At 16, Competitive Shooter Jace Walters is Now Glock’s Youngest Certified Armorer
As Jace Walters discovered, sometimes life takes on an indirect path that leads us to where we should be – in this case a young, rising star on the pistol tournament circuit.
A native of Elyria, Ohio, Jace’s journey started when the eleventh grader, at age three, was introduced to motocross by his father. At four, he competed in his first race, moving up in classes over the years and collecting trophies in local and state competitions. But after his brother and a few friends suffered injuries in motocross, Jace retired from the sport at 16. Early bowhunting adventures led him to competitive archery. It turned out that Jace was a quick study. His natural shooting abilities – honed with the help of his family, local supporters, dedication to hard training (and YouTube videos) – scored Jace several podium-level wins in 2017 and 2018 when he was about 10 years old.
“I started out having fun with it, but then got pretty good at it,” he said.
To break up the archery routine and recharge his mental and physical batteries, in 2020 Jace started shooting a Smith & Wesson .22 at an indoor gun range. Two years later, a new shooting range opened and Jace spent more time there pistol shooting, although it might have been considered more of a pastime than an aspiration.
He shot archery through the 2022 season, including the challenging sport of unknown distance shooting on rugged mountain courses. Unfortunately, an arm injury caused by the rigors of practice and competition forced him to give up archery.
“We made the decision for Jace to hang up his bow,” said his father, Michael.
In fact, it was that summer of 2022 while Jace was competing in an International Bowing Organization event in Central Ohio, that Michel noticed a Glock pistol match about an hour’s drive away. At first, Jace was skeptical because he didn’t own a Glock: no problem, his father’s Glock was in the truck. They arrived in time for Jace to enter the rim-fire tournament. He finished “in the middle of the pack, on an adult course, with about 50 shooters,” Michael said. Jace’s performance got the wheels turning, so to speak, about his potential as a competitive pistol shooter – a sport that apparently could easily benefit from his archery skills.
“We discovered that something carried over from archery to pistol shooting,” Michael said.
However, it would be easy to argue that Jace’s proclivity toward guns actually started at three years old. Micheal was determined to introduce his sons to firearms in their formative years.
After spending 11 years with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne, Micheal knew that “I wanted the boys to get comfortable with guns at an early age.”
Today, Jace is a bona fide sportsman now excelling in the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation Action Shooting Program as well as the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation where, at age of 15, he earned the title of Glock Master Shooter in 2023 – only the third junior shooter to ever claim that title.
“It was the first year that he went full-blown firearms,” Michael noted. “He also won the junior national championship.”
On top that success, Jace finished first in center fire and took overall of every age group for centerfire irons and optics at the Scholastic Action Shooting Program Championship.
Jace got his own 9mm Glock 34 in the archery off season of 2022-23, but recently received my brand new Glock 34 Gen5 MOS modified by Bar-Sto Precision Machine in Sturgis, South Dakota. Bar-Sto added a match target barrel, new trigger, modified stippling and under cut in the grip, which enhances the feel of this gun. They also added an extended slide lock and magazine release from NDZ Performance. Jace’s Glock 34 Gen5 MOS is topped off with a competition-grade C&H Precision COMP red dot sight. He ranks as the number-one centerfire pistol shooter in Ohio, according the Scholastic Action Shooting Program, and is ranked second nationally.
In the 2023 annual shoot at Gunny Challenge at CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park, Jace won the entire amateur civilian division. He was one of four juniors of the division’s 134 entries, and cinched his Master ranking. Within the GSSF organization, Jace is a professional master shooter.
Given the number of events where he competes, Jace found it easier to work on his own Glocks. As Michael explained, “Jace is probably the youngest Glock certified armorer. It’s strictly 21 and over, but the lead armorer met him and looked into things and Glock gave him a waiver.”
Currently, Jace is an honor roll student at Lorain County Joint Vocational School in Oberlin, Ohio, and junior president of the LaGrange Hunting and Fishing Club. He owns a lawncare business that helps subsidize his shooting. Looking toward the future, he works as an apprenticeship as a computer numerically controlled operator technician.
“I’m definitely giving some thought to go to college,” Jace said.
Irwin Greenstein is the Publisher of Young Awesome Hunter and Shotgun Life at www.shotgunlife.com.
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Irwin Greenstein is Publisher of Shotgun Life. Please send your comments to letters@shotgunlife.com.
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