Modern Day Sniper Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Send us Fan Mail

Caylen Wojcik sits down with competitive shooter, match director, and Thunder Beast Arms Corp shooter Sam Carlson for a long, thoughtful, and refreshingly transparent discussion about the places where precision rifle shooting, personal growth, trauma, ego, and self-awareness intersect.

What begins as an exploration of ayahuasca, psychedelics, and healing quickly unfolds into a powerful conversation about what it truly means to pursue mastery — not just behind the rifle, but in life.

Sam shares his journey from military service to addiction, recovery, and eventually finding structure, purpose, and accountability through long-range shooting. Caylen discusses the parallels between inner work and marksmanship: intention, presence, humility, and the willingness to face what’s really going on under the hood.

Together, they break down how shooting becomes a feedback loop for identity — revealing your mindset, exposing your blind spots, and sharpening your awareness one trigger press at a time.

The conversation evolves into an in-depth look at the competitive shooting world, match culture, mentorship, and how community becomes a stabilizing force for people rebuilding their lives or searching for their next mission.

From there, Caylen and Sam get technical: recoil science, gas flow, the development of the Thunder Beast Magnus suppressor line, how brake-integrated cans changed the game, spotting your own impacts in hunting, cartridge selection, barrel life, and why tracking your round count matters more than most shooters realize.

Sam also shares the origin of the Barrel Burner app, a tool he and Thunder Beast engineer Curtis developed to track barrel life, brass, components, suppressor maintenance, and overall rifle system data — born directly from real-world needs, not theory.

This is more than a rifle conversation. It’s a human one — about drive, discipline, intention, and the communities that help us stay grounded.

Whether you’re a competitor, hunter, student, instructor, or someone who just loves honest conversations about growth and performance, this episode will leave you thinking long after it’s over.

CONNECT WITH US

Modern Day Sniper
Website – https://www.moderndaysniper.com
MDS Club & Community – https://www.moderndayerifleman.com 
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/ModernDaySniper
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/moderndaysniper

Thunder Beast Arms Corp
Website – https://thunderbeastarms.com

Send us Fan Mail

Former Marine Scout Sniper and Instructor Owen Mulder joins Caylen Wojcik in the Modern Day Sniper studio for the first time — a conversation that dives deep into the art and science of reading the wind, training intuition, and performing under pressure.

From sniper school ranges to mountain hunts and competition stages, this episode connects the dots between brain science and bullet science — and shows why the best shooters aren’t just technicians… they’re artists with data.

In this episode
Owen’s return to Yakima and the evolution of Modern Day Sniper training grounds

Why wind was once the silent killer of qualification scores — and how better teaching solved it

The 4-step Wind Reading Blueprint: Range → Raw Wind → Working Wind → Apply the Hold

Mirage and perception: how your brain creates illusions (and how to train past them)

Building intuition that replaces math when your adrenaline is spiking

Movers & mountains: how to read compound angles and build visual acuity

Cognitive load, stress, and why the brain switches from thinking to feeling

Tools vs. technology: using Kestrels, Calypso, and wind arrays as teachers — not crutches

Preserving the legacy of the Marine Scout Sniper community for the next generation

Key Takeaway
Wind reading isn’t about guesswork or math — it’s about connection. Learn how to turn raw conditions into intuitive feedback that survives stress, time, and terrain.

“You don’t need more math under stress — you need intuition on demand.” — Owen Mulder

Resources & Links
🎯 Train Smarter with Modern Day Sniper: https://moderndaysniper.com
📘 Wind Reading Blueprint Masterclass: https://wind.moderndaysniper.com
🎧 More Episodes + Community: https://community.moderndaysniper.com

Follow Us
📲 Instagram: https://instagram.com/moderndaysniper
▶️ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ModernDaySniper
📘 Facebook: https://facebook.com/moderndaysniper

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, I’m sitting down with Landen Jones. Landen Jones is a former US Army Sniper, a current Cowlitz County Deputy Sheriff, and the lead sniper for the XXX regional SWAT team. Landen comes to Modern Day Sniper with the same goals and vision as what drives us - evolve and expand, and he wants to bring that to law enforcement sniper training, nationwide. I wanted to sit down with Landen and get to know him a little better, and explore the reason(s) that he got himself into the world of sniping. Landen is a guy who’s passionate about his craft, and dedicated to building himself into an effective and efficient communicator. We discuss Landen’s background, some of his combat experience as a sniper in the GWOT, and how he found himself in his current role at his day job, and where he’s at with us at Modern Day Sniper.

Want to train with us at an In-Person class this year? There’s nothing quite like an in-person class experience, and we’ve got some awesome places to train this year! Check out our schedule, I’m sure we’re close to you somewhere!

https://www.moderndaysniper.com/events

Can’t make it into an in-person class? No sweat, we’ve got you covered with the best online training programs out there today. Monthly subscription services and digital masterclasses - those are our jam, come see what we’ve got to offer and get 14 days FREE with your membership.

https://www.moderndayrifleman.com

Looking for Community? Check out our FREE online community at the Modern Day Rifleman Network. At 10,000 members, it’s the fastest growing community out there that’s focused on long range shooting. You’ll find mountains of free information, articles, informative posts, and people like you that are dedicated to progress.

https://www.moderndayrifleman.com/

Check out our YouTube page too - we’re just getting started, but there’s a lot of great information there already.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_e_PUcPUM8G-RGHDsZEKTg

As usual, our social media pages are alos places you can follow us for information, inspiration, and notices on new stuff.

IG - @ moderndaysniper

Send us Fan Mail

Phil and Caylen are physically together for the first time to record a video podcast! On this episode they catch up on a few projects both are working on. Caylen talks about the new American Rifle Company actions he received, as well as some of the features of each action. Caylen shares the builds he plans on moving forward with each action. Phil talks about his “Tikka Budget Build” project he’s been wanting to work on for the longest time! Phil and Caylen talk about Modern Day Sniper’s Basic Law Enforcement Qualification and some of the challenges Phil faced when doing the qualification. Thanks for listening! Please share with a friend if you found value in this podcast!

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode Phil and Caylen discuss a forum comment that questioned the validity of the fundamentals of marksmanship and “machismo” military stereotypes in the current state of precision shooting. The conversation covers topics such as trigger weights, modern competition rifles, and how the gear race has directed the sport of precision rifle to be in it’s current form. Phil and Caylen debrief the Sniper’s Hide Cup from a couple weeks ago and discuss some mistakes and successes.

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

Send us Fan Mail

Caylen and Phil are back at it after a brief hiatus. This was an awesome episode of catch-up conversation and diving deep into some great topics. With the training season back into full swing, they talk about what it means to be a good student and the process of learning, which then rolls into what they define as a bad shooter, a good shooter, and what separates those from a phenomenal shooter. The pair discusses other topics such as what it means to develop a standard, and how those standards are missing the mark in places around the community. They round up the conversations discussing what “line of white” means regarding the aiming process, and the new release of the Modern Day Sniper Fundamentals of Marksmanship course at the Online Schoolhouse.

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

Send us Fan Mail

After an unpleasant hiatus from our microphones (we sincerely apologize) we’re back at with an interview with Jacob Bynum, the creator of the future Assassin’s Way rifle match, entertaining questions from a Facebook Live question and answer session. Although things went well with the content and the questions, our technology skills need some work and you can expect a better experience next go-round. In the end, Jacob answered a lot of questions; hypothetical, by third-party, and live feed via our Facebook Live event. Thanks to everyone for listening, and please reach out to Jacob direct if you have any questions!

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/jacob.bynum.39

https://www.facebook.com/riflesonly/

https://www.facebook.com/RiflesOnlyAssassinsWay/

https://www.instagram.com/rifles_only/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/bynum.jacob/?hl=en

Send us Fan Mail

We had a great opportunity to get to know Ryan Cleckner in this episode. Caylen and Ryan explore Ryan’s path as a US Army Ranger sniper and how he progressed within that community. Ryan talks about how he got himself into the Army’s sniper program and how the lessons he learned as a young Ranger translate to his career today as a firearms attorney and his newly established online venture, Gun University. We enjoyed getting to know Ryan, and you can be sure to hear more from him in the future!

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

Gun University: https://gununiversity.com/

Send us Fan Mail

Brian the podcast editor here! Caylen and Phil are back! First part of the podcast they catch up on their lives and Phil has a some exciting news! Halfway in they start chatting about wind and shooting in the mountains. Near the end they get into the love for teaching, competition shooting and all highs & lows it comes with. Then they wrap it up with future topics and some updates. You don't want to miss this one!

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

Send us Fan Mail

With Phil getting the Gunwerks Long Range University training season started, we invited a great friend on the podcast, Mr. Len Waldron. Len is an accomplished outdoor writer, experienced rifle hunter, and the owner of a newly patented firearms lubricant, EDC CLP. During this podcast, Caylen and Len discuss the progression of the rifle hunter over the last decade, and how new rifles, optics, and most importantly bullet design and construction allow the modern rifle hunter to ethically and responsibly extend their effective range when pursuing game. They discuss some epic hunting trips and adventures of the past and how those experiences drive training to establish new baselines.

Live Webinar: Alchemy of a Rifleman

MDS Training

MDS Instagram

EDC CLP Firearms Lubricant https://edcclp.com/

Waldron Pond Outdoors https://www.youtube.com/user/fincam61/videos

IG: https://www.instagram.com/waldron.pond/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaldronPond/