CSC Blog

I’ve written on the blog before about the Russian surplus military rifle I bought last year.  It’s a Mosin-Nagant 91/30, a rifle that was first produced in 1891 and then updated in 1930.   The Russians have used them ever since 1891, and when the Soviet Union went bust, they started showing up on the surplus military rifle market.

My first Mosin, a 1940 Tula Arsenal gun that I refinished…lots of fun!

Now, don’t go getting your shorts in a knot about gun control and assault rifles…these are not gang-banger guns…they’re a classy bit of military history, they’re inexpensive (for now, anyway), they’re collectible, and they’re accurate.  Nobody’s going to be robbing gas stations or doing drive-by shootings with these things.   They’re too big to conceal, they’re too classy, and they’re slow firing rifles.   But they sure are fun!

And the history behind these old Russian rifles is fascinating.  I’ve been studying the history and talking the rifles up to all my friends, and several of my buddies bought Mosins as a result.   (Duane and Twin Peaks Steve, are you reading this?   You need to join in the fun here!)   As a matter of fact, we have an informal match about once a month, and the winner (not the loser) gets to buy lunch for everybody.   Usually, that’s me.   Yeah, I’m bragging.   I learned how to shoot in the US Army and I’m proud of that fact.  It’s fun.

So, anyway, back to the story.  After buying, refinishing, and shooting my first Mosin, I decided I needed another one, so I pulled the trigger and then I had two.   Next thing you know, I had that trip up to Big Bear for Motorcycle Classics magazine, and I saw yet a third Mosin that somehow I convinced myself I couldn’t live without.    Well, three is too many, so I told a friend’s son I’d sell the second one I bought to him.  Legally, of course.   Lord knows we have enough rules about owning guns in this country…particularly here in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia.   And yes, you can bet I follow every one of them.

On the road to Big Bear, where I bought one too many Mosins

As luck would have it, the first time we went to the rifle range with Mosin No. 2 (the one I’m selling to my friend’s son) a magazine spring went south.  Now folks, this particular rifle is 80 years old, and if you reach 80 without something going wrong, let me know.   These things happen.   So, I sent away to get a spring, it arrived, I installed it, and then I got the bug to take it out and zero it for my young buddy.   I did that this Tuesday when I was out shooting with the Geezers.   We have a group of Geezers that are on the range pretty regularly…but that’s another story for another time.

The Sniper Mosin, right side.

The Sniper Mosin, left side.

Anyway, I was blown away by this particular rifle’s accuracy.   It shot groups that you could nearly cover with a dime, and folks, that’s threading the needle for any rifle (especially an 80-year old Russian war surplus rifle without telescopic sights).    As I imagine they must have said back at the Tula Arsenal…wowee-ski!

Exceptional accuracy from any rifle, let alone one that’s 80 years old!

When I returned home and cleaned the rifle, I shot a few photos of the rifle and my targets (you know, bragging rights stuff, like the photo you see above), and then I posted one on an Internet Mosin forum.

Whoa…the comments started pouring in!  As it turns out, the experts on the Mosin board started posting comments literally within seconds.   They recognized that this rifle (Mosin No. 2…the one that’s going to my friend’s son) was a Soviet sniper weapon!    And that, my friends, means it most likely saw action in the Battle of Stalingrad (a battle in which snipers turned the tide of the siege, and ultimately, World War II).

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again…watch Enemy at the Gates.   The real star of that movie is the Mosin-Nagant rifle.  It’s one of my all time favorite movies.

Markings that identify this 1935 Mosin as a World War II sniper rifle…the star means it came from the Tula Arsenal, the date indicates when the rifle was manufactured, and the Cyrillic C and N above the star mark this as a sniper rifle!

The Mosin forum guys explained to me where I should look for the plugged holes that previously held the sniper rifle’s telescopic sight, and whaddaya know, there they were!   They also explained that the Russians test fired all of their rifles and only selected the most accurate ones for sniper duty.    That sure explains why this rifle shot so well.   Looks like those old Russkies knew what they were doing!

Exciting stuff, folks!   And you know the best part?   I’m hoping my young buddy outshoots me this weekend and he’ll get to buy lunch!

And this one, folks, is Steve and his brother from around 1970…

The photo is ultra cool for a lot of reasons…that’s Steve in the yellow shirt standing next to his ’38 Chevy (into which he had wedged a 427 Chevy motor).   Steve tells me he wishes he still had it, and I’ll bet he does.   It had to have been an awesome ride.

The bike is a CB750 Honda, with extended wrought iron girder forks, a coffin paint tank, the period paint job, and a semi-hardtail frame…all touches that were popular back then.  I can only guess at the handling, but it must have been a cool ride back in the day.

Just for grins, I did a side by side of the boss…then and now…and isn’t it something that Steve’s posture and position in these photos (photos that are 40+ years apart) are almost identical?

Looking good, Steve….

And that was just one of the inputs on our latest caption request.   These things are lots of fun, folks.   You’ll recall that photo a blog or two down…

Here’s what our good buddies sent to us.

From Russ:

This brings new meaning to horse-power!

From Ralph:

Who knows what the boots will look like when they arrive….  😉

and

After waiting weeks for delivery Raoul’s new mail order seat cover proved neither as stylish nor as comfortable as he had hoped…..

From Jimbo:

He should be in the diamond lane!

And from Steve L:

See ya later, alligator!

and

After a while, crocodile!

Thanks for the inputs, folks.   We enjoyed reading them all.

Hey, good stuff coming up!   Seems my “then and now” photos struck a nerve with none other than our very own Steve (yep, the Boss!).   I didn’t know he used to be a hippy!

Stand by for more!

I was at the rifle range yesterday totally absorbed in what I was doing when this guy walked up to me and said, “Hey, Joe…”   He sure seemed to know me and I sure had no idea who he was.  That happens a lot.  One of the things about shooting that is a lot like riding a motorcycle is this:  It demands absolute concentration.   When I get like that, I’m in the “zone.”   Stated differently, I kind of lose track of everything else.  I’ve had times when other folks I’ve known for years approach me at the range and I had no idea for a few seconds who they were (that happened with my good buddy Josh not too long ago).

Yesterday, the unknown interloper was none other than CSC-rider and good buddy Duane, whom you’ve seen grace the blog before.   In my defense this time, ol’ Duane had changed…he was sporting short hair and no beard, and that’s the excuse I’m gonna stick with for my failure to recognize him.  We both had a good laugh about my memory lapse, but hey, what an excuse:  Duane is a hippy no more…

One thing I’ve noticed repeatedly is that there’s a lot of similarity between our hobbies (and when I say “our” hobbies, I mean all of us).   Shooting, guns, watches (my blog about the Casio Diver’s watch drew a lot of email), cars, and of course, our greatest common denominator, motorcycles.   Great minds work alike, I guess.

And speaking of shooting, I sure had a good time yesterday.  I’ve got a couple of muey cool guns more suited for hunting big game in Africa than punching paper holes in So Cal, but I can dream.  The problem with these Howitzers is they kick like a Missouri mule (some literary license there on my part, folks, as I’ve never even seen a mule in Missouri, but it sure sounds cool to say it).    I’ve kind of made a specialty of finding reduced loads for these cannons, and I hit a winner yesterday when I tested a low-velocity round for my .375 H&H.

The .375 H&H goes all the way back to 1912, when it was developed by the great English firm of Holland and Holland.  It’s still one of the best cartridges out there for hunting the big beasts that snarl, roar, bite, stomp, and gore those who would do them harm.   That’s not me, by the way (I haven’t hunted for anything other than a good story in decades), but if the lunatic legislators in Sacramento (a redundant phrase, I know) ever create a Cape Buffalo season in southern California, I’m ready…

Is it time for another caption contest?

I saw that photo on Facebook a few minutes ago.   Hmmm….

I’ve got another secret mission coming up folks…and this time it’s magnificent Turkey.   I’ll bet you’ve never thought of Turkey as a cool place to visit, but I’ll tell you what..it’s one of the most beautiful and exotic places I’ve ever visited.

I’ve been traveling to Turkey for about 20 years now, mostly on business and sometimes for pleasure.   My very first trip there was exactly 20 years ago and I was traveling with my former boss and good friend Don Dominic.   That guy is amazing, and he has what might just be the best sense of humor ever.    I never missed a chance to travel with Don…no matter where we went, the jokes were awesome and old Don had a repertoire that just never ended.

Okay, so back to that old saying….some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you…

Don and I had flown into Istanbul after the long flight from LAX to Zurich, spending a night in Switzerland, and then flying on to Istanbul the next morning.   There’s a 10-hour time difference between So Cal and Istanbul, and we were both zonked out from the time change.  We checked into the Kalyon Hotel right on the Straights of Bosphorus, but I woke up at 3:00 a.m. wide awake the next morning knowing I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again.

Knowing the hotel would have coffee in the lobby (and folks, trust me on this…it doesn’t get any better than Turkish coffee), I went downstairs.  To my surprise, Don was already down there sipping some of that fine Turkish brew.

As soon as the sun came up Don and I went for a walk along the Straights of Bosphorus into downtown Istanbul.   How any of you can say you’ve ever done that?   This was cool stuff, folks.   The Imams were singing from the minarets, the sun was rising over the Straights and illuminating the Blue Mosque, and we were alive and out in the world.      You know me as Joe, but that morning I was Indiana Jones, and I was loving it.

As we were walking, this guy walked right past us going in the other direction with a bear on a leash.

Yep, you read that right.  A bear.  On a leash.  On the sidewalk.  In Istanbul.

We passed by this dude and his bear and I turned to Don.  He looked at me and we both realized what we had just seen.   When we turned around, the dude put up this stick and the bear, no stranger to this routine, stood up and posed.   Wow.   I had thought to bring my camera with me.  No one was going to believe this story without a photo, and here I was with a camera, snapping away for literally all I was worth (more on that in a second…).

I snapped a bunch of quick photos (I had a Minolta X-700 with a 50mm 1.4 in those days), we smiled, thanked the guy, and turned to leave.

Then the guy held out his hand.

Oh yeah…I get it now.  The guy’s in this as a business.    Well, what the heck.   How often to you get to take pictures of your boss with a bear?  It’s worth a couple of bucks, I thought…

I had just changed a $50 traveler’s check into Turkish lire the night before, so I had about a gazillion lire.   I started counting out some of it, and the guy just reached into my wallet and grabbed it all.   Okay, I thought…it’s just Monopoly money.

Don and I walked another 10 feet and I realized what had just occurred.   I started to say to Don “you know, I…”

Don response was immediate:  “I know, you just paid $50 for that photo.”

“Hmmm,” I said, “should I go back?”

Don just smiled.

“Joe, you don’t argue with a man with a bear…”

So I spotted this photo my good high school buddy Rich recently posted…he’s on his brother’s Triumph Bonneville.  Rich is retired now and he lives in Florida (the good life), and something about the pose reminded me of a photo I shot of Richie when we were kids in high school.    There’s just a short 45 years between the two shots, and I can sure see the resemblance…what do you think?

And then my good buddy, test engineer, and CSC factory rider Joel posted a photo from his childhood…and hey, I had to put another one together.   I can see it…yessirree…that’s the same guy!

And you’ve read about my buddy Mike B back in the homeland.   You know Mike…he’s one of the original Joisey Boys…and he’s been out here on a number of CSC rides with us…

And another original Joisey Boy, my good buddy and childhood next-door neighbor Pauly B…shown here with a couple of shots from the mid-1960s, with his MGA (which his grandmother used to love riding around in)…

And yeah, that’s me on the left, with another shot from the ’60s on my Honda Super 90 back in the days when I actually had use for…what did they call those things?   Oh yeah…combs!

And hey, what would then-and-now photos be without our best good buddy and advisor Jimbo, with one photo from his days as the original Mustang Motor Products Production Superintendent, and a more recent shot on the best motorcycle in the world!

Jimbo, I’m pretty sure I’m on fairly solid ground when I say this…you’ve weathered the years a lot better than the rest of us!

I may find a few more then-and-now photos, boys and girls, and if I do, you’ll see them right here.   And if you’ve got any, shoot them to us!   We’d love to put them on the blog!

Ride safe, folks…

Regarding the rat roadster I showed you a blog or two back, we’ve received a rewarding roster of righteous remarks from our regular readers (how’s that for alliteration, folks?)….

From our good buddy Ralph…

     Don’t leave home without it.

     Now where did I put that kitchen sink?

and

     Hoarding…not just for homeowners anymore!

From our good buddy Tom…

     A quick stop for a tetanus shot, then back to the ride.

From our good buddy Russ…

     They say you can’t take it with you…this gentleman proves that theory wrong.

And from our good buddy Jimbo…

     Better check & lube your chain!

All good inputs, folks, and thanks very much!

Folks, if you’re looking for a great deal on a CSC motorcycle, here it is!

This is one of our demo bikes that we had attached to our side car.   We haven’t been using it and it has never been sold or registered.    The bike only has 290 miles on it and we’re selling it as a 2014.    The regular price on these bikes is $3995, but Steve is letting this one go for just $3295 plus shipping.

This is a cool deal, made even cooler by the fact that this bike’s candy wine color is unique…it never made it into production.   I like it a lot.  This bike also has our very cool original California Scooter logos on the tank, which are my personal favorites.    Somebody is going to get a great deal on this one, boys and girls.   Shouldn’t it be you?

Give Steve a call at 909 445 0900, and this beauty will be on its way to you!

This showed up in another FB post by our good buddy Walt Fulton (yes, the son of that Walt Fulton…the guy who raced Mustangs at Catalina and Rosamond Dry Lake)….

It is just begging for a caption.   Any suggestions?