From Beginner to Podium Ranking (In 1 Year)

One year ago, Tate Cunningham was just beginning his journey into competitive precision rifle shooting. Now, after three Pro Series matches, multiple Production Division trophies, and climbing into the top rankings, he’s back to break down exactly how he got there.

Tate shares what helped him improve the fastest, what turned out to be a waste of time, and what he would do differently if he had to start over today. We talk about intentional practice, wind calls, mental mistakes, gear upgrades, recovering from a bad stage, and why simply burning through rounds isn’t enough to make you a better shooter.

We also get into the challenge of balancing family life with competition, his goal of making the finale, and the bigger dream he’s chasing over the next two years: competing at Worlds.

If you’re a new PRS shooter—or you’ve been shooting for a while but feel like your progress has stalled—this episode will help you practice smarter, avoid expensive mistakes, and improve faster.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, welcome back to the podcast here with Tate Cunningham, a shooter that's relatively new. He got started about a year ago. We recorded a podcast about a year ago. We got a lot to talk about today. We've done a bunch of regional shooting, shot three pro matches now. A lot of experience to talk about. We're gonna hit all the points.

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Yeah, today we're gonna talk about practicing, shooting matches, what's worked well, and what has been a waste of time.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Love it. Stay tuned. Stand by. You're ready. Stand by. All right, welcome back to another PRS podcast here with Tate Cunningham. Tate, how are you doing, buddy?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Good, Ken. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Good. It's good to see you again. Uh let's do. We've done one of these before. Yep. Thanks for having me back. Heck yeah. I was looking forward to doing this since the last time we talked. Um win, lose, or draw. Uh why don't why don't you we'll start with some introductions uh and figure out who Tate Cunningham is if uh if folks didn't listen to that first first podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Sure. Well, uh, yep, my name is Tate, and I live down here in uh beautiful Niceville, Florida, originally from Oklahoma, and uh been shooting for a couple years. This is my second season, got a couple kids. Smith's 13, really into baseball. My daughter's nine, summer, uh, my wife Chelsea, and uh yeah, just living life in Florida. It's a good time.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

That's awesome. And I am living a baseball life right now, too, dude. Uh you guys rec ball, travel ball, select, or whatever it's called down there.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Yeah, we're just doing rec ball right now. We we thought about travel ball, but as you know, that that schedule's insane. And even with rec ball, it's been pr pretty crazy. So uh, but yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. I love watching them play, and I love to play ball when I was a kid, so it's like I just want to be out there, but you know, if I jumped out there, I'd pull a hamstring round and second or something, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that too. Uh so I'm coaching this year, and and there's a couple kids on the team that uh just need more motivation. And yeah, I I I am I am struggling to find out like what motivates some of these kids. And you know, one of them even says, like, oh yeah, I would I would love to play in the big leagues. Like if I could if I could do it, I would. And he hits like a big leaguer.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

But he has no motivation on defense. No, like he just he he he just is you have to convince him every step of the way to like do something, you know. And and um one of the statements I made last week during one of our tournaments, you know, we had like a quick huddle between innings, and I said, guys, I I don't know how to explain this to you, but like take advantage of these moments. I wish I could be playing baseball right now. Like watching you guys play makes me want to play. And you just take it for granted as a as a child that you know it's baseball, like there's no way I'm signing up for an adult league baseball. Like, you know, cause because I'd be the oldest guy out there. There would be some 20-somethings that came out, and like either you gotta they're gonna pitch and they're probably gonna throw 85, you know, and like I can't face that, you know. And then on the hitting side of things, they're gonna their exit v low is gonna be over a hundred. I'm not fielding that. You know, so it's just yeah, it's one of those things that you take for granted when you're in the moment um that you you just can't you can't look back, and it somehow it's it's difficult to explain to a you know 12 or 13 year old, like, hey, this these are the good old days. You're living the good old days, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:42

100%. Yeah. I I just remember playing under the lights, and uh, you know, after the the field had just been cut, like that smell and that feel, like man, it you know, whenever we do the same thing with Smith, when he's got a game, it brings it right back. I'm like, man, I wish I could be there doing that. Like, yeah, you know, your whole life right now is a snow cone, man. Just enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yep, that is a fact. Yeah. So you've been shooting a couple years. I would say you're very early in your PRS journey, obviously, you know, with family life and all that at home, it comes with its own set of challenges, right? Like, you know, some of these guys that come out, you know, that don't that don't even have a girlfriend or anything like that, and they have a pretty good paying job in, you know, oil and natural gas or some other industry that pays really well, and they're just like, I'm going for it. You know, I I I have that same type of uh I like I'm gonna live vicariously through those guys too, just like I do my son with with baseball, you know. Like, okay, yeah, let's see spend some money and and waste a whole bunch of time and let's let's follow this journey, right? Let's take a brief break in a show with Hornady to give a shout out to Hornady, title partner of the PRS, as well as the official bullet and official ammunition. Every now and then you'll hear someone say, Hornady's just really good at marketing. Maybe. Or maybe they're just really good at building bullets and ammunition that keep showing up at the top of the leaderboard. It's amazing how winning has a way of making your marketing stand out. Go check out the A tips and Yield line of match grade ammunition at Hornady.com.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Yeah, 100%. I'm motivated in the same way those guys probably are, but my situation is a little different with uh the kids and family and trying to find that balance of like, you know. Have to. I yeah, the I would shoot every match if I could, you know. I I would probably uh regret saying that, or you know, if that was actually the case. But I mean, yeah, I would shoot all the time if I could. But right now I have really good buy-in with the family and trying to keep it in balance. So, you know, but yeah, if I if I was like in my 20s or 30s, had that good paying job, I would be gone on the road all the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah, yeah. We're probably striking a chord with some of the some of the folks watching. So, all right, I was looking back at a little bit of history. Uh, we just got the website updated and it doesn't have oh it the the data is still there, so nobody freak out at home. And hopefully by the time this thing goes live, uh all that data is visible still, or visible again, I should say, but uh looking back, 2024, Altus Rimfire Challenge. Was that your very first match?

SPEAKER_03 6:28

It was, and I I remember that because that was kind of after I stopped shooting the 22 bench stuff, and I heard about it, and I was like, oh, I have to shoot this, I have to buy a PRS membership, and I think I bought it in like November or something like that, and uh, so I bought it late in the year. I didn't I don't think I had to have that to shoot it, but I did. But um, that was the first PRS anything was that match.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Okay. Um and that was in 24 and in 25, uh mostly center fire, and mostly Altus, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Yep, all center fire, all of uh Altus.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

In fact, I think he went to MPA that year too. Um last year in August.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Yep, that's right. Um that was I think that was the first match I traveled to, and everything else was either exclusively outlaw or whatever sanction matches they had in 25. And I shot that AI match, I think that was my second match ever for Center Fire, was back in the uh I think it was the spring, maybe February or March, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, the AI long-range classic. Yeah, and it used to be a PRS sanction match, and drama happened, they dropped off the calendar, but they kept hold hosting a match. I love that. Um we talked probably about a year ago at this time, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Yeah, I think so. Um I feel like it was last summer, I feel like some somewhere in there, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yep, and we and we wanted to follow this journey along, right? So let's I I got a bunch of questions fire ready ready to fire at you, man. Uh uh, let's go. Let's uh so where are we at now compared to a year ago?

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Um yeah, definitely more motivated for sure. I've learned a ton in the past year of uh of shooting matches, and I've practiced a lot. I think I'm on my third barrel um since last February was when I got that rifle. I think it was end of January or February.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

So I've been uh uh let's go back. So you bought you bought an MPA PMR, right? Yep. That's right. Yep, chambered in 6GT. 6 GT, that's what it was. Yep, okay.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Yeah. Third barrel and uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Third barrel now.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Third barrel. I've got my fourth one ordered, so I'm I'm like uh halfway there. And now I think we touched on that. That was a big lesson early on was like, hey dude, if you're gonna be close to burning out a barrel, you need to order it like yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

So uh learn that lesson. And um yeah, I shot a handful of uh matches since we talked in 25. I believe they were all regional or outlaw. Yeah, and then um the highest I placed.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Go ahead. Yeah, well, and and and we'll talk about it here in a second, but you've shot some pro series matches since uh last season. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

Yeah, and that's what I'm most excited about. I I love the pro series matches.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Um what about what uh what to you is different about a pro series match than a rim fire or than a regional center fire match?

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Well, I think I think you get to enjoy the long weekend more. Like you're you kind of get to um, at least for me, sort of check out of just regular life. Not that regular life isn't awesome, but you just have a longer block.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

You literally live in Niceville.

unknown 10:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

You you have a longer block of time to where you're like, okay, man, I'm gonna go shoot Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'm gonna go hang out with some bros that I already know or meet some new ones, and it just kind of spreads it out and makes the travel worth it. Um, they're for sure more expensive. It's more of a commitment like with your wallet, but I I just enjoy them a lot more. They're more challenging in some ways. Uh I like uh I'm pretty competitive by nature, so it's like you're probably gonna have more of a stack field at these pro matches. So I don't know. I just every everything about it. The prize table, the getting to do that, the sponsors that are there. Um, yeah, it just is more of a, you know, since I'm in the Florida panhandle, like most of the matches outside of Outlaw, we have to, I think the closest place that's sanctioned would be Carbon Hill, which is about four and a half hours away. Yep. And then you have MPA, then you have um Gunline. Um I know Robert Brantley's starting to open up some Outlaw matches over at Arena, which I haven't made it out there yet, but I'd love to go. Um, but uh yeah, the I don't know. I just where where I want to go, at least in my mind, whether it's realistic or not, I I want to be in the pro series mix for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Sure, sure. Um so you you've shot three pro series matches this year so far. Uh you shot the January Loupolt Steel Classic at Texas. Yep. Um February you went up uh February you went up to Carbon Hill, Alabama Precision, shot the 18th PRC, and then uh in May you shot the uh KM Calls PRC, which was a qualifier too. Um so I'll I'll I'll read I'll read the ranks uh as we go. So Texas, you were 112th out of 188.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Yeah, it's a bit of a dumpster fire start for me on that one, but it was fun. It was um well, being the guy in the southeast, you know, it's not nearly as windy here, although 18 was really windy that day. Um, but we could get to that. But it was really windy, really cold, which isn't anything unfamiliar growing up in Oklahoma because I was like right in the jet stream. It would blow like 15, 20 every day. But I'd never shot in that stuff before. So um, yeah, I think it was I think it was right at freezing or below freezing every morning. Wasn't used to that. Um and the wind was blowing pretty good. I can't remember what the winds were doing like uh mile miles per hour wise, but uh I I mean I just remember it was my first pro series match. I remember being nervous, and I never roll in wind into my turret, and I did it that time, and I rolled the wrong side in. You know, just stupid stuff like that. And uh, but my day two was a lot better, but day one, it yeah, I didn't do do too hot, but um yeah, I rolled up there with Sam.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Yeah, yeah, Sam Trevino, your your driver partner. So what's ironic about your story of Lewold Steel Classic is that the winner, Chris Katalik of that match, yeah, uh, and I I believe I recall this right, but also on his very last stage, dialed the wind the wrong way into a man. So and still won a match. Uh, I think he dropped a couple shots on that last stage, but uh so still that I mean that's still a lesson that even the brochures are learning. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

So you were, I think I said you're 112 out of 188, and then 18 PRC, you were 44th. Um that match, uh 120. So roughly the top 30%, man. That's rolling. Like you're you do you feel good about that?

SPEAKER_03 14:12

I do. Um we had a great squad that day, and uh, we kind of got lucky on the draw too because we started in the the lower portion, and day two was I'm sorry, we started on the higher portion of the course of fire, and day two, like it the winds came, and I think Levi said it was like the hardest they've ever seen it blow there. Okay. So the guys on day two that started at the top, they kind of got hosed a little bit, but you know, that's just how it goes sometimes. Um but yeah, I mean it was uh that was that match was interesting. I I remember the winds, you know, as we worked our way out on like one of the troop lines or something that it would blow one way, but it would be the opposite hold in the very back. I don't know if there were some cuts through there or what, but just stuff like that, you know. Um how'd you figure that out?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

How'd you figure something like that out?

SPEAKER_03 15:09

I I personally didn't figure that out to be honest with you. I I think I heard Ben or uh Keith mention something about it, so you know, got some uh a little wind call help on that. Um I could hear him talking about that, so I just stayed on glass and just kind of watched what people did. And yeah, I don't remember what I got on that stage, but I didn't do terrible. Um, but yeah, that was that was just one thing that that stuck out, and uh and that was the first time I shot up there too. So that it was it was a blast. It was so much fun. Fritz brought uh I forgot what it was he cooked, but some Louisiana uh thing he he cooked, and it was amazing. So he brought food. It was just a good time. There's a lot of good dudes there.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Heck yeah. That is one of the more awesome aspects of two-day pro match, is a lot of times somebody's gonna bring food or there's a cookout, and you get to hang out, and just you know, you're not in a rush to get home, you know, on a Saturday afternoon.

unknown 16:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

So then you shot KM Kawas, finished 56. Uh there, Jeff Geary won that match, uh, and there was 195 there. So now you're for sure in the top 30 percent, probably closer to 25. Uh shooting pretty good. What about what about that match? Any lessons learned or anything there? Comments there?

SPEAKER_03 16:35

Yeah, I mean, I so that was the highest percentage-wise I finished, which was I think it was like 85.9, which I was really proud of that for me being a new guy. So I think the things what I struggled on the most was was the mover stages. And every time I go out to Altus uh or Ridgeline now, that the mover's been down, something happened to it. So it's it's one of those things I walked away from where it's like, okay, I know exactly what I need to work on. I think I can fix that uh pretty quickly because I haven't spent much time shooting movers. So yeah, um, yeah. So for me, I shot pretty well, and and that was a stacked field for sure. There was, I mean, everybody was there.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah. Um, yeah. Well, you had I I guarantee I could go through that that list of competitors, and like I said, you finished 56th. There, there was probably uh a competitor or two that's been a top 10 finisher below you in that field. I guarantee it. You know?

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Yeah, there was a few guys there that I that I knew shoot really well that kind of finished a little bit lower, and I was surprised. Um they probably just had a bad day or something, but um, yeah, cost was cool. It was fun to get some hardware from that. Like I that was kind of a bucketless place to shoot, so that was that was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

And you shot production, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:58

Yeah, all I'm shooting is production right now.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

So interesting. So uh you've transitioned to quite a bit of of uh Pro Series. Any let's take a look. Uh regional regional series, uh you've shot a couple matches, September last year and May this year, uh, both at Altus. Uh your last one at Altus, you finished 16. Um top 20 and 76 shooters. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Yeah, I'll take it. It's not where I want to be, but you know, I'll take it for sure. I don't know if I'm gonna finish up the regional series this year. I I don't know if I'm gonna have time to get it done in time for the finale, but um yeah, the only one I have there's a night outlaw match in August I'm gonna shoot um at Altus. It'll be fun that Sam's putting on, and then I'm shooting Federal Gold Medal in August, so there you go. That'll be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Heck yeah. Yeah, um so you'll have another pro series match uh with the federal gold medal. Um is that it for pro series matches this year, you think?

SPEAKER_03 19:12

I don't know. I mean, so I think I have 200 and I think 276 points or something like that. I'm in seventh. So I'm I really want to make the finale, and I don't I don't know if you guys take the top five or the top ten, but if I do well at federal, maybe I'll make it.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yep, so it'll be the it'll be the top ten for uh for each of the divisions. Yeah, so yeah, if if uh you get a finale invite, are you coming?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Yeah, man, I'm coming. Absolutely. I love that. I love that. Yeah. All right. So I think it depends how I do there. If I you know, if I get top production there, that'll put me at 300, and then I'll be good. If I I and I don't know who's showing up yet, but if I don't make that cut, then I'll probably go shoot MPA. I think there's like a last chance. Yep, that's over calling it. Yeah, yeah. So we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Taking a look at production division standing. So yeah, you're amongst a crowd of dudes. Uh and and girls. Uh so Chad Estes with 300, Darren Whitehead with 300, Tyler Beckley, Frazier McKenzie, which I didn't realize is shooting production. He's a good shooter from um New Zealand. Uh Mitton Favry uh from up in the PA. Laurel Aikenhead, and then right behind Laurel is Tate Cunningham. So right there. Uh and then also to note, I guess like Dan Burdichini's got 200. He'll probably get a third win, right? He'll go shoot somewhere for a third win. But um man, we have 49 production division shooters as well. So sitting seventh out of uh 49 is pretty solid. It's pretty solid.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah, I'll take it. Yeah, I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

I think I can pull it off. We'll see. There you go. I'd uh be awesome to have you there, man. Uh maybe we could do another follow-up uh your first pro series season behind you. Um so over the last year, any any like what's like the biggest surprise about your progress, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Um biggest surprise. I think just starting to see a lot more than when I first started, you know, just uh just getting familiar, you know, just trying to work out the kinks of uh you know, build muscle memory on sort of all of your standard type stuff from like NPA to you know how to move the bag. I mean, I'm I'm sure I'm still flawed in many areas, but you know, I'm thinking less about those things, and I'm thinking more. About my stage plan. Um the uh oh man, your last podcast with Morgan, there's a massive nugget in there for the new guys that I kind of deduced from an old JTAC. Yeah, there was like an old JTAC podcast. I say it's old, I don't know how old it is, but I you know I think I haven't recorded one in probably three years, so yeah, four years. Yeah, so the essence of what I took from that was like, hey man, if you miss that plate completely, your correction is a lot more than you think, but they kind of wouldn't give that away. And so what Morgan mentioned in the last one was like, man, I bet I bet that's probably what it is. So um, yeah, so that's what I've been doing, you know. With you know, if I'm off plate, I'm like correcting a lot more than I think, like, you know, 60 to 80 percent of the target the plate, and that's that's huge, um, for sure. So being being able to see, making bolder corrections. Um, I've got a couple pieces of gear that have helped a ton since we talked. Um, so we're buying points.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Is it is that the key here we're buying points? You're buying points.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

I'm I I'm definitely buying less migraines for sure. So uh yeah, so Andy, you know, he's down here at um Altus Ridgeline. Yep. Yep. Sorry, Andy Hawkins. Yep. And so we become friends, and you know, he put out the Clovis, it's been a while ago, but uh yeah, the Clovis suppressor, and I picked one of those up, and that was game-changing for me because I, you know, I guess I'm one of those guys that the way I'm built, like even if I do double ear pro, that concussion by like, I don't know, definitely by the end of a match, I've got a banging headache. So getting rid of that, you know, with uh awesome break on the end um on that suppressor has been that's been life-changing for sure, in the sense of just feeling more comfortable, less flinching, all that kind of stuff. Um so yeah, I don't know if it bought me points, but I certainly feel a lot more comfortable behind the rifle, you know, and so maybe that's helped.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

Um, I love to shoot tripod rear. I picked up the S2. Um the new juggernaut from oh man, that thing is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Yeah, it's a great butt tripod, yeah. It's a great tripod.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yep, I had an athlon before and it was three-section, and it it was it's not a bad tripod at all, but uh I like having that single knuckle on the S2 and just like a lot of the section to hang on to, you know, for rear support. So that's been pretty cool. Um yeah, in terms of buying points, like I I don't think there's anything there outside of hard work and just keep you know pushing.

SPEAKER_00 25:02

But uh do you get to practice all that much?

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Um yeah, I try to make it out there every two weeks or so. So like you know, I if you ag it, it's probably around that every two or three weeks over a year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Um what uh when you go to Altus Ridge Line there, what um every couple weeks, what what kind of things are you working on?

SPEAKER_03 25:32

Um I usually go to the bottom down at the UKD, so it's there's less berms. I just try to find smaller targets. I try to make it as hard on myself as possible, I guess. There you go. Um yeah, so I I'm mostly right now I'm working on trying to make win calls and that sort of thing. Um, that's probably what I struggle with the most, is just stepping up there and being as confident as I can on making a plan. Um I've done some paper drills, I kind of find those boring, but I I I know everybody talks about how important they are, and that'll show you a lot, so I should probably do some more of that. But um yeah, it's usually smaller targets on the UKD from all kinds of positions. So um, yeah, that's that's primarily what I do.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah, right on. What do you think? Um what do you think maybe you spend too much time on, and what do you not spend enough time on when you're practicing?

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Man, I spent way too much time last year like in the reloading room and like load development.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

And uh Chad and Francis put out a podcast. I I feel like it's been a month or two, maybe three months now. I that kind of I feel like for me and probably a lot of other guys, it kind of lets you off the hook in the sense of um, you know, maybe there really isn't like a true half-minute rifle. Maybe I'm saying that incorrectly, but like if you really look at the cone of fire, it's it's bigger than that. But like, even like you're you know, chasing like low SDs and ES and that sort of thing. I believe he said like you could get up to like a 14 SD, and that's sort of like the cutoff where it'll start falling, you know, maybe start falling apart, or you could miss out on something. So I'm just trying to I like to tinker. I think I mentioned that to you before, so I'm trying not to do that, which is really hard for me. Uh so yeah, just try to uh find a load that works and you know spend more time practicing and not I I do enjoy reloading and doing all that kind of thing. I actually love it.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Uh yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's it's two of us out of the whole community I think actually enjoy it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

I love everything except brass prep, like trimming, like I hate that. But um otherwise I'll just listen to a podcast, whether it's yours or you know, Miles to Matches or whoever, and um and just kind of chill out and just enjoy the the quiet, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Um the process. Yep, yep. Yeah. So yeah, I think I would be further along if I spent more time just practicing and then not like you know, show up at the zero board and do ladders and all that stuff. Like, oh no.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

You know, so um And I and I feel like it I mean that's been a that's been a theme in the Miles to Matches podcast for a lot of a lot of years. Um and I've heard it from a lot of other top shooters, like, man, just find a load and that's gonna be close and go shoot. Go shoot and go shoot, you know, and I I I tinker too. So um, but when I'm at the range and if I'm if I'm gonna wire my barrel up for anything, like it's it's gonna be quality practice, right? Like quick zero check, close enough, now let me shoot some steel, you know? Yeah, yeah, that's where it's at. Um what would you do differently if you started uh rewind the clock a year, right? What would you do differently if you started today?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

Rifle system is pretty good, right? Like I would not change that. Yeah, I think that was an excellent choice. I think I even mentioned that the last time we talked.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Yeah, I know there's some other great options out there, but I think with one of those options that's well known. I I have a really short length of pool, so that's one thing you would be limited to if you had a stock. Um so I wouldn't change that. I would definitely I don't know. I think I would shoot suppressed for sure right from the get-go, but it's like one other thing you have to buy.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Um it does make it more challenging, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Um, I would listen to these podcasts. And I I I I found that I don't know. I found these probably four to six months into when I started. So um definitely the podcast, definitely um Precision Rifle Blog. You can see what other guys are using. Um you can kind of cut through the noise of sponsorships for the most part, too. Like those guys are using it because it works for sure, not necessarily because they're sponsored shooters. And I know some guys get hung up on that. Well, yeah, they're sponsors, so how do I know if it works? Well, you're winning with it. Yeah, absolutely. Um yeah, I don't know. It yeah, outside of Yeah, I I think just there's a lot of information out there for new guys, and yeah, I I highly suggest like jumping into that and just go shoot a match right away. I kind of did that, you know, like I wanted to jump right in. I think some guys are sort of intimidated by I don't know, there's a few guys I've met and talked to, and they're like, well, maybe I'll come watch. I'm like, dude, if you come to watch, you're gonna want to shoot, so just come. Because the community's awesome, like everybody's super helpful, so don't don't worry about that. Um yeah, man, I I would just I would buy the best gear that you can afford to buy from the get-go because there's there's a lot of stuff out there that works okay, but it's probably not the best. And I I I think I bought some things that were okay and have upgraded since, so it cost me more. So yeah, precision rifle blog and um these podcasts. Yeah, that that's what I would do differently if I knew that at the time.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Sure, sure. Save you some money, save you some time. Yeah. Uh hopefully start with some more impacts. Yeah. Let's take a brief break in a show with Hornady to give a shout out to Hornady, title partner of the PRS, as well as the official bullet and official ammunition. Every now and then you'll hear someone say, Hornady's just really good at marketing. Maybe. Or maybe they're just really good at building bullets and ammunition that keep showing up at the top of the leaderboard. It's amazing how winning has a way of making your marketing stand out. Go check out the A tips and YOD line of match grade ammunition at Hornity.com. What? Um with your training, right? And you here you go every couple weeks. Um, what is what is something that you've worked on that you think has improved your scores?

SPEAKER_03 32:46

Um definitely making win calls like what I think it is, okay, and just working on that, just you know, trying to hone that down a little bit better. We get a lot of like 11 to 1 o'clock wins at Altus, which is probably helping me, but is also annoying at the same time because I I find that hard with the switchy winds.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Yep. When it's uh headwind or tailwind, it can be a challenge.

SPEAKER_03 33:17

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think we it's it's pretty rare rare that we have like a full value wind out there for sure. It's either right behind us or right in front of us. Um yeah, working on wind win stuff, I just really genuinely enjoy shooting tripod rear, so I do that a lot as much as I can. Um for whatever reason, it just feels feels comfortable to me. So I I try to do that if I can. Um yeah, um, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I probably spend the least time shooting prone. Uh I don't really love shooting prone. And then at KM in May, I think there were five or six stages that were prone. Oh, at least. Uh yeah, there was there was a lot of that. But um, I did okay at it, but I probably spend the least time doing that.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

So yeah, I probably should be easiest position to shoot anyway. I feel like that, yeah. Yeah. Um is there any training that you've done that you're like, well, that was a waste of time.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Yeah, for sure. I think, oh yeah. I I mean when I was probably I mean, even last year, for sure, even towards the last year, I would just load up a hundred rounds and just burn them down, you know, like just just kind of shooting randomly and just I mean, there is an element to just go out there and have fun, right? Because like if we're not having fun, what's the point? But right, there was definitely times it was less intentional, I guess. And like looking back at my matchbooks, like I keep all of those and I'll go back through that and see like what stages I did poorly on. And um, which was a lot of mental errors for me for sure. And so between like mental errors and coming up with a better stage plan, um uh yeah, I I would just find those things I struggled on and try to go reshoot that, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Yep. Um all right, you mentioned mental errors. Uh how do you how do you recover from a bad stage where it was like mental error after mental error? How do you recover from that?

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Yeah, I have a hard time letting it go for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

Yep, that's why I asked.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

Um, but I I don't know. I've always been like this. I feel like I work better under pressure a little bit, and so I now that we have impact scoring, which is awesome by the way. Sam adapted it for Altus. Now we're using that. Like I like to look at the scores and see where I'm at, and it puts like this this amount of pressure on me, and it helps me personally focus, right? Yeah, yep. And um, you know where you stand. I know where I stand, and I know I need to like freaking lock in, you know, if I'm if I wanna, if it's tight between me and another guy in my division or whatever. So uh that's helped my mental. I feel like the pressure actually helps with my mental errors because I'm I won't be over here yapping with so-and-so about you know what they should have done or whatever, you know. Yep, yep. Um, this is gonna sound really weird, but like, because my music or my background has been in music, so I'm really into all the audio stuff. I'll listen to brown noise sometimes in my ears, which like um even during a stage? No, not during a stage, but up to it, like while I'm thinking about a stage. I have tried that during a stage, I didn't like it too well. Yeah, um, it kind of helps me calm down a little bit because I get I just get amped up and to the point like I could be shaking, like especially the first couple stages of a match, like it takes me a minute to calm down, man. So yeah, uh that's one thing that has helped me quite a bit. Um yeah, between putting pressure on myself by looking at scores to help me focus and like listening to brown noise, that that's helped me a lot. And I've improved my mental errors quite a lot, too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

How like how do I where do you see like what's the next step in your mental game that you gotta take, right? Like you still mentioned getting like really amped up and and and going, and obviously you call you know you you recognize that and you're doing things to uh calm that down, but like you know, if you if you went out and asked, let's say like Kale Harmon or Jeff Geary, you know, or something shooters that are super dominant, right? They they probably aren't amped up the first couple stages.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

How do you get there?

SPEAKER_03 38:09

I think just keep doing it. Rep repetition, like shooting outlaw matches, shooting with your buddies. Like we just had a buddy match this past weekend.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Um, just anything to get reps. I even went and shot a gas gun match with my bolt gun back in December just to go get reps. You know, just I think to get proficient at anything, you just have to train it out and just keep doing it. That's what I believe.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Um the buddy match that you just did. Did you get amped up for that? Any pressure?

SPEAKER_03 38:43

I didn't. No.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

How do you channel that to the PRS match?

SPEAKER_03 38:52

Well, I think I think given that it's not like an actual sanction match for points, it's just for fun and it's with all your friends. It's like I think naturally it's gonna be more relaxing and you just go out and have fun, right? So I don't know, shoot more matches and make more friends, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah, exactly. So they're all body matches.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

What's uh let's talk like in intention, uh like intention, intentional stuff that you do. What are you paying attention to now that maybe you ignored a year ago? Like that wasn't even on your radar. You're like, nope, I'm focusing on this, whether that being, you know, during a stage, or maybe it's your you're prep for a weekend or reloading or whatever it is. What are you paying more attention to now that you probably ignored?

SPEAKER_03 39:47

Um I'm measuring targets more, so if I miss, like I know how much I need to, or at least uh educate a guess on what my correction would be, like whether it's uh four tenths target or six tenths target, so that for sure. Um what side of the plate I hit on. Um I'm still dude, one thing I cannot see is trace. Like, I'm like, what? Like, are all of you guys gifted or are you just full of it, right? Because I've seen it before, but not like at the clip, it seems like a lot of these guys see it. Um and I even run my GT slower to try to see it, and I can't. Uh all right, so what speed and what bullet uh 105's uh 2850, 2860.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

Yeah, and it's still yeah. Did you happen to listen to the the show that was recorded a couple weeks ago with Jeff Geary and talking about?

SPEAKER_03 40:52

I've listened to every show.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

I haven't missed any shows. He doesn't see anything. Yeah, and then he's like, I don't see any of this.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

He didn't see it. Who was um who got third at Collis or or sec uh Lee Petros, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

Didn't he say didn't Lee say that he can't see that either?

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah, Lee, you know, I from what it sounds like, Lee can make a pretty good educated guess of what it is. And if it pays off, you know, if if they're calling impact, that's a good guess. And you keep repeating that, right? Yeah. Um if they don't call impact, hopefully you see it, and then you make a correction. But yeah, not actually seeing exactly on point where you're at. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I I I don't know if I see uh that's probably one of the hardest things for me is actually seeing on point where did it hit. You know?

SPEAKER_03 41:51

Yeah. Yeah, especially if they're beat up, man. It's really for me, it's really hard. So I I'm really relying on like which side of the plate moves, and yeah, you know, and I and I it's a couple of things.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Because I man, I can't say how many times it's like I see that shake, and then it comes back. What what it was was, and then that, and I'm like, oh, perfect. I had an awesome call, I'm gonna move two tents, center this thing up, and then I right off the side exactly where I moved it, like, oh, you saw it wrong.

SPEAKER_03 42:24

Yeah, especially the closer targets where it's just like boom, boom, you know, it's like, yeah, for sure. So I yeah, I'm trying to see that better, but yeah, as far as trace, I've picked it up a couple times. Uh, I'm sure the lighting was just perfect, but like the way some of these guys say they can see trace, I'm like, man, like I've had my eyes checked and they're perfect for distance. Like, I can't see crap up close, you know, but uh for you know, my distance is great, and I'm like, man, I just don't see it. So um I wish I could, that would be helpful.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

Yep, yeah, and I think I think sometimes, I mean, just some people have uh an easier time at it, you know, or the conditions, and you know, whatever piece of glass it is just happens to work really well with that condition. Every glass is different, you know. Um man, I've I thinking of like times where I've seen like incredible amounts of trace, like KM is one of those places where I've I've seen seen a lot. I've seen trace at KM Binos looking at somebody that's way off to the side shooting downrange, like maybe a whole squad over, but shooting something like a 308 and like looking over, and you see it go across your uh your glass, and you're like, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 43:47

You know, but it's just this wake of potato that flies in. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

But it has to be it has to be that sort of right, you know, the the sun is maybe behind you, there's enough moisture in the air. All of those things, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I've picked it up with my 308 a couple times, but not not super consistent. I think it I think it's yeah. I'm sure it has to do with the maybe the quality of the glass and uh just the lighting conditions or something. Like I don't not for sure. But yeah, those those little 105s, man, I can't see jack.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

So uh are you actively practicing trying to see that type of thing?

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Not really. No, I mean I'm really practicing trying to see which side of the plate I hit, you know. Yeah, like if I go out for practice, I'm usually pretty lucky and get freshly painted targets, and that's really easy. But then, you know, you go to a match or and they're beat up, it's like I I'm just trying to see which side it moved on, you know, and hopefully make an educated guess and and correct the rest of it. But um, but yeah. Freshly painted targets compared to beat up ones are like two different things for sure.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

Um in your journey here, what what have you come across that matters more than you thought? And I'm gonna ask the office of that. What's mattered less than you thought?

SPEAKER_03 45:20

I think for sure what matters less than I thought is um all things behind the reloading bench and what that encompasses. Yeah. For sure. Um because there's dudes out there that are shooting really good that are doing factory reloads, you know. And I'm talking about not just like from Clay or like Eagle Eye or something. I mean like you know, there's a lot of lot of buddies from seventh group out here, they're shooting, you know, federal stuff and right out of the box. Yeah. So I think that's really hard for me to let go. I think it's hard for most guys if they're being honest with themselves to like let go of what your group looks like at 100 and what your SD and ES is and what people post online. No, man. Yeah. But if you do the math, you know, kind of like uh what Francis and Chad did with, you know, well, what happens if it's at this SD versus this? You know, it's it it it for me, it just kind of let me off the hook of worrying about it so much. So that would definitely be the thing I would uh do. That matters less than that.

SPEAKER_01 46:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:38

Um man, matters the most. Dude, that's a tough question. That was the other one, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Yeah, it matters more more than you thought. You know. Would it be, I guess, chasing wing calls? You know, if that's what you're practicing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:54

I think I mean you correct me if I'm wrong, but like a lot of these things that we do, like every step from like writing down your dope card to like executing the stage, is you can create habits and create muscle memory that are hopefully good habits, right? But the one variable that you can't control is the environment. So that's why I work on that a lot. At least in my mind, that's how I think. Um, yeah, I think like if I were to go to a class like Matt Crusoe's class or like the JTAC class, the thing I would be the most interested in is like uh you know, win game plans and like how to like that nugget that Morgan gave everybody that I know I'm sure a lot of the pro shooters already know, and I had a good inclination that's what JTAC was talking about, but I'll I didn't know that for sure.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

So um speak speaking of training, you've had an opportunity to shoot with some pretty good shooters, right? Yep along the way or squatted with. Um what are what are some of the ones you've you've uh had an opportunity to shoot alongside?

SPEAKER_03 48:15

Um well that first AI match I shot, which was my second match ever. I I think I've told you this, but yeah, one of my buddies was like, dude, don't go shoot that. Like I was like, no, I'm going, you know, and so I shot with Ben Gossett, and I felt like I learned a lot there. One of the best uh yep. Uh I've shot with Keith. Um Rudisil? Yeah, Rudisil at 18. Of course, Sam, he's an awesome shooter. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of good shooters down here at Ridgeline, man. There's some some that aren't doing the pro series that should, like they would kill it. But um, I shot with Ben again at Collis, which was awesome to see him. And um, yeah, there's yeah, any any pro series match, like there's a good chance you're gonna be in a squad with some somebody, some heavy hitters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

Yep. Yep. So like let's take Ben for instance and having the opportunity to shoot with him a couple times now. Uh what's something that maybe you've learned watching him shoot or at least being able to talk to him about?

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Hmm. Well, I try not to bother people. You know, I don't want to be that guy during the stage, but uh I don't know. Him especially, he just he just approaches everything so smoothly and effortlessly. Like he doesn't at least uh outside looking in, it just seems he's just as cool as a cucumber, you know, jumping up there. So yeah, whatever that special sauce is, I hope to get some of that so I can just but I you know again, I think it's that that's gotta be just like that's he's done this thousands of times probably at this point. I don't know how many matches he's he's shot, but I think with the just repetition and just doing it, like it's gotta get better, right? Yeah, at least that's what I'm hoping.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

Yeah, yeah. I mean, he is very cool. Yeah, you know, he just he doesn't get excited, he doesn't he he doesn't go too far from from center, right? Um in it, yeah. I've watched Ben shoot a lot in either R O and like at the AG Cup or uh I've been squatted with him a couple times. I I was squatted with him at Clay's, I think most recently, and he just uh he just it looks to me like he just follows this process, you know? Like, yep, I got my game plan and I'm gonna go up and see how it, you know, I'm just gonna execute my game plan every stage.

SPEAKER_03 50:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

Right? Um that's one of the things I've learned from him anyway. You know, he just follow the process and whatever the results are, whatever the results are, right? And yeah, you know, the more that you've worked on this stuff, the better your process is.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:04

Yeah. What do you think? What do you think are other habits that like top shooters like that, or maybe Keith Rudasil and you know, Sam Tribino, etc. You know, like what are other top habits or traits like that that you think you've picked up on or recognized?

SPEAKER_03 51:24

Um, I know Sam does his dope card a very specific way, which is like, you know, he he uses a lot of different colored pins, and it's very detailed. And I use two different colored pins too. Yeah. You know, like for my my elevation and then my wind, and then I do my turret the same color as my wind or whatever. But yeah, I maybe just the way they it helps them stay organized, you know, like during the stage, like maybe that's that's one thing that's a little I don't know if it's unique, but it's it's definitely different, and it he's doing it a better way than I'm doing it for sure, I think. Um yeah, that's one thing I noticed with Sam. Oh, he's got a calypso. I I gotta tell you, like I I just bought one of those, and I don't know like how I just found shooting with him with that calypso on there, it whether it's real or not, it gave me a sense of just feeling comfortable where I could look up there, see the wind direction, and see the average, and then you have your low and high. Like, that's I know it can be totally different up on the stage than what it's doing down downrange, but like yeah, I love that. So I just started incorporating that. Um, I'm probably getting off of the question you asked me, but that's one thing he he uses, and I picked one of those up on sale. So um looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Buying gear for more points.

unknown 53:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:04

Hey, but in my defense, I stuck with that advice early on about not changing gear as much as possible, you know. So I've made some upgrades, but I wouldn't say like, hey, I'm trying like three different bags and oh yeah, you know, switching calibers and all that kind of stuff. It's I try to I think that's legit advice. Stay consistent, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

So yeah. Yeah, and I guess for for for those out there that maybe not know what a Calypso is, it's uh ultrasonic, I think, uh technology, ultrasonic wind meter, it goes on top of a pole. You usually put it, you know, somehow an extension off of your your tripod where you're spotting. And uh I so I was a very early adopter of Calypso and full disclosure, actually, I don't even have to disclose this because I paid for it, but they reached out to me in like the beginning of 23.

SPEAKER_03 53:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

And and like, hey, we have this technology. Um, you know, we're looking at different ways to get involved in the shooting community because it was, I think it's primarily designed for sailing, and they found like golf and other sports that depend on wind for success. Uh, they found a home with, right? So they sent me an early one and I had a couple follow-up meetings, and we, you know, I gave them my feedback on the app, and at the time the app was hot trash. Um so like I sent them a lot of screenshots and a lot of you know, you know, with edits and stuff like that. We ended up never partnering together, but man, I I think they did kick in free shipping, full disclosure, and they shipped it like overnight from Italy, I think is where it came from.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Um, yeah, a very, very cool tool. Um, and and I think you kind of disclosed with this too. Like, is it real data?

SPEAKER_03 54:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

I don't know. I I I actually don't even have mine anymore. I I let Josh Edget borrow it, and it's one of those things that I let him borrow like six months ago, and I don't think I'll ever see it again. Hopefully, hopefully he's using it. But I found in uh a place like Box Canyon in Kansas where it's more open or Punisher in Kansas where it's Punisher Positional, where it's more open. Um, I think you're gonna have a tendency for better data. Um, you know, what you're seeing on the display is actually what you could hold downrange. Um you know, if it's if for being true. Um, but in at a place like KM where yeah, or yeah, I mean KM it doesn't have a lot of wind anyway, but um, maybe a place like Twisted Barrel where you know you're near canopy or overhead cover and downrange, it's open, and then there's a tree line, like you're not gonna get data that you can like, oh, here's what my whim call is gonna be based on this. But to the point I think you were trying to make, you do get averages, you do get directional averages, so you can kind of see like, hey, it's been it's been quartering for the last two hours, and like it's changing, you know. Yeah, um so it does reinforce some things.

SPEAKER_03 56:19

Yeah, for sure. I mean, like at Altus, we you know, I would say average maybe like five or six miles an hour, not crazy at all, but like I can get that average at the top, which is you know, all open, there isn't a lot of trees. Yep. But down in the bottom, there's there's quite a bit of trees. There's some cuts through some of the trees that are down there, so you have to take that into account. But like if you're getting like a nine o'clock wind and you have a bunch of targets on the left side of that lane, you know, that's getting protected from those trees. Well, I can still use that average and then like maybe cut it in half, yeah, or you know, that kind of thing. So it's still I think you can still use it as a really helpful tool, even though it's not it doesn't reflect necessarily like what's happening down there.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

So exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:10

Yeah, I yeah, it's kind of it's it's just kind of like a comfort blanket, I guess. A very expensive one, but you know, it's I like it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Yep. Yeah, so they do make uh calypso makes um these Wi-Fi devices too that have really long range um uh transmission that you could place downrange.

SPEAKER_03 57:32

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 57:33

Yeah. Uh so you know, but you know, those could probably lie to you too. If you place it downrange next to a tree, you're not gonna get the, you know, or a tree line or whatever, you're not gonna get the data you think you're getting. Um yeah, so that's I don't know, it's interesting. I I love the technology though, developing to try to, you know, uh try to understand some of this a little bit better, right? Because the wind is the piece or the environmental is the piece that we just don't understand, like you said earlier, you know, that's stuff to work on.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 58:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:07

I think I'm such a visual learner, like I don't know how you are. I think being able to see the wind direction on there, and you know, it kind of puts it in your mind's eye as you're making your stage plan, but um, but yeah, it's it's pretty neat. Mm-hmm.

unknown 58:23

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

Um now in your experience here for the last year and a half or so, what do you think the biggest mistake every new shooter makes? And outside of reloading and all of that, right? Because I think a lot of people that's an easy one because you feel like you can be at home and you can work on something. You know, like I'm be I'm gonna be a better competitor because I'm working right now doing this, but that's not helping you be a better shooter, that's making you a better reloader.

SPEAKER_03 58:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:56

But what what else do you think is uh you know the biggest mistake every new shooter makes?

SPEAKER_03 59:02

I think you can gain a lot, especially now. I think you can gain a lot of knowledge on paper, so to speak, like by listening to these podcasts and getting some really good nuggets out of there, and then you think you can just take that and oh, it's gonna work for you. Well, maybe, but it's totally different when you actually go out there and try to apply it. Or at least that was for me. You know, like you have all this on paper knowledge, but then you know, that's it's not the same thing than actually going down there and and shooting it. So yeah, I don't know if that's the biggest mistake, but um man, I yeah, I think man, that's a tough question. I've made a lot of mistakes, which I like. Like I wanna I want to make those mistakes and get them out of the way, you know. But yeah, I think maybe buying the wrong getting the wrong gear, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

Um Yeah, like you said, there's tools out there to help with that precision rifle blog or some of these podcasts that go into gear, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:18

How about I volley that back to you? What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

Oh, what uh biggest mistakes every new shooter makes?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Um I'll tell you this with everybody that I've interviewed and talked with, one of the things that I'm seeing as a trend uh of the best shooters is just getting rounds down range. More and more rounds downrange. Like talking to Morgan, you know, he he talked about on his way home from work, stopping by the you know, his grandparents' property and shooting a hundred rounds on the way home, you know, which is kind of wild to think, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:59

Um talking to Shane Ward, you know, it's it's he he practices every Friday. He goes to the range, you know. I think um I think the more time you can spend shooting the better, right? And you and you can supplement that with some dry fire, especially if you're doing dry fire at the range, you know, while your barrel's cooling down or something like that. Um I think that's the biggest influencer of all of a sudden why, you know, like you might see somebody that was you know a 50% shooter and now they're uh you know top 20% shooter, top 10% shooter, like they shot a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:40

Yeah, I think yeah, I agree. I think if you want to be great at something, you just have to put in the time. I mean, with any sport or any craft, you know, it just takes time. What is it what is what do they say like to master something is like 10,000 hours or 10,000 hours to be world class, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:00

So that's a lot of shooting. Yeah, especially if you only count two minutes at a time or you know, 90 seconds at a time. Yeah, that's a lot of stages.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Right? Actually, you know what? We're gonna we're gonna do the math on that, right? Let's just assume the time you're shooting and to be world-class you need 10,000 hours.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:23

Are you pulling up Claude right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

No, I I just have a calculator. I in fact, I'll I'm I'm gonna I'll share my screen so that uh you can uh you can see if I make any any errors here, right? I love Claude, by the way. I use it all the time. Yeah, me too. It answers a lot of questions for me. All right, so we're looking for 10,000 hours um to be world class. And this this comes from a book, I think, called Blink that was uh, man, the author escaped me. Um he wrote the book Moneyball about the old. Oh, yeah. Uh that's a great movie. Yeah, it's a really good movie. Uh he also did I think the book 21. Uh it's about Harvard students beating blackjack at in Vegas or whatever. But anyway, um, so uh it's based on a lot of data, and he has a ton of examples from professional athletes to professional musicians and all that, and it's pretty much across the board. 10,000 hours at something makes you world class. So if you shoot, let's say a standard 20 20-stage match, um which you're on the clock for two minutes, we'll say. Um so at a 20-stage match times two minutes, that's 40 minutes per two-day, right? Um, which is divide by 60, it's two-thirds of an hour. So you would have to, I think if I divide that by 10,000, you yeah, uh yeah, you'd have to shoot 60,000 matches or something like that. Is that what that's saying? That's just your time under fire, you know. But if you if you include uh, I guess if you if you came back and said, you know, what maybe you get two hours of actual time going through your process and shooting and all of that at a big two-day match, or an hour a match, or hour per match day, yeah, it's still ten thousand days. Yeah, that's crazy. Nobody's world class yet. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:28

Until you have somebody that's doing this Monday, Monday through Monday, seven days a week. Yeah, you know, and and that's almost like that's unheard of.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

That's a lot of hearing loss.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:41

Yeah, unless you do it at 22. You know?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Yeah. I mean, some of these guys, they're shooting like 20,000 rounds a year, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:50

Man, that's that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

But that's to be world class.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

You know, and uh I, you know, as a I guess I would call myself somewhat of a veteran shooter here, you know, this being the 10th or 11th year that I've done this. Um I don't I don't get nervous, you know, the first couple stages anymore. You know, occasionally I'll get nervous if I've known that I put together a really good day, you know, and and it's like one of the last stages, and I'm like, okay, don't blow it now.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:24

You know, uh, which is a problem when you start thinking like, don't blow it. All you're thinking about is blowing it. Um instead of just follow my process. You know, I'm just gonna take one shot at a time and do the same thing I've been doing for the last nine stages or 19 stages or whatever. But um, you know, uh you have to make different sacrifices if you're gonna get 20,000 rounds a year in and oh yeah, like it or not, I'm still I still want to coach my son's baseball team, still want to be involved there. I still have podcasts that I want to do and people I want to talk with, and you know, this I'm not out shooting right now, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Yeah, hey man, I think you're making the right choice to to choose your family, you know. Like we only get one go-around with those guys. So yeah, as much as I want to shoot more and do all those things, like I'm just not choosing PRS over my family, but if I can find the balance, like I will, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:20

Exactly. So and still have a good time, still feel like you go out there and improve and yeah, doing doing a little better every time, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:27

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:28

Yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting. We'll talk, uh we'll obviously talk again soon. We chat once in a while or text once in a while, but uh we'll plan to do this next summer and we'll see where you're at. You know, hopefully, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:42

Hopefully I see you at uh Twisted Barrel, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

Yeah, yeah. At uh well hopefully I see you there at the finale, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

Yeah, that's the goal.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:51

Yeah, yes, sir. Yes, sir. So man, Tate, appreciate you coming on. Um I'll tell you what, let's leave a little time capsule thing here. If we talk again next summer, what is what is one thing you want to achieve between now and then?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:10

Um, well, there's a lot of things I want to achieve, but uh I try to be realistic too. Um go for it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:23

Don't be realistic. Top 10?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:27

Yeah, I man, there's so many good shooters out there. It's so tight at the top. I I would definitely love to be in that top 20% um of a pro match for sure. Yeah um, yeah. I mean, I'd love to keep winning some production trophies. That's pretty fun. Like, I know I know a lot of uh people probably make fun of the production division, but it's fun, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

Yeah, I do. I I shot production for two, three years. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:00

Um yeah, I would love to uh make podium at Altus for sure. I think the highest I got there was six at an outlaw match. So like to get a trophy at the local range, and um um yeah, I'll just I'll just tell you. So worlds is in two years. I'd love to make that happen in two years. I feel like I can improve a lot over two years for the factory division. So, you know, I don't know how all that plays out exactly, but that would be pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:31

That would be awesome. Yeah, I that would be awesome. I don't know if I don't think we know where the world championship match will be hosted yet, but um I really don't think it'll be third one in a row in the US. I I do think it'll end up either probably probably somewhere in Europe, you know, maybe South Africa or something. But um uh yeah, that that would be awesome. I'll be there. I'll be I'd be very happy uh for us to do a follow up podcast from worlds, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:00

Yeah, that would be awesome. Yeah, that's that's a lofty goal, but it is on my mind.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:05

Yeah, heck yeah. So love it. Love it, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:09

Well, thanks for having me again, Ken. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:12

Thank you, Tate. We'll talk again soon. Good luck, yes, sir.