Texas Triumph: 3600-Yard Shot with .375 CheyTac
They say “things are bigger in Texas”. Well shots are longer too. In this video, a shooter successfully hits a 1-MOA target at 3600 yards with a .375 CheyTac rifle. That required plenty of elevation to compensate for the bullet’s drop over its 2.045 mile trajectory. The shooter, Jim Spinella of New Jersey, needed a whopping 60.2 Mils of elevation (26.8 in rail, 22.6 in turret, 10.8 hold-over). Jim had to wait a long time to confirm the hit — with the metal gong situated more than than 2 miles from the firing line, it took the bullet 7.2 seconds to hit the target.
Big 350gr Bullets with a Wicked BC
The 3600-yard hit was made with CheyTac factory ammo using 350gr CNC-turned bullets. Spinella was impressed: “The ammo chronographed out at 3080 fps with velocity differences at no more the 7 fps, which was outstanding. We found the true BC over 3600 yards to average 0.810 (G1)”.
NOTE: You see three shots in the video, but Spinella took many more before a hit was achieved: “We peppered the 2 MOA area around the target with a couple of dozen rounds. We hit the rack the target is hanging on twice. This was a fun experience, and we took a lot of data away from it. We put a lot of work and planning into this in order to be in position to be lucky. So many things are ridiculously magnified at that distance. Every 1 mph change in wind [moves the bullet] about 6 feet. As the barrel heats up the velocity changes with it [and] 10 fps velocity differences, shot to shot, are almost 5 feet.”
This ultra-long-range adventure took place last September at the FTW Ranch in Texas. Spinella worked with a team of experts from Hill Country Rifles, builders of the custom .375 CheyTac rifle, to achieve a 3600-yard shot on a 36” round steel target. Hitting a target at 2.045 miles is no mean feat. That 36″ gong represents slightly less than 1 MOA at that range. A lot can happen to send a bullet off target during a 7.2 second flight.
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Rifle: Hill Country Rifles custom .375 Cheytac, |
Altitude: 2000 feet |
CheyTac Caliber Comparison — .375 vs. .408
The shooter, Jim Spinella, prefers the .375 CheyTac to its .408-caliber Big Brother: “I shoot both the .408 and .375. Both are great ELR rounds and will get you out there a long way. In my experience, the .375 will get you out there a little bit further. My preference is the .375 Cheytac over the .408. This has nothing really to do with external ballistics. It has to do with fouling. My .408 will go from stellar accuracy to terrible between 40 and 45 rounds. It happens that quickly and accuracy returns after cleaning the barrel. I have never experienced this with the .375. After 100 rounds there is minimal copper fouling with the .375, but I clean around this round count. I don’t know why there is heavy cooper fouling in the .408, but it is common to this round and other shooters who shoot it regularly. That said, I lightly clean the .408 using Wipeout and go back to having fun with it after about 30 minutes.”
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Tags: .375 CheyTac, Hill Country, Long-Range, Mile Shot, Schmidt Bender, Texas
Videos like this drive me crazy. If the guy hit it in 2-3 shots it would be AMAZING!! With a couple dozen rounds it’s a no brainer. The hit is more of a coincidence than an accomplishment.
But… If he’s happy I’m happy for him.
And so many believe they need 50 + power scopes on their rifles!!!
The 50+ is not the item. The resolving power of the optics, the reticle staying in place shot after shot, that is important, and that is why a 5-/25 S&B , amongst only a few, is superior for these kind of shots!
Clancy:
With all due respect, sir, you simply do not have a clue. If you can get your hands on a rangefinder that will range out to 3600, find a 36″ diameter feature and then put your scope on it. The cross hairs alone will likely obscure it, much less any movement at your end allowing you to keep “on” the target. A test barrel in a mechanical rest would be hard pressed to consistently engaged that size target at that distance AFTER its first hit. When you’ve tried to make that shot come back and tell us if you still think it’s a “no brainer”.
ELR Researcher:
Fortunately for the sake of this argument there’s a fella I went to college with who is just in love with ELR, and filthy rich lol. I think he had half the university rebuilt while we were there just to help out (chemistry building and some other stuff.) ANYWAY…. I have access to a ton of land and we have tried similar shots with similar results. He had in “intervention” system I believe it was called. Not really my thing. He did make the comment that he could have bought his girlfriend a new SUV for what he had in the gun and ranging/wind reading/GPS equipment.
If you had read my post more thoroughly, you might have noted that I said “it’s more of a coincidence than an accomplishment.”
FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCES…. Shooting at that range is completely impractical and for exactly the reason you stated (a test barrel in a mechanical rest etc etc).
If you think that by no brainer I meant it was easy, then no. I simply meant that he was bound to score a hit eventually once he got in the ball park…. Which admittedly happened after a couple dozen plus rounds.
Hope this clears things up.
A week in the Norwegian mountains.
Chaytac M200 408.5mag.-17 to -25 celcius.Humidity_24%.Barometric pressure 1021,mbar.
meters above sea level 1650m->1520m.Target plate. 55cm*70cm Average hits center mass percentage was 73 at 1800m. Longest shot,SM.-3500m-3700m-4000m.xx? mags.!!!
No Website.Comming soooon.