Hornady team shooter Tony Gimmellie reflects on his competitive shooting career, offering perspective on preparation, perseverance, and the skills that drive success in top-level matches.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Tony Gimmellie served for 10 years in the United States Marine Corps from the years of 1991–2001. He is currently in his 17th year of service with the United States Secret Service, where he works as a firearms instructor. Tony has been a competitive shooter for 24 years, winning multiple major match titles and has five top finishes in Precision Long Range, 3-Gun, USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association), and 22 Bench Rest.

What age were you when you first started shooting?

Being a city boy, I didn’t do much shooting as a child. I did own a few BB and pellet guns that I would shoot at cans or targets in my back yard. The only real shooting I did was a few months prior to leaving for Marine Corps boot camp at the age of 17. My recruiter took me to a farm to shoot, where I shot my first Armalite AR-15 in 223, a Smith & Wesson revolver in 38 Special and a Glock 17 semi-auto pistol in 9mm.

When I was 19 years old I started deer and rabbit hunting with the father of a family friend. I used a Remington model 11–87, a 12 gauge shotgun for my hunting needs.

Who introduced you to shooting?

My real introduction to shooting came from boot camp in the Marine Corps. “Every Marine is a rifleman” was instilled from day one of boot camp. I always had a burning desire to be a good shooter. When I got to the rifle range training I was focused on being the best shooter on the range, so it was easy for me to be “all in” and focused on learning everything I could about shooting and marksmanship.

Did your Marine Scout sniper training teach you skills that you could carry over into the civilian competition arena?

My sniper training really advanced me as a shooter. Upon getting the opportunity to attend Scout Sniper School I knew this would be the biggest challenge I faced. With less than a 50% graduation rate, and knowing you could fail out any day from fieldcraft or marksmanship, it meant you had to be the best, every day.

Upon graduating from sniper school I still felt the desire to grow as a shooter, to push, to be better. I then found myself competing in the first ever long range sniper competitions around 1994, in matches like the Super Sniper Shootout in Camp Shelby Mississippi, Storm Mountain in West Virginia, and Snipers Paradise matches in Texas. These matches were the nexus of the long range precision matches we see today.

I also wanted to do more with pistols and action shooting, so I got involved in the IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) in its inaugural year.

How did you get into competitive shooting?

The desire to be better, faster and wanting to test myself against other top shooters is what drew me into shooting competitions. I sought more shooting opportunities on my own outside of the Marine Corps. I would have loved to have been on the Marine Corps shooting teams while I was on active duty, but unfortunately between schools and deployments that never worked out for me. However, I found the time independently to shoot various matches in my free time or while on leave.

You compete in a lot of different disciplines — which is your favorite?

Wow, choosing just one is going to be hard for me, I love to compete. To me the thrill of battling against so many talented shooters in various shooting disciplines is a rush like no other. Every false step, miss or delay is going to hurt you in the final standings — the margin for error is so minimal. Our country has so many great shooters, every other shooter is hoping that you make mistake or that they can beat you on a stage, which keeps forcing me to get better as a competitor.

If I had to choose one sport, I would have to go to my true love of long range precision rifle. There is just something about sending a Hornady ELD Match or A-MAX 1,000 yards or more and hitting small targets. To know everything from your fundamentals of marksmanship to making the right wind call and getting the hit is challenging but rewarding.

Do you find it hard to switch between the different disciplines, or do you find they complement each other?

I do shoot a very wide variety of shooting sports, including Long Range, 3-Gun, USPSA, IDPA, 22 Bench Rest, F-Class and Tactical Shotgun matches. I enjoy shooting pretty much everything that I can get involved in.

A lot of these matches do complement each other. Other than the different gear or firearms requirements for each type of shooting sport, the same fundamentals of marksmanship come in to play with all of them. You either know the fundamentals of marksmanship and how to apply them or you don’t.

I do think that by not specializing in one specific shooting discipline it does affect a shooters performance. I find myself switching from say USPSA to 3-Gun to a Long Range match in three consecutive weeks. My desire to be involved and compete in many shooting sports doesn’t allow me to focus on countless hours of repetition, drills or training of just one sport. To win these days you have to limit the mistakes and errors you make when you compete.

Which competitive shooting titles are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of all my wins and successes achieved in my shooting career. They are all special to me, but for me a win only lasts a few days because the next weekend I am off somewhere else, battling it out among great shooters.

I consider myself a good shooter and a threat to be in the running to win or the top 10% of all the matches I compete in. I am thankful for the abilities I have and how well I stack up with the other great shooters out there. A lot of people look at placement on a score sheet and they see the winner or top three shooters, but I think what gets lost in a lot of match results are how close and how tight these results really are. The difference between one shot, one second, one penalty, can move you many places in the standings.

How long have you been sponsored by Hornady?

I have been part of the Hornady family since 2004. I was using Hornady ammunition for my long range shooting and the results were unmatched. A lot of shooters only thought Hornady was focused on hunters and hunting ammunition, but they quickly learned that there was a distinct edge with the A-MAX line of bullets offered.

Since joining Team Hornady I have pleased to be a part of a few cutting edge ammunition and bullet releases. In 2006 I was able to provide feedback after testing Hornady’s 208 grain A-MAX, and in 2007 my fellow team mates and I were the first long range shooters to bring the now famous 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition into the precision rifle matches. At first many shooters were like “come on what’s this new silly round you are messing with now” — that year we were able to open a lot of eyes. We won a lot of long range matches and had many top five finishes, that people were calling, emailing and tracking us down to talk with us about this new round and how easy it would be for them to switch to it. Fast forward 11 years, and now every gun company is offering a 6.5 Creedmoor as a standard chambering.

What are your preferred guns and ammunition?

With shooting so many sports and division’s, the laundry list of great guns, equipment, and ammunition types that I use would be very extensive. For precision rifles I use Surgeon Actions with Bartlein Barrels and Manners Composite Stocks. For semi-automatic rifles I use Patriot Ordnance Factory and Nordic Components. For pistols I use STI and for shotguns I use a Benelli M2 and a Super Nova. For all my optics needs I use the quality glass of Vortex Optics and of course I am feeding my guns with quality, and reliable ammunition from Hornady. It takes a lot of testing to ensure that your gear and ammunition run flawlessly. Knowing that one misfire, one malfunction could cost you a match, you need reliability and accuracy, that’s why I use Hornady Ammunition.

You now work as a federal police officer for the USSS and are currently a firearms instructor — what’s your top three tips for anyone interested in taking up competitive shooting?

Over my military, law enforcement, and competitive shooting career I have seen it all. There is never a shortage of mistakes that I constantly keep seeing. There is an ugly pattern of training scars that shooters make over and over again. Sometimes it takes making those mistakes multiple times until you realize it, or it takes tough love from a friend, fellow competitor or instructor to point out the mistakes and flaws.

But my three tips to anyone serious about getting better are ones I live by:

1. Practice the things you are bad at, it’s so easy to go to the range and do the things your already good at but you need to challenge yourself. In my opinion, you can never get enough practice.
2. Make sure you use quality guns and ammunition. Make sure your stuff works, functions and its clean. Way too many shooters get burned by this.
3. Never stop learning, be open minded to other methods. There is always someone else trying to be better and trying to outperform you.

I have a favorite quote that I share with my students, it hangs above my desk and I find myself reading it often:

Amateurs do it until they get it right! Professionals do it until they can’t get it wrong!