#7 .408 CheyTac

The purpose of this 3000-plus yard (transonic between 3300 and 3400 yards) cartridge is to deliver accurate (sub MOA), to a target from a sniper platform, called "Intervention". In a different configuration, it is intended to replace the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, which is currently being used for the military's General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). The mission for the sniper round is to selectively hit enemy targets located at great distances while at the same time, the sniper using the .408 CheyTac is immune to counter snipers using conventional sniper cartridges. It also has a limited anti-material role. The cartridge's advantage for a machine gun -- intermediate between the M240 (7.62mm NATO) and the M2 HB (.50 Browning) is that it provides greater kinetic energy and hitting distance over the 7.62mm NATO and the .50 Browning cartridges, but does not have the weight disadvantage of the .50 Browning cartridge. The cartridge out performs the external ballistic characteristics of the .50 Browning cartridge at 1000 yards and beyond, but fired from a platform less in weight that the M2 HB. Contrasting weight by weight, the .408 Cheyenne Tactical cartridge is a third lighter, which translates into a third more cartridges per unit weight.

In the illustration, the military prototype sniper platform called Intervention is shown with day/ night optics OPSINC Suppressor and Advanced Ballistic Computer

o The parental cartridge case for the .408 Cheyenne Tactical is the .505 Gibbs, necked to .408" and with a redesign of the web area. Solid nickel copper alloy projectiles for both sniping and GPMG are being designed by Lost River High Energy Technologies (Arco, ID) using PRODAS 2000 software.