May I take your order?

On May 29 Ruger announced it was once again taking orders from independent wholesale distributors.

May 29, 2012
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) announced today that it has resumed the normal acceptance of orders from its independent wholesale distributors.

On March 21, 2012, the Company announced that its independent wholesale distributors had placed orders with the Company for more than one million Ruger firearms in the first quarter of 2012, and therefore the Company had temporarily suspended the acceptance of new orders.

Demand for our products is very strong, and the current backlog remains significantly above year ago levels. Our production and shipments in the first quarter of 2012 increased more than 50% from the first quarter of 2011 and remain very strong.

This is great news for those who have been itching to get their hands on one of the new Ruger products as the pipeline should at least begin to flow a little better. Getcha some!

Speed Racer

As you may be aware I suffered some food poisoning recently and it came with an elevated fever, body aches, abdominal pain and abdominal swelling. The latter is the “fermentation” topic for today’s post.

The abdominal swelling I encountered was painful and caused swelling which was painful to my ribcage and diaphragm. My thinking is the elevated fever and bacterium caused an upset in my small intestine which culminated in the creation of gas, lots and lots of gas. Since it was after my stomach and before the large intestine it was essentially trapped until it could move on in the digestive system. Since it was over the holiday weekend the choices were few, go to the hospital or try to treat it myself. I decided to give Gas X a whirl since I figured there was little to lose.

Gas X is really Simethicone and originally I thought it stopped the creation of gas, but in reality it does not stop it, what it does is lessen the surface tension of gas bubble causing them to be more easily passed through the digestive system. Simethicone is not absorbed by the body, it basically does it’s job and then is safely excreted and it has no know side affects. So if you need to calm fermentation in the stomach or intestines which is creating gas, Simethicone is the way to go!

The coldest beer?

I heard a comedian the other day who made an excellent point. Often we see advertisements for beer where they talk about how “cold” their beer is or some such nonsense. Cold is a consumer choice. I mean does the brewery come to your house and set your fridge so your beer is at what they believe is the optimum serving temp or do you throw the six-pack in the fridge and later decided when it is cold enough to drink? Of course not.

Many beer styles taste better when not served ice-cold. A warmer temp will release more carbonation and also more aromatics which also add to the flavor. (Of course if you are drinking the beer from the bottle or can instead of the glass you aren’t sniffing those aromatics anyway, but that is fodder for another day.)

So the next time you see a beer commercial touting cold, give it a critical eye. Most likely it is a marketing company trying to find a novel way to sell the beer rather than some new and exciting method of insuring your fridge at home is at the optimum serving temperature.

PS: There is a method, it is called a thermometer.

 

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day and we should remember all our Veterans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedom. If you know a Veteran, tell them thank you for your service, if you are a Veteran, I thank you for your service.

For those that gave their lives fighting for the freedom of the United States of America, there is no way I can ever say thank you enough. I may not have known you, but I will not forget you!

Here is a Memorial Day Tribute to our veterans.

First Do No Harm

Still under the weather so today’s post will be short and hopefully at least a little sweet. As I got to thinking about my current ailment (food poisoning) and the potential sources of my exposure, one was immediately ruled out, BEER. There is nothing which can grow or reside in fermented beer which would be harmful to your health. Now one may experience some intestinal discomfort if they are sensitive to the live yeasts which may be present in beer. If you drink some lambic and sour beer styles there may be bacteria which could also prove to be, shall we say, gassy to certain people. A segment of the population may have gluten intolerance, but that is not an issue with beer, rather a digestive system issue.

So no matter what beer will not harm you.

(Note: once I start feeling ill alcohol is the first thing which is eliminated from my beverage selections.)

Magazine vs Clip

I had this intelligent post planned for today on the difference between a magazine and a clip, but I’m not feeling well so while doing my research I hit upon a very good article on the subject and will give the nod to The Gun Zone.

Please read their article if you are interested in the difference. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Everything and the kitchen sink

At our local homebrew meeting this week one of the attendees brought in a beer where they had put in everything they had including a myriad of spices, herbs, and assorted other things. The grain bill was all-inclusive and I’m not exactly sure what they were thinking and how they ever conceived the beer would be palatable.

If you are a homebrewer or are thinking about it and are going to stray off the beaten path be sure you know what the flavor contribution will be from what you add to the recipe. It is never a good idea to add something just because you happen to have it. If you have not tried a particular ingredient before, take a recipe you have made before and add that ingredient so you know what the outcome will be and how to tweak for optimum flavor.

I think the motto should be if you are creating your own recipe When In Doubt Leave It Out if you do not have experience with that ingredient. It is perfectly fine to use up a bit of this grain or a bit of that grain, but when you start adding spices and herbs things can go downhill quickly. Do yourself and your beer a favor and know your ingredients, or at least don’t bring the beer to a homebrew meeting. Thanks in advance!

.44-40 vs 45 Long Colt

Last night I was discussing .44-40 and 45 Long Colt with a friend who knows I have an affinity for cowboy firearms. While I know and can instruct the basics of reloading, he takes reloading to another extreme and even casts his own bullets.

He said he prefers the .44-40 to the 45LC because the thinner brass will expand fuller in the chamber of the rifle on the .44-40. I did some research this morning and found out he was correct (I already figured he was). The brass on 45LC does not seal the chamber as well and can end up fouling the chamber as well as potentially scorch the casing. Best I can find the 45LC (bottom photo) is easier to reload due to the straight casing as opposed to the .44-40 bottleneck casing (first photo below), but with some practice it is not difficult to learn how to handle the .44-40.

On one forum I found a note that the smaller rim on the 45LC can cause issues cycling in a level action, and someone mentioned the bottleneck casing on the .44-40 helps with feeding into the chamber.

So now I’m torn. I guess when I finally decide to go get that Henry or Uberti Henry I’ll probably have to consider the .44-40.

We don’t need no stinkin’ badges

Often the question comes up about the BJCP badges and why people cannot access the system. It’s actually a very simple answer, the online database has not yet been replicated. The badge ordering system works like this:

• For new judges once you take the judging exam a record is created.
• This record is not on the website database until the database is uploaded and replicated. The date of the last update will show on the BJCP Home Page in the column to the right below Check your record
• Once you see a rank indicated in your record you are now eligible to order a badge.
• The badge ordering system is not automatic and the badges are ordered every few months.
• Once the badge order is sent to the vendor to be filled it may take some additional time for them to process the order and ship your badge to you.

It is difficult for new judges to be patient after they have waited to receive their exam results, but keep in mind once you pass the exams and earn a rank you will be a BJCP Judge forever. If the site has replicated, your rank is displayed in the database correctly and you have any issues, do not hesitate to contact the BJCP Communication Director so they can help fix the issue.

A Single Shot

Today we have become a society where we default to bigger being better. Instead of a rifle with a single shot we want the ability to follow-up with as many shots as the firearm can hold and then carry around additional magazines to further increase capacity. In my opinion marksmanship has suffered as a result of this ideology.

I remember the Winchester Model 67 my father let me use which was given to him as a boy. It was a 22 caliber and could shoot shorts, long and long rifle, but was a bolt-action single shot with no clip or magazine (please note for those cringing at my use of the term clip, some rifles to employ a clip). Your shot had to count or it would take too long to reload and get off a second shot. I’d often keep bullets in my lips (I know, a bad idea) to be ready to go if I needed a follow-up shot.

The first time he gave me the gun I set up an old paper oil can in a tree and tried to hit it and could not hit the broad side of a barn. My mother was a ferocious typist and I borrowed some liquid paper and dotted the front sight to make it more visible. From then on I was deadly accurate with that rifle. I like to squirrel hunt and  we would eat the squirrel for supper after I finished up the hunt. My grandmother would not allow me to shoot them in the head since she wanted the brains so I would have to hit the squirrel with a deadly shot in the heart. Lest you think that is an easy shot just try to figure out where the heart is in a squirrel when it is running between trees. I remember one particularly fast squirrel got seven shots at him and I though I was missing until I brought the poor boy down and found seven holes in him.

Over time I got better with that rifle. One day while squirrel hunting with a buddy we saw a tweety bird bouncing from limb to limb. I’m not exactly sure what type of bird it was, but that is what we called them. He started to take aim with a shotgun and I told him to save the shell I’d take it out with the Model 67. I watched the bird bounce at 50-70 yards and noticed it stopped for a split second when it hit the limb. After a few more bounces I pulled the trigger and we had us a tweety bird. Another time we found a snake poking it’s head out of a cinder block wall and my father wanted me to shoot it. We thought about a shotgun, but that would mar the wall so I suggested the old Winchester. Pulled it out and by the time I got there all you could see on the snake was the tip of it’s head. I took aim into the crack from above and a few seconds later the snake, having been shot, released it’s muscles and slowly slid out of the wall. It was about 6 feet long so it took awhile to reach the ground.

So why today would anyone want a single shot? Perhaps nostalgia for times gone by or perhaps they desire to improve their marksmanship. Often today bolt-action rifles come with a magazine which is not a bad thing, however if you want to know you have to make your shots count, a single shot is the way to go.