7/4/2023 0 Comments Olympic sharpshooter![]() ![]() While all athletes that bring home medals are lavished with praise, those that win during their Olympic debut are imbued with a certain sort of magic we call beginner’s luck. Of the 554 American athletes competing in Rio de Janeiro, 365 are attending the Games for the first time. The Custom Firearms Shop's research and development efforts have enhanced the accuracy and reliability of the Army's competitive weapon systems and ammunition and intensified the combat effectiveness of the entire Army.įor example, the M21 and M24 sniper systems - special purpose rifles and squad-designated marksman rifles - were developed and tested in the shop.Over half of Team USA are virgins - Olympic virgins, that is. They are known as the backbone, or "pit crew," of the marksmanship teams. The Army's finest gunsmiths, machinists, range technicians and ammunition loaders staff the shop. The unit builds and customizes small arms and ammunition through its Custom Firearms Shop. These teams have represented the United States during every Summer Olympics since 1960 and have earned 24 Olympic medals since that time. Those teams include: service rifle, action shooting, international rifle, service pistol and shotgun. The unit is composed of five competitive shooting sections, each with world-class training facilities and competition grounds. Between 19, it led the United States to six Olympic gold medals and 59 individual and team championships in international competition. The unit quickly established itself as a world power in shooting. Army had the personnel and facilities to develop a program that could compete with them. In the '50s, the Soviets dominated the international shooting scene. Eisenhower authorized the formation of the Army Marksmanship Unit with the almost exclusive goal of winning shooting competitions that would raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the Army. Hancock lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife, Rebekah, also a shooter, and his two daughters. It's given me so much I want to give back." national team and the international skeet community, I got my wife she was a shooter before we met. "Shooting has changed my life so dramatically that I can't compare it to anything else in my life," he said. Hancock started competing in shooting at age 11, and he said he now wants to do everything he can to promote a sport that has given him a lot. It's about growing my legacy, being able to pass on the knowledge I've learned over the past 13 years to people all around the nation and all around the world." I'm not about winning as many medals as possible or making as much money as I can. That's the stage I'm in, in my career right now. "My goal for the shooting academy is not just to take the elite-of-the-elite and help them get better it's to help grow the sport. "We've had people come to us for lessons that have never even touched a shotgun before, and this is their first time," Hancock said. Instead, he said it's the desire to further the sport of shooting, to bring more enthusiasts into the fold and to teach newcomers what he knows. Hancock said it isn't money or more medals that's motivating him now. He and his father have started the "Hancock Shooting Academy," where he said participants will learn to be better shooters. He said he's passing those skills on to others. The skills he learned in the Army as part of the Army Marksmanship Unit didn't end when he left the Army in December 2012. In 2018, he won the gold again in the World Skeet Championships. ![]() in the 2016 Olympics, but he didn't medal. He also won gold in the men's division in the World Skeet Championships in 2009 and again in 2015. ![]() He is the first skeet shooter to repeat gold in the Olympics. While still in the Army, Hancock won gold medals in men's skeet at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. ![]()
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