Daily Bulletin » Darrell Buell

Sunday Gunday: Buell’s Beast — .375 CheyTac for ELR

Editor — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 16:04:19 +0000

Buell’s Beast with Massive 35 Inch Barrel
A few seasons back, Our friend Darrell Buell built a new Beast — a monster 64-inch-long .375 CheyTac that weighs more than 70 pounds! Designed for ultra-long-range shooting (two miles and beyond), this beast represents the state-of-the-art in extreme long-range rifles. NOTE: to see more details, click the two images above to open Full-Screen Photos.

Darrell reports: “This rifle is pretty much purpose-built to shoot 2+ miles extremely accurately. It is a .375 CheyTac (lengthened) built on a BAT 2.5″ action. The custom 35″, 1:10″-twist Brux barrel is a fat, 2″-diameter ‘straight taper’ with fluting. A custom 5″-long muzzle brake is fitted at the end. All barreled action work was done by R.W. Snyder Custom Rifles. The stock was created to fit the build by PDC Custom, and the massive muzzle brake as well.” The “bridge” at the end may look like a barrel block, but it’s not — the barrel completely free-floats. (The Picatinny rail on top of the bridge allows use of an overhanging bipod as an alternative to the JoyPod).

Darrell has lots of elevation on tap: “With 150 MOA in the Ivey rings, another 20 MOA in the scope rail, 55 MOA in the Nightforce Competition scope, and 10 MOA in the FCR-1 reticle, there’s an impressive +235 MOA available.”

Counter-Weighted SEB Joy-Pod Up Front
The bipod Darrell will be using for his ELR sessions and the ‘King of 2 Miles’ match is a custom counter-weighted JoyPod crafted by Seb Lambang. With the counter-weight, Darrell says his monster 70-lb gun “adjusts as smoothly as an F-T/R rig”. The glass is a Nightforce 15-55x52mm Competition scope carried in Ivey +150 MOA rings, which in turn are mounted to a +20 MOA BAT scope rail. Darrell says: “It’s been a heck of a couple months, getting this monster built in time, thanks particularly to Southern Cerakote, which turned it around in less than 24 hours.”

Buell’s Beast runs 350gr solid bullets at approximately 3250 fps. Check out the massive .375 CheyTac cartridge compared to a .308 Winchester:

This one-of-a-kind “JoyPod” was produced by Seb Lambang specifically for Buell’s big .375 CheyTac rifle. Darrell needed a JoyPod that wouldn’t sink under a heavy load. Seb explains: “This is the world’s first JoyPod equipped with an adjustable counterweight, to balance his 75-lb gun. I did some experiments and put some weights ranging up to 60+ lbs on the top, and I found that the joystick action works like a regular one….it’s smooth, light, and precise. In addition, the counterweight can be bent down to not interfere with the bottom of the barrel. The counterweight is secured into the front center shaft by a thumb screw, and there is a tightly fitted pivotal joint on the counterweight to allow angle adjustment.”

Darrell is happy with his customized coaxial bipod: “In addition to the adjustable counterweight system on the front, this JoyPod comes with a longer, solid joystick. These additions will make for extremely smooth, precise adjustments, even if the rifle weighs in at 75 pounds or more. Not including the counterweight, the actual structure of this bipod weighs in at a mere 1.09 pounds — exactly what the standard JoyPod weighs. It is extremely strong, however. Seb has pictures of himself standing on the pod … and he weighs 150 pounds!”

Buell’s Beast: Heavy Artillery for ELR and 2-Mile Match

Editor — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 18:17:26 +0000

Click above image to view full-screen photo.

Our friend Darrell Buell has a new Beast — a monster 64-inch-long .375 CheyTac that weighs more than 70 pounds! Designed for ultra-long-range shooting (two miles and beyond), this beast represents the state-of-the-art in extreme long-range rifles.

The bipod Darrell will be using for his ELR sessions and the ‘King of 2 Miles’ match is a custom counter-weighted JoyPod crafted by Seb Lambang. With the counter-weight, Darrell says his monster 70-lb gun “adjusts as smoothly as an F-T/R rig”. The glass is a Nightforce 15-55x52mm Competition scope carried in Ivey +150 MOA rings, which in turn are mounted to a +20 MOA BAT scope rail. Darrell says: “It’s been a heck of a couple months, getting this monster built in time, thanks particularly to Southern Cerakote, which turned it around in less than 24 hours.”

Buell’s Beast runs 350gr solid bullets at approximately 3250 fps. Check out the massive .375 CheyTac cartridge compared to a .308 Winchester:

Click above image to view full-screen photo.

Want to see how this Beast shoots? Here’s your chance. Darrell will be running a 4000-yard Extreme Long Range (ELR) Training course in North Carolina, June 12-14, 2015. The class will be taught by Darrell, Maverick Stroud, and past High Power National Champion Sherri Gallagher. The closest target will be at one mile, with max distance 4400 yards. A few spots are still available (details below). For more info visit the LBI Precision Facebook page or email darrell.lbiprecision [at] yahoo.com.

4000-Yard ELR Training Course with Darrell Buell and Maverick Stroud
Dates: June 12, 13, 14, 2015
Location: New Bern, North Carolina.
Entries: A few course placements are still available.

Serious guns, serious distance. Anyone with a .338 Lapua Mag, .375 Cheytac, .408 Cheytac, .50 BMG, or variants thereof… do NOT miss this one. This North Carolina course is focused on Extreme Long-Range shooting. The closest target will be at one mile, and the furthest one will be past 4000 yards! The course will be a 2.5-day format. Friday afternoon will be spent on site, with ELR precision lectures by Pro ELR/PRS shooter/instructor Chase ‘Maverick’ Stroud, and long-range wind reading theory to practice lectures by Darrell Buell. Saturday and Sunday will be spent shooting out to a max range of 4400 yards. Throughout both live fire days, Chase, Darrell, Robert Vestal, and Christopher Sykes will be working with attendees on wind reading, position, and technique, with the goal of being able to put your first shot on steel at a mile or more, every time. Lunch and dinner is included, courtesy of our own shooter/chef Christopher!

Class size on this one will be extremely limited, to ensure maximum one-on-one instruction and coaching, so reserve your spots today. Price for this unique class is $1000. Send checks to Vestals Gunsmithing: 16230 Lee Hwy, Bristol, VA 24202. Credit cards accepted, call: (276) 669-9680. For more info, email darrell.lbiprecision [at] yahoo.com.

UPDATE — Sherri Gallagher Will Be Coaching
We are very happy to announce an addition to the NC ELR Course staff. Our good friend SSG Sherri Gallagher of Army Marksmanship Unit fame will be joining us. In addition to having won about everything possible to win in the High Power long-range world, Sherri is a wind coach and trainer par excellence. We’re happy to have her join us!

Darrell Does 2500 Yards — With a .338 Allen Magnum

Editor — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:48:54 +0000

What cartridge would your chose to hit targets at long range … extremely long range, as in 2500 yards? Well, for ace competitive shooter Darrell Buell, the answer is the .338 Allen Magnum, a .408 Cheytac necked down to .338. This “super-sized” cartridge flings .338-caliber, 300-grain Berger Hybrid bullets at 3450 fps. That delivers some impressive ballistics at ultra-long range. Darrell got to “test-drive” a .338 Allen Magnum rifle at 2500 yards (1.42 miles) while teaching a Long-Range Seminar at the Legion Operator Training Group (OTG) Facility in Blakely, Georgia.* The rifle belonged to Christopher Sykes.

Shown below is the 338 Allen Magnum (AM) next to a .308 Winchester round loaded to an extremely long OAL. The .338 Allen Magnum is a wildcat based off the .408 Cheytac (Cheyenne Tactical) parent case. The cartridge’s inventor, Kirby Allen, states: “The .338 Allen Magnum, when loaded with a 300gr SMK, offers a legit 500 to 600 FPS velocity advantage over the 338 Lapua Magnum”.

Darrell says: “Yeah, it’s a beast [but] with that brake, it kicks less than my .308 competition rifle. It’s got more energy at 2500 yards than a .45 ACP has at the muzzle. The .338 Allen cartridges are standing next to the SEB Joy-pod, along with a standard .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge. With the excellent muzzle brake on the .338 Allen, I could spot my own hits with just the slightest twitch of the joystick. The rifle was not particularly heavy, consequently the pod would hold the crosshairs where you left them without a hand on the joystick.”

Christopher Sykes, who owns the .338 Allen rifle that Darrell shot, says the barrel life with this big cartridge is about 1000-1200 rounds. (Editor: That relatively short lifespan should keep the barrel-makers happy.)

*Darrell Buell was the lead instructor at the Georgia Long Range Class. Former USA Team Coach Dale Carpenter was assisting Darrell, and calling wind at 1000. Darrell will be teaching a similar Long Range Class next weekend (April 24-26) in western Tennessee. Get more info on Darrell’s Facebook Page.

New Accessory for F-Class Shooters — Flat Sheet for Rear Bag

Editor — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 14:00:12 +0000

Darrell Buell, past captain of the world champion F-TR Team USA, just received an impressive new piece of kit. A custom flat sheet was created by Kent Rush for Darrell, complete with cool graphics and sponsors’ logos. As soon as we saw this on Darrell’s Facebook page, we knew this would be popular with our readers. Heck, this Editor wants one too — with “AccurateShooter.com” emblazoned on it.

Darrell loves his new shooting accessory: “Here’s the whole enchilada! Savage rifle, 2014 Nightforce Competition Scope, Berger Bullets (185 Juggernauts), Seb Lambang’s new Joy-Pod (plus “Pod-Pad” mat), a new shooting mat courtesy of Scott at Red Star Targets, and an awesome new rear-bag sheet by Kent Rush for the Edgewood bag. This new sheet allows for friction-free rear bag adjustments — Thanks Kent Rush!”

Darrell Leads North American Junior F-TR Team
Though he has stepped down from his role as Captain of F-TR Team USA, Darrell hasn’t given up his coaching duties entirely. Darrell is the coach (and adult leader) of the North American Junior F-TR Team. Darrell is lending his world-beating long-range shooting knowledge to young competitors who are making a mark for themselves already. Here is Darrell with one of his young marksmen.

A Beautiful Range in America’s Heartland (Malvern, Ohio)

Editor — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:16:39 +0000

Darrell Buell recently posted a photo of the oh-so-scenic Alliance Rifle Club Range in Malvern, Ohio. This is where Darrell and the U.S. F-TR Team will be practicing this week. Wow — what a beautiful place to shoot. The Alliance Range looks more like a top-flight Championship golf course than a mere shooting range. All that green grass, rimmed by trees, looks like heaven to a Westerner accustomed to ranges that are hard-packed dirt, dust, and gravel. This Editor now has a new item on his “bucket list” — get out to Ohio and shoot a match with the Alliance Rifle Club.

[See image gallery at bulletin.accurateshooter.com]

Photos by Darrell Buell and Alliance Rifle Club.

F-Class Team Tests New Nightforce 15-55x52mm Comp Scope

Editor — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:59:39 +0000

New Nightforce 15-55x52mm Competition Scope — Field Report by Darrell Buell
A few weeks ago at SHOT Show, Nightforce Optics introduced a new Competition Scope. When Nightforce heard about the upcoming U.S. Team practice session in Phoenix, the optics-maker overnighted us two prototype Comp Scopes to wring out under match conditions.

From the start, we were impressed by these new 15-55X Competition Scopes. Darrell mounted one on his personal competition rifle, and the other on a mocked-up action, so people could hold it up safely in a steady fashion behind the firing line. The new scopes acted like magnets, drawing people from all over the Berger SW Long Range Nationals to check them out.

The new Competition Scope is a 15-55x52mm. The new scope’s ED (extra-low dispersion) glass yields outstanding resolution. Remarkably, the resolution in the Competition scopes is even slightly better than the Nightforce 12-42x56mm NXS, with its larger 56mm objective lens. The color is definitely ‘crisper’ as well. Not surprisingly, the image quality is what most people noted first (see through-the-lens photo at right). The glass is great, and Nightforce included other thoughtful features as well. First is the side parallax adjustment that competitors have been wanting for years (this is one of the draws for the NXS scope in competition). The higher zoom range (with 55X power on tap), and the 60 MOA of vertical travel is also a much-asked-for (and useful) feature.

In competition, the high-quality glass in the new Comp Scopes proved very beneficial. The Berger SW LR Nationals took place in Phoenix, in February, so conditions ranged from cold and windy, to warmer with moderate mirage. In some of the heavier mirage conditions (not massive mirage, by any means, but enough that the magnification on a 12-42X NXS would probably have been turned down to 32-35 power), the Competition Nightforce stayed at 45 power and above. The turrets were the usual Nightforce precision, good defined, tactile adjustment clicks (5 MOA per revolution). The only improvement there would be to have the windage turrets adjust in ¼ MOA clicks (yielding 10 MOA per revolution), which Nightforce assures us that will be done for the Team scopes. [Current production 15-55X Competition Scopes have 1/8 MOA windage clicks.]

The Team’s response to the prototype scopes was overwhelmingly positive. Nightforce has generously agreed to provide 10 new Competition scopes for the USA F-Class Team competing in South Africa next month. The Bloemfontein Range will be an excellent test of the new 15-55X scope’s capabilities!

Visit to Nightforce Production Center in Idaho
The prototype scopes had to be returned to Nightforce, and as it wasn’t much of a detour, Team Captain Darrell Buell paid a visit to Nightforce’s Orofino, Idaho production facility. Nightforce rolled out the welcome mat, providing not only a highly detailed tour of the location, but also the opportunity to say a few words in front of a meeting of all of the day shift and evening shift staff. It was good fun for everyone, the staff seemed genuinely fascinated by what the Team was doing with their scopes all over the world, and Darrell was equally interested in the attention and quality that was invested by the staff there in each scope produced.

During the tour Nightforce provided a convincing demonstration of the rugged durability of NF optics. Each assembly station had a steel pillar fixture near the bench; the pillars were covered in a thin layer of rubber padding. As a scope was completed, the technician would grasp it by the ocular end, and strike the objective end (quite sharply) on the rubber-coated pillar three times. The scope would then be placed back on a optical test stand, and the image checked for shifting. This ‘strike test’ was then repeated three additional times (with associated checks), so that the top, bottom, left side, and right side were all tested and checked.

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Vote in Forum Poll on Proposed F-TR Bullet Weight Limits

Editor — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:36:25 +0000

In our Shooters’ Forum, Darrell Buell, Captain of F-TR Team USA, has started a discussion about permitted bullet weights in F-TR competition. Darrell observes that a new generation of ultra-heavyweight 215-230 grain bullets may spur a “technology race” that would increase the cost to compete in F-TR matches at the top level.

Darrell writes: “In order to run the uber-heavies, you will be required at a minimum to get a gunsmith to re-cut at least the throat of your chamber, then you are stuck with a tiny number of projectiles that will work in the rifle. People that want to be competitive will feel compelled to drop the expense of modifying their rifles, and not have any guarantee that their mods will turn out to be effective. We will have strayed from our successful initial model for F-T/R, as a class for ‘shooter vs. shooter’ competition, and be marching down the road that you must have a $5000 custom to be remotely competitive.” As the result, Darrell has proposed an F-TR rule change that would limit the max weight of permitted .308-caliber bullets to “less than 201 grains”.

CLICK HERE to View POLL on F-TR Bullet Weights

At the beginning of the F-TR Bullet Weight Thread, you’ll find a poll on the issue of bullet weights. Registered members of our Forum can vote in the poll. You have three choices: a) Leave the Rules unchanged; b) Limit max bullet weight to less than 201 grains; and c) Limit max bullet weight to 156 grains or less.

What do you think? Should the F-TR rules be changed to cap bullet weights? Or, is it best to leave bullet choice unrestricted for .308-caliber shooters? Darrell wants F-TR shooters to express their opinions by Voting in the Poll.

Modern F-TR Rigs are getting increasingly sophisticated (and looking more like F-Open rifles). Here is Vince Bottomley’s latest F-TR rifle, which, in the hands of Stuart Anselm, won the European F-TR Championship shooting 185gr Berger Bullets.

Members of 2013 F-T/R Team USA Selected

Editor — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:48:11 +0000

This Report was submitted by Darrell Buell, F-T/R Team USA Captain

The F-Class World Championships are just over a year and a half away. In the past four years, much has changed in the F-T/R game. Most noticeably, participation has increased greatly. We had 60 shooters at the 2011 Nationals in Lodi compared to 19 shooters in 2007. The level of competition has risen as well. There was a mere 3% spread in scores for the top 30 places this year. That’s tighter than it has ever been since I started keeping statistics. The top 15 spots had only a 2% score spread!

F-T/R Team USA Selection Process
With many more shooters and a higher level of competition, selecting the 2013 American F-T/R team was especially difficult. There were many qualified applicants to choose from. The selection criteria have not changed over the years. All of the 40+ applicants’ qualifications were dumped into a matrix to get sorted. The initial sort was done by examining the best data I have that compares all of the shooters side by side, i.e. Nationals scores. More weight was given to those times when I could compare shooter vs. shooter on the same relay, when they were facing the exact same conditions. From there, we used modifiers for International Team experience, and other factors. 50 million calculations later, a ranking was developed. This ranking was used to set the Roster List below.

USA F-T/R Team Roster:
Team Staff: Captain: Darrell Buell Vice Captain: Mike Miller Head Coach: Mid Tompkins Coach: Steve Cunico Adjutant: Kathy Buell	Team Members: Jeff Rorer John Hayhurst John Chilton Chris Ozolins John Weil Dale Carpenter Derek Rodgers	Team Members (cont’d): Philip Kelley Warren Dean Brad Sauve Paul Phillips Monte Milanuk Lane Buxton Sierra Scott

As with past Teams, this roster will be used for the next four (4) years for International Competitions of every description. These events include (but are not limited to): 2013 F-Class World Championships in Raton, NM; 2013 South African International Matches in Bloemfontein; 2013 Stars & Stripes Challenge 2013; Creedmoor Cup; USA vs. Europe, and others.

Reserve Team Spots
The sharp-eyed will notice that I may seem to be a couple of shooters short. I am reserving a couple of spots to be named after the 2012 Nationals in Raton, in case other shooters are absolutely on fire this year, and would be good additions to the Team.

F-T/R Team USA Sponsors
As with past Team campaigns, the financial challenges (especially for the travel) will be considerable. I am absolutely committed to taking the very best Team I can field, regardless of finances. To this end, some outstanding sponsors are helping take some of the burden off the individuals: Berger Bullets, Nightforce Optics, Surgeon Rifles, Hodgdon Powder, Lapua, Kowa, and Redding Reloading. Many thanks to these and other sponsors for their continuing support.