching some rays and staying warm. We were on the road to see the Sierra San Francisco cave paintings in Baja. Elmer was very cooperative that morning, and I got some fantastic photos of him.

Good buddy Mike Huber shot this photo of his campsite and he graciously allowed us to use it on the ExNotes blog. Mike wrote a guest blog for us on using hammocks. Mike lives on his motorcycle, camping wherever he finds a good spot. What a life!

At Zongshen plant in Chongqing, China. We were moments away from starting our motorcycle ride across China, and the Zongers had a departure ceremony for us. That was one of the greatest rides I’ve ever been on, and you can read all about it Riding China. Gresh rode that one, too, and you can read his story about the trip here!

The lighthouse in Baja’s Guerrero Negro. It’s where we go to see the whales. This is an interesting photo…it’s a composite stitched together from six photos shot from left to right. I had a polarizer on the camera, which explains why the sky is darker in some portions of this composite.

Good times, to be sure. We’ll be adding more photos in the future, so stay tuned. Keep coming back to the ExNotes blog and you’ll see a different header time each time you visit!

The RX3-P Police Motorcycle

A few years ago when visiting the Zongshen plant in Chongqing, I spotted an RX3 set up as a police bike. It caught my eye for several reasons. First and foremost, it was a snappy looking motorcycle. I had written the police motorcycle book a few years ago and I was naturally interested in any police motorcycle. I thought (mistakenly, as it turned out) that there might be a market for such a machine in the US. And finally, I was interested in the bike because of something I had discovered while researching police motorcycles: Police motorcycles generally had beefed-up electrical systems (particularly with regard to alternator output) because of the added demands of sirens, emergency lights, radios, and more.

I asked my good buddy Fan about the electrical issues on the 250cc RX3 police bike, and he told me that the police version had a 300-watt alternator (the standard bike had a 220-watt alternator). The standard 220 watts wasn’t bad, and that was actually more than the ’06 KLR I owned at the time provided. ADV riders like big alternators, because we add stuff like driving lights, heated vests, heated grips, cell phone chargers, and more. At the time, I was coordinating the first CSC RX3 order, and I asked if the police alternator could be had on the CSC civilian bikes. “Sure, no problem,” Fan answered. That was a big deal, and it cinched the sale for more than a few riders when CSC brought the RX3 to America.

I was still pumped about the police bike, though, and I convinced CSC to bring the RX3-P to the US for a trial marketing period. You can see my enthusiasm in the video we put together on the bike…

I thought the idea of a 250cc, urban-oriented police motorcycle made a lot of sense for the United States, but it wasn’t to be. We shipped a bike to the NYPD (I knew they used Vespa scooters, and the RX3-P cost a hell of a lot less than a Vespa), we loaned a bike to a California police agency up north, and I called and visited a bunch of police departments. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed riding the RX3-P to visit agencies in So Cal. Traffic just opened up on the freeway. Nobody tailgated me. I put my blinkers on and people slowed to make room for me to change lanes. Traffic generally dropped to the speed limit wherever I went. At one of the agencies, a police captain told me I wasn’t supposed to be riding around with police emergency lights and such on the bike. “It’s okay,” I told him. “I only put that stuff on if somebody won’t move over or if they’re really being an asshole.” We had a good laugh about that.

My enthusiasm notwithstanding, I couldn’t close the deal with any of the police departments. There were a variety of reasons, mostly centered around the RX3-P’s newness and the fact that US motor officers like big bikes (Beemers, Harleys, Honda’s ST1300, and the like). Or maybe I was just a lousy salesman. Who knows?

There are a lot of good reasons for a smaller police motorcycle with offroad capabilities and Zongshen wanted to make it happen, but it just wasn’t meant to be here in the US. That’s unfortunate. A Zongshen police bike is about the same price as a civilian RX3 (roughly $4K); a new Harley or BMW police motor is five to seven times that amount. And the maintenance costs on a police motorcycle are very high. The needs brakes, clutches, and tires about every three months, and most agencies have that work done at a Harley or BMW dealer (places not known for their low service fees). One of the police execs I spoke with told me it actually costs a department more to keep a police motorcycle on the road than a police car. Do the math.

We publicized the bike big time on the CSC blog, and I think that got noticed around the world. The RX3-P found a home with several large police departments in Asia and South America. That’s a good thing, because it’s a great bike. I’d still like to see it happen here in America. I imagine Zongshen will introduce a police version of their RX4, and maybe that larger bike will have a better chance at breaking into the US police motorcycle market. Someday. Maybe. We’ll see.

Dream Bikes…vintage BMW boxers

So I posted that email from Captain Desiderio yesterday and my good buddy Jersey John (who like most mature Jersey boys left the state for warmer climes) commented on Facebook about his love of vintage BMWs. Johnny’s Dad had an R60 back in the ’60s, and that got me to thinking about those magnificent old Beemer Boxers. After posting the Ecuadorean vintage police motors extravaganza yesterday I hung out with the Brown BMW geezers for lunch, and while I was there, I snapped a couple of photos of Bob’s vintage BMWs on the showroom floor. With advance apologies for the lousy iPhone photo quality, here you go…

I’ve always thought it would be cool to ride one of those early Earles-forked BMWs. When I lived through the ’60s, I thought the bikes were cool in an odd sort of way…lots of displacement but low power compared the BSA and Triumph 650s of the day, a weird kick starter that rotated outward from the bike, the low profile, and of course, the horizontally-opposed twin configuration. For a kid lusting after vertical twins from England and Honda Super Hawks, the BMW was most definitely an odd duck, but they were still cool. You didn’t see them very often, but when you did, the bikes commanded respect. They had what I later learned to call command presence. It’s hard to define, but it was definitely there.

When I was 12, I traveled overseas with my Dad through Lucerne, Switzerland, and I have a vivid memory of a Swiss motor officer at a stoplight in Lucerne on a white BMW. I’d never seen such a thing (I thought all BMWs were black), and the bike made a lasting impression. It was almost like looking at a photo negative…all the colors were reversed. Instead of being black with white pinstripes, the Lucerne boxer was white with black pinstripes. It was beautiful. I’m guessing BMW manufactured a lot more black motorcycles than white ones back then, but I’ve seen a few of the white ones since. A quick YouTube search turned up some interesting videos, too..

Cool stuff, to be sure. I saw a fully-restored white R69S similar to the ones you see above in the Cycle Trader magazine about 10 years ago. The guy wanted $18,000 for it, and that was way too rich for me. The value is there, though, and these old vintage Beemers sure are beautiful.

Check out our other ExNotes Dream Bikes!

Ecuador’s Presidential Motorcycle Escort!

I wrote a book several years ago about police and military motorcycles, and I receive some interesting emails as a result. Back in the 1990s, one of those emails was from Captain Jose Paredes Desiderio, who at that time headed Ecuador’s presidential motorcycle escort unit. Capitano Paredes sent this narrative and these great photos to me and I want to share them with you. The photos are awesome, especially the ones from the old days. The translation came from Google with a few minor tweaks by me. Captain Paredes, thank you very much!

My name is Jose Paredes Desiderio and I work in the Transit Commission of Guayas province (we are traffic police in the province of Guayas). I have the rank of captain and I am head of the Department of the Presidential Escort. I saw pictures of the motorcycle riders who have used different motorcycles of different brands worldwide and I am sending some photos to have so that you can know that my country ECUADOR has also used different brands of motorcycles. Here is a short history of the institution to which I belong.

The Transit Commission of Guayas Province purchased its first motorcycle for traffic control within the Province of Guayas.

You can see how the public admire Guayasense, a motorcyclist and Lord of the Transit Commission of Guayas Province at that time.

During the beginning 50 years, the Presidential Escort was established with the primary mission of escorting and providing security to the President and Vice-President of the Republic. They lit the alarm sirens, lights flashing resplendent in their motorcycles. The seated gentlemen guards were ordered in strategic caravans taking custody of the Presidential car with professionalism and responsibility.

We appreciate the members of the Presidential Escort’s professionalism and accountability. Here they are with His Excellency, Mr. President of the Republic of Ecuador, Dr. Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra.

Here we can see Vigilante Vicente Alvarado doing acrobatics and practicing on his motorized vehicle (motorcycle) at the start of the Training School of Presidential Escort.

In the 80 years of its existence the Transit Commission has renewed its fleet by acquiring brand new 750 cc Suzuki motorcycles, which were used for the Presidential Escort. Here we see Mr. Transit Chief Mayor Jorge Peñafiel Ball, and Mr. Sub Chief Transit Mayor Carlos Palacios Torres.

In the 1990s, the leading institution for transit renewed its fleet by acquiring 750 cc Honda motorcycles.

In gratitude for the performance of motorcyclists who were part of the Presidential Escort, the department received Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

Festivities in Juliana’s staff. Here is 92 years of motorcycle experience in the Presidential Escort to the President of the Republic Arch Sixto Durán Ballén, from left to right subway. Miguel Leon Czech Subway. Miguel Rosero Huacón, Sgt. Ely Lopez Duran and subway. José Paredes Desiderio (current head of the Department Presidential Escort).

In 2004, the Transit Commission of Guayas Province acquires new motorcycles for the department of the Presidential Escort. These are the 1150 cc BMW brand.

The Escort also received Suzuki Motorcycles of 500cc, which were acquired together with the BMW for the Department of the Presidential Escort CTG.

Here are Motorcyclists who took part in the caravan escorting Mr. Former President of the USA George Bush during his visit to the city of Guayaquil.

Here is the Head of Department (Cap. Jose Paredes Desiderio) planning with the class officers and gentlemen vigilant routes before a shift is going to escort some of the important people who visit the city of Guayaquil and Guayas Province.

This is the Staff of the Presidential Escort doing acrobatics on BMW motorcycles.

Like any other institution in the country and the world, women now form part of this great institution in the GUAYAS transit Commission. These beautiful and distinguished ladies who have the mystique and taste for wearing a uniform have the ability and skill to drive a motor vehicle, which has led them to join the select group of the Presidential Escort of the Province of Guayas.

At present I am trying to communicate with police elsewhere in the world who are interested in training with modern techniques and exchange knowledge. We ask them to share their his knowledge by writing to my mail (jparedesd@ctg.gov.ec). If any groups use Harley Davidson, BMW, Honda, Suzuki, etc. and would like to educate two members of this institution which I represent I ask you to contact me.

Wow, that’s quite a letter, and quite an impressive collection of vintage police motorcycle photographs. Captain Paredes, thanks again!

Motorcycle art…

Motorcycles and things related to them are interesting..the bikes themselves, the people, the events, and more, so it was with some interest that Sue and I noticed a small piece in our local newspaper about a motorcycle show in nearby Chaffey College. Faster, Faster! The Art of Motorcycle Culture was the name of the show, and that sounded like it might be fun. Not having anything pressing to do, we decided to ride over and see it. I had my Nikon, thinking that the show might have some interesting motorcycles worthy of a photo or two.

Wow, were we ever surprised. No motorcycles. It was an art exhibit, where the topic was, well, motorcycles and things related to them. At first we were a bit surprised because there were no motorcycles (we were expecting a bike show), but the exhibit was well displayed and we had a good time. There were paintings of motorcycles, people, custom helmets, vests, and oil cans. That last one might sound a bit off the wall, but Jeffrey Durrant’s paintings of oil cans were, to me, the best part of the show. I can’t explain why. I guess that’s one of the elements of fine art…something that is appealing in a way that is difficult to put into words.

Chaffey College had an interesting booklet assembled for the exhibit that included a number of essay prompts. That’s fascinating, and it made me wish I was still in school taking courses with assignments like that. The folks who organized Faster, Faster did a fine job. The show runs through March 9th.

Mesa Verde in Motorcycle Classics

Native American cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park.

The latest Motorcycle Classics has a cool article on Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. Sue and I were there last year and it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. Nah, let me change that last sentence: Mesa Verde National Park is worth a visit all by itself, wherever you are. It’s only an 11-hour ride from Los Angeles on the freeways, although if I were going there again it wouldn’t be a freeway ride. There are just too many interesting things to see on the our secondary roads. I’ve been writing for Motorcycle Classics for about a decade now, and you can see more of the MC articles here.

The Three Flags Classic: Day 5

Day 5 would have us crossing another international border (this time in Canada, the third country of our 2005 Three Flags Classic rally), and it would be yet another grand day. If you haven’t read the first four days, you might want to catch up by reading our prior blog posts here:

The 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally: the Intro!

The Three Flags Classic: Day 1

The Three Flags Classic: Day 2

The Three Flags Classic: Day 3

The Three Flags Classic: Day 4

On to Day 5!

Day 5 would take us all the way in to Calgary, Canada!

We loaded up early again the next morning and headed north from Whitefish, Montana. Wow, was it ever cold! It was 34 degrees when we rode across the border into Canada, and even though the sun climbed higher into the sky on that fine bright day, it grew even colder as we continued north. I had my electric vest cranked all the way up and I was still freezing.

We stopped for breakfast in Fernie after we crossed the border to warm up a bit. Our route took us through a brief bit of British Columbia, and then we entered Alberta. The route took us into the Kananaskis National Park in Canada on our way to Calgary, our destination that day.

The Canadian Rockies in Kananaskis National Park, on our way to Calgary. That’s my Triumph Daytona 1200 in front, and Marty’s BMW K1200RS behind it. Wowee, it was cold that morning!

Another photograph with the Rocky Mountains in the background. This was in Canada’s Kananaskis National Park, and that’s me next to my Triumph.

A comparable photo of Marty at the same spot with his Beemer.

We saw signs warning of mountain sheep crossing the road. I thought it would be great to see one, but I didn’t expect that I would. Then we started spotting the things all over.

Look closely. Way up the road. Just past the sign on the right. Do you see the mountain sheep standing there?

The first one was that lone sheep you see in the photo above. We stopped to grab a photo, but I realized I had my Sigma 17-35 wide angle on the camera. I grabbed a quick shot from the motorcycle, but I knew the distance and the wide angle lens would make the animal just a tiny bit in the photo. I didn’t want to get off the bike because I thought I might scare it away. I fumbled to get my longer range 24-120 zoom lens on the camera (it was in my tank bag). The entire time I thought the goat would run away before I could get the lens on my Nikon N70.

Then the sheep looked directly at me and starting slowly walking in my direction.

“Uh oh,” I thought.

I didn’t know if mountain sheep bite or if they are aggressive. Maybe it would come over and try to butt me. I could see, even at a distance, that the thing had horns. I had visions of it knocking me and the Triumph over. My Triumph had never been on its side. The scratches on that beautiful Daytona fairing would be tough to explain. I remember wondering if I would be able to keep the bike upright if the thing butted me.

Little did I know….

The sheep literally walked right up to me. I took this shot while sitting on my Triumph, at a distance of maybe 4 or 5 feet.

My new best friend. We were both feeling kind of sheepish. I guess it was as curious as I was.

I shot up a whole roll of film and the thing was still hanging around. I noticed that as it advanced, it would stop every few feet and lick the road. I’m guessing that it was enjoying the remnants of the road salt the Canadians put down when it snows and the roads ice over. Someone later said they are probably used to being fed. I prefer to think it just wanted a better look at the Daytona. After all, it was the only Triumph in the 2005 Three Flags Classic.

It warmed up after that and it was a glorious day. Our next to last checkpoint was in the Kananaskis National Park at a place called Fortress Junction. Marty and I chatted with the other riders and then we rode the final leg of the Rally into Calgary.

A guy named Dave and his friend at the final checkpoint in Fortress Junction, Canada. It was a glorious day.

Later that day, we rode along a highway and then into Calgary, the endpoint for the 2005 Three Flags Classic. I would be the turnaround point for Marty and me. We still had a lot of fun in front of us…a couple of days in Calgary, and then the grand ride home. On the ride home, we were on our own (it was not part of the Three Flags Classic, which ended in Calgary. That portion of our ride is coming up in future blogs, so stay tuned!

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The Rifleman’s rifle…

This is a cool story that goes like this…several years ago I decided I wanted to hunt pigs. I had last chased hogs in the woods about 30 years earlier, but I never got one. That was a character flaw I wanted to correct. It was just something I needed to do, but there were consulting gigs overseas, lots of travel, a few epic motorcycle rides, and, well, you know how it goes. Pig hunting stayed tucked away in my mind but I hadn’t acted on it. Then another thing happened: I stopped in a gunshop in northern California and saw a rifle I just had to have. It’s the one at the top of this blog. Specifically, a Supergrade Model 70 Winchester in God’s caliber, the mighty .30 06.

Okay, back to the pig thing. Back in the 1910s folks imported Russian boar into California so rich guys could hunt them without having to spring for a boat ticket to Russia. I guess that worked out okay, but what happened next surprised everybody. The Russian boars loved it over here and I guess they felt right at home. They bred like rabbits. Then, being pigs, they crossbred with domestic hogs. The bottom line? Today, the US has a runaway wild pig problem. If you think you don’t have wild pigs, you either just don’t know it (the more likely case), or you don’t have them in your neighborhood yet (the less likely case, but if you don’t have them yet, you will). Wild pigs are everywhere and they’re destructive. Farmers know they’ll tear up an acre every night looking for food. That’s a problem that guys like me and my good friend Paul are only too happy to help solve.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy... — Here piggy, piggy, piggy…

So who’s Paul? Well, I’ve known Paul all my life. We were next-door neighbors back in rural New Jersey in the days when you could set up a range and shoot in your back yard. And we did. We fooled around with guns, we hunted, we fished, we rode bikes…we did the kinds of things kids did 60 or 70 years ago, before they invented ADHD drugs, safe spaces, cell phones, computers, social media, and all the stuff kids today get to struggle with. Rural New Jersey in the 1950s was a good time and a good place to grow up.

There’s more to the story: Our fathers were outdoorsmen, so Paul and I were, too. Both of our fathers were competitive shooters and hunters. Paul’s Dad had a Model 70 in .270 Winchester and my Dad had a Model 70 in .243. In their day, those two cartridges were the hottest and best things going. There have been newer cartridges and newer rifles since, but both the .270 and the .243 are still dynamite chamberings. And the Model 70 Winchester was (and I still think still is) the ultimate rifle. It’s been called the Rifleman’s Rifle. It’s that good. And it’s what our fathers shot.

So when I saw that new maple Model 70, I bought it. Just like that. I knew I would hunt pigs with it. It’s one of the finest rifles I’ve ever handled.

I suggested a pig hunt to Paul, and hey, who could turn down an offer like that? I took the Model 70 you see above, and Paul had his magnificent pre-’64 Model 70 in .270 Winchester. Paul’s Model 70 has a real pedigree: It was handed down to Paul by his father, and this particular Model 70 is rifle royalty. It doesn’t get any better than Paul’s pre-’64 Model 70, and the .270 Winchester cartridge is the quintessential chambering for it. Google Jack O’Connor, the guy who put the Model 70 and the .270 Winchester cartridge on the map, and you’ll see what I mean. O’Connor wrote a book (The Rifle), in which he explains his reasons for the .270’s superiority. I have O’Connor’s book and it’s a great read. That said, I just like the .30 06, but they’re both great cartridges.

Paul’s particular Model 70 (this very rifle, the one Paul used on our hunt) was my first exposure to high-powered, long-distance marksmanship a cool 60 years ago. Paul’s Dad used to fire that rifle across the fields behind our homes in the 1950s. We lived in a rural part of the state, and you could do that in those days. Before Paul’s Dad would send rounds downrange, though, little Pauly would always knock on our door to tell us all hell was about to break loose. That was mighty neighborly, as an unexpected bark from a .270 Winchester would have scared the bejesus out of us (I’m not sure what bejesus is, but I like the word so I’m using it here).

So, back to the more recent past. In preparation for our pig hunt, I worked up a load for my Model 70 and I found the Holy Grail..a load that was both hard-hitting and accurate. Two of them, actually. Here’s how it worked out…

Model 70 magic... — 100-yard Model 70 magic…

The deal on reloading and these cartridge development efforts is that you experiment with different powders, primers, bullets, and propellant charge weights to find an individual rifle’s sweet spot, and like I said, I found two. Over the course of two days, I fired all of the above loads (at 100 yards), and the bottom one in yellow is the one I used for our hunt. That load uses a 150-grain Winchester jacketed soft point bullet with 48.0 grains of IMR 4320 propellant. I bought a bunch of the 150 grain jacketed Winchester bullets about 10 years ago when it looked liked reloading components might dry up altogether (shooting-gear-related shortages are cyclical, always coinciding with whoever has just moved into public housing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). After I settled on my preferred load, I’ve shot even tighter groups with it. I once shot a 0.244-inch 3-shot group with my Model 70 with the same load. For the targets we would be shooting (hogs, which get big), that’s good enough for government work.

While I was doing all of the above, Paul had a similar load development effort underway with his .270 Winchester. I found the secret sauce for my Model 70, and Paul found the right recipe for his. We were ready.

My Model 70 is a current production rifle and it’s awesome. The Supergrade Model 70s are glass-bedded and free-floated from the factory, the bluing is deeply polished, and the fiddleback maple figure on mine is exhibition grade. It’s not the kind of a rifle you would ordinarily take on a hunt and some folks have told me it’s too pretty to shoot, but I didn’t buy it just to look at the thing. It’s a shooter and it’s very, very accurate. I actually think the quality of the modern Model 70 rifles is better than the pre-’64 rifles (which are generally regarded as Winchester’s best ever), but don’t tell that to Paul.

Our happy hunting grounds at dusk, east of Kingman, Arizona.

So how did we do? Well, it was one of the best weekends ever. We rolled out to a hilly desert area east of Kingman, Arizona (we were well out in the boonies) and our hunt was hugely successful. Paul got a monster hog the first night out, and I nailed one a bit smaller the next morning. I have great photos of Paul and me posing with our pigs, but if I posted them here it would generate the inevitable comments from folks whose BVDs contract into tight knots over such things. You know, the folks who hate guns and hunting…people who assume their hamburgers come from suicidal cows or whatever. So you’ll have to use your imagination. But they are great photos.

Paul and I both ate pork for a year after that. Roast pork. Barbequed pork. Pork chili. Pork meatballs (pretty good, actually). Pork sandwiches. Pork breakfast sausage (also very good). A special pork/wild mushroom/barley casserole (my favorite). But no bacon. Bacon comes from belly fat and wild hogs are lean, so there is no belly fat. Yep, we had over a hundred pounds of dressed-out pork after our hunt. I came home with a whole cooler full, and I had the little pig. When we figured the cost of the rifles, the ammo, our travel, and the hunt, that pork worked out to about $34 per pound. And it was worth every cent. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

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Barron’s recommendations…

I guess more financial mags are zeroing in on Harley-Davidson’s plans to introduce an electric motorcycle. You saw our post a week or so ago about The Motley Fool and their thoughts on the Livewire. Barron’s, another financial newspaper/advisory service, similarly reported on Harley’s woes but with a twist. This most recent Barron’s article strongly recommended that either Harley move into manufacturing pickup trucks, or allow itself to be acquired by Ford. Yeah, that’s right. Ford. The car company.

Ford has already produced F-150 pickups with Harley trim packages (seriously, I can’t make up stuff this good) and they are reintroducing a $100K Harley-themed truck for 2019…

Barron’s reasons that Harley’s brand recognition could help Ford (a company who’s stock price has been tanking for years). The Barron’s article actually recommends Harley as a buy (the stock, not the motorcycle), with a target price of $50 per share if such an acquisition occur (i.e., Ford buying Harley). Seeing as Harley stock (symbol HOG) is currently about $35 per share, Barron’s reasons that could be a wise investment if Ford acquires Harley (which I don’t think will ever happen).

I’m watching all of this in stunned silence. Well, nearly stunned silence, except for the tapping of my laptop’s keyboard as I whip out this blog. $35,000 electric motorcycles. Harley-badged $100,000+ Ford pickup trucks, which presumably will sell to folks whose judgement, common sense, and sobriety has to be questioned. Financial advisors recommending buying Harley stock because if Ford (a company with terrible stock performance) buys Harley (another company with terrible stock performance), the Harley stock price will go up (while Harley’s business has been tanking in a dive so steep they may not be able to pull out of it). Got it. Right.

My take on all of this? It’s hard to take it all in, let alone understand most of it. Your thoughts? Let’s hear them!

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