Re: Cheytac
The CheyTac website is still up at:
http://www.cheytac.com/
If not returning calls or emails to customers, it appears to be nearly over. While have not seen a formal announcement yet. And we may never see the CheyTac top management put nails in their own coffin.
Several people at the top have moved on and are doing other things. From the outside looking in CheyTac is coming apart at the seams. Possibly due to personalities. Political infighting seems to be more than the original team could take. Or maybe a few at the top already got to retire so do not care about new business anymore when set for life.
It seems CheyTac is not spending on R&D anymore, when R&D is how to stay the best. In the early days at Intel we spent half of our income on R&D and it was needed to stay ahead of copy cats.
Dave used to work at CheyTac and now is doing his own thing, the 375 VM, that may take the original CheyTac idea one step further and turn out to be better. More info is at Dave's webpage, click on 375 VM at the top:
http://www.viersco.com/
Dave, viersco here on the hide, also speaks of a conversation he had with Mr Jensen where they did not agree about the 375 being better than the 408 at:
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1817224
Another who was key to CheyTac, a member and the owner of the original 408 shooting team, is not shooting CheyTac-flavor chambered rifles these days instead seems to be doing well with a 338 Lapua Magnum:
http://longrangeshooter.com/forums/index.php?topic=215.0
IMHO it appears he is trying to undermine the company somehow in the above post.
People with first hand information from working inside CheyTac could possibly better share what really happened.
Have heard while not confirmed CheyTac / Jamison did win and put military contract(s) in place. If so my guess is they will continue to be around to help existing customers service CheyTac rifles for a long time. The military contracts I have been a part of are usually written for 20-30+ years of business as governments with critical needed supplies do not want to buy from someone who goes under - so often the contract will have some sort of 20-30+ year clause with 'second source' options to guarantee long-term supply before committing. The CheyTac focus seems to be shifting to Jamison, the 'second source' - Jamison probably already knows what they are going to make for the coming decades so will continue to be around with minimal guaranteed income for the someone(s) involved.
Feel the original CheyTac idea is still solid even if the company who created it has made some mistakes. For example, linking a computer to the firing system not only adds to expense it limits portability and probably fails in real world weather situations. Surveyors are just now figuring out how to make electronics that don't fail in the field as often - and most surveyors have a backup in the crummy for weather days when the electronics are not working. Someone is going to pick it up and run with it, probably won't have a computer as a mandatory part of the shooting system, and will earn the right to call their creation a name they pick.
The CT 375-flavors fly better than the 408 CT-flavors. While 375 systems are still being perfected in the R&D stages, so in time we will see if 375 or another flies better than 338 rifle flavors. For those who start new custom rifle projects the 338/408 is a great combination to consider, while watch for further CT-flavor rifle developments to switch barrels if later desire to.