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There is actually a very cool story, a bit long, but really cool about how I came to own this gun. it's long winded, but several people asked, so you've been warned. Or you can just jump to the pictures at the bottom.
So a little over a year ago, this guy named Dennis starts shooting at the Defensive Shooting Club where I shoot on a regular basis, I was the "range helper" that day, and as Dennis was getting ready to shoot his course of fire, since he was new, I introduced myself and we chatted a bit, he was a pretty cool guy, semi retired, big business type guy, previous CEO of some large Fortune 500 company Etc. He continues to attend DSC, and we become pretty good friends.
Jump forward a few months, I give him a call and tell him a few of us from the club signed up for a long distance shooting course out to 1200 yards and if he would like to do it with us, he says he would like to, but currently does not have a bolt gun, what should he get, and what do you shoot. So I spend a bit on the phone walking him through the basics, and really just suggesting a Remy 700 in 308, everyone should have one. As for what I had, well, a Remy 700 and then some big bore guns, a single shot .408 Cheytac and because it was such a good deal, I also had a Noreen in .416 Barret, he is intrigued, asks about those, and of course the ballistics of the Cheytac is so incredible, he is really into it, so I suggest he just go to the website and check it out, google it, and read up and see what he thinks.
A week later Dennis calls and says he has signed up for Cheytac's 3 day shooting school in Georgia (mind you, he has never been behind the trigger of even a 308 bolt gun, let alone a big boomer like a Cheytac), I snort a bit, and was like, ummmm, cool, well, you will have a blast I'm sure, but talk about jumping into the deep end of the pool, but hey, more power to you, you'll have a blast, and I'm a bit jealous 😛. Cheytac school was a few weeks out, life goes on, we still talk regularly, and see each other at DSC etc. Cheytac school arrives, and I am getting regular updates from Dennis from the school, and he is just having the time of his life, and is making solid hits at 1800 yards (1 mile), he's addicted.
Dennis gets home, and we meet up for coffee or lunch or something a week later and I ask him to give me the scoop on the school, did he have a great time, what did you learn, and most importantly, you going to buy a rifle now?
He says, well, learned a lot, made lots of 1 mile shots, and had good long conversations with the powers that be from Cheytac, and was very interested to find out that although the weapon system was amazing, and there really wasn't much out there that could compare, if anything, they were having some business woes, and we're potentially looking for an investor or something like that, and that being said, Dennis had started in negotiations to invest in some manner to the company.
Jump ahead about 8 months, the deal is done, and Dennis is the CEO of Cheytac. I had attended several meeting as sort of an advisor since I knew the platform and had a firearms gunsmithing/manufacturing background, nothing really all that big a deal, I was doing it just out of the sheer curiosity of how one goes about buying a company, I had no idea how this sort of business stuff works, and I learned a lot along the way, it was cool to see this sort of thing from the inside so to speak.
Jump ahead again a few months, Cheytac is rolling right along, Dennis is doing the CEO thing, and the company is growing. I had been asked once in a while to throw in my opinion and to act as an advisor again on a few things I actually know about (there are a few). At some point, I notice that the M200 is gone from the website, that was my gun, that's was what I was going to buy, THAT is my unicorn gun. I pretty much instantly call Dennis and ask what's up with that. He says they had made the decision, based on this that and the other, to discontinue that model. I strongly argued for its return, it was the iconic Cheytac rifle, had been in a bunch of movies, video games, TV shows, and so on, you guys can't get rid of that gun, I was almost ready to actually buy one.
So they had a powwow and decided to bring it back, I was relieved, (and they are selling well), and was now ready to buy one myself. Made the call, sent a check, and got one rolling, got my confirmation email, and the 4-6 week wait for it began.
A few weeks later Dennis calls and says he has a surprise for me on the M200 I ordered, I was like, ummm, ok, your gonna paint mine pink or something?, cause if you can't mess with your friends and all, and he was all no no, your gonna like this, to start, your rifle is done, I was fully excited, and thought, awesome, way ahead of schedule, figured THAT was the surprise, Dennis says, no, that's not it, he says for helping out, and getting him into this mess in the first place, he got me a special serial number, he explained that, like most gunmakers, they usually hang onto a few choice numbered guns for whatever reason, and Cheytac had done the same, and they pulled one for you, it's number 0001 ........................, ummm say again, did you say 0001 ? I was actually speechless, I literally didn't say anything for about 20 seconds, Dennis had to confirm I was still on the line. I had to explain that I had dust in my eye, and was trying to get it out, gimme a sec.
When I got the dust out of my eye, and could actually talk, I poured out the obvious, and well deserved thank you's, and I don't know what to say stuff, which I really didn't, other than, thank you again. This is really beyond my ability to comprehend at the moment. We talked some more, I said thank you again, and hung up.
Later that day I get a call from Cheytac direct, and they say they are a day away from shipping the gun, just have to throw Cerakote on it, and what color? I just ask them to leave it raw (it was refurbished, so the old paint was stripped off) and I'll handle paint, just please paint the barrel black.
Regardless to say, I am still to this day humbled at Dennis's generosity, the original #0001 M200 in some ways is priceless, and although any serial number M200 would have resolved my Unicorn gun hopes and dreams, actually being able to get #0001 sort of really brings it to a whole other level.
And yes, I will be shooting it. It's not going to be a safe queen.
After the 10 day I picked it up and started the paint.
So a little over a year ago, this guy named Dennis starts shooting at the Defensive Shooting Club where I shoot on a regular basis, I was the "range helper" that day, and as Dennis was getting ready to shoot his course of fire, since he was new, I introduced myself and we chatted a bit, he was a pretty cool guy, semi retired, big business type guy, previous CEO of some large Fortune 500 company Etc. He continues to attend DSC, and we become pretty good friends.
Jump forward a few months, I give him a call and tell him a few of us from the club signed up for a long distance shooting course out to 1200 yards and if he would like to do it with us, he says he would like to, but currently does not have a bolt gun, what should he get, and what do you shoot. So I spend a bit on the phone walking him through the basics, and really just suggesting a Remy 700 in 308, everyone should have one. As for what I had, well, a Remy 700 and then some big bore guns, a single shot .408 Cheytac and because it was such a good deal, I also had a Noreen in .416 Barret, he is intrigued, asks about those, and of course the ballistics of the Cheytac is so incredible, he is really into it, so I suggest he just go to the website and check it out, google it, and read up and see what he thinks.
A week later Dennis calls and says he has signed up for Cheytac's 3 day shooting school in Georgia (mind you, he has never been behind the trigger of even a 308 bolt gun, let alone a big boomer like a Cheytac), I snort a bit, and was like, ummmm, cool, well, you will have a blast I'm sure, but talk about jumping into the deep end of the pool, but hey, more power to you, you'll have a blast, and I'm a bit jealous 😛. Cheytac school was a few weeks out, life goes on, we still talk regularly, and see each other at DSC etc. Cheytac school arrives, and I am getting regular updates from Dennis from the school, and he is just having the time of his life, and is making solid hits at 1800 yards (1 mile), he's addicted.
Dennis gets home, and we meet up for coffee or lunch or something a week later and I ask him to give me the scoop on the school, did he have a great time, what did you learn, and most importantly, you going to buy a rifle now?
He says, well, learned a lot, made lots of 1 mile shots, and had good long conversations with the powers that be from Cheytac, and was very interested to find out that although the weapon system was amazing, and there really wasn't much out there that could compare, if anything, they were having some business woes, and we're potentially looking for an investor or something like that, and that being said, Dennis had started in negotiations to invest in some manner to the company.
Jump ahead about 8 months, the deal is done, and Dennis is the CEO of Cheytac. I had attended several meeting as sort of an advisor since I knew the platform and had a firearms gunsmithing/manufacturing background, nothing really all that big a deal, I was doing it just out of the sheer curiosity of how one goes about buying a company, I had no idea how this sort of business stuff works, and I learned a lot along the way, it was cool to see this sort of thing from the inside so to speak.
Jump ahead again a few months, Cheytac is rolling right along, Dennis is doing the CEO thing, and the company is growing. I had been asked once in a while to throw in my opinion and to act as an advisor again on a few things I actually know about (there are a few). At some point, I notice that the M200 is gone from the website, that was my gun, that's was what I was going to buy, THAT is my unicorn gun. I pretty much instantly call Dennis and ask what's up with that. He says they had made the decision, based on this that and the other, to discontinue that model. I strongly argued for its return, it was the iconic Cheytac rifle, had been in a bunch of movies, video games, TV shows, and so on, you guys can't get rid of that gun, I was almost ready to actually buy one.
So they had a powwow and decided to bring it back, I was relieved, (and they are selling well), and was now ready to buy one myself. Made the call, sent a check, and got one rolling, got my confirmation email, and the 4-6 week wait for it began.
A few weeks later Dennis calls and says he has a surprise for me on the M200 I ordered, I was like, ummm, ok, your gonna paint mine pink or something?, cause if you can't mess with your friends and all, and he was all no no, your gonna like this, to start, your rifle is done, I was fully excited, and thought, awesome, way ahead of schedule, figured THAT was the surprise, Dennis says, no, that's not it, he says for helping out, and getting him into this mess in the first place, he got me a special serial number, he explained that, like most gunmakers, they usually hang onto a few choice numbered guns for whatever reason, and Cheytac had done the same, and they pulled one for you, it's number 0001 ........................, ummm say again, did you say 0001 ? I was actually speechless, I literally didn't say anything for about 20 seconds, Dennis had to confirm I was still on the line. I had to explain that I had dust in my eye, and was trying to get it out, gimme a sec.
When I got the dust out of my eye, and could actually talk, I poured out the obvious, and well deserved thank you's, and I don't know what to say stuff, which I really didn't, other than, thank you again. This is really beyond my ability to comprehend at the moment. We talked some more, I said thank you again, and hung up.
Later that day I get a call from Cheytac direct, and they say they are a day away from shipping the gun, just have to throw Cerakote on it, and what color? I just ask them to leave it raw (it was refurbished, so the old paint was stripped off) and I'll handle paint, just please paint the barrel black.
Regardless to say, I am still to this day humbled at Dennis's generosity, the original #0001 M200 in some ways is priceless, and although any serial number M200 would have resolved my Unicorn gun hopes and dreams, actually being able to get #0001 sort of really brings it to a whole other level.
And yes, I will be shooting it. It's not going to be a safe queen.
After the 10 day I picked it up and started the paint.
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