Gouge Much?

I happened to be in a store in Virginia who had received a handful of AR-15s and had them out for sale. I’m not a black gun kinda guy, so I only know what a handful are really worth. They had a coupled of Stag Arms rifles and going by the website they were Model 3. The price was something like $1500-1600 which seemed reasonable enough based on the current buying climate. The MSRP is $895 for that rifle so somebody is making bank. Even if it happened to be a Model 2T the MSRP is only $1,130 so IMO the store was gouging. I had my suspicions when they said their PMags were $40 each and then the .223 on the shelf was $16 per 20. What’s really sad is while we were standing there talking they mentioned how others were gouging. Now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?

I don’t mind a shop making a profit. There are stores who have never had great prices and from what I have heard they have not raised their prices during this time of high demand and low supply. If you are getting the merchandise at the same cost as before the current conditions and have raised your prices then you are gouging. Now if your costs have increased and you are passing along the incremental costs then you are not gouging. I know shops see the prices occurring on auction sites and figure they better get their piece of the pie, but if you are artificially inflating the price it doesn’t do any of us any good. I realize someone might buy that $900 firearm and go throw it on an auction site for $1500, but if that is what the shop is trying to stop, just go put it on the auction site yourself. No one will fault you for selling something in that manner. But just to drive up the cost because you can isn’t going to bring me back in to see you when things calm back down.

Bottom line, if you gouge many people will not forget you did.

Note: This type of gouging is not illegal, even if there was a declared state of emergency. 😉

 

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Philadelphia Conference Location

Way back in October I asked where the conference was going to be held in Philadelphia and heard crickets chirping until January 18 when someone noticed the website had been updated. I can understand not announcing the hotel until the contracts are signed, but if the hotel rooms are not going to be released until February 5, what is the harm in telling people the exact conference location?

Anyway, here it is. I hope the information helps someone with their travel plans. I know it helped me!

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Hotel

Official Conference Hotel

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
1201 Market Street
Philadelphia, Pa.
19107 USA
Phone: (215) 625.2900

Maps & Directions

The Philadelphia Marriott Downtown will activate the AHA Conference room rate on Feb. 5 at 9 am EST.  

You may reserve your conference hotel room via links provided here after Feb. 5 or by phone with the hotel.

Limited rooms are available at the discounted conference room rate. Nearby hotels will be announced if/when the official hotel sells out.

Rates
Single & Double Occupancy: $137 + tax
Additional people: $20 each + tax
Current Tax Rate: 15.2%

What would you do for a craft beer?

Last night I was a little tired from driving and spied an Outback across the parking lot. Now Outback does pretty good food for a chain, but then the thought popped into my head the beer list is pretty weak. They do have a good margarita, but I really wanted a good beer. After a minute of standing with the car door opened I finally got in and headed to a brewpub to have their IPA. It was the right decision, but the thought then popped into my head all the things I have done to get a craft beer. I could probably make a series of them, but the list is long and varied.

Once, way back in the day, I drove into Virginia in search of barleywine since it would have been illegal at the time in NC. Little did I know at the time the style was usually seasonal and getting it required finding a specialty beer store. Nonetheless I popped my head into every store near the border. Later that year I was in Reno and couldn’t find it there either. Of course nowadays the stores are brimming with barleywine year round.

I can recall driving from Buffalo to Honeyoe Falls to get beer from a brewery I liked. Nevermind it was over an hour drive just to make the trek from my hotel to the brewery. Often I will make my hotel reservations with the thought in mind of which restaurant is close by which will have a good craft beer selection. I’ll plan my route so it will pass a great beer store or a watering hole with craft beer.

So ask yourself, what would you do for a craft beer?

 

Simple 22 / 45 Mods

Way back in August I posted about a Ruger 22/45 Target I picked up for a song. I needed to replace the sear spring which was bent and so I decided to modify a few other things. The spring was a $2 part from Ruger, but I picked up a bushing to replace the magazine disconnector, magazine disconnector spring and old hammer bushing. This mod allows the magazine to fall free. It really is simple, I got a BAM’s Hammer Bushing for $15 and it was a cinch to install. Now anything with the 22/45 takes about eight hands to accomplish, but if you pay attention during the disassembly the reassembly process will be a piece of cake. I took a nail to push the sear spring off the hammer pin, pushed the pin out enough to lift out the hammer assembly and then put in the new bushing and reinstalled the hammer assembly.

If you were careful and kept the sear in the proper orientation with the safety by not completely removing the hammer pin the swap should only take a minute. When you get ready to put the firearm back together pay attention to the hammer position. Keep it back and the gun pointed down until you are ready to install the mainspring. Pull the trigger so the hammer will go forward. Hold the barrel down until you get the mainspring through the side and barrel, then turn with the muzzle up and push the mainspring into place in the frame.

For the second mod all you need is the magazine. The gun with the bull barrel seems a little heavy from an appearance standpoint so I installed a 22/45 Mag Bumper on each magazine. They are a cinch to install, but if you slip the spring is going to shoot across the room so be careful. They have a YouTube video of the installation. On the left you can see the standard magazine and on the right with the mag bumper.

In the photo below you can see two pistols with the updated mag bumper on the magazine.

Two simple modifications, one which allows the magazine to drop free and another which adds character to the firearm and makes it easier to grip the magazine.

Justified

I recently saw a post on a forum by an expert witness about a case out west where a person noticed someone stalking his car in a parking lot and he told them to leave. Then as he was getting into the seat of his car another man came at him with a knife and told him to get out of the car. The first person he had instructed to get away from his car also then closed in on the driver’s door. The person getting into the car was a concealed handgun permit holder and when it became clear the two assailants were not going to let him leave and meant to do him harm he shot them both. They both fled the scene and he called the police. Later he was charged in that state with shooting the “unarmed” man. After the expert spoke with the prosecutor the charges were dropped.

The take away from the incident was to not shoot anything which does not present an immediate threat and that is excellent advice. In the end he was justified in his actions for that state, but it was an expensive process to demonstrate his actions were justified. It involved lawyers and expert witnesses.

Now let’s move the same scenario to North Carolina. In NC the general statute § 14-51.2 would have allowed the CHP holder to shoot the assailants because of the threat of deadly force with the knife and the fact they were attempting to remove him against his will from the motor vehicle.

§ 14-51.2. Home, workplace, and motor vehicle protection; presumption of fear of death or serious bodily harm.

(b) The lawful occupant of a home, motor vehicle, or workplace is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm to another if both of the following apply:

(1) The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a home, motor vehicle, or workplace, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against that person’s will from the home, motor vehicle, or workplace.

(2) The person who uses defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred.

 

So under NC law he would be justified in shooting both assailants, but IMO it still would be prudent to eliminate the demonstrated threat, the person with the knife, and then decide if the second assailant was a threat which needed to be eliminated.

Note: Both assailants went to the hospital after they were shot and both recovered from their wounds.

 

Eis Eis Baby

We were coated in a sheet of ice yesterday due to a winter storm so I decided to pull out an Eisbock brewed in 2002 by an old friend. The beer was a Silver medal in the 2002 AHA National Homebrew Competition and it had beer lurking in the back of my DBF ever since the brewer put it in my hot little hand. The style is not one that often pops up at location competition, but the methodology is to brew a doppelbock and concentrate the beer by freezing. This process brings out some really intense malt flavors and of course with water removed increases the level of alcohol. Over the years I have inadvertently frozen several beers and I can attest you do not want to do this with anything hoppy since those flavors become harsh. A nice smooth lager is the best beer to concentrate if you choose to do so and if it is legal to do so in your state.

What I thought might be interesting this morning would be to throw a little math in the mix and figure out the approximate alcohol content of the Eisbock. We’ll have to make some assumptions, but we’ll be in the ballpark. So the Eisbock I had last night had an original gravity (OG) of 1.085 and a finishing gravity (FG) of 1.018 before freezing and after removing the ice the FG was 1.022. For our first assumption we will have to assume the hydrometer was calibrated and correct.

Let’s initially assume 1 gallon of water was removed as ice from 5 gallons of beer. It’s pretty easy to figure the approximate alcohol of the original beer was (85 – 18) x 0.131 = 8.78%. Since alcohol is conserved in freezing then new ABV is pretty simple to calculate as well. (8.78 x 5) / 4 = 10.98%. So let’s check our math using that finishing gravity of the 5 gallon batch. 5 x 18 = 90 / 4 = 22.5 or 1.0225. So 1 gallon of ice could not have been removed since we did not end up with the same result. To end with the measured value of 1.022 we would need to end up with 5 x 18 / 22 = 4.09 gallons. So the actual amount water removed as ice was 5 – 4.09 = 0.91 gallon. Knowing this we can now calculate the actual ABV using the initial volume of 5 gallons and the final volume of 4.09 gallons. The equation is (8.78 x 5) / 4.09 = 10.73%. Ain’t math fun?

BJCP Exam Score Tabulation

It recently popped up on a forum about how BJCP exam scores are tabulated. It pretty much works like this. If you have a legacy exam taken prior to April 2012 your score was tabulated as 70% written and 30% taste and will stay that way until you retake the exam. If you retake either part the new calculation is 50% written and 50% judging. If you had a really high written score and a low judging score the old system was your friend. Now you must perform equally well on both parts to advance.

Note: If you have taking the entrance exam then your score and rank will be determined by your judging examination, but capped at the rank of Certified until you take the Written Proficiency Exam and then your scores will be calculated using the 50/50 methodology.

Bold Rock Virginia Apple Cider

Happened upon Bold Rock Cider at the restaurant last night and I must say it is quite delicious. The alcohol content is 4.7% and the cider is slightly sweet, but crisp with a ton of fresh apple flavor. The Cidery is in Nelson County, VA overlooking the Rockfish River not too far from the Wintergreen Ski Resort. For a cider company who only released their first bottles in May of 2012 this one is on its way. I don’t know what their distribution is currently and suspect it will be awhile before you can find it outside of Virginia, but if you do find yourself somewhere between Richmond and Charlottesville be sure to see if you can find it in bottles or on draft.

Be Skeptical

I hate that I have become skeptical, but lately it seems as if things I thought to be so just aren’t. It all started with the re-airing of Roots on BET. I recorded the show and vividly remember watching it when it first aired in 1977. We were viewing the recordings over Christmas and had to do some traveling so I asked my wife to research the timeline of Alex Haley’s ancestors to see when certain people lived. Along the way we found that Haley had fabricated much of the book, plagiarized would be a more accurate term, and that main ancestors could not have possibly been the children since the father died before the daughter was born. So much was false that the book has to be considered fiction. It totally blew me away that this was false.

Last week I saw a quote attributed to a historical figure as his writing. It seemed a little too convenient so I went to the internet and found it quoted on over 1,600 websites according to Google. That still seemed a little suspect so I went to the manuscript and searched the entire document. The quote never appears. It even gets worse, I could find no instance where they actually said what was attributed, no speech, writing, nothing.

This week I was researching quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and using the Mlkday.gov site to corroborate one I liked. However it really didn’t seem correct to me even though it appears on the dot gov site, not at all like something he would say so I dug a little deeper. I found that the quote was close, but had been paraphrased. It still meant the same thing, but if it is paraphrased it simply isn’t a quote. Then a friend posted another quote on Facebook and it too was out of context and was not something Dr. King wrote. Finally a family member sent me a quote attributed to Dr. King, once again a thorough search revealed he probably never made, nor wrote the statement. (Note: Do not quote the Mlkday.gov site, most of the quotes there are not direct quotes.)

Last night I happened to catch a documentary on Axs.tv called FrackNation. I had never heard of it and told my wife we should watch it since we enjoyed the Gasland documentary (in a minute you will see why I will not link to Gasland). Within a few minutes it became clear this new documentary was going to explore the reality of the Gasland documentary. I must say that based on Gasland I was fearful of fracking and was not sure we should allow new exploration and wells. It was a compelling documentary. FrackNation started by questioning the Gasland filmaker Josh Fox and showed enough truths to make Gasland a fictionalized story. It totally shattered my view of the film. Fox had not presented truth in much of the documentary and had sensationalized many trivial points. Don’t take my word for it, watch the FrackNation. I went to the interwebs and did a quick bit of research and it becomes clear the more truthful story is that of FrackNation.

Earlier this week a friend posted a photo with gun stats on Facebook. This is the same friend who was posting incorrect MLK quotes. They are for gun control and I while I do not agree with their position, I do respect them enough as a friend to listen to and respect their opinion. However on this photo I decided to check some statistics and they turned out to just not be true. The photo was a share of a share of a share and when it was traced back to the origin it was an anti-gun group who it seemed their sole purpose is to chastise and disarm law-abiding citizens. On their Facebook page some had visited and questioned their statistics and the anti-gun group pointed to a study, which I already had seen and downloaded, and they misrepresented the data in the study.

The point of my post today is to stay skeptical. This doesn’t mean to not trust anything, but if you do see or read something about guns, gun violence, or gun control, be sure to check out the information thoroughly before passing it on to others. You may just find the information was not true in the first place.

A few simple rules

There are quite a few new gun owners and if you are going to handle a firearm there are a few simple safety rules that must be followed. The NRA has rules, manufacturers have rules, heck, everybody has rules. What I would like to do is to give you one rule, let’s call it the Golden Rule, and then the NRA rules for safe gun handling. So here it is, my Golden Rule:

Treat Every Firearm As If It Is Loaded

Simple right? So you unloaded a firearm, now you can point it and pull the trigger. Heck no! The firearm is still to be treated as if it is loaded. If you follow that rule and handle every single firearm as if it is loaded it is impossible to have an accident. Guns do not spontaneously discharge. In the case of some long guns they may discharge if dropped with a round in the chamber, but most of the time the trigger is pulled or depressed by an object and that causes the discharge. So let’s take a look at the NRA rules:

1. ALWAYS keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction
2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire
3. ALWAYS keep the firearm unloaded until ready to use

Let’s break these down a little. If I always keep the firearm pointed in a safe direction then even if the gun somehow magically discharged it would not hurt anyone. Since we know a gun cannot magically discharge, if I keep my finger off the trigger until I have my sights on target and I am ready to fire the gun will only shoot at the target. The last rule is key as well. If you are not using the gun, do not keep it loaded. I can see the eye rolls from people thinking about home defense. If you have a home defense gun then have it in a safe, secured location, pointed in a safe direction and ready to be retrieved for use. Otherwise keep them unloaded. An unloaded gun, with your finger off the trigger and pointed in a safe direction can never harm or hurt anyone. To me that boils down to treat every firearm as if it is loaded.

The NRA has some additional safe handling rules copied below.

Know your target and what is beyond. Be absolutely sure you have identified your target beyond any doubt. Equally important, be aware of the area beyond your target. This means observing your prospective area of fire before you shoot. Never fire in a direction in which there are people or any other potential for mishap. Think first. Shoot second.

Be sure the gun is safe to operate. Just like other tools, guns need regular maintenance to remain operable. Regular cleaning and proper storage are a part of the gun’s general upkeep. If there is any question concerning a gun’s ability to function, a knowledgeable gunsmith should look at it.

Know how to use the gun safely. Before handling a gun, learn how it operates. Know its basic parts, how to safely open and close the action and remove any ammunition from the gun or magazine. Remember, a gun’s mechanical safety device is never foolproof. Nothing can ever replace safe gun handling.

Use only the correct ammunition for your gun. Only BBs, pellets, cartridges or shells designed for a particular gun can be fired safely in that gun. Most guns have the ammunition type stamped on the barrel. Ammunition can be identified by information printed on the box and sometimes stamped on the cartridge. Do not shoot the gun unless you know you have the proper ammunition.

Wear eye and ear protection as appropriate. Guns are loud and the noise can cause hearing damage. They can also emit debris and hot gas that could cause eye injury. For these reasons, shooting glasses and hearing protectors should be worn by shooters and spectators.

Never use alcohol or drugs before or while shooting. Alcohol, as well as any other substance likely to impair normal mental or physical bodily functions, must not be used before or while handling or shooting guns.

Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons.
Many factors must be considered when deciding where and how to store guns. A person’s particular situation will be a major part of the consideration. Dozens of gun storage devices, as well as locking devices that attach directly to the gun, are available. However, mechanical locking devices, like the mechanical safeties built into guns, can fail and should not be used as a substitute for safe gun handling and the observance of all gun safety rules.

Be aware that certain types of guns and many shooting activities require additional safety precautions.

 

Knowing the target and what is beyond is key, if it is not safe to shoot, do not shoot. So treat every firearm as if it is loaded, always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, always keep your finger off the trigger and always keep the firearms unloaded until ready to use!