March 11th, 2022

Big Bore Brilliance — Paul Phillips Optimizes the .416 Barrett

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets

Paul Phillips Ko2mPaul Phillips is a past King of 2 Miles, and one of the world’s top Extreme Long Range (ELR) Shooters. He recently showcased one of his ELR rifles that shoots the .416 Barrett cartridge with huge, 550gr Cutting Edge bullets seated in CNC-machined RCC (Robertson Cartridge Company) brass that costs $10 per case.

Even with these giant-sized cartridges, Paul Phillips is getting remarkable accuracy. He recently went out to a snow-covered rifle range to do some testing. We include some test results in this article. Paul’s rig delivered 1.056″ to 1.748″ 3-shot groups at 500 yards. That’s .202 to .335 MOA for three shots. (1 MOA = 1.047″ at 100 yards, or 5.235″ at 500 yards). That’s very impressive accuracy for such a big cartridge with serious recoil.

Confidence is Gained from Consistent Accuracy

Report by Paul Phillips
After being retired from my 30 years of service in military and law enforcement, I started my own company, Global Precision Group LLC. We specialize in Long range shooting. I am currently doing some R&D for a new ammunition company, Ultimate Ammunition, (UA) out of Las Vegas. UA specializes in Military, Law Enforcement, and Custom ammunition.

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets
global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets

On this particular day, it was a very cool 15 degrees F. I was testing ammunition for the .416 Barrett. Since winning the King of 2 Miles in 2019, my team has been looking at ways to make everything better. The competition is fierce and everyone is getting better and better. Finding single-digit Standard Deviations (SDs) is a must. Holding SDs under 5 FPS can be what it takes to win.

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bulletsAfter several weeks of testing, I think I found the perfect combination for the .416 Barrett in my rifle. My optimal load runs about 3000 FPS using the following components:

Cutting Edge 550 Grain Solid Bullets with Tips

RCC Brass (CNC-machined)

Vihtavuori 20N29 Powder

RWS primers

Loaded for ~3000 FPS load velocity goal

I figure if I can keep my 3-round groups under two inches consistently, I have a chance to win on any Sunday. The average group size of these groups was 1.47 inches at 500 yards. With big bore rifles it gets very costly to test. That is why I am limiting my test groups to 3 rounds. See below:

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets
global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets
global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets

Note the single-digit Extreme Spread and SD for all of these three-shot groups, as recorded by the LabRadar (see below). The average SD for these three groups at 500 yards was about three.

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets
NOTE: This is an animated GIF with THREE images, alternating every 4.5 seconds.

Not just the ammunition deserves credit. I also have to give credit to the quality Manson reamer, BAT action, Bartlein Barrel, Bix’N Andy trigger, Manners ELR stock, Nightforce Optic, and Accu-Tac bipod with my new P skis. All these gear/hardware items, combined with quality ammunition, allow these kind of groups.

Products featured in this article include:

Accu-Tac Bipods
Bartlein Barrel
BAT Machine Action
Bix’N Andy Trigger
CROSSTAC Shooting Mat
Cutting Edge Bullets
Edgewood Shooting Bag
Kestrel with Ballistics
LabRadar
LongShot Cameras
Manners Composite Stock
Manson Precision Reamer
Nightforce Optics
RCBS Press and Tools
RCC (CNC-machined) Brass
Vihtavuori Powder

global precision group ELR .416 barrett RCC machined brass 500 yards solid Cutting Edge bullets
For more information, visit GlobalPrecisionGroup.com, and the GPG Facebook Page.