Nomad Rifleman client achieves a 3731 Yard Record Shot in Wyoming in July 2020!
UPDATE: THIS RECORD HAS BEEN BROKEN, DETAILS HERE.
HIT!!!!
After waiting eight seconds after “bang” we didn’t see any dust kick up as we had in the previous 20+ shots. Instead, we saw the red light of our hit indicator light up. He had done it, his journey to two miles had been a success. Mr. X and I, Scott, Momo & Tony all cheered at the surreal moment. Mr. had done it!
Extreme long range shooting is a rapidly evolving sport, and what was thought impossible five years ago, now has an actual competition. The King of the Two Miles competition started out without any hits, and just a few years later, a number of the world’s best shooters are having success. I don’t know what the longest hit in Wyoming has been, perhaps someone else has achieved a 2.12 mile hit? [We later learned that Mac’s Gunworks team had achieved a 2.4 mile hit! Way t go!! (In the world of ELR, the top 50 folks tend to cheer each other on)
My estimates are that only a few thousand people have ever hit a sub two-moa target at one mile. I estimate that fewer than a thousand people have ever hit 2,000 yards, fewer than 500 people 2,500 yards, and probably fewer than 100 have made a two-mile hit. We were thrilled to help Mr. X do just that on July 7, 2020 in Western Wyoming less than an hour from Pinedale, Wyoming.
We first met Mr. X in 2019 when he joined us for an extreme long range experience. On that day, he achieved a 1,790 yard hit with a 6.5 Creedmoor and a .308 Winchester. He achieved a 2,175 yard hit with a 7mm Rem Mag custom built by Chuck at Mac’s Gunworks. He contacted us that winter ask said, “I want to get to two, 2.5 or three miles in 2020.” I explained that he was off his rocker, as best an old man from Wyoming could politely tell a successful businessman. I told him that his probabilities were 5% for a two mile hit, and under 1% for 2.5 and three miles. Mr. asked that we move forward with a customized ELR-3 extreme long range shooting experience. We did.
We turned to Chuck for a custom build, and decided that we would go the .375 route instead of .408 or .416. Unfortunately, the soonest he could get the parts and pieces needed to build a three mile .375 Cheytac would be past the target date we had arranged to meet Mr. in another western state. Scott had done research and met with the owner of Cadex at Shot Show. We decided that our best course of action at the 11th hour was to buys a stock CDX Shadow chambered in .375 Cheytac. With a 1:10 twist rate, we knew we would be limited in bullet weight, however when we considered our time constraints, it was our best option. In extended long range shooting, one generally does best with a long, skinny and heavy bullet. Getting through the trans-sonic range changes things a bit though.
Meanwhile, we spoke with one of the world’s best custom ammunition manufacturers, Jake. Jake owns Unknown Munitions in Post Falls Idaho, and has a great reputation in the ELR and precision rifle world. As soon as our new Cadex arrived, we took a quick look at it, wiped our drool off of it and shipped it to Jake. When he returned it, he had worked up an excellent load, at least in my opinion. His picture of a one-inch group at 400 yards helped me form this opinion.
Now we had a great rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition. Meanwhile, the government was going insane over the latest virus. I was on my second trip a day and half drive from Jackson Hole to scout and prepare the shooting site. Mr. could have cut his losses and disappeared into the night, but he is an honorable man and completed making his deposits. As the spring coronaphobia issues unfolded to public view, we decided Wyoming was the place to be.
Our first day testing the rifle, it was still spring and the ground was moist. Finally, we were able to see some splash at 2.1 miles. Turns out, 181 MOA did the trick. Having confirmed the approximate D.O.P.E. we headed home. We had a custom target built, and on our second day testing the gun, complete with our Vortex Razor scope and Charlie Tarac, our 2.46 mile shots fell short (or long). We don’t know because we couldn’t see any splash. Our newly purchased LongShot camera system wasn’t of any help. I moved up to 500 yards from the target to spot, but still nothing. We re-zeroed the Charlie Tarac, and set it at with a couple hundred MOA boost. Nothing.
We planned to re-work the D.O.P.E. and try again the next Thursday, but it rained Tuesday, so we would not have been able to see splash. We scheduled the next Monday, but it rained on Saturday. On and on it went.
On July 7th, we met Mr. X and warmed up with some 700 yard .223 shooting, then decided to move straight to the 3731 yard shot. We sent “a few” rounds downrange, and were able to see splash from approximately a third of the shots. This time, having adjusted the Charlie TARAC a few times in between, we now had success in the 171+ MOA range.
The Magnetospeed hit indicator was only visible for one shot, however when I examined the target I was thrilled to see 5 hits! Not just one 3731 yard record shot in Wyoming, but five!
