FuriousFarmboy

I went riding with some long time friends. Each has nearly 5 decades of desert experience. Age may not be a factor, two are in their mid 60s and one is going on 80. Ride on guys!

We had stopped at the Inskeep Station Cemetery and continued looking for some good coffee.

Don't let the tourists impede your progress. Passing can be fun but one rock or even an anthill hidden in the grass can ruin your day!

This rifled musket bore was so corroded, I could only get a .577 diameter Minié ball about 5" into the bore. After many attempts to remove and neutralize the rust, I finally ran a 6-bar reamer set at .577" diameter through the bore to the breech plug threads. It's ugly and there is no rifling the last 8" at the muzzle. I have yet to get the nipple removed, I ran a 1/32" drill through it. The nipple is so eroded that it's hard to get a musket cap to stay in place. My 1st attempt to shoot it was a FTF. I pulled the bolster screw, worked a 1\16" drill bit around in there and dropped in a pinch of powder. Then I got a hangfire. I cleaned the bolster with a pipe cleaner, reloaded with the musket tipped to trickle powder into the bolster and it fired as it should. The following shot was also good but I can't say it hit where I aimed. It has about a 12 Lb. pull. So, anyway, I took it out today and put 7 shots through it. I'm no marksman but I should have been able to put them on a 1 1/2 by 2 Ft. box at 50 Yards. I followed up with 3 rounds out of my Model 92 .357 Magnum and they all hit decently close to center. One Minié ball Keyholed 4" from center. I have a new barrel in production at Whitacre's Machine Shop. I wish I could find someone who could reline this barrel to the original specs. I could have it re-bored to .600 or .620 but nobody makes a casting mold that size for Minié balls

This is the Rare Breed FRT Trigger under my 5.56x45 rifle. I may need a slightly stronger buffer spring. The problem is, I don't know what's in it. I had been worried about the free floating trigger pins but they didn't float off center during this trial. I do think that was likely one of the problems with the 7.62x39 trial.

I used a Uberti copy of the 1847 Colt Walker to test my Corned Black Powder. After the puck had dried for nearly a week in a window that got plenty of afternoon sun, I broke it up into smaller chunks and ran it through an antique coffee mill. The grind looked pretty course so I passed all but 40 gr through the mill again. It still didn't appear to be as fine as GOEX fffg, With40gr in each load, I fired the GOEX fffg the 1st round. The 2nd round was my coarse grind, the 3rd round was a finer grind but not as fine as the fffg. The 4th round was GOEX again just for reference. I believe that you can see my coarse grind was the best in the Walker, I'll have to run the same test in an 1851 Navy and an 1858 Remington to see if my course grind is still best for the smaller, lighter loads. Note muzzle flash difference between rounds 1,4 with commercial powder and rounds 2,3 with my grinds. My powder is definitely burning too slow.

Note the rock fence running up the hill at the gate. That must have taken someone that was dedicated to the task of building a fence. The area is posted "No Trespassing" and the gate is secured by a heavy chain and a massive padlock. The Liquid Image Goggle Cam had a problem, the video flickered and the audio was bad. Maybe I didn't fully depress the select button. I hiked in. Motocross boots are not made for walking and they start weighing a ton before you walk too far.

Just some ground I hadn't been over before.

It began to rain, poor visibility, the yellow dirt turns to slime when it gets wet, still, it was a good ride. Burt wants to wear my Liquid Image Video Goggles on the next ride.

I had limited success making it feed with a 7.62x39 upper but with a geissele spring and an H3 Buffer it ran flawlessly with a 5.56 NATO Upper. At about 0.17 seconds per round,it's impossible to get off a single round.

I have been making musket caps from soda can aluminum as well as reloading commercial hat type musket caps. The reloads are a total success but those of soda can aluminum are too weak. They blow out the back and side without sending enough spark down the ignition channel. After I returned home, I tried one with double thickness of aluminum and it also blew out the back and side. I think I need heavier gauge aluminum. While out there, I put a round through my Investarms Hawken, a few rounds through a couple Uberti 1847 Walkers and shot my Interarms Virginian Dragoon .45 Long Colt loaded with black powder and .454 diameter balls.

We logged better than 30 miles without getting far from the farm.

The road from McIntire Springs to Succor Creek passes by Three Fingers Rock.

A 6% gain is much more than just having a good day. Trail conditions are also deteriorating as it becomes more silty. All I can attribute the gain to is better traction with the Tubliss® system and Kenda Trakmaster® K760 6-ply tires front and rear. I had run 10 PSI Rear and 8 PSI front and felt the front was much more stable. Before this ride, I dropped the rear to 8 PSI and possibly caused the front to push a bit but not bad. I discovered that the rear was really hooking up. When I gave it some throttle over a slab of rock, it nearly jumped out from under me. I am feeling more secure, more confident and was soon having so much fun that I forgot I was on the clock. 34.73 miles 1h13m 28.5 MPH Ave. 68.4 MPH Max. Foggy Mountain Breakdown Earl Scruggs and Friends

Liquid Image Goggle Camera captures Furious Farmboy's barbed wire discovery.

The wind has been terrible but it has dried the terrain.We went over Graveyard Rim and across to Succor State Park then decided to attempt a trip to the mustang traps in Long Gulch where it runs into Three Fingers Gulch. We reached 35 miles total before the destination and I have only a 70 mile range. We took an alternate route on the return which should have been shorter but I led us astray. I knew where we were at a line shack and when I saw we were far North of Three Fingers. I put it in the tallest gear it would carry and arrived back at base on fumes.

Mustangs, Bridge Creek, Horse Thief, French John Rd, Mustang Trap

Hunter is an adventurer, he never wants to miss a moment of a road trip. Even in the wee hours of the morning, he struggles to stay awake. He especially loves when a ground squirrel or a rabbit crosses the road. He is special!

In the old days, people would have talked.

This is on the flats after the ATVs did triples within yards of each other up in a dry canyon.

The FRT Trigger still hanging. If I hold the trigger back, it will run another burst but I've never done one continuous mag dump. The H3 5.47 oz. Buffer and Geissele Super 42 spring have helped a lot. Rifle is clean and lubed with mineral oil. Perhaps it just needs to be run in.

Reliability is moderate at best. I suspect I am being too stingy when loading the Prime-All priming compound. I had made a modification to the loading lever on the Dragoon. Unhappily, it appears I'm only halfway to solving the problem. I am using the wrong type of alcohol, it should be denatured or rubbing alcohol. I'm goung to try a mixture of acetone and shellac to cake the compound.

It has been more than 2 months since I've been out on 2 wheels. The ride would have been longer if it weren't for minor mechanical issues.It will take some physical work to change two 6-ply tires. One little mechanical task and it is time for an oi/filter change.

A few get-offs that Spring and some near misses. Rocks hidden in tall grass can put you down.