Lou Smith | 2021 XLR Pro Shooter

Hometown: Centennial, CO

Facebook: The Avid Shooter 

Instagram: @theavidshooter

Lou grew up in Albuquerque, NM chasing snakes and lizards with his bb-gun. He started shooting at a young age, competing in NRA 50y .22 rifle competitions at age 8 and then started shooting ATA competitions with a 12ga shotgun when he was 14. Lou is an Aerospace Engineer and has worked on lots of interesting projects ranging from UAVs, Commercial airplane, military airplanes & helicopters, and most recently rockets with ULA.  Lou's home range is at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs where he shoots with the Pikes Peak Precision Rifle Club.

It wasn't until he helped RO a VPRC match in 2014 that he caught the Precision Rifle Bug. After building a 7mm Rem Mag in an XLR Element Chassis and competing with it in the 2015 PRS season. Lou moved back to Colorado where he went to high school and started competing with his GA Precision Tempest chambered in 6.5x47 in a XLR carbon chassis. Now Lou competes with 2 identical rifles chambered in 6Dasher with XLR Envy Pro Chassis.

Lou brings his technical engineering skills to many aspects of the sport including the reloading bench, stage breakdowns, performance analysis, and anywhere else a competitive advantage can be had.  If you have a serious question Lou will give you an honest answer on just about anything any precision rifle related topic.

Last year Lou ranked high enough to be invited to the NRL finale where he placed 81st in the match and finished 74th in season overall standings.  This year Lou has his sights set on another NRL finale and is hungry to better his ranks among the crowd of tough competitors.

2019 Top Finishes:

• 74th overall at NRL Season Finish 
• 28th Place - South Dakota Steel Classic 
• 28th Place - Oklahoma Heatstroke 
• 29th Place - Mile High Shoot Out

2018 Top Finishes:

• 1st Place - Defy the Distance (Tactical Division) (PRS)
• 1st Place - Lights Out (Tactical Division) (PRS)
• 1st Place - Gunwerks (Tactical Division) (PRS)
• 2nd Place - SD Steel Classic (Tactical Division) (PRS)
• 2nd Place - Spearpoint Shootout (Tactical Division) (PRS)
• 2nd Place - PRS Finale (Tactical Division)
• 25th Place - Rocky Mountain Regional Finale (PRS)
• 35th Place - Rocky Mountain Mayhem (PRS)
• 38th Place - Q Creek ELR (PRS)