RSWC #231, Ryan Muller, Competitive Shooter

Riding Shotgun With Charlie
#231
Ryan Muller
Competitive Shooter

I’ve had a few chances to meet Ryan Muller. He’s the husband of Dianna Muller from Women for Gun Rights. He’s a great shooter on his own. When I got to NRA AM in Atlanta, Di called me and said I needed to do a show with Ryan since I had a car and we were both there. I picked him up at the aquarium and we drove around the ATL. When a friend set them up, they really hit it off. She took him to a competition and he did really well. They’ve had the chance to travel the world as a couple and individually doing competitions.

Ryan grew up shooting pellet guns and moved into a Ruger 10/22 when he turned 13. He said living in a rural area, he got to shoot just about everything a boy would want to shoot. He was athletic and played sports, but never went to a range until Di took him to one. On his first match, she made him shoot first. They rotated the line up and he would go last the next time. This worked to his advantage as the first stage was stationary and used pistols. He was hooked after that. WIthin a few years, he was on the pro series for 3-Gun Nation. They spent the next 10 years as full time competitive shooters.

While out there shooting, he’s done well. But he would pick up what others would tell him and apply those techniques and tips. It gave him the opportunity to shoot with some of the big name competitive shooters like Jerry Miculek, Bruce Piatt, and Tony Holmes. The wonderful thing about being around these shooters is they are willing to help you. They’ve got 40 years of experience doing it and figuring out why they do particular things while shooting. T\\hey’ll tell you what their plans are, what they saw while shooting a stage, and how they can improve.

Ryan emphasises that as a sponsored and competitive shooter, you’ve got to build relationships with companies before you can ask them to get behind you. A lot of what companies are looking for is not that you’re winning, but that you’re out there doing social media, being approachable by others, and helping them sell products. Yes, it’s good when you win, but it’s better if you’re helping the company by getting their items into other people’s hands.

A few years ago, Ryan had a motorcycle accident in his own driveway. He landed and really messed up his back. He was in the hospital for a month. When he was out, he couldn’t get around without a wheelchair, working his way to a walker and crutches. With the strong relationship he’s built with companies, they wanted to see that he was recovering well and doing better. He has been able to get back to some competitions despite the injury. At one event, he was above 66 other competitors but not close to the top.

He also talks about W.O.F.T, West Orlando Firearm Training, sometimes called Where Our Family Trains. They offer training like no other place with scenario training for everyone, including Miculek. I do ask if it’s “fair” that a competitive shooter carries. Ryan replies saying that the bad guy is the one who determines when things happen, our reaction times are going to be the same as a regular person. But with their training, everything else is going to be quicker and smoother. Which is why we all need more training and more practice.

We talked about how the people and companies in the firearm community really want to see each other succeed and do well. From getting tips from Miculek to keeping sponsor deals after an injury, it’s really a testament to the kinds of people we have in our industry..

Favorite quotes:
“Its just shooting out the back of a truck, it’s what I grew up doing.”
“I got to learn and pick up on 30, 40 years of experience that I didn’t have to spend the time and ammo to get.”
“We are going to give everybody that is our competition the best chance we can to give them to succeed. And I don’t think you see that in other sports.”
“You’re going to point shoot in one of those situations.”

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Women for Gun Rights