It’s not often you hear military special operations snipers and Olympic shooters in the same sentence, well, that was at least until now.

I recently got in contact with Amanda Furrer (Olympic Rifle Shooter) through a friend of mine and former Marine.  Amanda is not just an Olympic Rifle Shooter,  she also won a bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games and competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she placed 15th in the 50m rifle three positions event.

Her interest in precision shooting and passion to learn for the sake of progress caught me by surprise.  In my community, it’s not often that you see females this interested in precision shooting.  Regardless of gender, backgrounds, training, etc., we shared a common interests in the passion for shooting, as well as expanding the precision rifle sport to a different and much broader audience.  After talking with Amanda, an idea came to my mind: “What if we were to cross-train and document it?”

Although there are a ton of differences between our jobs, there are a few similarities and things that we can learn from each other, may it be through instruction, precision shooting experiences state side or abroad, etc.  Some may assume that a US military sniper is the best-trained, one-shot-one-kill soldier in the world.  This isn’t always the case.  Even the best snipers in the military, including myself, will admit that not every target they shot at was a first round hit. It may take two, three or four rounds to connect.  Being an accurate shot takes putting a lot of time and effort into your craft, a luxury that not all military snipers have.  During my time as a sniper in Battalion, we had the resources and finances to attend multiple sniper schools around the world, shot at least three times a week, and had the time to constantly improve our skills.

For an Olympic Shooter such as Amanda, their practice and time behind the gun can consume anywhere from 2-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week with most of their shooting on a 50 meter range.  50 meters may not sound far to some, but don’t forget the fact that they are shooting from not only the prone position, but standing and kneeling as well, all the while placing shots in a 10.4mm (about 0.41 inches) 10 ring using iron sights.  Not an easy task, and something that any precision shooter, whether military or sport, should look at as extremely impressive.

With the cross-training and everything we have in store, such as aerial platform shooting, extreme long-range shooting, Olympic standard shooting, etc., shedding light on our craft, we think this is something that everyone will enjoy.

Be sure to stay tuned as I’ll post videos, pictures, and articles of our training!