by Kate Shunney
Shooters from 17 countries will arrive in the United Kingdom this week to prepare for the second global competition of its kind – the Precision Rifle 22LR World Championship. Among the teams traveling to the UK are top shooters who qualified to represent the United States and the U.S. Precision Rifle Association, including Brian Kendall of Largent.
Kendall, the only West Virginian on the 25-member team, will shoot on the 2025 Rimfire Team – Seniors alongside John Boyken, David Ostrowske and Timothy Nowak.
Ticking off the long list of shooting competitions that let him qualify to represent the USA in the World Championship, Kendall said what started as a personal interest in stretching out his shooting capabilities has turned into a pursuit of the ideal combination of equipment, ammunition and mindset.
“The last two years of my life I’ve been training, traveling and studying to represent the United States,” Kendall said late last month. “This journey took me to 22 states in 2024.” 
A February match in St. George, Utah was the last qualifying event for the World Championship for Kendall. Before that, he was shooting in Iberia, Mississippi; Yuma, Arizona; Frederick, Wisconsin; Huntsville, Texas and other locations that host association-sanctioned rimfire competitions. Each different range presented new opportunities to learn, test his equipment and himself.
“You have to be good just the right amount,” Kendall joked. “We’re not always shooting at our best.”
He can recall clearly the stages across the country that he mastered, and those that pushed him up or down in standing.
Precision Rifle 22LR competitions are all-day events where competitors bring their .22 long rifle to various “stages” –usually 8 to 12 per days — where they are asked to hit differing-size targets set at different distances, often with props that require the shooter to take aim while standing, lying prone on the ground or leaning at a specific station. Shooters are briefed by match leaders at each stage of targets, then take up their rifles as a clock counts down the set stage time, somewhere between 120 and 90 seconds.
One stage Kendall shot this year, for example, required shooting 12 rounds in 90 seconds, with a total of six targets set at a distance of 195 yards, 215 yards and 248 yards.
Competitors have to pick up and move their rifle multiple times during a stage, posing an added challenge as they have to put down and stabilize their firearm, zero in on the target through a scope and send a round to hit each before moving to the next target within the stage’s time limit. Unlike target practice from a table or prone on a range, the competition stages test the shooter’s ability to make a stable shooting position over and over again.
The key thing, Kendall said, is “over-optics” – having a high-quality scope that brings the target into focus quickly and is easy to adjust for the shooter.
“I don’t care if you have a $600 gun. Put a $1,300 scope on it,” he said. 
Kendall jokes that all shooting sports are a “money hole” – with a big demand to find funds for match ammunition, a high-performing rifle, gun accessories, travel and gear. Team USA has several industry sponsors, and match revenue from qualifying matches can also be used to supply team members with what they need.
Kendall’s wife has traveled with him to matches and supported his dream of qualifying for Team USA.
“In 2022, I spent 40 nights in hotels just to go to shooting matches and put 22,000 miles on my car,” Kendall said. “I’ve been all over the place. I’ve been all over America and made a lot of friends.”
Shooters are friendly, helpful people, Kendall has found. While they are serious about their own performance, they’re quick to help newer people on the range and to lend a hand to each other with no strings attached. He follows suit, helping set up matches for other shooters and sharing tips.
“Shooters – they’re a family,” he said.
Recently, he’s been helping bring rimfire matches to Summit Point Shooting Sports at their facility in Jefferson County.
Kendall’s journey to the World Championship started while hunting on the cliffs above Largent, he said.
He spotted the biggest buck he’d ever seen far off in a field – much further away than he thought his rifle could shoot. He knows now that the deer was 688 yards away, a distance that he could easily hit now.
Kendall started shooting and taking rifle training at Peacemaker National Training Center in Berkeley County. Paw Paw shooter and firearms teacher Wade Shambaugh was working at Peacemaker at the time and told Kendall about a .22 Rimfire Challenge competition coming to the range. Kendall jumped into the event and found his sport.
“I’ve got 211 registered competitions under my belt since 2018,” he said.
Starting with a regular squirrel gun and an adjustable scope, Kendall’s equipment has evolved over the years to include a high-end gun, great ammo and even better optics. Even still, the key ingredient for all shooters striving to win a competition – whether it’s a regional event in West Virginia or the world championship in Great Britain – is their own preparation, confidence and presence of mind.
“Nobody can beat you more than you can beat yourself,” said Kendall.
He heads off to the UK excited and proud to represent both the United States and West Virginia. Or, as his team jersey calls it, “Best Virginia.”
