Back In The Day – The ExhaustNotes Blog

New Jersey State Police Museum

By Joe Berk

Here’s something different: A visit to the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton, New Jersey.

A statue of a New Jersey State Trooper on the Museum grounds.

I’d seen references to the NJSP Museum on Facebook and elsewhere, and being back in New Jersey a short while ago, Susie and I found ourselves casting about for things to do. Ordinarily, our visits to the Garden State include the same stops: Lunch at the Shrimp Box in Point Pleasant (awesome seafood), every once in a while a visit to Bahr’s in the Highlands (another spot for awesome food), maybe a trip to Asbury Park (think Bruce Springsteen and Danny Devito), a few of the Soprano’s filming locations, the Rutgers University campus, the Old Mill in Deans, New Hope (just across the Delaware River), and a few of our other standard stops. This time we wanted to explore a bit more, and I put the New Jersey State Police Museum on the list. I knew that it had a couple of vintage motorcycles, and I figured it would probably have a few firearms on display. Guns and motorcycles fit the ExhaustNotes theme.

The New Jersey State Police is a paramilitary, well-disciplined, and impressive organization. I’d call it a STRAC outfit (in Army slang, STRAC is an acronym derived from skilled, tough, and ready around the clock). One thing I’ve never seen is an out-of-shape NJ State Trooper.

A statue of Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf near the NJSP Museum entrance.

New Jersey State Troopers are the Marines and Green Berets of the police world. That didn’t happen accidentally: The guy who formed the NJ State Police a century ago was none other than Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Not the guy who led US troops during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 (that H. Normal Schwarzkopf was his son), but the original. Colonel Schwarzkopf was a US Military Academy graduate, and when he formed the NJ State Police, his vision was a military organization with the same look as that instilled at West Point. I’d say he succeeded.

Trooper Ralph Dowgin gracing The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles.

I touched on the NJ State Police when I wrote The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles. The cover photo shows Captain Ralph Dowgin on a 1934 Harley-Davidson. Captain Dowgin went on to command Troop D, the NJSP branch that patrolled the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. We also wrote about Jerry Dowgin, Captain Dowgin’s son and a friend of mine who owned a 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler (a bike featured here and in a Motorcycle Classics magazine story).

Getting to the NJSP Museum was relatively easy, although the location was tucked away on the NJSP Headquarters grounds. We just plugged the name into Waze, and after meandering through a bunch of small streets in West Trenton, we were at a manned gate. The location is essentially a military compound. The nice young lady at the gate called ahead to confirm the Museum was open (it was), and then she raised the gate. We followed her instructions and the map she gave to us, and we were there. We were the only visitors, so we had the place to ourselves.

The NJ State Police guns story is an interesting one.

When the New Jersey State Police organization started in 1921, their first duty weapon was the Colt double-action revolver (a six shooter) chambered in .38 Special. This very handgun you see here was issued to Colonel Schwarzkopf.

Four cylinders full of .38 Special ammo, for a total load of 30 rounds carried by each Trooper. Reloads had to have been painstakingly slow back in the day. I remember seeing these ammo carriers on State Troopers when I was a kid. With their Glock sidearms today, the gun itself and one additional magazine exceeds all the rounds seen above.

Another .38 Special Colt revolver on display. Troopers have been assigned sequential badge numbers from the very beginning, with Trooper No. 1 being H. Norman Schwarzkopf.

Back in the day, the NJ State Police also issued the .38 Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece to their Troopers, which was a 6-shot revolver with adjustable sights. This one has a 6-inch barrel. I’ve owned a few of the Smith and Wesson revolvers; they are good guns.

The Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece. These are beautiful revolvers.

Colt released a commemorative version of the NJSP revolver, cased and finished in high polish blue. — Colt released a commemorative NJSP revolver, with high polish blue and the NJSP emblem. Commemorative guns, for the most part, don’t appreciate at the same rate the basic (i.e., non-commemorative) guns. I’ve owned a few commemorative guns, but not this model.

More information on the Colt NJSP 75th Anniversary commemorative revolver. We previously visited the Colt Custom Shop; you can read about that here.

In those early days, the NJ State Police also used 1903A1 Springfield rifles. I have a 1903A1 in near perfect condition and I’ve written about shooting cast and jacketed bullets in it, and the rifle’s complex rear sight. They are nice rifles and they are collectible. Truth be told, though, I can shoot tighter groups with my 91/30 Mosin Nagant.

A NJSP 1903A1 Springfield. The 1903A1 has the 1903’s more complex right sight and the so-called “scant” stock. I was surprised to see this. You don’t encounter to many 1903A1 rifles.

Later in their history, the NJ State Police used Ruger .357 Magnum double-action, stainless steel revolvers.

Ruger revolvers used by the NJ State Police, in both 4-inch and 6-inch barreled versions.

During the 1980s, many police departments made the switch from revolvers to 9mm semi-automatic handguns. Not all choices worked well for the NJ State Police. One firearm, the H&K 9mm squeeze cocker, was particularly troublesome. The NJSP experienced numerous accidental discharges. Sometime after that, the NJSP went to SIG handguns. That didn’t work out, either. When the NJ State Police made the switch to SIGs, the handguns had reliability issues, and when SIG couldn’t fix the problems, the NJ State Police sued SIG. It seemed like the NJSP couldn’t catch a break in their quest to adopt a 9mm handgun. Ultimately, the NJSP went with Glock 9mm handguns. That worked out well.

A Glock up top, and several SIG handguns. The SIG at the bottom of this photo is chambered in .45 ACP.

Another SIG handgun in the NJ State Police Museum.

Good intentions, but bad results. It’s unfortunate. I believe that SIG makes the finest 9mm handgun in the world. But I don’t carry one for a living (like the New Jersey State Troopers do).

The 9mm Glock currently carried by New Jersey State Troopers.

The firearms exhibits also displayed other long guns used by the New Jersey State Police.

A .45 ACP Thompson submachine gun the NJSP used decades ago, and an M16. A submachine gun can fire in the fully automatic mode (like a machine gun). The “submachine gun” designation typically means the gun uses a pistol cartridge.

An exhibit displaying a sampling of confiscated weapons. New Jersey police agencies typically confiscate between 7,000 and 10,000 guns annually. All are delivered to the NJSP Ballistics Unit for destruction.

The New Jersey State Police also have a rich tradition using motorcycles, although they no longer use motorcycles for patrol duties. The NJSP has a few modern Harleys, but these are used for ceremonial functions only. In the early days, the NJSP used motorcycles year round, and in New Jersey, the winters can get cold, wet, snowy, and icy. Back in the day, the NJSP used tire chains when it snowed. That’s hard to imagine.

Mittens used for cold weather riding. Those guys were tough. Unless they are electrically-heated, mittens like these don’t keep your hands warm for long.

New Jersey State Trooper Justin Dintino, a motor officer who went on to become the 10th leader of the New Jersey State Troopers. Colonel Dintino graduated from the NJSP Academy two years after I was born.

Trooper E. Paul Sjostrom with his Harley-Davidson police motorcycle in 1925. Back then, the NJSP had 40 Harleys, 40 horses, 20 cars, and a single truck to patrol the entire state of New Jersey.

A more recent Harley police motorcycle. As mentioned above, the NJSP no longer uses motorcycles for patrol duties.

A macro shot of the tank and engine on the NJSP Harley.

Distinctive colors and a distinctive emblem.

A 1948 Harley Panhead used by the NJ State Police. It had a hand shift and a foot clutch.

The tombstone taillight Harleys used in 1948.

The Harley siren used back in the 1940s and 1950s was activated by pivoting the entire siren such that it was friction driven by the rear tire. I used to have a similar siren on my Schwinn bicycle, which drove our neighbors nuts.

Harleys rode with the NJSP from the very beginning. This is a 1921 NJSP Harley.

A closer photo of the 1921 Harley’s V-Twin engine.

One of the NJSP Museum’s exhibits was a wanted poster for a particular person. That wanted poster is for Joanne Chesimard, who is a fugitive being sheltered by Cuba. Chesimard participated in the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in May 1973. The murder occurred very near where my family lived. Another NJ State Trooper had pulled over a car driven by Clark Squire (Chesimard was also in the car). Foerster arrived in a backup patrol car. A gun battle ensued, Foerster was murdered, and Squire escaped into the woods just to the east of our home.

Squire remained at large, hiding in the woods, for several days. We thought he had escaped from the area, but police officers continued the search. Squire finally surrendered to a local police officer. We believed that if the NJ State Police had found him, Squire would not have been brought in alive (and that would have been okay with everyone I knew).

Squire, Chesimard, and a third person were convicted of murdering Foerster and sentenced to life in prison. Chesimard subsequently escaped and found her way to Cuba, where she lives in freedom to this day (sheltered by a Cuban government that refuses to extradite her to the United States). Incredibly, when Barack Obama wanted to recognize the Castro regime and lift sanctions on Cuba, returning Chesimard to serve out her sentence was not part of the deal. She remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted List to this day.

In yet another disappointment related to this Foerster murder, Squire was recently released on parole (50 years into what should have been a life sentence). I know. It’s not right.

To get back to the main topic of this blog, if you ever find yourself in New Jersey you might want to spend a few hours visiting the New Jersey State Police Museum in West Trenton. It’s free, it’s a great museum, and it’s an opportunity to learn a lot about one of the most elite police organizations in America. We enjoyed it. You will, too.

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Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum

By Joe Berk

My sister Eileen is a time-share person, and she frequently swaps places to stay with other time-share owners. She recently landed a suite of rooms at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Escondido, so she and Susie and I stayed there for a week. I didn’t realize this before our visit, but there’s a very cool winery and museum literally next door to the Welk resort. The entrance to the Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum is only a few feet away from the Welk resort entrance, so on our first day there we stopped for a visit and a wine tasting.

I was surprised. I had never heard of the Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum before, the collection was substantial, and there are even a few motorcycles (vintage Indians and a Harley, to be specific). Wow, this was going to be fun. I did not have my Nikon, so everything you see here I shot with my iPhone.

Vintage Indians. You gotta love those paint themes.

When we entered, I asked the guy at the counter if the Museum had a focus, and his answer was immediate: Convertibles. And boy oh boy, did they ever have an impressive collection.

A Franklin convertible. These were a luxury American motorcar. They had air cooled engines. See our blog on the Franklin Automobile Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

A beautiful 1948 Chrysler Town and Country convertible.

Imagine that: A woody convertible! At $3,395 (a lot of money in 1948), Chrysler only sold 8,369 of these. Like the initial years of the Chevrolet Corvette, the Woody Town and Country convertible’s job was to get people into the showroom, where salesmen could convince to buy less-expensive models.

There was real Arkansas white ash beneath what you see here; the wood grain is a decal over the real wood. Even back in 1948, wraps were an in thing.

I like this car. I took a lot of photos of it.

The Museum consists of three buildings that display over 100 cars. It starts with a collection in the main entrance building. After seeing it, walking a few feet down the sidewalk brought us to another display area, with a lot of cars parked side by side, crammed into sort of barn-like building. These were cars mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, and they were fun to take in. I think they are, for the most part, restored and repainted cars. I grew up in that era. Lincolns, Imperials, Buicks, and many more, and all were convertibles. A Pierce Arrow was just inside the entrance, parked in front of a 1950 Buick.

A close up of the Pierce Arrow radiator cap. I can only imagine what such a radiator cap would cost today.

A 1960 Imperial Crown convertible. Imperial produced 618 of these costs. MSRP in 1960 was $5,774. They had a 413-cubic-inch engine and a 129-inch wheelbase. Fuel economy was not a concern in 1960.

When walking from one building to the next, we saw other convertibles scattered around the grounds in unrestored condition. They were cool, too, wearing the patina you’d expect on cars that were new when guys like Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johson were in the White House.

A late ’60s Camaro convertible awaiting resoration.

A 1959 Cadillac limo. I’d kind of like to own one of these, too.

An 1950’s Caddy convertible. It’s not on display yet. I spotted walking around the Deer Park grounds.

The entry building and the long barn-like building were interesting. The best part was yet to come, though. It was showroom on top of a hill. We made the trek up to that building, and I was blown away by an absolutely stunning 1953 Cadillac convertible in showroom condition. It’s the photo featured on top of this blog.

The Museum’s centerpiece: A 1953 Cadillac convertible.

The Cadillac you see above was recovered from a fire. The restoration process was essentially a manufacturing venture. The car was stripped down to the frame, and then rebuilt with all new, hand-formed, hand-painted, hand-rubbed body panels. It is stunning. I want it.

The ’53 Caddy convertible’s wire wheels.

An obligatory selfie: Me in the ”53 Caddy’s bumper.

We enjoyed a leisurely walk down the steps to get back to the entrance building, where the Deer Park Winery and Museum offers wine tasting for a modest fee. The wine tastings include five varietals, which vary depending on the time of year (or, you can opt for six wines and select the ones you want). We went with the five wine option. They were all good and the tastings were not small. One was exceptional. That was a dessert wine that I believe would pair exceptionally will with a slice of carrot cake (I went to a sommelier presentation once many years ago, so I now consider myself an expert qualified to make such pairing suggestions).

Deer Park Peach wine. It’s peach-flavored champagne, basically, and it’s good.

The Deer Park Winery and Auto Museum is located at 29013 Champagne Boulevard just north of Escondido, California (the phone number is (760) 749-1666. Tickets are reasonable at $14 (if you’re in the military or senior citizen you can get in for $12).

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Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum

By Joe Berk

Time has a way of creeping up on you. In looking over my list of Motorcycle Classics “Destinations” articles, I was surprised to see I’ve been pitching and publishing stories for the magazine for 20 years. It all started when a nice young fellow named Landon Hall, MC‘s Associate Editor at the time, saw a few photos I had posted online and asked if I’d be interested in doing a piece for the magazine. Hell, yeah, I would (and I did). I wrote a lot of stories on a lot of fun destinations. I’m not bragging here, folks. I’m just getting old.

A new editorial staff recently came on board at Motorcycle Classics, and my new editor asked if I could focus more on motorcycle museums. As a freelancer, I learned a long time ago that you don’t argue with people who buy ink by the barrel, so I set about finding moto museums. This led me to discover Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum in Pacific Grove, California. I’d never heard of the Jameson before. Come to think of it, I’d never heard of Pacific Grove, either. Both turned out to be pure slices of heaven, as did the ride there and our return home.

Neil Jameson, the man who created Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum.

The story behind the Jameson is a fascinating one, and I heard it firsthand from Staci Jameson Hayes. Neil Jameson was the man who created the Museum (Staci is his daughter). Neil is no longer with us, but while he graced our world, he was one hell of a man. He grew up in Hollister, California, and I found myself wondering if his interest in motorcycles came about as a result of that town’s moto history. Jameson started as a goat farmer, became a firefighter, and along the way, he became a world class businessman, investor, and wheeler dealer (Staci told me he was a horse trader extraordinaire). Neil’s time with us ended in 2021, and during his 82 years on this planet, he was a motorcycle enthusiast, an adventure rider, and a motorcycle collector.

Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum is at 305 Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove, California, directly across the street from the police station and city hall. Neil Jameson bought the building to showcase his collection in 2010; it formerly housed the local newspaper.

The Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum collection is eclectic. Many of the bikes were owned and ridden by Neil (including the ’72 R75 BMW that he rode to the Arctic Circle and back). Some have been restored to original condition; others are in their as-ridden-by-Neil condition. The restorations were performed by Emma Booton, a woman Staci describes as The Restoration Goddess. I’ve been to a lot of museums; the restorations at the Jameson are stunning.

Peering into the Museum through the front door.

Another view of the collection through a wide-angle lens. I recently learned that the best photos of a motorcycle are shot at knee height; getting down and back up again to do that is not as easy as it used to be.

Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum has several BMWs. Neil Jameson rode the one in the center of this photo to the Arctic Circle.

As mentioned above, the Jameson collection is eclectic. For the most part, the bikes are “everyman” motorcycles, the kind you or I might have owned and ridden. Several of the machines really spoke to me, including a 1982 T140E Triumph Electro. By the early 1980s, the original Triumph motorcycle company was in a death spiral. The Electro, an electric start motorcycle, was an attempt by Triumph to counter Japan’s moto success. It was too little and too late, but it was a valiant and magnificent effort. The Jameson’s Electro is the first I have ever seen.

A Triumph Bonneville Electro, a gorgeous motorcycle.

The Electro’s colors are magnificent. Note the timing/cam cover casting, enlarged to accept an electric starter.

Japanese street bikes of the 1970s and 1980s are well represented, including several that showcase the engineering accomplishments and marketing experiments of the era.

The Jameson has stunning Kawasaki two-stroke triples, in both 500cc and 750cc flavors.

Let the good times roll: Fiercely fast with acceleration measured on the Richter scale, and handling that could only be described as scary.

Before venturing into big-bore four strokes, Suzuki tried a couple of interesting and unconventional concepts. One was their rotary-engined street bike.

Kawasaki had air-cooled big bore two-stroke street bikes; Suzuki chose water cooling for their 750cc two-stroke triple. This bike was affectionately known as the Water Buffalo.

Trust me on this: The Suzuki water-cooled two-stroke triple is a mechanical engineering work of art.

Think CHiPs: Back in the day, the California Highway Patrol and many local law enforcement agencies used the Kawasaki KZ1000P police motorcycle. West of the Mississippi River, Kawasaki owned the police motorcycle market (Harley police motors dominated the police market east of the Mississippi). Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum displays a Kawasaki KZ1000P, and the motorcycle didn’t have to travel very far to get into the collection.

The Kawasaki police bikes are beautiful. Their performance was considerably better than Harley’s, with better acceleration, better braking, higher top speed, and run-flat tires.

Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum’s police Kawasaki came from the Pacific Grove Police Department, which is directly across the street from the Museum.

There’s a Bonneville Salt Flats bike, too. It’s a 1965 Honda CB-160 streamliner. My father’s first motorcycle was a 1965 Honda CB-160. I’m pretty sure this one is faster than my Dad’s bike.

As mentioned above, Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum has a great collection of British motorcycles. BSAs, Bonnevilles, and Nortons were the hot ticket in the 1960s, and all three are well represented in the Museum.

A BSA Firebird Scrambler. BSA had this hot rod; Triumph had the Bonneville. The 1960s were a glorious time for British motorcycles.

My two favorite motorcycles of the many beautiful machines on display in the Jameson are the Triumph Electro described above, and an absolutely stunning Ariel Square Four. Ariel based the Square Four’s engine design on two 500cc twins in series, and the result was a visually-arresting motorcycle dominated by its engine. Finished in a deep maroon livery, the Museum’s Square Four is an amazing specimen.

An Ariel Square Four, a massive and impressive motorcycle.

A tighter shot of the Ariel Square Four engine. This is a beautiful machine.

Pacific Grove, California, is a nice little town bordered by the Pacific Ocean, the Del Monte Forest, and the City of Monterey. We rode out to the lighthouse and watched huge waves crashing into the breakers for a bit.

Looking down Forest Avenue, standing in front of Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum. That’s the Pacific Ocean out there.

We fell in love with Pacific Grove, the coastal community in which Jameson’s Classic Motorcycle Museum is located. Everything about the place and everyone we met made us feel like we belonged there, including Staci and her husband, Russ. The town just feels comfortable and it’s a place we’d like to visit again. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Toasties, which was surprisingly reasonably priced (especially considering the area). I’m told that Pepper’s Mexicali Café’s burritos are world class. Both restaurants are within a mile of the Museum (Pepper’s is only a block away). Our ride into Pacific Grove took us past the Naval Postgraduate School and the Defense Language Institute; the ride back home took us along California State Route 68, California State Route 17, and the Chualar River Road through the Salinas Valley. It was all magnificent.

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India Revisited 2025

By Mike Huber

I first went to India in May of 2005. I was about to graduate Boston University after 9 long years (the 9-year part will probably make for another interesting blog) and knew it was time for a well-deserved break. At this point of my life traveling abroad was new to me, and I thought India would make for an excellent adventure with all its beauty and intensity. This trip would also allow me to forego physically going to a boring graduation ceremony (even though it was my own).

I had NO idea what I was doing as it was one of my first trips abroad outside of the Army. Well, the best way to learn is by falling down and skinning your knees, and boy my knees got tore up this trip (I am sure my paratrooper mates will have some smart ass remarks on that line). It was to be a once in a lifetime adventure (well, twice in a lifetime now).

The trip didn’t start smoothly. As we landed in Trivandrum, the southernmost tip of the country, I was exhausted since I had been up for 30+ hours. It was late May and the weather was hot and humid. All I wanted to do was sleep in a hotel with air conditioning. Eventually, I got my wish and found a hotel room. As a foreigner I was required to list my friend who was staying with his family as a reference. The hotel was located in a tiny village that was very remote. My friend pulled me aside as I was checking into the hotel and said he would pick me up in the morning “Don’t do anything stupid” were his parting words that day. Tall order indeed, but I was wiped and figured that behaving wouldn’t be too difficult.

When I awoke after a solid nap I was hungry and thought I would go get some food. I left the hotel still woozy from the long journey but found a street cart with food. As I began eating, next to the food cart I noticed quite a traffic jam building up. It seemed I was causing the traffic jam with all the attention I was drawing. They had never seen a white American before. Cars were stopping to take pictures of me and numerous people approached to have conversations. After about an hour of talking and singing American music with them it was time for me to return to my room for some more rest.

The following morning my friend showed up mad as hell. “I told you not to do anything stupid.” I was perplexed as to what he was referring to. Well, turns out I drew so much attention that an Indian Government Agency (he stated it was the equivalent of the FBI) had called him asking who I was and what I was doing in this remote Indian village. It was more of a health and wellness check than anything, which I could fully appreciate.

After a week I parted ways with my friend and began traveling through northern India on my own. This was when I got my first solid hit of culture shock, and it hit me bigtime. Being alone and traveling through the bustling streets of Delhi, Agra (to see the Taj Ma Hal), and the Himalayan mountain town of Leh would prove to be a wakeup call that was clearly overdue. There were no cell phones or Google maps to navigate by during this trip. Add to that the intensity of Delhi traffic and just the overall controlled chaos that overwhelmed every sense and came from every direction possible (and some directions I didn’t even know existed). It was sensory overload to the point that one day I cancelled all my scheduled tours and stayed in my hotel with the blinds down. It was that level of intensity just outside my hotel room. The mix of culture shock and wandering through these places alone made for anxiety I had never felt before. By the time I was packing to leave I felt as though this country had overwhelmed me so much that I was questioning my confidence in traveling.

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Where does the time go?

By Joe Berk

Wow, it’s March already. It seems like just a couple of days ago it was February. Seriously, though, the years are flying by. I had a bunch of things I wanted to mention, so this blog may meander a bit. Bear with me.

Baja John on the road to San Felipe back in 2005.

I got a note from Baja John yesterday. He’s down in San Felipe, which is not that big a stretch for him as he leaves down in Baja now. San Felipe celebrated their 100th anniversary this weekend and John wrote to tell me about it. Baja John, good buddy Marty, and I rode down there for San Felipe’s 80th anniversary, and if your Ph.D is in math, you know that means our ride was 20 years ago this past weekend. Those 20 years sure went by in a blur. It feels like that ride was maybe a couple of months ago.

John and yours truly two decades ago. I rode a Harley in those days. John rode a Virago. The BMW belonged to our friend Marty.

Man, I miss those Baja trips.

Speaking of time, I somehow made the Ball Watch email list. Their watches have a unique way of making the hands glow in the dark, which is kind of cool. I usually don’t find their style appealing, but Ball introduced a watch they call the Trainmaster a couple of years ago, and that one is beautiful. But at $2995 it’s not appealing enough (at least to me). I don’t need another watch. It sure is elegant, though.

The Ball Trainmaster. I would love to own one of these. It’s a GMT, too, one of my favorite watch types.

You may recall that several months ago we explained the origins of the expression, “Balls out.” That one means running flat out, and it is nontesticular in nature (it refers instead to a mechanical governor’s centrifugal balls being fully extended). It doesn’t have anything to do with Ball watches, either. But another expression, “on the Ball,” does. The official watch for railroads back in the 1800s was a Ball pocket watch (the same company that now makes the watch you see above), and if a train was running on schedule, it was said to be “on the Ball.”

Two Old Timers for $26 at Walmart! I already accidentally cut myself with the big one.

The pocketknife thing is in full swing. I thought I had just a few laying around in various spots in the house, so I decided to gather them up and put them all in one spot. I was a little bit embarrassed when I finished. I don’t need any more pocketknives. But that may not stop me. I have one more inbound, and I’ll probably stop after that. Or not. We’ll see.

More good stuff: I’ve had an old Savage 99 lever gun (chambered in 250 Savage) stashed away and neglected for several decades. Well, I finally dug it out a couple of months ago, and the neglect was obvious. It was rusty when I got it, but I let it get worse. Most of the rust is now off and it looks good. I bought some new 250-3000 brass cases and a set of Lee dies. I’m surprised I took this long to get around to the Savage, and I’m even more surprised at just how nice a cartridge the .250 Savage is.

A .250 Savage round in a Savage 99 rifle that is one year younger than me.

I haven’t finished the dialing in the load or the rifle, and I am already getting these kinds of results at 100 yards. The .250 Savage cartridge is a winner!

Another bit of misadventuring: I had a couple of old laptops that weren’t working and I’ve held off on tossing them for fear there might still be data on the hard drives. How do you wipe a hard drive so that whatever was there can’t be recovered? After a few minutes Googling the topic, it seems that the best way is to pull the hard drive and drill a few holes through the disk. Simply deleting the files or even using programs designed to eliminate whatever’s on there really doesn’t get the job done. I have a power drill, but I had a better idea. How about putting the hard drives behind a target and having at them with a .45?

Two guys getting blown away at the West End Gun Club. There was a laptop hard drive behind the head on each target.

ARX .45 ACP bullets meet hard drive. Yep, that worked.

Hard drives rendered unusable: Mission accomplished.

One more last item: You remember I told you about good buddy Lance and how well his end shake shims worked in my Model 60 snubbie. His company, TriggerShims.com, also makes bolt shims for .22 rifles I have two sets coming in for two of my .22 rifles, and I’m going to see how well they work.

CZ 452 Varmint and Remington Custom Shop Model 504 22 rifles. I’m going to try Trigger Shims bolt shims in both.

Stay tuned, and you’ll get the full report right here.

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A Tale of Two Pocketknives

By Joe Berk

My collecting bug has taken a turn. Instead of guns, motorcycles, bicycles, or watches, the latest craze is pocketknives. I’m not sure what drives the collecting bug (that is to say, what the underlying psychology is); that’s a topic for further research and when I feel like I can explain it, maybe a future blog.

I’ve been using pocketknives and inexpensive hunting knives as a filler/fulfiller on the reloading sites. I buy a lot of reloading components online from the big reloading supply stores (Natchez Shooters Supply, Midsouth, Midway, Powder Vally, and one or two others), and they all run frequent sales where shipping is free if the order crosses a $100 or $150 threshold. There are times when I’m under that threshold (sometimes by a lot) and that bothers me. I can’t pass up a bargain and I want that free shipping. I’ll use a knife to get me over the magic number. Most lately it was a Case large Stockman pocketknife.

The Case large Stockman with polished stainless steel blades. The blade on the left is the Spey blade. The other two are for whittling, cutting twine, or whatever suits your fancy.

I’m not sure why I wanted the Case, but as I started poking around on the Midway site for things to get me over $100, the Stockman popped up. And then it kept popping up. If I look at something once, I’ll start getting all kinds of emails offering it. Sometimes, I swear I can just talk about something and I’ll start getting emails with deals on that item. Siri is a nasty and nosy bitch who seems to hear everything.

The Stockman knife looked interesting. I knew I didn’t want plastic handles (they’re called “scales” by the knife people), and the Case knife had jigged bone. I didn’t even know what jigged bone was (other than that it was bone of some sort). I thought I wanted something made in America (Hack has influenced my thinking on such things, I suppose, unless something that’s made in China is a really good deal, and I’ll get to one a little lower in this blog). The Case Stockman is American made, and they offer it in two sizes. I didn’t know what a Stockman was, either, but the name sounded kind of John Waynish and I used to live in Texas. I saw that the knife was available in either a satin or high polish finish. I opted for the large Stockman with a high polish finish. It was $82, which took my $45 reloading supplies order handily over the $100 free shipping hurdle. Yep, they got me again with that free shipping gimmick.

The Stockman knife arrived a few days later along with the $45 of cartridge case corn cob polishing media (I like my ammo shiny). The knife is beautiful.

All the above got me to wondering: What is exactly is Stockman, and what is its history?

The story goes like this: Pocketknives are thought to have originally been invented five or six hundred years before the Christian era (that’s mind boggling, but I read it on the Internet, so it must be true). The Stockman style of pocketknife is thought to have originated around 1880 in the American West as a cowboy tool. I watched a lot of Westerns as a kid, so I feel pretty good about that. The Stockman has three blades, with one (the large one) having its own spring and two sharing a spring (the spring is the leaf spring thingamabobber that assists the blade going into its closed position and then holds it there). The long Stockman blade is for whittling. I’m an old guy with a penchant for the American West, so maybe I’ll take up whittling after I finish leaning how to play “Buffalo Gal” on the harmonica. One of the other two blades is a backup to the long one, and from what I’ve read it is the preferred blade for cutting twine. (I’ll pick up some twine on the next Walmart visit to check this out). And finally, the third blade, the so called “Spey” blade (spelled here as they spell it in the knife community) is for castrating young male bull calves. You know, spaying them. Ouch. I read this on the Internet, too (see above regarding veracity). I’m not going to touch this intended use. If you’re a rancher who needs help in this area, don’t call me.

I like my Case Stockman. I haven’t done anything other than look at it so far, but maybe I’ll whittle something later. As mentioned above, the Stockman is made in America, although truth be told, other made-in-China knives I’ve seen look just as good (Hack, that’s your cue for a comment or two). That brings me to the second pocketknife I recently purchased.

My new Marbles Scout King knife. I think it’s bigger than what I had when I was a Cub Scout. The uppermost blade is a screwdriver and bottle opener. The next one down is an all-purpose awl. The blade one up from the bottom is a can opener (think P38, and if you’re old enough to remember what that is, my compliments and thanks for your service to you). The bottom blade is for carving, cutting, and any of the other things you can do with a knife. It is a handsome knife.

It’s the Marbles (no, I haven’t lost mine) Scout King, and I came across it while I was reminiscing about the first pocketknife I ever owned. That knife was a Cub Scout knife. I have no idea who made it or where it went after I left the Cub Scouts, but I know I liked it. I played with it constantly. The first time I ever cut myself badly, it was with that knife despite all the admonitions from Mom and Dad (yes, I’m the guy who has to urinate on the electric fence…you know, just to see). While writing this blog, I looked for the scar from my Cub Scout knife (I thought it might add context), but the years have obliterated it.

When looking for a replacement Cub Scout knife, I found that I could buy an original on Ebay, but they all looked pretty rough and they were all expensive. Then I found there are a few companies out there still offering Scout knives. The Marbles knife was the only one offering polished stainless steel (I like shiny things) and genuine jigged bone scales (instead of plastic), and it had the added advantages of a stunningly low price ($15 and change) and free shipping. The decision was easy: Add to cart, buy now, and it was on its way from Chicago (by way of China). It arrived a few days later, and it’s beautiful. I’m a happy camper.

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It’s Miller Time

By Joe Berk

On our recent visit to Milwaukee, we visited the Miller brewery. It’s in the center of the city, right on West State Street, nestled in the town’s hills. Those hills will become significant in a moment when I tell you about the caves.

Our tour guide was a very energized guy. I can’t remember his name, but I can tell you he made the tour come alive for us. It was fun.

One of the first things our tour guide covered was the girl. She was present in several stained glass windows and a few other places.

Our guide, that interesting guy a few photos up, explained her history to us. The story goes like this: A.C. Paul, Miller’s advertising guy, got lost in the Wisconsin woods (as in good and lost, at night, in freezing temperatures). He had a vision of the Miller High Life girl you see above, perched on a crescent moon, pointing the way back to civilization. That vision (in various forms) has been in Miller’s advertising and branding pretty much ever since. Is it true? Hey, it’s a good story and it’s got something to do with beer, so who cares?

The Miller company goes back a long way, and in the old days, they used to store newly-made beer in the caves adjacent to the plant in the hills on West State Street. The advent of refrigeration made that unnecessary, but Miller still owns the caves. They’re part of the tour, and if you have an event (a wedding, a party, a Bar Mitzvah, whatever) they make a hell of a venue.

The photos you see here didn’t use any flash. I bumped the ISO up to 800. That, along with my 24-120’s vibration reduction capabilities and a bit of post processing in PhotoShop created the images you see here.

Miller has also has a cool party place (you can also rent this as a venue) in the main building. You can see that in the photo below.

Those glasses you see above were samples provided to us during the tour. The ones you see above were Miller’s Killian Red label. Folks, there were a lot of beer samples on this tour, starting with the very beginning of the tour in the Miller Visitor Center (it’s where I snapped that photo of the custom chopper at the top of this blog). The samples weren’t small, either. If you weren’t watching what you consumed, I imagine you could get a pretty good buzz on this tour. Me, I was watching what I drank, and I didn’t finish any of the samples. They sure were good, though. Miller beer is awesome.

After the stop above, we entered the actual beer factory. Our guide explained that folks are usually amazed when they see this part of the operation. There were hardly any people working in the plant.

I wasn’t surprised at the lack of people; in fact, I would have been surprised if there were people there. Beer production is a process-based industry, and most process-based industries are automated. The days of the LaVerne and Shirley show are long gone in the beer business (that show featured two women who worked in a Milwaukee beer factory).

Back in the LaVerne and Shirley days, they could have been employed by any of several beer companies in Milwaukee. Automation and consolidation changed all that. Today, pretty much all the Milwaukee beer companies are part of the Miller empire. Miller has something like 11 breweries across the country. There’s one not too far from me here in southern California. The regions they cover are divided geographically. Our tour guide told us that the plant we were in covers the Midwest. It produces 10 million barrels of beer annually, and 40% of the beer manufactured in the Milwaukee plant goes to just one city (and that’s Chicago). Those Chicago boys like their beer, I guess.

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Ponce de León, the Bisley, and 100-Yard Revolver Results

By Joe Berk

Fifty years ago I used to be a pretty good metallic silhouette shooter. I would like to return to that game. It would be nice to be 25 years old again, too, but that’s not in the cards. Metallic silhouette shooting, though…I think I can turn the clock back on that one.

Participating in a Fort Bliss metallic silhouette competition in 1976. One of the revolvers I shot in those days was a .44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk (shown above); the other was a .357 Magnum Model 27 Smith and Wesson.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s where this story is going. Ponce de León went looking for his fountain of youth. Me? I just want to knock over a few metal chickens, pigs, turkeys, and rams. Like I did 50 years ago.

My friends at the range are surprised when I shoot at 100 yards with a revolver. That’s because they’ve never shot a handgun metallic silhouette course. In that game, there are four courses of fire:

- - Chickens at 50 yards (10 shots)
  - Pigs at 100 yards (10 shots)
  - Turkeys at 150 yards (10 shots)
  - Rams at 200 yards (10 shots)

The targets are sized so that each subtends about the same angle. That means the pigs (actually, they are supposed to be javelinas) are bigger than the chickens, the turkeys are bigger than the pigs, and the rams are bigger than the turkeys.

The hardest target to hit is the turkey (it is narrower than the other targets); the hardest target to knock over is the ram (it is big and heavy). Simply hitting doesn’t count; you have to knock the targets over. The 200-yard ram weighs about 55 pounds. Back in the day, I used to be able to knock them over with a .357 Magnum. My load was a 200-grain cast bullet and 13.0 grains of Winchester 296. It was more reliable than a 240-grain 44 Magnum load because the .357 bullet is more aerodynamic and it retained more energy downrange.

I’ve been evaluating loads for the .357 Ruger Bisley for metallic silhouette competition, and load development is progressing. I’ve mostly been playing with Hornady’s 158-grain jacketed hollowpoint XTP bullet, but I’ve also tried their 180-grain XTP. In my Bisley the 180-grain Hornady is a very accurate load.

Hornady’s 158-grain XTP bullet (left) and 180-grain XTP bullet (right).

The two bullets are identical above the cannelure. The difference is bullet length behind the cannelure.

Two .357 Magnum cartridges loaded with the 158-grain XTP bullet (top) and 180-grain bullet (bottom). After loading, the cartridges appear to be identical.

I’ve been keeping track of the loads, the velocities, and the accuracy on 100-yard targets. The Bisley shoots best with the 180-grain Hornady XTP bullets and 13.6 grains of 296 powder. I used small rifle primers. I’ll try the same load with small pistol magnum primers to see if I get a velocity gain and if the groups get better. In prior tests with the 158-grain Hornady bullets, there didn’t seem to be a velocity increase in going from small rifle to small pistol magnum primers. We’ll see if the same holds true for the 180-grain bullets.

Here’s a 100-yard target with the actual size of the 100-yard pig overlayed on it. That silhouette is one I grabbed off the Internet. It is smaller than what I remember (and certainly smaller than any javelina I’ve ever seen, other than babies). But it’s useful for assessing my progress in getting a useable Bisley load. I used the 180-grain bullets for the group you see below.

A target shot at 100 yards, with a pig imposed on it. I think the actual target is a little larger. This isn’t a bad 100-yard revolver group, but I want to tighten it up.

Real javelinas are not quite that small, and they’re mean as hell. You don’t want to tangle with a javelina.

The real deal: Mamá Javelina con su bebé. Folks tell me I was in a bad spot when I took this photo. It was dark and I couldn’t see the javelina except when the flash fired. I didn’t know where to focus, so I just kept twisting the lens and firing successive shots. Only one was in focus. I didn’t know this lady was with her baby until I saw the photo later.

Winchester’s 296 powder is my preferred propellant as it usually gives great velocity and accuracy. Winchester 296 is prone to gas cutting, though. That’s what occurs on the underside of the revolver’s top strap (the part of the frame that goes over the cylinder). Hot gases and powder escape between the barrel and cylinder gap and cut into the frame. From what I’ve read, it tends to cut as you see in the photo below, and then it doesn’t get any worse. I think that’s because as the cutting gets deeper, the distance to the bottom of the cut increases.

Flame cutting on the Bisley top strap induced by hot 296 loads.

I’ve seen gas cutting in handguns after putting lots of 296-powered rounds through them (and that’s what I intend to continue to do with the Bisley). We’ll find out if it is self-limiting.

The plan is to continue to practice (a lot) and continue the load development effort. So far, 13.6 grains of 296 and the 180-grain Hornady bullet get the nod. Then I have to zero the revolver at 50, 100, 150, and 200 yards. Fortunately, my club (the West End Gun Club) has a range that goes out that far. Then I’m going to find someplace that has handgun metallic silhouette shooting and knock down a few targets. It’s going to be fun.

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Too Pretty To Fight?

By Joe Berk

The Harley WLA at the National Infantry Museum was a lot prettier than any other WLA I had ever seen, but I wasn’t impressed. It was way over-restored, finished in gloss OD green (something I had never seen on a WLA before). I couldn’t find anything in my research to show that any World War II Harleys might have had such a paint treatment. I found a reference that indicated Army administrative vehicles were sometimes painted gloss OD, but nothing about motorcycles.

Fancy leather. I doubt anyone ever sat in this saddle.

I once saw General William Westmoreland’s Cadillac Sedan de Ville in Washington, DC, and it was gloss OD. But WLAs had been out of service long before that, and in any event, when I spoke with General Westmoreland he didn’t mention anything about riding motorcycles. If anyone out there knows anything about WLAs with glossy paint, please leave a comment.

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An XR1000 Barn Find!

By Joe Berk

Boy oh boy oh boy! Talk about an interesting barn find! We all have regrets filed under “I shoulda bought that when I had the chance,” and in my case, one of those items is the Harley XR1000. I did a Dream Bikes feature on it a ways back, and as soon as I did, Joe Gresh let me know that he had been planning to do the same (I beat him to it).

I always thought the Sportsters had a cool look, and to me, the XR1000 was cool raised to an exponent. It did what it was supposed to in my mind: It evoked images of Bart Markel drifting around a half mile dirt track (which I actually saw many times at East Windsor Speedway when I was a teenager), and it made me want to be that guy.

On a whim, I typed “XR1000 for sale” on Google, and this popped up. Wow, talk about a barn find!

The ad text says it all:

2,486 ORIGINAL MILE INCREDIBLY ORIGINAL BARN FIND!!! Untouched “barn find” condition very original XR1000 in absolutely amazing condition! Although I am using the term “barn find,” this bike was properly stored in an attached climate controlled garage after being completely serviced and prepared for long term storage, including cylinder fogging, fuel draining, oil change, battery removal, and a full check over and service including: head and valve spring check by the Harley-Davidson dealer race program lead technician (back in the day), fork seals, brake fluid, chain lube, etc. We have tested all non-running systems including front and rear brakes, turned over the engine, lights, starter operation, horn, tires holding air, suspension compliance, etc. and confirmed all to be in proper working order. If the new owner would like us to fill the fuel tank and get the bike running, we would be happy to do that as well, or we will leave it as it is in “barn find” condition. It is up to the buyer’s preference. The condition of all the paint, chrome, and metal is excellent with only dirt and dust covering, no corrosion. The only slight surface corrosion I see is limited to the exhaust heat shields only and could easily be remedied. The rest of any “rust colored” things you may see is simply dirt that I have confirmed in a couple small spots will clean off. Of course, I can’t say the bike will look like brand new with a simple wash after sitting for 20 years, but I am saying the chrome and trim IS NOT corroded. The bike does come complete with 2 keys (one ORIGINAL Harley key), books and manuals, and some records from the Harley Dealership when it was gone through and fully serviced and readied for storage in 2005. The bike also comes with the original longer black mufflers, while the optional accessory shorter less baffled mufflers are currently installed on the bike. We purchased the bike directly from the previous older collector owner as part of a seven Harley-Davidson collection and rolled it out of his garage into our enclosed trailer and brought it here for inspection. I have described everything to the best of my ability and provided lots of detailed photos and information for your consideration. Please feel free to contact Jason for any intelligent unanswered questions if you are interested in purchasing the bike. Without a doubt an incredibly rare opportunity to own a piece of Harley-Davidson history, and the only one like it for sale nationwide.

Wow! Somebody buy this before my “Want” overcomes my “Need.” Will it get away? Man, $27K sure is a lot of money. But how much is $27K these days of $4/gallon gasoline and runaway inflation, anyway?

Like I said: Wow! Will there ever be another opportunity like this?

Check out these photos of this incredible find:

A special thanks to Jason for allowing us to use these photos and the description above. You can reach Jason at The Auto Livery (telephone 513-738-1115).

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