Jonathan “John” Russell was meant to be a marksman. His dad, Nathan “Nate” Russell, bought John his first .22 the day the ultrasound revealed he was a boy. An avid and accomplished high power service rifle competitor, Nate wanted to share the shooting sports with his son whenever he was ready. John fired a BB gun at age five and his first .22 LR at age 8, joining a 4-H rifle team about a year later. Each year brought a new adventure.
Nate introduced John to high power at age 10, shooting his first reduced course high power match. He shot his first full course service rifle match out to 600 yards at age 11 and fired in his first National Matches at age 12.
“It was a very proud day of mine to take my 12-year-old son out on Viale Range and shoot a match with him. Neither of us shot well that day but that didn’t matter,” Nate said.
Now 14, John competes with the Oil City Junior Rifle Team out of Pennsylvania and is a member of the 4-H Venango County Deadeyes. While Nate may be biased, he says he has never seen a 14-year-old work so hard. John has two air rifle and two smallbore practices each week, some of which can be conducted at home using a SCATT trainer.
“He normally practices 2½ hours per session, sometimes longer,” Nate said. “That’s a pretty serious commitment for a young teenager these days. When he runs into an issue, he normally sticks with it until resolved, even if he is out in the garage for 4 hours or longer sorting it out.”
John competes with a Feinwerkbau 800x air rifle and Anschutz 2007/2013 .22 LR for smallbore. He shoots in a Monard coat and glove with Champion’s Choice pants, but unlike many competitors, he has no required “must-have” gear on the range.
According to John, “Consistent, meaningful practice is the best way to become better at something.” He has truly put this into practice, setting National records and medaling in the Junior Olympics after competing in smallbore only a few short years.
John placed fourth in Under-15 men’s air rifle at the 2025 USA Shooting Junior Olympics, just missing a medal, but was runner-up for the same in smallbore. He followed this up with several more medals in 2025 NRA Sectionals. John took second in 4-Position Conventional Smallbore, first in 3-Position Metric Smallbore and first in Standing Air Rifle in the sub-junior age group (U15).
While boys and girls compete separately in USA Shooting matches, they compete side-by-side in CMP matches. John claimed third place U15 overall in 3-Position Air and first overall U15 in 3-Position Smallbore at the 2025 CMP Nationals, giving him his first national title in his age group.
Nate said watching from the sidelines is an incredibly special, yet stressful experience. He’s grateful to John’s 4-H leaders—John Barber, Greg Heckathorn and Michelle Heckathorn—and his Oil City Junior Rifle Team coaches—Steve Knight, Ray Swidorsky and Eric Messner—for their support along the way. All have watched John mature both as a competitor and as a young man.
“It’s not just his results on paper which have improved but the way in which he approaches the sport,” Nate said. “While he still tracks scores, especially on good days, he has so much focus on all the details which will eventually translate into a good score.”
Nate debated letting John know early this season that he had the chance to break an NRA National Record, but ultimately decided to give his goal-oriented son something to work towards. John focused on smallbore at least four days a week leading up to the match, setting a personal goal of 1120 to beat the 1111 record. He finished with a 1138, breaking five sub-junior records and tying a sixth. All are pending NRA acceptance but are fantastic achievements in their own right.
John counts these among his greatest accomplishments, alongside topping the sub-junior 3-Position Smallbore leaderboard at the CMP Nationals.
“Most shooters eventually reach a plateau in their skill level, where they either don’t improve, or shoot worse, getting past that plateau is the way to success,” John mused. His future goals include earning Eagle Scout, placing first overall at the CMP Nationals and shooting for a college team.
While largely driven by performance and self-improvement, John also enjoys other aspects of the shooting sports, including traveling to new places and meeting new people from across the country.
“I had no idea how far things were going to go when I first got John involved in the shooting sports,” Nate added. “When we first started shooting air rifle behind the house and when John went to 4-H the first couple of times, I just wanted him to be familiar with shooting and maybe gain a little skill. Fast forward a few years and we are making eight trips to Perry a year and even venturing all the way to Alabama for the Junior Olympics.”
