OTA Dispatch Issue 2 2020

31 www.ortrucking.org Issue 2 | 2020 Peterman sold his first one to the public in 1939. “I bought the first or second Peterbilt with trailer ever made,” John Nosler said. “I could haul 20 tons with it, while the most the Fords could haul was seven or eight tons.” That Peterbilt with a diesel engine was good for five to seven miles to the gallon, about what the Ford would do, but diesel at the time cost five cents a gallon while gas was 23 cents. “When we were going to L.A., we could buy diesel at three cents a gallon,” Nosler said. With a more powerful truck, running on cheaper fuel, Nosler was able to buy more Peterbilts. “Had one in every place,” Nosler said. And with good people working for him, the still youthful business owner had more time to hunt and target shoot and tinker on better ways to make things in his truck repair shop that was next door to his home. In 1941, John made his first hunt for moose in British Columbia, rewarding himself and a couple of friends with a month-long foray into the wilds. They drove north in a gun-metal gray Ford truck, crossed the Fraser River and met a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman who told of a guide he had heard about, making a living way out in the back country. The Mountie gave vague instructions on where this hunting guide might be found. After that first hunt in Canada, John Nosler was hooked on moose hunting. World War II started for the United States on December 7 of that year with Japanese Zeros flying out of the sun over Pearl Harbor. And as ‘41 rolled into ‘42, fuel and rubber and steel were needed by the boys headed to the South Pacific, North Africa and France. On the home front, the Noslers worked for the war effort too, along with many of their neighbors. Local leaders organized boards to issue permits for tires, gasoline and other supplies necessary to the economy. The tires of those days were thin and hard to get. Gas might have been cheap but stamps were only good for five gallons per month. John saved gas coupons and tire coupons until he had enough to go hunting again. And in the fall of ‘46, he encountered a bull moose in a swamp. The best rifle of the day, a Winchester Model 70 in 300 H&HMagnum, with the best bullet available was not good enough to stop that moose. Recounting the story later, Nosler said it took something like seven bullets before one would penetrate to the vitals. The bullets flattened on the tough mud-caked hide. On the way home, Nosler puzzled over the problem. On a napkin in a roadside café in British Columbia, the truck driver sketched out a solution—two bullets in one. A bullet with a lead core in the front and a lead core in the rear. The front lead would initiate expansion while the rear lead would penetrate for a humane kill. A bullet that would carry its momentum like a big Peterbilt roaring down the highway. A bullet with a partition. As his interest in ballistics and bullet construction grew, Nosler would use stops in San Francisco to comb libraries and bookstores for books on engineering. Finally, he bought a screw machine and shipped it back to Ashland in a Peterbilt. John bought 5/16-inch copper wire and turned it down to .305, then drilled out each side of the copper slug and poured in molten lead. He used dies to close the tip and form the projectile. After some experimentation, he could load the new bullets into brass and shoot them accurately enough to keep them in a paper plate. The next moose hunt was in 1948, when the first Partitions were used on moose. And the owner of Nosler Produce founded Nosler Bullets. His invention, which was to change big game hunting forever, was called the Nosler Partition. Next time you hear the rumble of a Peterbilt, remember John Nosler, who might never have changed the world of hunting if he had not bought that first Peterbilt.  Gary Lewis is the guest writer and author of “John Nosler Going Ballistic.” www.garylewisoutdoors.com John and Louise Nosler. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NOSLER FAMILY The Nosler Produce fleet during the war years. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NOSLER FAMILY