The Original Henry Rifle

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered a note where Henry Repeating Arms is planning to release “The Original Henry Rifle” in September. I scoured the web and all I came up with was a TTAG post. The price of admission stated is $2,300 which will put the firearm out of reach for most of us, especially when a Uberti equivalent can be had for a grand less. Nevertheless I am interesting is seeing one up close and personal. If it is a .44-40 then it will be a difficult firearm to resist.

I was able to locate the model online. It appears to be model BTH and item H011. Several sites have the incorrect photo. If anyone has more information, please let me know!

Is The Ammo Situation About To Change?

I keep seeing people asking about ammo and discussing the current lack of availability and I have to say I think things are about to change. Late last year when it appeared there would be new firearms legislation the hoarders came out of the woodwork and purchased everything they could get their hands on. It took a miracle to find 22LR and many of the handgun calibers. I would hear stories of the truck arriving and before they could open the cases to put them on the shelves people were already in line to purchase. I even heard of a little retiree syndicate which would go to Wallyworld every morning and see what came in and purchase anything in high demand. I’m not sure if they were planning to eventually sell it, but thus far I’ve not spotted little old men urging folks to check out the ammo in the back of their car. In truth if someone bought a plethora of ammunition with plans to sell it for a profit I hope they get to hold onto their overpriced ammo forever. It would serve them right for hoarding ammo they never plan to use.

Just this week I happened upon some 45ACP at a terrific deal as well as some 5.56 green tip. Then when I hit another store they had CCI MiniMags in stock at a reasonable price with a box limit of 10. That’s the kind of limit I can certainly live with. So what does all this mean? To me it says the ammo is coming back and before long it will not be an issue to find with a little diligence and you may even run across a deal. My plan moving forward is only to purchase ammo when I start to run low or when I find it on sale.  Ammunition will probably never drop back in price to pre-2012 levels, but the shelves should be stocked to a reasonable level by the end of the year. That’s my prediction, we shall see if it comes true!

Can You Get Drunk on NA Beer?

I do believe the answer is no. There just isn’t enough alcohol to affect your system. I recently saw a video where Tim “Eater X” Janus was trying to drink enough beer in an hour to be legally drunk. He drank 28 beers and achieved a 0.02 BAC. It is difficult to predict exactly what your blood alcohol content will be after consuming alcohol because it depends upon what you ate prior to drinking. Greasy foods tend to slow down the absorption while an empty stomach would lead to quick absorption.

I’m not quite sure how he calculated the alcohol. I found an online calculator which puts it at 5 beers in an hour, but they do not list alcohol content. I found another which put the number at 5 beers in an hour to be 0.087 and at 4 beers to be 0.066. So if 60 ounces is 0.087 to have a BAC of 0.08 you would need about 55 ounces of beer or 4.6 beers. So let’s do the math on 4.5 beers and call them 5% ABV. The O’Douls in the video link is 0.4% ABV and he drank 28.  So he had an equivalent number of 11.2 units. 4.5 beers equivalent units should be 22.5 (4.5 x 5). He only blew a 0.02 which brings into question the accuracy of the meter and the accuracy of the ABV representation in the NA beer. Also it takes some time for the alcohol to influence your system so it would have been interesting to see how his BAC increased in a half hour. Anyway, in order to be drunk on O’Douls it seems to me he would need to have over 56 of them in an hour and I don’t think it is possible for anyone to consume 672 ounces (5.25 gallons) safely.

Don’t try this at home, the bottom line is you cannot get drunk on NA beer. You may have water intoxication, but that has nothing to do with alcohol.

Bartender Knowledge

I came across a post entitled Five Things Every Bartender Should Know About Serving Draft Beer and must say it is well worth the time to read. I don’t see the need to rehash the topic, just click the link above or photo below to check it out!

Non-resident permits

There are many things in this world I don’t understand and one of them is the non-resident permit for concealed carry. I keep going through it in my mind and the only place it makes sense is if you lived in a state where it was almost impossible to obtain a concealed permit and were able to obtain one from a state which issues out-of-state permits to non-resident. Maybe someone can help me out with it.

In NC the requirements do cost some coin. You have a mandatory class which takes a full day and is never free. Then you have a permit application which will generally set you back $90. The beauty of the NC CHP is you will have been instructed on the applicable laws concerning deadly force in NC, the safety rules will have been hammered home, and you will have qualified at the range. This will not quite have you out there and ready to conceal, but it will set you on that path. A non-resident permit will perform background checks, but will not instruct you in the law and will not provide any safety training or range qualification. Now if you are an avid shooter you probably do not need the safety training and qualification, but it never hurts anyone to have a refresher.

The best thing about the NC CHP is you no longer have to apply for a PPP. In the end it probably will not save you any money, but in some counties just the waiting time to get a PPP is 30 days and that is ridiculous. So do yourself a favor if you are a NC resident and get a permit from NC. It will be recognized by all states with reciprocity and after October 1 your confidentiality will be preserved by law.

Brew Career?

Every homebrewer dreams of operating a commercial brewery when they first start brewing. Over time the thought often turns to owning a brewery since brewing on a commercial-scale is a young man’s game and requires a ton of time spent cleaning. A good friend of mine decided to pack it in and work for a brewery a few years back and I must admit he really seems to enjoy what he does. He does not brew, but he works with their QA/QC and they measure things we as homebrewers only dream about. It got me to thinking would you take a job at a brewery and leave your current career behind knowing you would most likely take a cut in pay and have to change your lifestyle? I guess at some point you have to decide if it is more important to keep your sanity or to have money in the bank.

A career in anything has its down days, but even the worst day at a brewery ends with a toast and if you bring your work home at least you can drink it! 😉

You have a responsibility!

Ok folks, listen up. I’ve heard two stories this year involving children and accidental firearm discharges and that is two too many. The first was back in May in Winchester, VA when a police officer was on a special needs school bus and the child put their finger in the trigger guard of the handgun and discharged the pistol. The latest was a woman in a Staples in Wake Forest, NC where her 2-year-old was playing in her purse and she grabbed the firearm and shot herself in the hand. In the first instance no one was injured when the officer’s firearm discharged, in the second the woman shot herself. Both are a result of firearms being within the reach of children too young or incapable of knowing better. If you have young or special needs children or are around them and have a firearm you have a responsibility to keep the firearm out of their reach. We all know if children can play with something, they will. In the first case the holster needed to cover the trigger so a child could not get their finger into the trigger guard in the first place. In the second the woman needed to either keep her child from putting her hands in the purse, or get a purse designed for concealed carry.

The bottom line is if you have children or will be around children take the time to consider what might happen and take precautions to prevent accidents. Even better would be to teach your children about firearms safety while they are young and if they are too young or incapable of understanding, to ensure they never have access.

Required Concealed Carry Class Elements in NC

I find it difficult to believe people just cannot understand what the required elements are for a concealed class in North Carolina. The code is provided to all instructors and is posted on the NCDOJ website.

If you are contemplating taking a class ask the instructor if they teach all the required elements in the NC Code 12 NCAC 09F .0102 and if they balk or give any answer other than yes find another instructor.

How long can you survive making substandard product?

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately. We are blessed in North Carolina with a blooming beer culture and breweries popping up left and right on almost every corner of a populated area. The problem I see is many are trying to fill the tanks without attention for detail. I recently had brews I would pour out if I had made them myself and I question whether the breweries putting out such products have brewing and recipe formulation experience. When one brewery opened up they were rushing things so much the beers were far from stellar, they soon realized the error of their ways and started to give the beers some time to mature.

It’s for sure a balancing act to get the beer to market because if the beer is just sitting in the tank it is costing the brewery money instead of making the brewery money. I’d just like to see new breweries open up with an eye on quality control and quality assurance. A slip here and there along the way is to be expected, but when you find you wish you had not paid for 75% of the beers you had at a brewery you have a question their potential for long-term survival.

Can I have a concealed firearm in a US Post Office parking lot?

Yes, after a recent court ruling which paves the way where you can have a concealed firearm in a US Post Office parking lot with a CHP, but you cannot carry concealed or open carry inside of the post office. This question popped up recently and I thought it might be interesting to post the information from a CNN story. Some have said the ruling only applies to Colorado, but it was a suit brought against the USPS and the judge was a Federal judge. Now you may get to test the theory that this applies at every Post Office parking lot, so tread lightly, but if you have a CHP and the firearm remains concealed in the vehicle I just cannot see how you would ever run afoul of the law after this ruling.