The ExhaustNotes Blog

Dan’s Drifter

Good buddy Dan, a loyal ExNotes reader, enjoyed our recent blog on the Kawasaki Drifter. Dan wrote to tell us about his Drifter. Check this out, folks. It’s a beautiful motorcycle.

Joe:

My motorcycle is a 1999 Kawasaki Drifter 1500cc. Recently got it, love the combination of Japanese bike reliability that will go forever and the Indian style that is a real head turner. Changed up the seat, added some Indian badging including the tank decals and even an Indian VIN plate cover. Other adds on include the jockey shift that is actually linked to the heel toe shift, the book rack and the triple head lights. I couldn’t afford a 40s Indian and even if I could some of those you have to be a mechanic to operate, this is a great compromise that doesn’t feel like a compromise.

I think people who appreciate the bike for what it is might like the look of the seat and such. It’s funny as a tribute I was even on the fence about the Indian badging but at the end of the day I subscribe to “ride whatever, be safe, have fun.” I even had a rider of a current Indian tell me his was no more Indian than mine…they stopped making them in ’53 and as far as he was concerned anything after that was nothing more than a tribute.

Thanks and be well…I enjoy the blog.

Dan

Thank you, Dan. Your Drifter is a good-looking motorcycle and it’s one I’d be proud to ride. Great photos, too!

Five Favorite Handguns

I’ve owned quite a few handguns and I’ve shot quite a few more. These are my five all-time favorites.

Colt 1911 Government Model

What can I say? I waxed eloquent about the 1911 in several ExNotes blogs. I’ve owned several 1911s, and I still own my first, the MacManus Award Colt 1911. My mid-1980s bright stainless steel 1911 is a real honey. It’s hard to go wrong with any 1911.

1911 Government Models can be phenomenally accurate handguns, I love the .45 ACP cartridge, and the 1911 is part of America. I carried a 1911 in the Army and I carry one today (see below).

Rock Island Compact 1911

The Rock Island Compact checks all the boxes for me. It’s under $500 (I picked up mine new for an incredibly low $425). While not quite as accurate as a full-size Government Model, it’s accurate enough and it’s easy to carry. Like the bright stainless Colt 1911 above, my Compact has been lightly customized by TJ’s Custom Gunworks, with a polished barrel and chamber, engine-turned chamber exterior, Millet sights, and other mods to improve reliability (new extractor, recut ejector, etc.). It feeds anything. I like the Parkerized finish; it’s all business and it reminds me of the 1911s I carried in the Army. I call it my American Express gun (I never leave home without it).

My favored Compact 1911 loads are a 230-grain cast roundnose with 5.6 grains of Unique, and a 185-grain semi-wadcutter with 5.0 grains of Bullseye. The 185-grain SWC load is crazy accurate for a snubbie .45.

Colt .22 Trooper

This is an unusual one. I bought it in the 1980s. The Trooper is the same .357 Magnum that Colt manufactured for police duty, except it’s chambered in .22 Long Rifle. The barrel and the cylinder have the same external dimensions as the .357 Mag, which makes it heavy and that translates into stellar accuracy. It is the most accurate .22 handgun I own. Mine has custom rosewood grips. I love shooting the Trooper, and it does well with every brand of ammo I’ve put through it.

I paid $200 for the Trooper back in the ’80s. If you check what they go for today on Gunbroker.com, I think you’ll agree it was a good investment. But like all the other guns in this blog, it is not for sale.

Ruger .357 Magnum Blackhawk

Ruger Blackhawks are exceptionally accurate revolvers, they are easy to shoot, and they are just plain cool. I’ve shot loads in mine that run the gamut: 148-grain wadcutter target loads, 110-grain max hollow point loads, 158-grain max loads, and metallic silhouette 200-grain cast roundnose loads. The Blackhawks don’t care; they handle all of them with target-grade accuracy.

I used to say Blackhawks last forever, but I have to tell you I can’t say that anymore. My stainless steel Blackhawk finally wore out. When I sent it in to Ruger for repair, they were surprised, too, and they backed up their surprise with an even-more-surprising offer to buy the gun back (an offer I accepted). I’ve got my antenna up for another .357 Blackhawk, and when things calm down a bit in the gun world, another one will find a home with me.

SIG P226 Scorpion

The SIG P226 is an amazing handgun. At $1200 (and that’s a pre-pandemic price), they are not cheap, but I feel like I spent my money wisely on this piece. I love the SIG’s finish and grips, and I love its accuracy (it is the most accurate 9mm handgun I’ve ever owned).

I first learned just how good the SIG is when I fired good buddy Python Pete’s, and it wasn’t too long after that I bought the one you see here. It did better than any of the other 9mm handguns in the load development comparos (for both cast and jacketed loads). Trust me on this…if you want a fine handgun, you won’t go wrong with a SIG P226.

Lots more gun stuff on our Tales of the Gun page!

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Phavorite Photos: Sensorio!

An interesting dilemma…is this a Phavorite Photos blog, or just a regular blog? Hey, I’m going with both. Susie and I were on a content safari (a term I stole from Gresh) and one of the safari stops was the Sensorio light show in Paso Robles. Paso Robles is a cool little town along Highway 101 in central California. I initially wasn’t that keen on the concept, until I saw it. The artist, Bruce Unro, covered acres of rolling hills with lights. It sounded to me like the thing that guy did with umbrellas a few years ago, and I thought that was a goofy concept. But hey, what do I know? My wife has a better sense for these things than I do, I went with her better judgment, and I’m glad I did.

We arrived just as it was starting to get dark, and we could see the bulbs and their stems.

As it got dark, the lights started to stand out a bit more.

There are columns made of wine bottles about halfway through the exhibit. They were cool, too. Paso Robles is a wine-growing region.

The full effect came into focus when it was completely dark, and it was something to see.

The folks who organized this show thought it through. There’s a lot of walking involved, and you sign up for a specific time to get in. They do that to limit the number of people at any one time, and that worked well. There were other people there, but we never felt crowded.

The website for the light show posted prohibitions about commercial use of any photos, so I left the Nikon home and used my cell phone to snap the photos you see here. The iPhone 12 has great capabilities, way more than I expected for available light photography. I’d like to tell you I knew what I was doing, but I just held the phone as steady as I could and let the camera do its thing. It was a three second exposure, so I suspect it has some kind of algorithm that acts like a gyroscope. The photos are great and I wanted to share them on the ExNotes blog, so I emailed the organizers and they gave me permission to do so (thanks, guys). In their response, they also sent their press release, which contains good info on the show so I included it here.

I enjoyed Sensorio and I think you will, too. If you get a chance, this is worth the trip to Paso Robles.

SENSORIO ADDS DATES FOR
BRUCE MUNRO: LIGHT AT SENSORIO
NOW EXTENDED THROUGH JANUARY 2, 2022

PASO ROBLES, CA (16 July 2021) — Due to overwhelming public demand, Sensorio announces the extension of the stunning outdoor art exhibit Bruce Munro: Light at Sensorio through January 2, 2022. The immersive installation includes Munro’s 15-acre Field of Light, an array of over 58,800 stemmed spheres lit by fiber-optics which gently illuminate the landscape in subtle blooms of morphing color, and the adjacent Light Towers, featuring 69 towers composed of more than 17,000 wine bottles illuminated with glowing optic fibers modulating to a custom musical score. Since reopening in April 2021 following a mandated closure due to the pandemic, the exhibit has been sold out weeks in advance. Says Sensorio Executive Director Paul Haught, “We are thrilled to announce this extension, so that all interested visitors can have the opportunity to experience this one-of-a-kind immersive exhibit.” Sensorio enhances the experience with live entertainment by local musicians, and offers food and beverages including wine/beer, snacks and meals. A VIP experience option is also available, which includes exclusive access to a terrace overlooking Field of Light, with an Airstream bar, private tables and fire pits, and other amenities. Bruce Munro: Light at Sensorio tickets are available for timed entry on Thursday-Sunday evenings, now through January 2, 2022, at Sensorio, 4380 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles, California. For more information, the public may visit SensorioPaso.com.

When Sensorio opened with Bruce Munro’s Field of Light in May 2019, it was an immediate hit, with thousands of visitors from around the globe flocking to experience this remarkable event. Sensorio’s installation is larger in size than any other Munro exhibition internationally and is Munro’s first US exhibit entirely powered by solar. It was singled out by The New York Times as #6 in its “52 Places to Go in 2020.” It has also attracted national and international media attention, applauded for creating a “movement that infuses culture in valleys of viticulture,” (The New York Times), and described as “the future of public wellness” (Forbes), and a “pilgrimage-worthy art escape” that is “meant to complement, never compete or detract, from the beauty of the landscape” (Travel + Leisure).

For Light Towers, Sensorio enlisted Munro to create a vibrant new illuminated work that pays tribute to the 200+ wineries and vineyards that blanket Paso Robles’ beautiful rolling hills. Light Towers is inspired by Munro’s earlier work Water-Towers, originally created for and exhibited at the spectacular arcaded cloisters at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, England. For Light Towers at Sensorio, Munro has utilized wine bottles for the first time, as an homage to Paso Robles’ abundant vineyards. The 69 towers are made from 17,388 wine bottles—252 bottles per tower—rising some seven feet high and illuminated in gently changing colors to visually represent the original composition “Rise and Shine,” composed by Orlando Gough and performed by an international vocal ensemble.

Sensorio was created by Central Valley locals Ken and Bobbi Hunter as a destination for entertainment, exploration, meditation, adventure, and delight, honoring the natural topography of the landscape. It opened with Bruce Munro: Field of Light, which became an international sensation. Sensorio launched its second phase with the addition of Light Towers, an extension of the current exhibition that is included in the admission fee. Both exhibitions will continue through January 2, 2022 at Sensorio. Other exhibitions and buildings are planned for future openings at the site.

London-born Bruce Munro is known for large-scale light-based artworks inspired by his continuous study of natural light and his curiosity for shared human experiences. With a fine arts degree, early career training in the lighting design industry, and an inventive urge for reuse, Munro creates art that captures his responses to literature, music, science, and the world around him. His work has been commissioned by and displayed in special exhibitions in galleries, parks, grand estates, cathedrals, botanical gardens, and museums around the globe, including Longwood Gardens, PA; the Guggenheim Museum, NY; the Sharjah Museum of Art, UAE; Montalvo Arts Center, CA; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ; Desert Botanical Garden, AZ; Jeju Light Art Festa, South Korea; the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, CO; Sotheby’s Beyond Limits at Chatsworth; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschild Collection, Buckinghamshire; and Salisbury Cathedral, among others. Artworks by Munro are held in the permanent collections of museums and public art collections worldwide including the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology, Oxford; Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Art Museum, TN; and Texas Tech University Public Art. More information is available at www.brucemunro.co.uk.

WHAT: Due to overwhelming public demand, Sensorio announces the extension of the stunning outdoor art exhibit Bruce Munro: Light at Sensorio through January 2, 2022. The immersive installation includes Munro’s 15-acre Field of Light, an array of over 58,800 stemmed spheres lit by fiber-optics which gently illuminate the landscape in subtle blooms of morphing color, and the adjacent Light Towers, featuring 69 towers composed of more than 17,000 wine bottles illuminated with glowing optic fibers modulating to a custom musical score. Sensorio enhances the experience with live entertainment by local musicians, and offers food and beverages including wine/beer, snacks and meals. A VIP experience option is also available, which includes exclusive access to a terrace overlooking Field of Light, with an Airstream bar, private tables and fire pits, and other amenities.
WHEN: Now through January 2, 2022
DAYS/TIMES: July-August: Thursdays/Sundays 7pm-10pm, Fridays/Saturdays 7pm-11pm
September: Thursdays through Sundays 6pm-10pm
October – November 6: Thursdays through Sundays 5:30pm-10pm
November 7 – January 2: Thursdays/Sundays 4:30pm-9pm, Fridays/Saturdays 4:30pm-10pm (Additional holiday dates to be announced.)
WHERE: Sensorio, 4380 Highway 46 East, Paso Robles
TICKETS: LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS AVAILABLE NIGHTLY. To guarantee admission, tickets must be purchased in advance at sensoriopaso.com for a specific date/entry time. A limited number of walk-up tickets may be made available at the door, sold only as on-site guests depart to ensure safe distancing at all times.
ADULT ADMISSION: $31.50 to $41 + ticket fees
CHILD ADMISSION (12 and under): $9.50 to $20 + ticket fees. Children under 2 are admitted free.
VIP TERRACE: $81-110 + ticket fees. VIP patrons enjoy priority entry at opening and can arrive anytime during open hours. VIP tickets include exclusive access to the Private VIP Terrace with reserved seating, private restrooms, Airstream bar, fireside tables, and the best views of the exhibition. Includes 1 drink ticket. “VIP Experience + VIP Platter” tickets also include a charcuterie or crudités platter.

Cancellations may be caused by inclement weather or future mandated closures for COVID safety. In that event, ticket holders can reschedule to a future date.

COVID precautions: unvaccinated guests are kindly asked to wear a mask/face covering.

INFO: For information visit sensoriopaso.com.

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Earlier Phavorite Photos? You bet! Click on each to get their story.

Cast Bullets Follow Up: The .300 Weatherby Magnum

This is a followup on the cast bullet story, focused specifically on the .300 Weatherby cartridge in a Mk V rifle.

I tried a few loads previously and I tried to get a little better results for this blog, but it seems I already had the keys to the kingdom. Here’s the bottom line first:

- I didn’t see much difference between the two bullets I tried (a 180-grain gas-checked bullet and 20.0 grains of Trail Boss, and a 210-grain Montana Bullet Works gas checked bullet with the same powder charge).
- 20.0 grains of Trail Boss works well. I tried higher charges, but they weren’t as accurate.
- Cast bullets in the .300 Weatherby won’t give you a tackdriver at 100 yards, but it will keep the holes in the black. I was averaging 2 1/2-inch groups at 100 yards with the loads mentioned above.

I experimented with two bullets, the 180-grain design mentioned above that I get from a local caster, and Montana Bullet Works 210-grain cast bullet. The Montana bullet is longer and has a more pointed tip; the 180-grain has a blunt nose. I think I showed you these photos before, but I’ll include them here again for easy reference.

180-grain cast bullets. These have a gas check and were sized to 0.309 inch.

These are the Montana Bullet Company cast 200-grain rifle bullets. These were also sized to .309 inch.

Neither bullet leaded the barrel with any of the loads I tried. The Montana bullets don’t appear to have a much of a step to crimp on like the locally-sourced 180-grain bullets. I crimped the Montana bullets just above the top grease groove. The blue lube you see north of the case mouth is just lube that had smeared above the top groove. I tried some with the loads as you see them above (with blue lube smeared above the crimp), and some where I wiped the lube clean after crimping; that had no effect on group size.

.300 Weatherby cartridges loaded with Montana 210-grain cast bullets.

The Montana bullet needed to go deep into the case neck to cover all the grease grooves. This wouldn’t be an issue for my target shooting because they are transported in a box, protected, before I shoot them. The guys that know about this stuff say if you’re going to hunt with them, you shouldn’t leave any grease grooves exposed because they can pick up grit. So I made mine like I was going to hunt with them. Someday maybe I will. There might be a pig out there with my name on it.

The cast Montana bullet base is well below the case neck when loaded.

Note that that the base of the Montana bullet is well below the neck inside the case. I thought that might cause the gas check to come off when these rounds are fired. That didn’t seem to be happening with mine and my friends who know about such things tell me that there’s more important stuff to worry about.

The data below are all for 100-yard results with 20.0 grains of Trail Boss, The Montana bullets have a slight edge, but not by much, and I’ve only tried the one load (20.0 grains of Trail Boss) with them. I had previously found 20.0 grains to be best with the 180 grain bullets.

I’ll probably vary the Trail Boss loads a bit with the Montana bullets at some point in the future.

I tried SR 4759, which has always done extremely well for me shooting cast bullets in other rifles. I tried two loads (22.0 grains, and 27.0 grains). Neither did nearly as well as the Trail Boss loads. I didn’t record the group sizes, but take my word on this: They were huge. The Lyman manual shows going up into the mid-30s (i.e., 35 grains) with SR 4759 and cast bullets in this cartridge; maybe that would be better. But I’m good enough with Trail Boss, and that’s where I’m going to hang my hat.

I have other powders I could try with cast bullets in the .300 Weatherby, but I think I have my load, and that’s 20.0 grains of Trail Boss with either 180-grain or 210-grain cast bullets. There’s not much difference between the two, and accuracy is okay at 100 yards (not great, but good enough to practice with). One more note, and that’s that I used CCI 200 primers in all loads, and I crimped all loads.

It sure is a lot easier shooting cast bullets in this rifle than it is shooting 300 Weatherby factory-level loads. It completely changes the character of the rifle and the shooting experience. Shooting 20 rounds of factory ammo off the bench in a .300 Weatherby is punishing, and unless you’re a self-styled Facebook expert, it’s time to call it a day. With cast bullet loads, though, I can go through 50 rounds and wish I had more. And the cast bullet savings are awesome. I did a little spreadsheet work to determine what a .300 Weatherby cartridge costs loaded with a cast bullet, and by my calcs, I figure I’m sending about $0.29 downrange every time I pull the trigger. A box of 20 rounds of 300 Weatherby (assuming you can find any) goes for around $80 to $100. At the high end, that’s $5.00 per round. Granted, you could knock down a T-Rex with factory ammo, but we don’t get too many of those at the West End Gun Club. I loaded 90 rounds this morning, so I guess I’m wealthy by Weatherby ammo standards.

More Tales of the Gun and Weatherby stories are here!

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Subie’s New WRX: 16 Years Later

I’m a Subaru fan. We’ve owned four and they’ve all been great. Well, maybe except for the entertainment center in my current ride, a 2018 Outback, but that’s a story for another blog. To get back to this one, Subaru announced their latest WRX and I think it’s awesome. I don’t need another car, but I’d sure like to own this one. 271 horsepower from a turbocharged 2.4-liter flat four, 4 wheel drive, and an 8-speed automatic. Yeehaw!

The first time I drove a WRX was when good buddy Tom let me drive his STI. That thing was a rocketship and I knew I needed one.

My first Subaru was a 2006 WRX and I loved it. The thing was a go kart with air conditioning and it was fast. I owned a Z06 Corvette at the same time and the Subie was way more fun to drive. Sue and I went all over in it, including a trip up to Oregon where we grabbed quite a few cool photos. Here’s one among the giant redwoods.

Here’s a marigold farm north of Santa Barbara. I was on a business trip and when I saw those marigolds I stopped for a photo.

Here’s one on the Oregon Coast Highway. The car made me look good, I think. The Subie was an exceptionally photogenic automobile. It was my first ride of any kind along the Oregon Coast Highway, and in my opinion that road is even more scenic than California’s Pacific Coast Highway. We included this stretch when we took the Chinese and the Colombians on CSC’s RX3 Western America Adventure Ride a few years later.

And one more, this time on the 395 just below Bridgeport. The 395 is a scenic drive, too.

I haven’t cared for the WRX body styles that followed mine until this latest 2022 version. Subaru got it right once again, I think. I don’t need a new car, but man, I’m tempted. I could apply Bidenomics to it, pay for the thing, and explain to Susie that the cost was zero.

In their advertising Subaru shows only two colors for the new WRX. There’s the orange shown at the top of this blog and a more sinister-looking gray. They both look good, but I’d go for the orange. I had an orange Subie CrossTrek, and what I liked best about that color is I could instantly spot it in any parking lot.

More product reviews are here. Guns, motorcycles, bikes, watches, movies, books, clothes, gear, 50-year-old air compressors, and more!

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Endurofest 2021: Part 2

The second day after my crash at Endurofest 2021 I woke up in Beaver, Utah and my entire body felt like each bendy-joint had been shot through with formaldehyde. The two ibuprofen I had taken last night were joined by another two this morning. There’s safety in numbness, my brothers. Fawlty Towers had a nice little breakfast included with the room. I had a premade, Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit sandwich and a plastic-wrapped blueberry muffin. By the time I made it out to the bikes I was feeling fairly good but I vowed to take it easy and try to avoid crashing again.

Luckily our day’s route was an easy one. We rode 50 paved miles to an abandoned mining town named Frisco. Frisco is 20 miles south of Milford, Utah and was by all accounts a rough place to call home. The local graveyard told a sad story of infant death with the average age of the little ones only a few months. One of the oldest inhabitants died at 39. There’s not much water or shelter near Frisco but a large silver mining operation kept the townspeople busy for their short lives. Zinc, copper, lead and gold were also dug out of the rocky ground.

We poked around the ruins of the Frisco mine, there’s metal everywhere. It’s a great place to get a flat tire. Then we headed back north to Milford for some Chinese food. One of the DT250s started acting up on the return ride to Milford so we lost two DT250s as one healthy 250 followed the ailing 250 back to Beaver. They almost made it home before the sick 250 seized. I mean like a few blocks from home.

It was getting on in the afternoon so the rest of us decided to forgo Milford’s Chinese food and get a mystery burrito at the local stop-n-shop. The egg-roll sized burritos were in a glass warmer case and the tin foil wrapping covering each burrito was tagged with prices ranging from $1.99 to $2.79. There was no way to determine what you were getting until you unwrapped the thing and bit into it. I got a $1.99 and it turned out to be bean and cheese.

Leaving Milford we took the dirt road over Soldier Pass back to Beaver. It was a nice, 30-mile graded road with a few sandy spots. I welcomed the break and did not fall over the entire way. In the afternoon we took a graded dirt road high into the mountains east of Beaver. At 11,000 feet, Godzilla (my RT1B) was struggling along in first gear.

The third day of Endurofest I was feeling much better. Riding these old dirt bikes requires flexibility and the first two days I was tight, steering the bike instead of riding it. As I loosened up the bike could move around as needed and my control increased. The beating on my body lessened and I was rolling with the terrain. I started to feel it, you know? We did a loop into the western foothills along a fairly easy route with only a few rocky sections thrown in.

I left Beaver Sunday after the morning ride, leaving the remaining riders another afternoon of trail riding. The Flagstaff Endurofest was the last time I had ridden Godzilla and the rust was evident, hence my crash. It took a full three days before I felt confident on the bike. It looks like I’ll have to add a few days of dirt riding/de-rusting to my preparation list before next year’s Endurofest.

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A Kinder, Gentler Range Session

I always liked that “kinder, gentler” line from George Bush. We don’t do politics here at ExNotes (we’d lose half our readers no matter which way we leaned), but every once in a while I’ll borrow a phrase if it fits. So, you’re looking at the big photo above showing a 300 Weatherby Magnum, a 7mm Remington Magnum Ruger No. 1, and a custom Howa 30 06, and you’re probably wondering: What is kinder and gentler about shooting those T-Rex cannons?

Cast bullets, that’s what. I started shooting cast bullets back in the 1970s in El Paso and I’ve been hooked on them ever since. I don’t cast my own these days (it’s easier to buy them), but I still enjoy the benefits. Lower cost, exclusivity (far fewer folks shoot cast bullet rifle loads), long brass life, easier cleaning, and the big one: Lower recoil.

That last one, reduced recoil, figures prominently in my mind. I’ve been beating myself up lately shooting full bore .300 Weatherby cartridges and it’s been tough. I have a box of 180-grain cast .308 bullets and I have a bottle of Trail Boss propellant and that got me to thinking: Would cast bullets work in the .300 Weatherby?

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I checked the Lyman manuals and there are cast loads listed for .300 Weatherby. I checked the Trail Boss site and it lists .300 Weatherby cast loads, too. Hmmm. I wondered how good it could be. After all, you could fit the Hollywood Bowl inside a .300 Weatherby cartridge case. There’s a lot of space in there, and not occupying it usually hurts accuracy. With jacketed bullets, the .300 Weatherby usually delivers its best accuracy at max or near-max loads. Would all that volume and the much lighter charges associated with cast bullets make an accurate load?

Trail Boss propellant. It’s shaped like flattened Cheerios and it’s a light, fluffy powder. It’s good stuff.

There’s one powder designed for cast bullet shooting that hits the cartridge case volume issue head on, and that’s Trail Boss. The Trail Boss people tell you to fill the case to the base of the bullet and that’s your max load, and if you take 70% of that, you’ll have your minimum load. My Weatherby brass took 31.3 grains of Trail Boss, but that was in a fired, unresized case, so I figured 30.0 grains would make for a good max load. 70% of that is 21.0 grains. Then I checked the Hodgdon site (they’re the folks who make Trail Boss) and it showed a range of 19.0 to 27.5 grains. That’s close enough for government work…my lower end load would be 21.5 grains, and then I’d try a warmer load with 24.5 grains. You know, to get a feel for what the Weatherby Mark V preferred. So I loaded a few rounds early one morning and I was ready to test the Mark V with cast bullets.

The .308 180-grain cast bullets I used in both the .30 06 and the .300 Weatherby. They were sized to .309.

.300 Weatherby ammo loaded with the above 180-grain cast bullets.

I already had a bunch of 7mm Remington Magnum reloads with Gardner’s 145-grain cast bullets. I had three boxes: One with 18.0 grains of Trail Boss, one with 20.0 grains, and a third with 21.4 grains. My prior reloading adventures with the 7mm Remington Magnum in my Ruger No. 1 indicated that it liked Trail Boss, but I didn’t know what the right dose would be.

7mm Remington Mag ammo with cast bullets seated to different depths, with and without crimping.

I also had a box of .30 06 ammo loaded with cast bullets. I loaded these with SR 4759 powder, a stellar cast bullet propellant. I grabbed that box and my custom Howa.

I stocked this rifle with a Bishop cherry stock about 35 years ago. It’s one of my favorite rifles. There’s a blog on it here.

I wanted to try my hand at a Mannlicher style, full length stock. I carved it to match the Alex Henry fore end tip on a Ruger No. 1. It’s a unique rifle that always gets noticed on the range.

Howa sold barreled actions to Smith and Wesson when Smith wanted to play in the rifle business maybe 40 years ago. They no longer are.

.30 06 ammo loaded with 180-grain cast bullets and SR 4759 propellant.

A comparison: .30 06, 7mm Remington Magnum, and .300 Weatherby ammunition, all loaded with cast bullets. It’s cool-looking ammo.

So how did the cast bullet rifle session go? Surprisingly well. I shot the Weatherby first, as it was the rifle that had prompted the cast bullet theme. The recoil level was low, almost like shooting a .38 Special. That was a welcome relief from the factory-level loads I had been shooting. The .300 Weatherby Mark V printed its best 50-yard group at 1.102 inches (a three-shot group), and that was with 21.5 grains of Trail Boss.

Shooting cast bullets in the .300 Weatherby was a pleasant experience. I could do this all day.

Because I was shooting at 50 yards, I needed to readjust the parallax on the Mark V’s 4-16 Weaver scope. When I did this at 100 yards, the parallax adjustment was right where Weaver had marked it for 100 yards. At 50 yards, the Weaver marking on the scope’s objective was a bit off, but that’s okay. I could move my eye around behind the scope and the crosshair movement had been appropriately minimized.

At 50 yards, the parallax adjustment was at about the 46-yard mark. I took this photo so I could return to this spot on subsequent 50-yard shooting sessions.

The Ruger No. 1 in 7mm Remington Magnum printed a 1.107-inch five-shot group at 50 yards with 18.0 grains of Trail Boss.

The Ruger No. 1 shot well with Trail Boss and cast bullets. I have more loaded with a slightly lighter load (not because of recoil, but because it appears the gun will do better with a lighter load).

And my .30 06 Howa did the best of the three, with a 0.902-inch three-shot group at 50 yards. I loaded that ammo with 24.5 grains of SR 4759. I’ve always had good accuracy with SR 4759 when shooting cast bullets.

The .30 06 group. These were with SR 4759 powder; I’ll next test with Trail Boss.

None of the cast bullet loads leaded the barrels, and that’s a good thing. Take a look (all of these photos were after shooting, but before cleaning):

The 7mm Ruger No. 1 bore after firing cast bullet loads. The bore was surprisingly clean with almost no leading.

The Howa’s bore after firing a box of cast bullets. This bore was immaculate. It appears the machining on it was better than the Weatherby and the Ruger rifles.

The Weatherby Mark V’s bore after firing cast bullets. There’s a very tiny bit of leading, but nothing significant. It cleaned up easily.

Cleaning a rifle after shooting cast bullets is much easier than cleaning after shooting jacketed bullets. I run a patch soaked with Hoppes through the bore and let it set for maybe 15 minutes to soften any lead remnants and combustion residue. After that I run a bronze bore brush through the barrel three or four times, and then I push two or three patches through the bore. That’s all it takes to get an immaculate bore. It’s much easier than removing copper fouling after firing jacketed bullets.

On the next set of cast bullet loads, I think the direction is clear. The .300 Weatherby shot better with 21.5 grains of Trail Boss than it did with 24.5; the Hodgdon online data shows the charge going as low as 19.0 grains. My next .300 Weatherby load will be with 20.0 grains of Trail Boss. The 7mm Remington Mag shot better with 18.0 grains of Trail Boss than it did with 20.0 and 21.4 grains; I think I’ll try 17.0 grains in a few to see if accuracy improves. I haven’t tried any 30 06 loads with Trail Boss yet (the loads I shot for this blog were loaded with SR 4759), so I’ll do some .30 06 Trail Boss loads for the next outing.

I was just about out of Trail Boss powder after loading more cast bullet ammo for the next session with the above three rifles, and with component availability today being what it is, that concerned me. I got lucky, though. I found a source with a 5-pound bottle of Trail Boss at a decent price and I jumped on it. I’m set for a while.

Trail Boss propellant. Good stuff and a good find.

Ready for the next range session: 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Weatherby, and .30 06 ammo, all loaded with cast bullets and Trail Boss propellant.

I’ll move the targets to 100 yards the next time I’m out. Good buddy Paul set me up with a box of Montana Bullet Company’s 200-grain .308 cast bullets, and I’ll load a few of them to see how they do in the .30 06 and the .300 Weatherby. Montana Bullet Company’s cast bullets have done superbly well in my .35 Whelen and .416 Rigby rifles; I’m eager to see how these do in the .30 06 and .300 Weatherby.

Montana Bullet Company cast 200-grain rifle bullets. These are great bullets.

That’s it for now. I intend to be on the range sometime this week to continue the cast bullet testing, and when I do, you’ll read about it here.

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Endurofest 2021: Part 1

After a Covid-cancelled year in 2020 Endurofest came roaring back in 2021. Unfortunately the 2-year lay-off has already eroded my meager off-road skills.

On our very first ride I managed to do a header in a rough rocky section. I was bouncing along ricocheting from rock to rock when a combination of tired arms, inattention and poor riding skills pitched Godzilla’s front wheel sideways and down I went on my right side.

It was a hard landing on rocks and for a moment I couldn’t move, like in those dreams where you can’t move except I was awake. Or maybe I wasn’t awake. It was probably only a few seconds. As my senses returned I rolled over onto my back and looked up at the brilliant blue Utah sky in wonder. How did I get here?

My foot was pinned under the motorcycle and Larry had to lift the bike off me. I stood up pretty well and managed to get Godzilla started. I went very slow the rest of the trail.

Never one to miss plugging sponsor’s freebies, my BMG jacket and ancient, Speed & Strength helmet from The Helmet House took the brunt of the crash and I am only a little sore. Godzilla suffered a bent foot peg and a damaged front food platter.

I really need to ride more dirt to stay sharp. Dirt riding, like any skill, improves with repetition so I’ll go attack some more rocks.

I think we have about eight Enduros at this year’s fest. Down a bit but understandable considering the crappy year our entire planet had in 2020. It’s just good to see your old friends and shoot the breeze without worrying about dying.

Endurofest headquarters this year is at the Beaver, Utah Quality Inn. It’s a great location if you’re into a Fawlty Towers kind of management. I showed up early and the manager was freaking out saying “I can’t put you in the room the people haven’t left yet!” There was no panic from my end. I mean, I get it. Just asking.

I got a suspicious look when I asked for a room with two beds. “There’s only one of you. Why do you want two beds?” I don’t know why but I defended my request,”My buddy Hunter might show up.” That seemed to satisfy Basil so the deal went down as planned.

This blog may be riddled with errors as I’m typing it on a cell phone and can’t actually read what it says. More riding tomorrow!

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Yamaha RD350 Part 5: Stop Me If You’ve Heard This…

I have a bunch of projects stacked up here at Tinfiny Ranch but I really wanted to take the RD for a spin. One little problem: the front brake was not working on the motorcycle. I can ride with a lot of stuff out of commission on a motorcycle, like no air in the tires or a spark plug fouled but I can’t ride without a front brake. So I played hooky from my responsibilities and dug into the brake system.

Installing the aftermarket brake caliper was a doddle, it fit perfectly. The same was true of the aftermarket master cylinder on the right handlebar. The issue came when I filled the brake reservoir with DOT3 and started bleeding the air. I got nothing, zip, nada. Not amount of pumping and bleeding would produce a drop of brake fluid at the caliper.

I thought maybe the new master cylinder was bad so I loosened the master cylinder banjo nut and gave the lever a squeeze. Brake fluid shot out all over my RD’s beautiful purple paint. I was fast with the water hose rinse so no damage was done; at least now I knew something was plugged.

Taking the entire system apart revealed both upper and lower rubber hoses were plugged solid with dried up brake fluid. It took a length of bailing wire worked back and forth to clear the hoses. Then I squirted brake cleaner aerosol through the lines until they ran clear. I also blew out the brake switch manifold, as it was easy to get to with the rest of the brake system dismantled. Before you get all Internet Outraged, I have new rubber brake lines on order. The cleared hoses are temporary just to see if the bike runs ok.

Putting everything back together I could bleed the system and got fluid out of the caliper but the lever didn’t want to build much pressure. I read somewhere that if you pull the lever back to the handlebar and tie it off leaving it that way will get air out of the system. I don’t see how it can but I tried it. It didn’t work.

The next day I tried bleeding the brake again. I was getting good fluid without any air but the lever needed rapid pumping to get pressure on the disc. In short it sucked. I started thinking that there must be something wrong with the new master cylinder and took it apart. Everything looked good inside the bore. The piston and seals looked new.

Reassembling the master cylinder I noticed the lever didn’t completely release from the piston. There was no free play. No play at the master usually makes the brakes pump up not the other way around but I was open for ideas. The after market unit did not have a free play adjusting screw like the stock Yamaha master. I had two ways of adjusting the free play: Grind the lever where it contacted the piston or cut a sliver off the lever stop so that it could travel farther from the handgrip.

I cut a thin sliver from the stop and gained a bit of play. Putting the master back on the bike and bleeding the system again yielded the same results. There was no pressure until the last bit of lever travel.

This led me to examine the inner workings of the reservoir. It seemed like the return hole, the orifice that allows the fluid to return to the reservoir at rest, was bypassing a lot of fluid for the first 75% of lever travel. Plugging the return with my finger (the red arrow) immediately made good pressure at the lever.

You and I both know you can’t very well ride a motorcycle with your finger in the reservoir. It’s not conducive to proper control. I debated plugging the return hole and drilling another further up the bore to make the piston build pressure sooner and was nearly ready to attempt it when a tiny little voice in my head said, “You’re screwing up, Gresh.” I’ve never heard that voice. Must be old age.

At that point I gave up and ordered an Ebay rebuild kit for the stock Yamaha master cylinder. It irked me to no end that the kit cost more than an entire new, non-working master cylinder. The kit showed up and of course it was not at all like the original. The piston differed where the spring connected. The original had a plastic bobbin to seat the spring where the new kit simply lets the spring push directly onto the seal. I suspect the spring will eventually cut through the seal. When that happens tag my tombstone with “He rebuilt master cylinders.”

Until that day I’ll have brakes because the rebuilt master cylinder bled as normal. The RD350 has a killer front brake now. I’m serious: the RD350’s braking is only a step or two behind most modern bikes. It’s amazingly good and will stand the bike on its nose.

Finding a stock air filter was impossible so I sprung for a foam-type Uni filter from Dennis Kirk. It was on sale but still pricy and it fit the RD air box well; if anything it’s a bit too snug. Along the same air-flow lines I pulled the baffles out of the mufflers for cleaning. They were not very dirty leading me to believe the mileage on the bike is lower than the 20,000 the title states.

With a clear exhaust pipe, fresh new air cleaner and working brakes I took the RD for a 15-mile, unregistered spin and the thing ran like a dreidel. I ran through the gears and got to 80 miles per hour in short order. Everything seems to work and the next step will be to repack the steering bearings, replace the fork seals and install new brake hoses. The carbs might need a little synchronizing and I’ll work on that once I get around to lubing all the cables.

More Joe Gresh Resurrections!

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Badlands National Park

Located in southwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park is one of life’s bucket list destinations. We visited it in 2008 when we were doing South Dakota’s Black Hills and, by accident, the Sturgis Rally. I’m not big on Sturgis, but we were in the area to see Mt. Rushmore and we caught the tail end of the rally. Okay, Sturgis: Check. If anybody asks, I can say I’ve been. But there are far more interesting things to see and do in this part of the world, and Badlands National Park is one of them.

Badlands National Park is about 100 miles east of Sturgis, and it’s one of a half dozen cool things to see if you ever make Sturgis. There’s Rapid City (a cool town with one of the best gun stores I’ve ever visited), Custer State Park (magnificent roads and scenery), Mt. Rushmore (amazing; words can’t do it justice), Devils Tower 100 miles to the west in Wyoming (think Close Encounters), Badlands (today’s topic), and the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (I’ll touch on that, too). South Dakota is a great place to visit.

So, back to Badlands. This place is magic, but that’s not just my opinion. It’s a view I share with my hero Theodore (as in Theodore Roosevelt). Roosevelt came here in 1883 to hunt buffalo (we call them buffalo; the correct term is bison), and then again to remake himself when dealt a double whammy a year or two later (his wife and mother died on the same day). He came as a dandy (a skinny, Harvard-educated, New York politician) and left as a rancher, a true Westerner, a future Rough Rider and President of the United States.

50 bison were transferred to Badlands National Park from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in 1963; today, the Badlands bison population is north of 1,000 animals.

To call the Badlands terrain dramatic is a massive understatement; you really need to stand before the landscape and take in the erosion-formed pinnacles and colors to get the full effect.

Badlands National Park in one word: Wow!

Stunning panoramas are the norm in Badlands National Park.

Highway 240, the Badlands Loop, through Badlands National Park.

The region’s history is a story of persistence, paleontology, politics, and (from a Native American perspective), duplicity. Paleo-Indians hunted the area 11,000 years ago, followed by the Arikara people, and then the Great Sioux Nation. The Oglala Lakota (one of seven Sioux tribes) named the area “mako sica” (it translates to “bad lands”). Homesteading by white settlers began in the 1850s, continued during the Civil War, and then picked up dramatically before and after the turn of the century. In an 1868 treaty, the US government promised the Sioux the area would be theirs forever, but you can guess how that went (we broke the treaty a short 21 years later). Calvin Coolidge designated the area Badlands National Monument in 1929, it was formally established as such in 1939 by Franklin Roosevelt, and then redesignated a National Park in 1978.

The Lakota Native American people were the first to find fossils in the area and they correctly ascertained the area was formerly an ancient sea. The Badlands are one of the richest fossil fields in the world with specimens reaching 33 million years into the past (there are 84 known extinct species; 77 of them are from this area). Here’s another tidbit worth knowing if you plan a visit to the region: The South Dakota School of Mines in nearby Rapid City has an outstanding museum displaying some of these prehistoric finds.

A School of Mines dinosaur in Rapid City.

A fossil on display in South Dakota’s School of Mines.

Like much of South Dakota, the Badlands are rich with bison, badger, bighorn sheep, bird species galore, prairie dogs, bobcat, coyote, fox, elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, rattlesnake, and porcupine. We saw many, including a princely, portly porcupine proudly padding along as if he owned the place (in retrospect, I suppose he did).

There’s all kinds of critters out there. We didn’t see any snakes, but we probably walked right by a few.

Parts of Dances with Wolves and Thunderheart were filmed here.

Here’s another cool little secret about the area: The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is positioned right at the northeast edge of the Park. The U.S. Government took a former operational intercontinental nuclear missile site and turned it into a national historic site. You can’t just show up and get in, though. You have to make reservations and they only take a few people at a time, but wow, is it ever cool. You go down to the control module, which is this tiny, thick wall, metal, electronics-crammed structure way underground. The command capsule is mounted on giant springs, you know, to protect the occupants from an incoming bad guy nuclear intercontinental missile. After you’ve seen that, the park rangers (all former USAF senior NCOs who actually served on Minuteman sites) take you outside to peer into a silo and view a Minuteman missile (presumably, one that’s been disarmed). It’s shades of the Cold War, Dr. Strangelove, and Mutually Assured Destruction all rolled into a tourist attaction. Trust me on this: It’s cool and unless you stood guard against Ivan during the Cold War, it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

A Park Ranger and former USAF ICBM NCO at the Minuteman National Historic Site. This is cool, folks.

A thermonuclear threat…the real deal. Peering down into the silo was a bit unnerving. What is really unnerving is that there are similar missiles on the other side of the world still pointed at us.

So there you have it…Badlands National Park, the Minuteman National Historic Site, and more. South Dakota is one of my all time favorite places to visit. If you are headed that way, don’t just wallow in the weirdness that is Sturgis. There’s much more to see and do in South Dakota, and these two spots should be high on anyone’s list.

I took these photos back in 2008 with my Nikon D200 camera and a first-generation Nikon 24-120 lens. As I view them today, they are not up to the richness and quality I would get from my current D810 Nikon and its VR 24-120 lens. I may have to return to get better photos.

More National Park stories? They’re right here!

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