Wednesday IDPA

It's been four weeks since I shot the IDPA classifier, and I finally got back down to Black Creek this week to shoot another IDPA match. It was a small course of fire, just 38 rounds minimum, but still a lot of fun. I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked, but trigger time is trigger time, and due to my busy schedule I'll take a match when I can get one!

The first three strings made use of the same target array, shown below. On the first string the shooter started seated, facing up range. On the signal you turned and engaged two targets on one side, with 2 body and 1 head shot each, from behind the barricade, then moved to the opposite side to repeat. The next string required engaging the two strong hand side targets, with one head and one body shot, strong hand only. Then the string was repeated for the weak hand side, using only the weak hand. Good stuff there.

Black Creek likes to mix it up with some steel in the IDPA matches on occasion. Some purists get upset by this but I welcome the opportunity. This week the plate rack was set up with the six plates painted in three colors, and the plates had to be knocked over in the prescribed order. This was done three times; free style, strong hand only, weak hand only.

In the end I finished low, just 10th out of 12. However since all the shooters except one were ranked Sharpshooter or above, and I'm ranked at the low end of Sharpshooter, I placed about where I expected. And there are plenty of upcoming matches at which to work on my IDPA skills.

After I finished shooting there were no other shooters waiting at the time, so the range master asked if I wanted to shoot the stages again or shoot the plate rack for a while. I don't get the opportunity to practice on a plate rack outside of matches so I took him up on that. I loaded up a few mags and took 6 or 7 runs on the rack. It's pretty amazing how much easier it is when there's no clock running!

I spent more time driving to the range than I spent on the range, but it was still fun. On the way down I was passed by the Google Maps Street View car. I don't know if it was recording or not but I figure it didn't hurt to fix my hair and smile as it went by.

They Toy With Me

I'm in Williamsburg, VA for the weekend for an annual meeting / convention event. I open my "goodie bag" and there, right on top of all the touristy brochures, is a coupon promoting Williamsburg AleWerks. It's not too from the hotel. As is typical with these events, the schedule is jammed. There's no open time to escape.

However, the do apparently have the brewery's Chesapeake Pale Ale in the hotel pub. I think I can sneak in there at some point.

Vital Message From Rabbi Dovid Bendory

You need to watch this. It's important to all Americans, not just our Jewish compatriots.

See more at "A vital message from JPFO's Rabbi Dovid Bendory", IF you believe in personal freedom.

Oysters and Beer

Actually, in this case it's oysters in beer. Last November, Flying Dog Brewery released the limited edition of Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout, brewed with Rappahannock River Oysters. The beer was produced to benefit the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), one of the region’s leading nonprofits restoring oysters back into the Chesapeake Bay. Due to the success of the beer, and to continue raising money for the cause, Flying Dog has added the beer to its regular, year-round lineup. Proceeds from the sales will continue to go towards restoring the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay.

Growing up near Baltimore, I enjoyed many Chesapeake Bay oysters. On the half-shell is my favorite serving method, but I'll eat them cooked too. When this beer came out I wanted to try it, but never had the chance. Now that this oyster stout is being brewed regularly, the good folks at Flying Dog provided me with a sample for review. And I didn't wait long to try it out.

Flying Dog Oyster Stout pours dark cola brown, with a mocha-colored head that drops fairly rapidly to a thin ring. The aroma is dark roasted coffee with a touch of dark chocolate. The flavor sweet dark roasted malt. There is a mild, salty aspect to the flavor, I assume from the oysters. No, there weren't any oysters in the bottle, but there is a hint of brine in the flavor. The roasted malt and bitter hop notes linger in the aftertaste.

I didn't find this stout to be as darkly roasted as some stouts, but the oysters did add an interesting twist. If I were to grab this one again, it would be more for the novelty and to support a good cause. Flying Dog has another stout, although seasonal, that would be my first choice..

Writing this review gave me pause to reminisce about the times spent standing at a raw bar in Baltimore and watching the expert shuckers opening oysters and sliding the half-shells in front me to enjoy. It's harder to find good oysters these days, but maybe through the efforts of the Oyster Recovery Partnership that situation will improve.

Disclaimer: This bottle of Oyster Stout was an unsolicited gift from the brewery. This review written of my own free will.

Beer & Bullets: Delivered

The big brown truck of happiness arrived today and dropped off three boxes of goodies. We received 2,000 rounds of 45ACP and, coincidently, a box of beer from 45er who writes the Barrel Smoke blog.

I plied 45er with some Virginia beers recently and he's returned the favor with some Texas beers. He's also picked up well on my fondness for Pale Ales and IPAs. All of these beers will be new for me so I'm looking forward to trying them out.

I May Live Forever

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine is suggesting that coffee, lots of it, may indeed be good for you.

The new study is by far the largest of its kind to date. As part of a joint project with the AARP, researchers from the National Institutes of Health followed more than 400,000 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 for up to 13 years, during which 13% of the participants died. 

Overall, coffee drinkers were less likely than their peers to die during the study, and the more coffee they drank, the lower their mortality risk tended to be. Compared with people who drank no coffee at all, men and women who drank six or more cups per day were 10% and 15% less likely, respectively, to die during the study.

The researchers note that there are over 1,000 compounds associated with coffee, other than caffeine, and it is possible that some of these may contribute to decreased chronic decease.

We've already heard about the health benefits of beer. As soon as they figure out that red meat and gelato is good for you I'm all set!

See "Coffee drinking linked to longer life" for details on this report.

Dot Torture Shooting Drill

This challenging drill found at pistol-training.com is a fun way to assess your shooting skills. It's 50 shot drill, on 2 inch circles. The drill tests your sight alignment and trigger control using a variety of shooting skills; from the draw, low-ready, strong hand, weak hand. It's suggested you start out shooting it from three yards, increasing the distance only after shooting a perfect score. My lovely wife insisted we attempt the Dot Torture on a recent trip to the range.

My first miss was on circle 3. The goal was to draw and put one shot on 3 and one on 4, repeated four times. I dropped one shot just below the 3, and then pushed one down into the 6. 

The next miss was on 5 when I put one of the five strong hand-only shots just left off the paper. 

It was smooth sailing for the next three circles, even for the five weak hand only shots. The last miss was just low on 9. 

My total score was 46 out of 50. This was just my third attempt at the Dot Torture, though the previous two attempts were over a year ago. The idea is to do this "test" on a regular basis and track your improvement over time. I'm going to try to remember to do just that.

Go to pistol-training.com to download the target and take it with you on your next trip to the range. It's fun. And just a wee bit humbling.

Virginia Breweries Get A Break

Virginia has a history of supporting and promoting her wine industry. Virginia breweries are often treated like the red-headed step child. However, this week Governor McDonnell signed two recently passed bills in support of Virginia brewers.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law two pieces of legislation aimed at helping Virginia-based brewers. 

House Bill 359 lets established brewers lease space to start-up and small scale beer brewers. Senate Bill 604 allows for retail sales and sampling on the premises of Virginia breweries. 

"The legislation signed today will make it easier for our breweries to serve as destinations for potential customers and allow some of our talented small-scale brewers to lease space from established brewers and overcome some of the significant start-up costs," McDonnell said at the signing ceremony, held at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Richmond.

Read the complete story at "New Virginia laws to help craft beer brewers."

More on Senate Bill 604 here.

Jeff Fitzpatrick, president of Blue & Gray Brewing Co. and Gov. Bob McDonnell at the signing.
Photo courtesy of Fredericksburg Business Insider's Facebook page.

A Bottle Opener At The Ready

I've kept a bottle opener on my keychain for years. There was one time many years ago when I was stuck in a hotel room with no opener, and vowed that would never happen again. And have you ever noticed there always seems to be a line at the party beer cooler waiting to use the lone opener? (In all honesty, I've never figured out the belt buckle trick.)

There are options to keep an opener handy of course. We've previously looked at this iPhone case with the built-in bottle opener. Now a creative iPod owner has realized that Apple actually provides a bottle opener with its portable products.

Credit for this goes to @EvaZebra on Twitter. And thanks to Al over at Hop Talk for bringing it to our attention.

Aggressive Denizen of the Range

We met this gal (?) guarding the berm at the range today. Her shell was about 12" end to end. Unhappy with our arrival, she had no hesitation in advancing aggressively as we approached.

Wikipedia accurately notes "Common snappers are noted for their belligerent disposition when out of the water." She was eventually moved. I won't be surprised to see young ones exiting the berm later this year.