IN PORTRAIT:
Luis Ehrhardt
GECO IPSC Team Shooter
Luis Ehrhardt, Germany
A prodigious talent born on 10 September 1998, Luis Ehrhardt completed his university entrance qualifications in 2018 and is currently in his fourth term of a degree course in mechanical engineering in Regensburg. Pursuing his interests, Luis recently completed a stint as student trainee in the Research & Development Department at RUAG Ammotec in Fürth in spring 2020. Thanks to his father’s tenacity in dealings with firearm authorities, Luis was granted an exemption at the tender age of 13 to be able to train with small-calibre weapons. This is usually not possible for under-14s in Germany, where the laws prevent any meaningful promotion of youngsters in sport shooting. This is why the promising junior marksman was only able to compete in IPSC/Action competitions abroad, mainly in Austria, until he turned 18.
A promising junior marksman.
His first contest was in 2013. Luis Ehrhardt remains grateful to the IPSC community in the neighbouring country for this opportunity.
The young man prefers to shoot “Full House Race Guns” in the IPSC Open Division, but has already notched up some success in the prestigious and highly demanding Bianchi Cup. Luis pocketed his first Presidents’ Medal for winning a Level III match in 2016, aged just 17. Since then he has also been a member of BDS Team Open Germany and signed a sponsorship deal with GECO a year later.
Reliable gear.
At the 2019 European Championships in Serbia, he earned an excellent second place in the Open Junior category with his 2011 Race Gun with Caspian slide in .38 Super Automatic, for which he uses hand-loadedGECO Small Pistol primers, GECO cases and GECO FMJ bullets with 124 grains. The young talent took second and third spot in the Open Division at the German IPSC Championships in 2018 and 2019. Luis Ehrhardt can also be proud of his trophy collection in the Bianchi Cup, a competition with four standardised exercises, changing distances and shooting positions, in which competitors must shoot at steel folding and barrel targets under time pressure. Here he uses an STI-based match pistol in the 9mm Luger calibre, along with highly accurate GECO HEXAGON factory ammunition with 124 grains.
Training pays off.
He was crowned Bianchi Cup European Champion in the Smallbore Open Division in 2013, as well as runner-up in the Junior Open World Championship. Six years later, he managed an outstanding top-ten ranking, coming ninth in the 2019 Bianchi Cup in its home country of the United States. He has also secured leading positions at many national and international IPSC Level III matches, among them 2nd place in the GECO IPSC Masters 2020 (best German), 3rd place in the GECO IPSC Masters 2019 (best German), 2nd place in the GECO IPSC Masters 2018, 1st place in the Sickinger Cup 2019, 1st place in the Epiphany Match 2019, 1st place in Phantasy Fun 2018, 4th place in the Infinity Open 2019 (best German) and 6th place in the Infinity Open 2018 (best German).
Quick-fire interview with Luis Ehrhardt – 10 questions, 10 answers:
1. What introduced you to sport shooting?
It was my dad, who had been active in sport shooting before I was born and who then resumed the sport with me after a longer hiatus.
2.When did you start?
At the age of 13.
3.What was the very first gun you owned?
I’m only 22, so I haven’t been allowed to own guns for long. So I just take the one that I started practising with. It was a Walther PP Sport in .22 Long Rifle.
4. What have been your biggest successes?
2nd place in the Open Junior Division at the 2019 IPSC European Championship in Serbia and 9th place in the Open Division at the legendary Bianchi Cup in Missouri, USA.
5. Can you describe a typical day of practice?
I practice one a week, mainly IPSC. Even before the start of practice, I think about which exercises I want to repeat. I shoot roughly 600 to 800 rounds per session.
6. How much ammunition do you use up each year for practice and competitions?
I think it will be around 50,000 shots in practice over the course of the year. But the number of competitions I enter each year differs greatly due to things like examinations. At the moment, of course, the corona pandemic has thrown the competition schedule into disarray.
7. Which firearms are you currently using?
For IPSC, I use a Custom Made 2011 with Caspian action in .38 Super Auto. My Bianchi match pistol is an STI in 9mm Luger.
8. What aspects of the ammunition really matter to you?
I believe that ammunition needs to deliver a good group size, and the gun must also work flawlessly. GECO ammunition fulfils both of these requirements.
9. Do you wind down with other sports/hobbies aside from sport shooting?
I spend a lot of time outdoors and certainly need exercise, especially after a day of lectures or spent at the computer. I jog twice a week and spend my free time playing volleyball, table tennis or hiking and bouldering.
10. What advice would you give to a novice shooter?
First of all there lots of good technical books by well-known shooters that you can read as a kind of theoretical education. Then it is a good idea to think hard about where you want to invest your resources. There are lots of sequences you can practice at home without shooting, for instance drawing from the holster or replacing the magazine. But other elements of dynamic shooting like recoil control or adjusting shooting speed to different distances/target media sizes can only be practised at the range.
Thank you, Luis!
