Interview with Bryan Litz — Insight into a Champion
There’s a great interview with Bryan Litz of Applied Ballistics on Mia Rhode’s Life Of A Shooter’s Wife Blog. We recommend you read the full interview. Bryan offers many important insights that can benefit any precision shooter. It’s fascinating to learn about Bryan’s background and how he progressed in competitive shooting, starting with very basic equipment. As a “broke high school kid”, he got started on the cheap, paying for gear with wages from McDonald’s. Now he’s a globally-recognized expert in Ballistics and Long Range precision. You’ll enjoy reading the Full Interview. Here are some highlights…
» Read Full Interview with Bryan Litz
LOASW: When did you first become interested in shooting?
Bryan: My first memories of shooting were at the age of about 9 or 10. Pellet rifle in the back yard. My Dad taught me to shoot, stressing the importance of accuracy. I was driven to hit targets, mostly small targets at long distance. My grandfather was on the All-Army shooting team back in the ‘50s, and was distinguished in both rifle and pistol. Shooting is part of my family’s DNA and I benefited from that from a young age.
LOASW: What sparked your interest in Competitive Shooting and how old were you when you started competing?
Bryan: Hunting groundhogs in the farm-fields of Pennsylvania through high school is where I truly connected with long-range shooting. My Dad heard of a competition range (The Original Pennsylvania 1000 Yard Benchrest Club in Williamsport, PA). So we visited there one summer and I immediately found my trusty 22-250 inadequate for the job of 1000-yard benchrest shooting. So I saved my McDonald’s wages until I could afford a 7mm Remington Magnum and began competing in my first matches at the age of 15.
Learning with Limited Resources…
… It was a huge mis-match to my situation because benchrest is a highly gear-driven sport, and the winners typically have many $1000s of dollars wrapped up in equipment. I was a broke high school kid who needed my parents to drive me to the range my first year, and my second year, I had to rely on fellow competitors to jump start my old pick-up truck that was always breaking down. Nevertheless I enjoyed the hell out of shooting 1000 yards. I can honestly say that I don’t have any more FUN shooting these days with all the best equipment as compared to those bad ‘ol days when I had maybe $900 total wrapped up in all my gear. Those who remember me from those early days might recall the home-made shooting rest and McDonalds French fry box that I carried all my gear in. Later when I picked up prone/sling shooting, my shooting mat was a piece of carpet (pink, no less), and my shooting coat was a military field jacket with belts sewn in it.
Money was probably my biggest challenge when I started out. I had plenty of fun with my budget kit, but was certainly constrained by lack of access to quality gear. I overcame this with hard work and making the most of what I had. Learning how to mitigate the deficiencies of my equipment was an important stepping stone which has been highly valuable even now when I’ve got better stuff. It’s a good skill to have, to be able to spot something about to come unraveled.
LOASW: What advice would you give to someone new to competitive shooting?
Bryan: Find a mentor, someone who lives near you who has experience and is willing to share it. You will cut years off your learning curve if you can get someone to share their experience with you who’s “been there done that”.
