The King Goes Big — Derek Rodgers Builds a .416 Barrett

Our friend Derek Rodgers is the current F-TR World Champion AND the current King of 2 Miles, having won his KO2M crown at Raton last year. Shooting with Team Applied Ballistics, Derek delivered a dominant performance at the KO2M event, scoring nearly twice as many points as his nearest rival, Ronnie Wright. And Derek was the first KO2M marksman in history to hit the target at the maximum 3368-yard (1.91 mile) distance.

Derek topped the K02M field last year shooting a .375 CheyTac with Cutting Edge 400gr LazerMax tipped bullets. That’s a really big cartridge, but apparently not big enough for Derek. Mr. Rodgers has hot-rodded his long-range rig, fitting a barrel for an even bigger cartridge, the mighty .416 Barrett. Derek tells us: “The .416 is rolling now. I am preparing for initial load development and working out tooling kinks on the bench.” He is loading more Cutting Edge bullets with a selection of slow powders. For his .375 CheyTac last year, Derek used Hodgdon 50 BMG. He’s trying something else this time…

Breakfast of Champions:

Watch Derek Rodgers hit 3368-yard target at 2017 K02M Competition:

At the 2017 K02M, Derek ruled. With his McMillan-stocked .375 CheyTac rifle, Derek shot brilliantly from the start. He was perfect — without a miss — at the first three yardages: 1543, 1722, and 1888. He had some misses at 1953 and 2667 yards, but then he out-shot all competitors at 3028 yards, going two for five. No other shooter managed a single hit at 3028 yards. Then it all came down to the big one — the last (and greatest) challenge, the target at 3368 yards (1.91 miles).