Gallery

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Sweet Wheels
If you're going to travel the two and a half hours or so from Portland to the Leupold Optics Academy in Madras, Ore., you may as well do it in style, right?

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Welcome to Madras
Located in Madras—which is found in Central Oregon, just east of the Cascade Range—the Leupold Optics Academy is designed around the idea that the optic on a firearm is one of the most critical components of the shooting system. You'd probably expect as much from a school that shares its name with a riflescope manufacturer, but they're not wrong—and the theory of optics is firmly a part of the classwork.

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Back to School
Your day will start in the classroom, where long-range shooting experts cover an extensive curriculum before turning you loose on the range.

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Subject Matter Experts
And experts, Leupold isn't short on. One of the Academy's instructors is Michael Baccellieri, who serves as Leupold's Product Applications Training Coordinator. Prior to joining the private sector, he served in the in the U.S. Marines as a scout in a sniper platoon and in the U.S. Army as a sniper. He tends to know what he's talking about.

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Go Prone
Though a bevy of shooting positions and styles are covered in the class, the basic prone position is where it all starts.

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Range is Hot
Here, Shooting Illustrated Editor-in-Chief Ed Friedman lines up a shot at the 300-yard targets.

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Hands-On Instruction
Baccellieri walks participants through an array of potential shooting positions—all designed to present realistic shots, rather than ideal scenarios.

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Looking to the Future
Before leaving, we got a look at the remainder of the Academy's property—including where they hope to soon build a range dedicated to high-angle shots.