NC Sectional Championship

Last Friday I travelled down to Creedmore, NC with a couple of shooting buddies to participate in the USPSA NC Sectional Championship match. We planned to meet at 0500 to depart. I woke up with a start at 4:40 AM realizing I had overslept. I rushed out the door to be only a few minutes late to the rendezvous point. (Later I realized that I had set the extra early alarm on the clock radio for Saturday, rather than for Friday.) We arrived at the Sir Walter Gun Club even before check-in was open so we headed out in search of breakfast. We found a wonderful diner nearby and had a hearty meal for a great price. Back at the range, we still had time to walk through the stages.

In previewing the printed course of fire drawings, while I was excited to shoot the match, the stages did not strike me as especially interesting. However, that initial impression was totally incorrect. The nine stages (Flicker photos) were all excellent, challenging, and most importantly, fun! There was a variety of challenges, including many moving and strategically hidden targets. Most of the stages required plenty of movement by the shooter. The gun club has many large bays that they made good use of to provide opportunities to get in the "run" part of "run and gun." Also interesting, and initially uncomfortable, was that a lot of the courses were run right to left, which can be challenging to right handed shooters, especially when performing reloads. Another aspect I found interesting was the number of shots that were taken down the edge of the 180° line. The stage designers took advantage of  the full 180° of shooting. There were a couple of places where I had to look further left or right than I am used to.

I started out the day strong, completing the first three stages with good accuracy. I did remark that I felt I could be timed with a sundial. After that, I started struggling with accuracy and had to force myself to slow down. It was a frustrating to not be able to find my stride, or apparently the front site, in the later stages.

Stage 7, "Pick 'em Up," had an interesting prop where the shooter hit a large button above a small window. That action opened the port and activated a "Max Trap" that exposed the target for very short time, requiring a fast response by the shooter. It was interesting that I could pull that off with fast A zone hits, yet still have a C hit on a stationary target. I remarked that perhaps I should treat all targets as disappearing!

Another interesting prop setup was found on Stage 4 "BPS The Delivery." This course of fire started out with a series of very tight shots, leaning out over the side fault lines. (And yes I shot the "no-shoot" on the edge, twice.) Then the shooter had to carry a package across the field and place it down a "mail slot." That action exposed two ports through which more targets were engaged. Behind both those ports were more Max Trap disappearing targets.

The final stage we shot, Stage 5, "The Swamp," had perhaps the longest shots in the match. During the morning walk through, my plan had been to take the four mini-poppers at the beginning, despite their distance. By the end of the day, I was discussing it with other shooters and we felt we were too tired to risk relying on making those shots. So, I took the last 2 poppers at the end of the course of fire. That added movement to one more shooting position at the end, but shortened the distance to two of the small poppers. Surprisingly, I shot the initial two mini-poppers dead on, while still nicking an up close no-shoot.

The Sir Walter club has a reputation for putting on an excellent monthly match. I know of shooters from Northern Virginia who make the drive every month, but this was my first time at the club. They certainly put on an outstanding Sectional match. There was a long list of match sponsors supporting the match and offering "goodies" for the shooters. Through random selection I received a $75 certificate from Precision Delta, which I'll be putting towards an ammo purchase soon.

Despite a disappointing performance, the match was a lot of fun, and that's what matters. The road trip with shooting friends Alex and Clay was a blast too. We frequently joked during the long drive, "Who's idea was this anyway?" (I checked the Facebook messages guys, and I think I hold the blame.) There was plenty of friendly ribbing and fun conversation. I'm looking forward to the next time.

I was quite exhausted by the time I returned home that evening. Although I made predictions of a night cap for the evening, I settled for a refreshing bowl of ice cream before hitting the sack. But not before I reset the Saturday morning alarm time!

I'm Officially Hoplorati

Andy, who blogs over at In Search of the Tempestuous Sea, is on a mission to help the hoplorati show off their allegiances. Beside some great blog graphics, like the one I have used in the right hand column, he's created a very cool hat. Andy's been generously passing them out to some local bloggers. It seems that all the cool kids are wearing them; MSgt B, Nancy, AGirl.

Recently Andy awarded me with my very own Hoplorati cap. Coincidently, it's been just over a year since I remarked on my need for a new favorite hat, and now I've found it. The cap arrived at a good time too — it made it's debut at the NC Sectional match this weekend, and a number of folks remarked on it.

If you want your own Hoplorati wear, go here. The hat is well-made and there is some other good looking Hoplorati-themed apparel there too. I'm thinking for the upcoming winter I'll need a long-sleeve T-Shirt. And maybe a Polo...

Five Years of Musing

Today marks the five year anniversary of Musings Over a Pint. It doesn't really seem that long ago, but I even did the math a couple of times to be sure. :-) It's been a fun run, and it continues to be. I've met many wonderful folks and had some fun experiences as a result of putting my ramblings to paper, er, bits. To everyone who reads these Musings, you have my heartfelt appreciation and thanks.

Musings Over a Pint has gone through some changes over the years. The content has evolved to more accurately reflect who I am. Initially the content focused almost exclusively on craft beer, specifically in Virginia, and even more specifically the Fredericksburg region. Together we watched Virginia become a craft beer powerhouse. My enjoyment of craft beer is strictly as a consumer. Good beer is a good food that I enjoy very much, if not as often as I'd like. I don't work in the industry, nor do I home brew. I simply share my thoughts as one fan to another.

Frankly, as much as I love craft beer, if that's all I get to talk about, it gets boring. I occasionally muse on my feelings regarding faith and politics. That upsets some folks. Someone once told me that politics "has no place in craft beer." I'm not even sure how to parse that, having missed that warning label on the beer bottles.

I also use this blog as as a journal of my adventures in the pistol shooting sports. This is an interest that I've had for not quite four years, but one that provides me much enjoyment and takes up a significant of amount of my "free" time. As with craft beer, I'm interested solely as a "consumer." I'm far from an expert but I hope that by sharing my experiences, someone else will benefit, or at least be entertained. I've enjoyed meeting many upstanding folks through the shooting sports. Oddly enough, very often when I meet Musings readers at shooting events they want to talk about beer!

So, here we are, five years later. That's 1347 posts and some 1853 comments later. But those are just numbers. What matters to me is the chance to laugh or vent, and to share fun experiences. I've also gotten to do some things that I probably wouldn't have it if wasn't for exposing my thoughts in these Musings. But what is most important are the interesting and fun people I've met, in person or virtually, through this blog.

I guess I'll keep doing it for a little while longer.

Five O'Clock Friday: Relaxing?

I'm in North Carolina today shooting the Infinity Firearms NC Sectional Championship, but I expect to be home in time for a relaxing nightcap. As is typical, Saturday will be devoted to chores and errands. And then on Sunday, I've got plans for more shooting at the Fredericksburg USPSA match. (We're gonna need more ammo!) I'm guessing by Sunday evening I'll be relaxing — whether I want to or not!

Hope your weekend is fun, and relaxing.

Where's Jim Lehrer?

They say sometimes life imitates art. Watching Wednesday's presidential debate, I was reminded of this scene from The Avengers movie.

The only character missing is Jim Lehrer. Although one might assume he's represented by the floor tiles.

Trigger Time: When It Rains, It Pours

After a drought (not draught) of range time, I managed to squeeze in two trips to the range this week. Being optimistic for more trigger time, I left the car loaded with the target paraphernalia from the weekend trip, so I was prepared when a friend visited during the week and we made a quick after-work trip to turn some money into noise. It was a bit of rain falling so we set up the two steel targets. With three of us shooting, we sometimes had to ask, "Was that hit from me or you?"

It wasn't all play though. I spent a lot of time working on my initial push out and trigger prep. While I still want to perfect my technique more, I was comfortable enough to fairly consistently be able call a bad shot. Breaking the habit of listening for the ding of the steel is good progress. The second part of my practice was spent shooting both targets and working on transitioning between the targets. I tried to call the shots so that I could quickly follow up with a makeup shot before swinging to the next target.

But all work and no play makes Jack (and David) a dull boy. As I've noted previously, sometimes I find it fun to just shoot steel fast and enjoy the sounds of lead on steel. And with three of us shooting at the same time, we made some beautiful noise. Not a bad time for a rainy afternoon. :-)

And for those concerned, there was no draught to be had afterwards. However, a trip to the beer fridge resulted in clearing out a few bottles of Port City Optimal Wit, Hennepin Saison, and Tröegs Nugget Nectar. Do we know how to live or what?

Has Brewing Jumped The Shark?

Craft beer brewers are a creative bunch. Their quest for interesting ingredients to use in brewing brings us new and tasty drinks to enjoy. But sometimes I have to stop and wonder if a quest for shock factor has usurped sensibilities. Let's look at some recent unique ingredients used in beer.

Saliva: Dogfish Head Brewery, no stranger to odd ingredients, has brewed a Chicha beer. Chicha comes from corn that is chewed and then spat out. The enzymes in the chewer's saliva convert the starch in the corn into fermentable sugar. All things considered, this method, based on ancient customs, is pretty mild in comparison to recent developments.

Beards: Rogue Ales Brewery has created a beer called New Crustacean. The beer is brewed with yeast cultured from the brewer's beard. John Maier's search for yeast in his beard started out as a joke, until they found a viable yeast within. You can expect to see the beer in the shelves next year.

Rocky Mountain Oysters: It started out as an April Fools joke by Wynkoop Brewing Company, created in response to the popularity of Oyster Stouts, made with real oysters. But now, with the release of their Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout, life is imitating art. Yep, those are real rocky mountain oysters.

The Grotesque: A while back we were treated to the news that a female brewer claims to have created a beer with a yeast culture taken from her, um, well, never mind. You can read about it yourself if you are so inclined. (Warning, possibly NSFW.)

Maybe the Reinheitsgebot law wasn't such a bad idea.

Some Practice At The Range

Between the temporary range closure, and a busy schedule, it's been three weeks since I made it out to the range for some live fire practice. I've been doing my dry fire practice religiously, and did get to both a USPSA match and an IPDA event in the interim. However, I wanted to work on a few specific skills, so I was happy to find the time to shoot a bit Sunday afternoon.

I decided this day to work on getting the first shot off quickly and accurately after the draw. This is something that I've been concentrating on during dry fire. While there might be just 6 or 7 draws during a match, saving even 1/4 or 1/3 of second each time can add up. Take into account any lost points from an innaccurate hit, and it's a skill not be ignored.

In order to gain that fraction of time, I've been trying to be better at prepping the long double action trigger pull on that first shot. During our recent class, the instructor admonished me for not beginning the trigger pull until the gun is on target, so I've been working on that in dry fire too. I was pretty pleased with the results on the range, though there's still much more work to do to speed that up.

I also spent a little time doing 25 yard drills. These shots were taken at a pace closer to what I'd do in competition, rather than slow fire, while still taking care to maintain a smooth trigger press. I hit 16/20 in the A zone at this distance, with the remainder just outside in the C scoring area. I'm seeing regular improvement at the longer distances, which I'll take as tangible proof of the value of the dry fire practice.

It was a good afternoon at the range. I was happy with how I shot, and the weather was extremely pleasant. As is often the case, I left thinking, "Now if I only shot that well during a match..." But as someone told me recently, "When you're shooting by yourself, you're the best shooter on the range." I look forward to putting the skills I've been practicing to use at the NC Sectional match later this week.