Alex “Manny” Mansfield

Competitive Shooter USPSA #L5251

Manny’s journey all started in 2016 when I found the world of firearms. I started learning more about firearms and self defense from many sources on Youtube and social media pages. Eventually I got my CPL in Michigan and knew that I needed more training. I got married in 2017 to my lovely wife Annette, she wasn’t quite excepting of firearms at first but they have grown on her now. I knew that I wanted to be better than what the state mandates to get your license. So I went and sought out instruction from one of the firearms instructors that I knew from Instagram that had a good reputation. I took my first class with Steve Fischer of Sentinel Concepts in early 2018. After that I was hooked with shooting firearms.

After the initial class I kept up with Steve and I kept in communication. I started following other instructors on social media and found podcasts that talked about getting better and more proficient with firearms. They all mentioned something called USPSA or the “United States Practical Shooting Association”. Once I found USPSA I sought out another instructor that Steve recommended. He is a very successful in USPSA, Tim Herron of Tim Herron Shooting. I shot Tim’s Practical Performance class in June of 2020. This was all before I had shoot my first match and was immediately hooked with competing.

Starting Competition

Since October of 2020, I have been actively competing in USPSA/ Practical Shooting matches. I originally classified as C class in Carry Optics, after a few months I made it into B class. Shortly after joining I became an RO to help learn the rules of the game. After some time in the sport I joined a gun club to be able to practice by myself. This lead me to become involved with my local club to help set up and run matches.

The channel was born

Some time in 2019, I started a Youtube channel to talk about whatever interested me. That channel started life out as Manny Things. I eventually met cool people along that way that I’m still friends with today. We would do livestreams together, and it made me realize that I liked talking about guns and shooting with people. In the beginning on 2021, I decided that I wanted a way to talk to other competition shooters instead of asking them a bunch of question in their DMs. So I started doing a podcast as my way to talk these individuals. So The Manny Talks Shooting Podcast was born. I never knew it would grow to this level. Since then we have become a staple in the practical shooting podcast space. People tune in every Monday to check out the show. I sit down with a guest and talk about them and their journey in practical shooting.

Where we are now?

Currently I’m competing in the Open Division and absolutely love it. Open division is my home and I enjoy the thrill and rush of the race gun. I’m now a certified CRO (Chief Range Officer) that works a few matches each season. I actively try to give back and work matches to help connect with the community. I’m actively training to get better each practice session to become the best shooter I can be. I have my aspirations of being a better shooter everyday. I’m very competitive person, I thrive in this environment. I hope to see everyone on the range. make sure to stop me and say hello