Photos: Inside the Leupold Optics Academy

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.

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.