Everyone meet Noah Smith. We recently met Noah at the first International Precision Rifle Federation qualifier at Zero One, Dartmouth. We had an amazing chat with Noah and got to know him. You can see this in our YouTube video, where Shaun is chatting to Noah, skip to minute 20:10.
Noah is an exciting young prospect in the 22 PRS world, being ranked the 9th Junior in the World and winning the Precision Rifle Series UK Top Junior 2023. At Optics Warehouse, we are so excited to announce that we'll be supporting and following Noah's journey!
Here's a little word from Noah:
'The funny thing is that my Dad got into the shooting by accident when a friend bought him a Clay Pigeon Shooting lesson in 2018 when I was 9 years old. He liked it so much that he applied for his SGC the next day after that lesson! My older brother, my dad, and I had a few lessons and we all shot at our local club for fun and a bit of a laugh. Then Covid hit and all the grounds closed in March 2020. My Dad bought a cheap air rifle & scope so we could mess about with a bit of target shooting in the back garden. During this time we discovered on YouTube that there were a lot of different dynamic/practical shooting disciplines, PRS being one of them. When Covid ended in August 2021 we started to look at starting PRS.
The main obstacle was finding a place to shoot any practical discipline. I was a bit hesitant in starting PRS as the only way to do this, seemed to be by entering a competition which was a couple of hundred miles away! The GBPRA started to host the PR1 Course, an introduction to PRS. So Dad and I booked onto one in South Wales in January 2023, when I was 14 years old. This was the first time I had ever shot a proper rifle and I was instantly hooked! I entered my first competition in March 2023 and to my surprise came 12th Overall. A few weeks later I entered another competition and met one of the Team Jackal Shooters, who was kind enough to lend me his right-handed gun because at that time we only had my Dad’s left-handed gun. To my surprise, I came 4th overall and was asked to join Team Jackal.
Dad and I discussed working towards being invited to the GBPRA Team GB Selection shoots. Having only shot rifles and PRS for a couple of months we thought it would be amazing just to be asked to the selection shoots for Team GB. I was lucky to then be asked to attend the GBPRA Selection Shoots for Team GB for the PR22 Worlds Championships in Italy, as I was one of the few junior shooters in the UK. In June 2023 barely 6 months after picking up my first rifle I was selected to represent Great Britain as part of the Junior Team. We came back from Italy in August 2023, just after my 15th Birthday, with a 3rd Place Team Medal for Junior Team GB. I was the top-scoring Team GB Junior and what was even more amazing was that I was ranked 9th Junior in the World. I also won the Precision Rifle Series UK Top Junior 2023. I have now been selected to attend the 2024 Centerfire World Championships in the USA in September as part of Team GB’s Junior Squad. I have also been invited to GBPRA Selection Shoots for the Team GB Junior Team for PR22 World Championships in 2025.
Having taken a small break from shooting at the start of 2024, so I could concentrate on my GCSE's (school exams), I am back shooting and loving PRS!'
Once again we're thrilled to be supporting Noah and can't wait to see how he progresses. Keep your eyes peeled for more Noah content coming soon! If you're interested in following Noah's journey you can head over to his Instagram @noah.smith.shooting!
