Harry's Alehouse is the Best Beer Bar in VA

Harry's Alehouse was recently voted the 2018 Best Craft Beer Bar in Virginia by CraftBeer.com readers. This is quite an honor considering the establishment only recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

We've been enjoying Harry's Alehouse since they opened. The beer selection is always interesting. Most of the 24 draft lines are dedicated to good craft beer, many of them from Virginia breweries. Often they feature beers that are unique to Harry's and not offered elsewhere locally. Complimenting the great beer selection is an excellent "from scratch" food menu.

Congratulations to Harry's Alehouse on this recognition. We look forward to seeing what the next year holds in store.

And in case you're wondering, our beloved and missed, "Colonel" is featured among the K-9 photos on the walls inside.

"Gun Free Zone" Hypocrisy

The irony runs deep.

The anti-gun "elite" hypocritically require men with guns to defend them, while the children are left to rely on men guns who refuse to help them.

H/T to The Miller for posting the meme.

Consolation Range Trip

Despite missing out on this weekend's IDPA match, I was able to get in some quality trigger time this weekend. On Sunday, Colleen and I headed down to the Winding Brook Range. My range bag was already packed, I sort of felt obligated to take it out. :-)

I started out shooting at a moderate pace at 7 yards, and worked my way out to 10 and 15 yards with the first box of ammo. I also worked with the timed exposure target to practice getting the gun on target quickly. That was all done from low ready, but one of these days I'll take the time to get holster qualified at the range.

Since I'll be shooting the annual Virginia Indoor Regional IDPA match in April I figured I'd better brush up on holding the flashlight while shooting. I expended a few mags doing that, but I definitely need more practice over the next couple months.

Feeling pretty good about the shooting so far, the practice session was concluded with 50 rounds of slow fire at 15 yards. I was relieved when I reeled the target in and saw only six shots outside the -0 zone.

Colleen and I opted to not wait for adjoining lanes to open, so this time we didn't shoot "together." We did enjoy a pleasant, sunny drive home on the secondary road, avoiding the madness (and backups) of the interstate. After the power failures and cancelled plans of the past few days, this was a most pleasant way to finish the weekend.

Must Watch: Delegate Nick Freitas

Listen to this blast of truth from Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas regarding the lies and deceptions of the left.

Freitas's words triggered the snowflakes across the aisle and they ran from the room with hurt feelings. They demanded a recess, apparently to recover in their crying rooms.

Delegate Freitas is challenging our current leftist representative for the Virginia Senate seat.

Winds of Change (in plans)

I'd been looking forward to shooting the Sanner's Lake IDA match this past Saturday. This is always a fun match, and for a first time in a while it wasn't supposed to be raining during the match! However, Mother Nature did have an extreme wind event in store for us. Through the evening and into the wee morning hours Friday, I listened to the wind howl, and waited for the inevitable power failure. Sure enough, around 4:30 AM the power went out. Later in the morning, I cranked up the generator.

Still optimistic Friday evening, I packed my range gear for the match. Surely power would be restored soon. Throughout the night I waited. And waited. By the time I would have needed to leave for the match, we still had no power. And I had a generator in need of fuel. So my shooting plans were scrapped in favor of runs to the gas station. This was the gear I would haul around on Saturday.

At least the beer would stay cold.

Gun Grabber Logic

I got pulled into a discussion recently on the "gun problem" and the usual "something must be done." Someone posited the problem was keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. The liberal in the crowd responded, "Who's going to determine that another person is a danger to society? You could possibly violate someone's rights by declaring they are dangerous."

I was hopeful for a moment. Then she added, "We just need to take guns away from everyone."

Face. Palm.

Jefferson On Freedom

"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."

Roughly translated as "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery," the phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison, on January 30, 1787. I find it quite applicable today considering the current anti-gun, anti-freedom movement being fostered on our nation by the weak and ignorant, only some of which are actually children.

I'm sure the phrase is doubly triggering for today's snowflake generation, since they also find this Founding Father to be offensive to their sensitive natures.

February Cavalier IDPA

As I dressed for Sunday morning's IDPA match at Cavalier, I checked the weather app on my phone. The forecast was for cloudy skies, with temps in the upper 60's. Great, finally decent weather at a match. After a rainy match last month, followed by a wet and muddy Chesapeake Cup, and a match moved indoors, I was ready for some shooting on dry ground. Arriving at the range, it was quickly apparent that the prognosticators had once again gotten it wrong. Very wrong. The rain started about the time we began shooting and the temperature never made it out of the mid-50's. More than a few folks had not dressed for conditions, but at least I did have my rain jacket on hand.

The first stage we shot while seated under cover, but the targets were all protected by the dreaded plastic bags. Starting with the loaded gun and all reloads on the table, we engaged the six targets in priority order. I shot just one point down on the stage, that one penalty being on one of the closest targets.

To our delight the precipitation let up as the squads moved to their next stages, and the targets were uncovered. Our second stage began, for most, with a long run to the first point of cover. The shooter also had a choice to engage one target over a wall to begin the stage. From the first point of cover, a small shift exposed a lone more distant target, followed by another sprint back across the bay. From there, two points of cover with another small position shift between exposed the final four targets. It was a fun stage that tested settling quickly into a stable position after a quick run to position.

Our third stage started out with the shooter holding a tool bag in the strong side hand, which was dropped at the start signal. Three target arrays were to be shot from three shooting positions. There were some precariously place non-threats among the targets. Cover and target positioning added further to the challenge as shots required a pretty tight lean to the right side.

The last two stages we shot were combined on one bay and shooters alternated shooting. After shooting the first, you'd reload your magazines while the previous shooter shot the second, after which you'd shoot. We were up against the rain returning so the SO's kept us straight and moving quickly along.

The first stage of the pair started with the gun downloaded to six rounds. After emptying the gun on the first, up close target, we moved to two more positions in the course where we engaged a couple more target pairs. Adding to the challenge, there was a non-threat behind one of the targets. One had to be careful of the shot angle and placement, since shoot-through hits on the non-threat are also penalized.

For the final stage, our unloaded gun was set in an open gun safe, with our magazines on the table. Retrieving the gun, we loaded it and engaged two reduced area targets right in front us. Then grabbing a magazine, we advanced to either side of some barrels to find some close but hidden targets on either side. The targets were shot around the non-threats and between the barrels.

This stage could be shot fast, but still had to be shot carefully. While I didn't notice anyone getting hits on the non-threats, I saw a few shots go through the barrels as well as -1 hits on all the targets. Some shooters opted to empty their first magazine by firing five shots at each of the first two target, and even that didn't always guarantee a -0 score. I think the stage was deceptive in it's simplicity. I opted for aimed head shots on the opening two targets, and also finished the stage with zero points down.

We finished shooting and broke down the match before the next batch of rain came in force, though it did sprinkle a bit. The match provided five quite fun stages. They were challenging, with interesting  non-threat placement throughout. 

My shooting throughout the match, while accurate felt a little "rough" to me. It didn't seem, to my mind, that I was moving quickly or getting in smooth transitions. That said, I was still happy with my scores. While just 10th of 43 overall, I place well within my division and classification finishing 1st of 9 in SSP SS. But it's really all about the fun, and I certainly had that. Due to work and family obligations I hadn't been able to practice at all the week before. No dry fire, no live fire, and I didn't even handle the gun to clean it. I was certainly ready for some time spent shooting.

I'm looking forward to actually shooting under sunny skies some day soon.

More pics here.