My son was trying out some different .243 ammo and asked me to tag along, there is a stone quarry not far away Ideal for zeroing rifles, we set up some targets at about 80 yds and concluded that there was no reason to adjust the scope for the different ammo, it was also the first time he had shot the rifle with the silencer on.
I had a couple of shots and hit what I was aiming at but bolt action rifles with scopes and silencers are definitely not my cup of tea, give me a.30/30 carbine every time.
He shot a Roe Deer at about 120 yds the other day DRT so he's happy with his new toy
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
GK won a page!
Glad you got out and burned some powder with you son. I'm with you on the preference, but at least it's still shooting. I must confess, I've never fired a shot with a suppressor of any kind.
Congrats to your son on the deer.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
GK, I have what I consider to be a pretty nice .243; it's Ruger m77 with a tang safety. I have shot nothing but coyotes with it. I didn't like the overly large fore end on it so I decided to make it more slender. I wallowed out the stock and installed a heavy 7mm-08 barrel. Now the fore end looked perfectly proportioned but it didn't shoot as well as I wanted. Sooo, I took it to a gunsmith friend who cut a nice even barrel channel, epoxied a 3/4" (I think) dowel into it, cut the dowel in half and then fitted it back to the original .243 barrel. It has a nice stock and I feel better about the fore end proportions (they're the same as original).
My favorite load of 38 gr of IMR 4064 and Sierra 85 gr SP keeps it under an MOA.
Went for a walk in the woods with the 16 gauge but didn't see anything I did fire a few .410 shells out of the adaptor and at about 15 to 20 yds the pattern wasn't too bad.
Gauge Mates
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Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
That's pretty neat GK. Glad it works well. I've never seen one of those. Of course, we all know 16 is the best guage.
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My buddy called today and wanted me to get in one last ride. Haul to the Forks and ride to Pittston Farm. It's a huge old working farm right in the middle of the north Maine woods. It was built and run to sustain the logging crews up there in the late 1800s. Grew vegetables, shot and raised meat, and kept the large numbers of horses used logging. It still operates for folks hunting, fishing, or sledding up there. You can rent a room, get food and fuel, or just stop for a visit. Beautiful place.
Anyway..... I'm not going haha. Gonna go to camp with dad tomorrow instead. I'll try and get a few pictures.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Pittston Farm sounds cool but your camp is much cooler
Snowing here this morning but I don't think it will settle temps in the 40s later on.
I only have one gauge mate in 16 to 410 as they are my most used gauge, I seldom use it but it's sometimes fun to have a .410 in one barrel and a 16 gauge in the other. I think Old Ironsites (remember him?) used them in an old worn out 16 gauge that he didn't trust with 16 gauge shells.
Walt, we looked at the Ruger 77 but the Howa was on special offer (I think because of the stock) so my son saved some cash
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Beautiful day here today in the mid 30s. We've lost a ton of snow but there's still aplenty. Too much to walk without snowshoes in the woods. Bunch of warm and rain coming end of the week, so we may be back to the four wheeler after this.
I split some of the wood I'd put up earlier this winter. Some is still too buried or froze in, so I'll have to wait on that.
I took a ride down to the stream to see how things looked. It was only open at the bridge abutments, but that will change soon. The clearing had a spruce come down in a storm this winter. I will cut that up and leave it down there for the fire pit. Speaking of that l, I can see it again. It's two semi truck rims sitting on a stack of bricks. Couldn't tell it was there a couple weeks ago. Now it's peeking out.
I toted my 2nd Gen Colt SAA in .357 today, so I threw in a pic. Dad has the old High Standard Sentinel. The sled was getting good traction today, so I tried the big hill up in front of the camp and ran up into the hardwoods and snapped a couple pics.
Back at camp now. Sitting by the stove and sipping a cold beer.
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"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Beautiful pictures, Jay! From the looks of your short sleeve shirt, you must be experiencing a heat wave.....yeah, right. At the temperatures you currently have, most people in this part of the country would be wearing ski jackets.
It was 53 degrees this afternoon!
Man! I didn't want to come in here tonight. I heard a couple motorcycles. No way! Way too early and the roads are a mess. I did pull the front wheel off the Harley and get a new front tire mounted and balanced this week.
I'm itching to get the Jeep and the old T-dub back out!
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
At this time of year the weather is so variable here. Last night and the night before we got a little snow but on Monday (my shooting day) the high is forcast to be in the 60s. Springtime is windy here, I hope it's calm on Monday. I can't wait for the forest service to open the gates so I can get to the mountains.
We still a good wa8t before we can get on the trails here. Got to wait for snow melt. Then we have to wait for "mud season" to end. Everything is a bottomless quagmire till the frost goes out of the ground. It's the worst time of year.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Some of the woods here are a bit of a quagmire, my son took me through one when I first came here and had a hard time trying to walk, look for squirrels and not push the muzzle into the mud all at the same time, luckily not all at the woods are like that.
Haha yeah. That's what it is going to look like here for a while after the snow goes. It's going to be bad this year cause there is a huge amount of frost in the ground.
I have some spots on my property that are soft ALL the time too.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
It's unusual for the ground here to get as saturated as it does there. Where I like to ride on old logging roads and trails in the mountains, an hour or two after it rains and leaves mud puddles here and there, the roads are dusty again. After a long dry spell, in places the dust gets as fine as flour and when you drive through it the view behind you looks like a bomb went off. It hangs in the area a long time before it settles back down. In the summer the best practice is to follow the lead ATV by a couple of hundred yards.
In most cases even the larger puddles have a hard, solid bottom.
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I saw that when we were in Utah last year. It's pretty dry.
It can get dry and dusty here in the summer on gravel logging roads, but nothing like that.
I couldn't get over that when we were out west in 2019. You see a 2 track dirt road with no gravel pull off the road and go a half mile off to a house or ranch. No WAY could you do that here. Half the year you'd either be walking or doing some serious wheeling to get over that road.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
That bottom picture looks like the roads here.
It warmed up to 50 and started pouring rain last night. The snow around the house is about gone after the the recent weather. I'm sure there's still plenty at camp, even though it's only 17 miles away.
This weather breaks the roads up something fierce. The ground freezes and heaves the roads. Then they dump salt all winter that melts snow and it runs in the cracks and re-freezes. Then it warms up and thaws under the pavement, loosening it. All the water runs in those cracks and fills any pot holes or low spots.
Along comes vehicles, especially trucks, and the hydraulic force of the tires and weight push that water in the voids and blows big chunks of the pavement out. It can be quite spectacular.
In the spring they "post the roads", by putting big orange notices up an all but the main roads. They are given a low weight limit, prohibiting most all trucks and other heavy vehicles. Thus puts a hug crimp in the logging industry. Prior to this, they try and get all the wood yarded roadside and piled up. Then they will try and haul it before the posters go up. If the mill shuts them off, they are stuck, unless they could move it to a yard on a non-posted road, which seriously affects cost.
Good times!
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Went out with my son looking for Deer, we saw a nice buck (out of season) and two does that jumped over the property line before he could get a shot. It was funny following him and his new rifle it seems like only yesterday he used to follow me and my rifle wishing he was old enough to have one of his own
Temperature tomorrow 47/25 f
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Time flies old buddy. I know that feeling too. I've got some pictures that show the contrast of 20 years like that.
Well.....I think I sold my Harley today. Guy from down to the coast. Heck of a nice guy. He's supposed to come get it tomorrow.
End of an era. Kind of a sad day. I've had the old gal 17 years.
Now begins the search for a good dual sport.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
I'm having that feeling today. Our son is 34 years old today, he and his wife have a one year old daughter.
It couldn't have been more than a couple of years ago when he was learning to shoot, learning to ride a motorcycle. We spent a lot of time together in the mountains, had a lot of good adventures.
Is this the reward that we empty nesters get for the love with which we raised our kids? I dunno.... I sure wish we could go back every now and then. There's just not enough time.
Springtime in New Mexico; the wind is howling. It's pretty depressing.
Our son and his family live near Ft Worth, over 600 miles away; our daughter and her family live in OKC, almost 600 miles away. Our daughter is expecting their second daughter, due next month. I'll drive my wife to OKC in May where she'll stay for a couple of weeks to help our daughter. I'll drop her off and return home, then drive back and pick her up. I may drive down to Ft Worth for a day or two on my way back home.
A parent's imperative is to raise kids to a point that they are able to function in society independently, to be productive citizens and hopefully to be financially successful. I feel like my wife and I have done a fine job of that but I still miss them.
I guess I live in the past to a degree.
The wind is blowing so hard here that the electric company is threatening to shut off power in this area for anywhere up to 30 hours to prevent wildfires, presumably from the wind blowing trees into their power lines. My guess is that lawsuits against power companies because of wildfires in Hawaii and SoCal have got them nervous.
Agree 100% Walt. The job of a parent is to make sure your kids don't need you.
We raised three sons. They all have families and homes. They have done us and themselves proud. Only one isn't local, but I hope that's temporary. It's the best thing I've ever done.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Good for you,Jay! I knew from the first time I began communicating with you that you take a lot of pride in your family. I wish more people were like that. Congratulations!
Thanks Walt. I've said for years that if you can go through this life with a good family and 2 or 3 friends that truly have your back, you've lived a good life.
The older I get, the more that stuff matters to me.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Been a week of change here. Watched the old Harley go after 17 years. It was an awesome bike.
Then I drug home this 2021 DRZ400. Only has 1400 miles, but it's definitely been run in the woods. I'm going to do the same. I'll hope for the best......
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"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Thanks Walt. Been looking at stuff for a couple weeks. A KLX300 would gave been a little lighter and lower, but it's also more complicated with the FI. The DRZ is so proven and bulletproof its hard to resist. Not to mention the huge aftermarket. I also think the build quality is better, as it's still a Japan produced bike. Most of the entry level Japanese dual sports are made in Taiwan now.
I'd actually never ridden a DRZ. It had more power than I thought it would. It does have lower geared sprockets on it, however. It also has a lowering link. I have the stock sprockets and link though.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Well buddy, in an hour I'll be two thirds through my "work week".
It was almost 60 yesterday. I only have 2 small patches of snow on my lawn. Of course, Monday we have 2-4 inches of snow coming.
I ordered a bunch of stuff for the DRZ and a new helmet last night. Looks as if it will be a bit before I can try them out.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Jay, I think the first things to go on my bike were the tires and the seat which felt like sitting on a 2 x 4. The current seat is from Sargent which is a bit, but not that much better than stock. Also I put an IMS tank on it which about doubled the distance to empty. I took off the vacuum controlled fuel valve and put on a manual one. As opposed to Honda carbs, the Suzuki carb will definitely plug up the jet if you leave it sitting too long, even if you leave it running until it runs out of fuel. I put a brass elbow on the bowl drain and a short piece of tubing so I could completely drain the bowl after each ride which keeps gas from running over the front sprocket when I drain it. I also took off the kickstand ignition cutoff switch and welded a larger base on the kickstand so it wouldn't sink in soft ground. I installed a pigtail on the battery in order to make a plugin battery tender connection. I put an aftermarket rack on the back that I bought from the Suzuki shop. I increased the size of the airbox inlet to a 3 x 3" hole which was recommended by DR-Z owners. That's all I can think of at the moment.
Thanks Walt!
Mine has a rack on it already. Oddly enough, the airbox is untouched, but it does have a Unifilter installed (my preference). The baffle is out of the exhaust also, but according to the PO the carb is untouched. It starts quick and seems to run really well. It has surprising power, but could possibly be a touch lean. I will back out the mixture screw a touch and see what that does. Maybe shim the needle. Eventually, I will change the exhaust and install a JD jet kit.
It already has a set of Kenda Trackmaster tires on it. I ordered a skid plate and some case guards for it last night. Also got some mini turn signals. It already has a tail tidy. I'm going to try the stock tank for awhile. Yes, I am contemplating switching the petcock out. I'm most likely going to remove the lowering link, also. I think without lowering the forks, it will mess up the handling. I need to set the sag and get the suspension set up. The DRZ suspension is about as good as it gets on a dual sport.
I had a tender pigtail in the drawer of my bench so I already have one installed.
Last edited by OldWin on Sun Mar 23, 2025 12:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
How's the T-dub going, Walt? Been meaning to ask if you have been doing any riding.
There is quite a contrast throwing (literally) a leg over the DRZ and getting on the T-dub.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Jay, I have an acquaintance who is active in an adventure riding club (ADVRider.com) who has told me that some of the DR-Z riders swap out their street forks (and carbs) for offroad forks off of DRZ kick start models and electric start off road only models (DR-Z400E). Those forks and carbs are different than those of the street models and evidently work better for dirt riding. Yeah, I think the DR-Zs seat height is 36", enough to get altitude sickness.
Springtime in New Mexico is windy season and the past couple of weeks have been nasty in that regard. I still have less that 100 miles (sigh) on the TW and the only thing I've added is a Tusk rear rack which I believe will work out well. I probably should get a folding shift lever too. I'm patiently waiting for the forest service to open the gates to the areas I like to ride which are within the Santa Fe National Forest.
My wife and I are due for a re-certification of our CCW licenses this Friday. I've been working with her over the weekend to eliminate her considerable flinch with her Springfield Armory .45ACP. She does quite well with my Ruger .22 autos but the .45 is a different story. I've had to be pretty innovative with my suggestions and of course super patient so she doesn't get discouraged. She'll probably do just fine. We just need to shoot more often.
I've heard of guys doing that with the DRZ. I'm sure the stock suspension will be fine.....especially at my age!
I'm sure I've slowed considerably since my 20s.
I really like the Tusk rack for the TW. Mine just has a cheapie rack that was on it when I got it. The Tusk will be what I replace it with. Sorry you haven't gotten much riding, but look at the bright side, I've got none. They upped the snow to 5" for tomorrow. Yippee!
I've had that issue with my wife, also. Usually dry fire will snap her out of it.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
Jay, it seems to me that first gear on the TW is about like the granny gear on old 4 speed pickups. Do you frequently start off in second gear rather than first when you're on a good road?
Haha yeah that's a good comparison Walt. Yes, if I'm on the road or a good and level spot, I will stay feet up and just clutch out in second. It's also fully capable of a feet down start in second in the same situation. The first gear is still very useful, however. Because of the bikes incredible traction, it allows you to crawl up many hills or through rough spots that require momentum on a normal dirt bike.
For my use, there are times I wish it was even lower. Dragging deer or running in my woods. I think a Rekluse clutch would be the bees knees, but they are quite spendy.
I love that little bike though. They are very capable and versatile. I hope you are half as happy with yours as I am with mine.
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
The weather here has been nice over the past few days and should be warm enough tomorrow for a street bike ride, the first of the season. There's a tiny village about 65 miles south of here which has a cantina with some excellent green chile cheeseburgers. The ride down there is on I-40 for a while, then on mostly straight country roads. The ride back is a lot more scenic, a bit slower and has loads of twists and turns. Should be fun. I'll be on my BMW and my riding buddy will be on his fully decked out Harley.
A Rekluse clutch is basically an auto clutch conversion for a dirt bike. It makes it like a geared four wheeler. I believe you still keep your manual clutch operation in addition. This gives you either or.
The auto clutch would be great for my usage in really tight trails and especially for pulling stuff or dragging deer out. Being able to stop in gear and dismount to move or cut something would be handy also.
Sounds like fun! We got 6" of snow yesterday. I think I'm still a ways away from riding, sadly.
Ride safe Walt!
"Oh bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.
I did fire a few .410 shells out of the adaptor and at about 15 to 20 yds the pattern wasn't too bad.
