Texas Shooter Nails Target at 3650 Yards with .375 CheyTac
Report based on story by Vanessa Oler
Could your rifle hit a vehicle-sized target located 2.07 miles away (i.e. 3650 yards)? Well Billy Carter’s .375 CheyTac can. Last month, shooting at the NRA’s Whittington Center, Billy Carter hit a 12’x12′ target at the confirmed range of 2.07 miles. Carter was participating in the Whittington U Extreme Long Range III Course. Carter’s 3650-yard hits set a new Whittington U program record for long-distance shooting with a sub-50-caliber rifle. At that distance, 1 MOA is 38.22 inches! Edge to edge, a maximum 3.77 MOA-diameter circle would fit inside the 12′ x 12′ square target.
About the Rifle and Load
Carter’s M200 Intervention is chambered in .375 CheyTac. The beast weighs 31 pounds and measures 53″ overall, as fitted with 29″ barrel and muzzle brake. The optic is a Vortex Razor HD 5-20x56mm (MOA-click version). This First Focal Plane fat boy features a 35mm main tube. To reach out to 3650 yards, Carter was running a whopping 136.5 grains of Retumbo powder in his .375 CheyTac USA brass. That was ignited by Federal GM215M primers. All that Retumbo was pushing the CheyTac USA 350gr “Balanced Flight Trajectory” bullet, a custom copper-nickel-alloy projectile.
Hits on 12’x12′ target at 3650 yards (2.07 miles)
Two-mile engagement at the Extreme Long Range III Course at the Whittington U on April 24, 2013.
How the 3650-yard Shot Was Made
Carter enrolled in a series of Long-Range Marksmanship courses under the guidance of Jon Weiler, a former U.S. Army Sniper. In 2011, the NRA selected Weiler to help launch the Whittington U long-range training program. Progressing through the long-range courses at Whittington U, Carter began to realize his .50 BMG and 338 Lapua were insufficient for the upcoming Extreme Long Range III Course — with targets increasing in difficulty from 750 yards to 3650 yards. Carter heard industry insiders hinting that Australian sniper teams were using a .375 CheyTac to shoot at 3000+ yards. So Carter called CheyTac USA and ordered a M200 Intervention in the .375 CheyTac chambering.
The first day of the Long Range III course, rifles were sighted-in at 500 yards and students engaged targets at 1200 yards. On Day 2 a cold front and driven snow made shooting near impossible. So, on the third and last day, Carter and the other students decided to go out as far as possible.
This range had four targets: 1890 yards, 2970 yards, 3040 yards, and 3650 yards. Carter figured he could skip the first two, but Weiler said “You have to build up to it”. Carter recounted, “I took 15-20 rounds to work my way up to the 3040 target. At that point you have to take a break. I pulled out my kestrels and started doing the math. My scope had no more vertical space, so I was forced to use five MOA at 3040, then calculate a full value 3 o’clock wind. Basically speaking, I was shooting out of my scope at that point. And hoping. ”
The first three shots, I wasn’t there and I knew it wasn’t going to work. But then I got close. The adrenaline started rushing and I couldn’t stop. I’m almost there, I thought.” Weiler, at the spotting scope, kept an even tone: “Same hold.” Carter shot again. Weiler let the excitement rise in his voice: “I can now say you’ve hit that 3650 target twice.”
Interview with Billy Carter
Carter is V.P. of Carter’s Shooting Center (CSC) in Houston, Texas. CSC is one of the largest private firearms retailers in the country.
“This was unreal. To think just a month before, I didn’t even know the velocity of my load! To pull off a two-mile hit was such a rush… it was dream come true.” Carter gave credit to Weiler: “John was an excellent instructor, designing the course to help you stairstep your way up to incredible distances. It wasn’t like you were just going to spend all day blindly shooting at some impossible target. He teaches you how to succeed at shooting long distance by starting with the basics — correct prone stance, trigger control, and rifle positioning.”
