MAN ON THE MOVE

Morgun King participates in the Precision Rifle Series open class, National Rifle League open class and NRL Hunter open light class.

Utah’s Morgun King balances three rifle competitions with schooling to become a veterinarian, family life.

PHOTOS BY MORGUN KING

As an avid hunter and rifleman looking to continually improve his shooting skills, taking part in Precision Rifle Series competitions was a natural progression for Morgun King. His first PRS event was in early 2016 and after a few years of participation, he began ramping up his match schedule in the spring of 2020.

“Before that, I did not travel nearly as much,” says the Kaysville, Utah-based King. “I would say that now I average two per month, sometimes more.”

He now competes in PRS open class, National Rifle League open class and NRL Hunter open light class. What’s more, he is currently leading the standings in all three classes. If that wasn’t enough for King, he is also in veterinary school, “which can make fitting matches into my schedule during the semester complicated,” he says. King recalls a championship match this past spring that was particularly logistically challenging.

“This year the National Rifle League Championship match was in May and fell on the Saturday and Sunday before finals week started,” he remembers. “I was not sure if I was going to be able to make it. I had a final Friday before I left, and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday when I got back. I knew making it work was going to be tricky, but I was leading the standings and I had a good chance of winning. I started studying a month in advance so I would be able to pick

• Custom-built Preece Precision rifle chambered in 6mm Dasher • Lone Peak Arms Fuzion action • Masterpiece Arms Matrix chassis • Bix’n Andy TacSport Pro trigger • Strike Without Warning tuner muzzle brake • Leupold Optics Mark 5HD 5-25 with PR2 reticle • Masterpiece Arms 35mm optics mount • Alpha Munitions OCD brass • Armageddon Gear Gamechanger support bag • Two Vets QDT tripod • Berger LR Hybrid bullets

“My rifle is custom-built by Preece Precision specifically for precision rifle competitions and is chambered in 6mm Dasher,” says King.

up in the middle of finals and take off to the match. I found a flight that left Friday night and one that got me home Sunday night.”

“Usually competitors show up to check-in on Friday with everyone else, but my flight didn’t land until 1 a.m., and I didn’t get to bed until 3 a.m. I had called the match director ahead of time and made arrangements to check zero before shooting Saturday morning. When the shooting started, I was on autopilot for the first couple of stages until I actually woke up. After the dust settled on day one, I had a 5-point lead in the match. The next day we showed up and there was so much fog you could barely see 200 yards. In precision rifle competitions, fog is problematic because your average target distance is somewhere around 600 yards. We had to wait. I was sweating bullets because I knew I had to leave, whether I was done shooting or not, at 4:30 p.m. to make my 6:30 p.m. flight out of Tulsa that was an hour away, and that was cutting it close.”

“After an hour of waiting for the fog to clear, the sun finally got high enough to start burning it off and we got to shooting. I got right back to watching bullets hit targets. There are some people that hate knowing their score when they are shooting, and then there is me. I figure I want to be in control of my own headspace at all times and I feed off of the pressure of knowing what I need to do to win. Going into the last stage, I knew everyone’s scores and knew if I got at least a six out of 10, I won the season championship and the championship match.”

“Our last stage was pretty sporty and I knew I needed to pay attention to get the job done. I held too much wind on the first shot, made a correction, and started counting impacts in my head. As soon as I hit the sixth shot, I couldn’t hold in the yell of victory. Honestly, I don’t know how I hit the next three targets. I ended up with a nine on that stage and knew I had won. Now the only problem was I needed to be on a plane in two and a half hours, so within two shooters I had said my goodbyes and was off to the airport. I ended up missing the awards ceremony that night, but I made it back and passed all of my finals.”

King credits his supportive wife for helping him succeed in his endeavors, saying, “I could not handle a wild 18-month-old boy, vet school and shooting without her.”  Editor’s note: For more on the Precision Rifle Series, visit precisionrifleseries.com

Unlike some rifle competitors, King keeps track of his and other shooters’ scores during events. “I figure I want to be in control of my own headspace at all times and I feed off of the pressure of knowing what I need to do to win,” he says.