Thank you Jay!

EDIT:  after reading your instructions 3-4 times I think I understand, I'm a complete moron when it comes to electrical and I just have a cheap harbor freight multi meter but have been eyeing one that has the R1 setting that Mark T suggests and is analog so I may pick that up first. 

Could run an earth wire from anywhere convenient on the motor & up to the coil mount under the tank just to be sure. Just thinking though, those 250's might have the ignition source earthed through the lighting coil as they did with early models. 'guessing a bit though'. So if the lighting coils are jangling around loose on their poles then could be shorting or breaking the earth so not earthing. Just clutching at straws but i'm convinced its electrical untill proved wrong.

Hey RT325, I did think about adding another ground to the coil under the tank and also clean up the threads holding to the frame and maybe some new bolts to ensure it's getting a good ground.  I will probably do that tomorrow so wish me luck.

Does anything change if you turn the lights on.

Good morning RT325, I believe I've tried it with and without lights on but can confirm today if it's not raining later.

Ok guys here's where I am with my sever lack of electrical knowledge.  I bought a multi meter with Rx1 and tested the coil, it appears to be good.  I then took off the mag cover, connected the multi meter to black coming out of mag (not connected to coil), when I rotated the stator the meter went to zero so I had a look at the points which didn't look like they were open, which I'm assuming they are not set correctly or am I making the proverbial a** out of myself? 

I'm a bit confused & what's worse--old & confused. It's running so something must be right but its how it's running. Me thinking ignition!! & it'd be a bit hard to do without being under load, but can you strobe it pointing the strobe 'anywhere' to get a good reflection then see if the strobe light falters as the misfire happens. Maybe the only reliable way would be to have it tied down on a dyno & lightly loaded up in gear.

Hi RT325, it only breaks up at higher RPM's.  The bike starts first kick so I believe timing is correct but looking at the points today I can't tell if they are even opening since they seem to be opening so little.  The points and condenser were installed maybe 250 miles or so ago so don't have much run time on them. 

Ok, so we're back to points gap. If you've done 250 miles on new ones then likely the fiber heal has settled in which closes the gap & retards the timing & even worse if barely visibly moving. So it's back to "sounding retarded" when you pull back in to your drive & its running slowly--sounds retarded in the timing which all adds up, with lack of gap. Ok just went back & found it on page one & it's noticeable on startup, just sounding retarded similar to very low compression but not thinking 'that' considering its a fresh top end.

Thanks RT325, so I'm guessing that I need to re-time it?