Ryan, tell us a bit about yourself.

After graduating college, I moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take a position as a plastics engineer and needless to say, the opportunities to get behind the trigger drastically decreased. After falling for my new bride, Dianna Liedorff, I was introduced to the shooting sport of 3 Gun and fell for it too! I still have a passion for hunting, but 3 Gun gives us the opportunity to travel together and compete with some pretty amazing people. Over the years as a hunter and now as a competitive shooter, I have used and loved Hornady products. With such a huge selection of loaded ammunition, individual components, and the most comprehensive reloading manual out there, I have yet to find a solution that Hornady couldn’t deliver. So, for me to be added to the Team Hornady line-up is an incredible honor.

What age were you when you started shooting, and who taught you?

I honestly don’t remember when I started shooting, I was that young. I grew up in the country cutting wood, building fences, pushing cows, and of course shooting guns. Shooting was nothing special, just another part of growing up. We were taught not only how to use firearms, but to respect them and be safe. I personally don’t think you can stick a certain age to when it’s time to introduce kids to guns, it’s up to the adults to decide when they are mature enough to be trusted with the responsibility.

What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from shooting?

The most valuable lesson I have learned from shooting is that in all things, we are responsible for ourselves. If we finish well it is because we are capitalizing on talent, practicing, preparing, and maintaining mental and physical health amongst other things. We are responsible for success and how we handle it. Sometimes things go wrong, man-made parts break, and we don’t always finish as well as we want. Even if Murphy rears his ugly head, we are still responsible for hard times as well as how we handle them.

Who has been your biggest influence in shooting, and why?

My wife Dianna is hands down my most influential person in shooting. In fact, before meeting her I had never been to a range, tried competition, or even knew about the shooting sports!

What is your specialty and why did you choose it?

While I enjoy other sports like long-range precision, my specialty is 3 Gun. It is often referred to as the X-Games of the shooting sports. No two stages are ever the same, each match has its own set of rules and feel. Some matches are short fast stages, while others will have you weighted down with as much ammo as you can carry and running mini-marathons.

Tell us about your competition set up.

I have used Hornady ammo and reloading components in my 223 extensively for many years. In competition we have both long range precision shots, combined with short range targets on many of the courses of fire. For the long range ammo I trust the 75gr BTHP, but more specifically, the Hornady BLACK runs my rifle the best. The higher ballistic coefficient and increased mass makes it easier to make accurate shots in windy conditions and call impacts on steel at distances that will push past 600 yards. For the closer targets I use Hornady’s 55gr FMJ. The Hornady lines that offer this round are reliable, consistent, and come at less expense than the match ammo used for farther targets. Due to sheer volume of ammo that I go through in a season I choose to reload all my 55gr ammo.

My rifle is a F-1 Firearms BDR15–3G. At this level the rifles are more like Nascar, we tweak everything we can for more performance without sacrificing reliability. My particular rifle is fitted with a JP silent captured recoil spring, HIPERFIRE trigger, titanium bolt carrier, PROOF Research carbon fiber barrel, SJC Titan compensator, and all MAGPUL furniture. It’s topped off with a Leupold Mark 8 1.1–8 with TMR reticle.

For pistol, I predominantly compete in 3 Gun which has no power factor. Usually pistol shooters prefer to reload, but I opt for factory ammo. It’s consistent and has yet to fail me. Hornady inspects 100% of the rounds that leave their facility, and it shows. I trust the American Gunner line of 9mm ammo, which I use through my Hayes Custom built 2011. The difference here is like comparing a Fiat to a Ferrari. The workmanship and usability are unsurpassed in these pistols. I run a 5-inch ported barrel with a compensator and Hayes’s own magwell. It is topped off with a Cheely frame mount that holds a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro.

How do you prepare for a competition?

Unfortunately my match preparation usually consists of throwing everything in to the trailer last minute, hoping I didn’t forget something, praying whatever it was I forgot wasn’t overly important, and driving until the wee hours of the morning running on nothing but artificial sweeteners and music my grandmother would not approve of. Now when it comes to prepare for the actual shooting portion of competition I prefer to run through each stage in my head to the Nth degree, documenting each step, each location, targets and so on. The more small things I can practice the better, my body will automatically do what I have rehearsed once the beeper sounds and the monkey inside my head starts throwing poo against the walls!

What has been your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement in shooting is not a trophy, plaque, or medal, it is those that I have been able to meet and those that I have influenced. I have been lucky enough to spend time with the greats of our generation. Shooters like Jerry Miculek, Michael Voigt, Bruce Piatt, Daniel Horner, Tony Holmes, and Doug Koenig among others. At the same time I have helped many new shooters along their own path through the shooting sports.

What are your goals for the future?

My goals for the future are to continue to maintain a presence in the shooting sports but to spend the next couple years focusing on getting more youth and females into hunting and the shooting sports. I plan to focus on helping The DC Project grow their presence amongst our community as well as on Capitol Hill.

How long have you been a Hornady shooter?

I have been on the Hornady shooting team for six years now, but my use of Hornady products started long before that. My original love of hunting lead me to use Hornady products and I have continued to rely on them through the years.

Tell us a little about your interest in hunting.

I could go on and on about hunting like an old man in a coffee shop. Hunting is my first love revolving around any sport. I have spent countless hours thumbing through magazines, I own every Monster Bucks video ever produced, and get excited each and every time I see a large whitetail. I truly enjoy the hunt and time in the field as much or more than actually harvesting anything. The woods are a special place for me!