About us
Hoplon Precision is owned and operated by two time Australian National Benchrest Champion Murray Hicks.
Murray is passionate about accuracy, and also knows how hard it can be to source good quality products here in Australia.
He set up Hoplon precision to be able to help solve that problem and to provide Australian shooters with some of the best rifle accuracy products available, products that Murray himself uses to reach the ultimate in accuracy.
So if improving the accuracy of your rifle, through precision upgrades or optics or mastering the skills and equipment for reloading your rifle to achieve the highest level of accuracy possible, we think you're in the right place.
Thank you for taking the time to drop by and we hope you get some benefit out of what we have to offer on this site...
But who is Murray Hicks anyway???
Well here is a brief Bio...
Murray grew up from a very young age travelling Australia with his parents, Ross and Lexie, watching them compete in target shooting and in doing so he spent plenty of time on rifle ranges, and while he was working on the target crew most of the time he was also watching and learning from the competitive shooters as they strived for the ultimate in accuracy.
At the age of 11 his father entered him in his first registered match - it was the Harry Madden Championship in Brisbane way back in 1986.
His first rifle was a DGA Shilen action with a Hart barrel chambered in .22 PPC in an RTM skeletonised Alloy stock, with a Leupold 36x scope. He used this rifle for many years, in his first National championship in Kwinana WA, whilst still 11 years old he used that rifle to win the small group trophy at 100 yards in Light Varmint with a 0.210,
So I guess you could say Murray has had accuracy in his blood from an early age.
He still owns that action, having re-birthed it as the basis for building his first light fly rifle in 6.5-.284 and now 6BR which he still owns to this day.
Since then, Murray has competed at over 15 national championships in doing so, earned enough points to be inducted into the Australian Benchrest Hall of Fame as Number 31...ironically collecting his last points at the National Titles in 2016 in Murray Bridge.
Murray's shooting over the past 10 years, has been phenomenal and he has seen his hard work and determination pay off.
He has had the honour of representing Australia 6 times, once in Rimfire and five times in Centrefire Benchrest and competed in 3 World Benchrest championships, 2011 in Volmerange - France, 2013 in Sydney - Australia and 2015 in St Louis - USA, where he recorded his best ever finish, coming in 3rd outright in the 2 Gun.
Murray has held the Australian National Title for Heavy Benchrest and Sporter as well as the 3 Gun and 4 Gun trophies, not to mention has held several National records for various small groups, yardage aggs and grand aggs.
But the story doesn't stop there, Murray also loves most forms of precision shooting including 500m Fly, 1000 yard Benchrest, F-Class, PRS and Practical Rifle competitions
In 500m Fly, Murray has won the Heavy Gun shooter of the year 2004 and following up the following year winning the Light gun shooter of the year 2005 (with that trusty DGA Shilen no less) as well as winning numerous individual matches, his most memorable being winning the 20th Anniversary Federal Cup in 2010 at the Majura rifle range in Canberra. This was a special match, going back to the original 10 target format.
Murray also loves 1000 yard Benchrest in Australia and also having had the opportunity to travel to the in the USA to compete in their 1000 yard National Benchrest championships at Hawks Ridge - North Carolina in 2006.
Murray has worked hard to achieve consistent accuracy, but his focus has now transitioned into helping others achieve consistent accuracy and get the same enjoyment that he does from getting the best out of his gear and himself.
Murray does not profess for one second to have all the answers, but he does understand a lot of the key fundamentals of accuracy that if applied correctly will go a long way to achieving the optimum results.
His engineering background and problem-solving ability also help him to analyse and adapt to find the answers if he hasn't overcome the problem in the past, rest assured that he loves the challenge of helping you work through solving your accuracy problems.
He loves the challenge of problem-solving and also loves to help people, so combining his passion for accuracy and helping people, means that he couldn't be happier in helping others improve on their accuracy and see that grin on their face when they see it all come together.
During a trip to the USA in 2015 - Murray got to meet a number of suppliers including PMA Tool that he has sourced products from in the past and uses on a daily basis, he discussed the struggles that we have sourcing quality accuracy products in Australia. A few of these kind people offered to help us bring a range of accuracy products to Australia.
Fella's like Pat Reagan from PMA Tools, have come on board to help keep a steady stream of accuracy products flowing down under. We are proud to be the Australian Distributor for PMA tool products
During a trip to the USA Murray got to meet Lou Murdica and visit his shooting tunnel, it was during this meeting that Lou said to keep an eye out for March scopes, "They will be a Game changer".
Originally BRT became the March scopes Dealer for Australia, and Murray was quick to jump onboard using March scopes for the past 15 years and have been selling then for over 5 years as a sub dealer. With BRT closing Murray is now an Importer and proud to support and sell March scopes within Australia.