The 2025 NRA National High Power Long-Range Championship at Camp Atterbury concluded with an unexpected victor, stunning traditionalists and sending shockwaves through the competitive shooting community. Chad "The Chad" McMillan, a frequent top-tier finisher in the PRS and NRL circuits, mistakenly entered the high-power event, believing "long-range" implied his usual positional stages at 1000+ yards. McMillan, known for his dominance with a Bighorn TL3 action nestled in an MPA Matrix chassis, sporting a 26-inch Bartlein M24 contour chambered in 6GT, topped with a Kahles K525i DCR reticle, arrived with his gear completely unsuited for the sling-only discipline.
Eyewitnesses report McMillan, ignoring the traditional prone sling position, adopted what he called a "modified tank trap" posture on the 600-yard line, leveraging his Arca-Swiss rail into the berm, and employing his WieBad Fortune Cookie for rear support. His DOPE card, meticulously trued for supersonic flight out to 1200 yards, proved surprisingly effective for the shorter distances, though sources confirm he was seen "truing" his impacts by observing the bullet trace from the competitor on the adjacent target. His 10-shot strings, all fired in under 45 seconds, were attributed to "practicing target transitions on multiple movers in low light."
McMillan, whose .223 Rem match ammo was conspicuously absent, reportedly showed up with 200 rounds of his 105gr Berger Hybrids loaded to 2980 FPS, mistaking the match for a practice day where he could "confirm his velocity nodes." Despite multiple attempts by Range Officers to correct his "unconventional sling technique," McMillan simply replied, "This is my barricade support, bro. It’s totally stable." His final aggregate score of 1998-195X, reportedly achieved by "ignoring the wind flags entirely and just holding the center," clinched the championship. The NRA has since announced an emergency subcommittee to "clarify equipment and positional rules for athletes who confuse 'precision' with 'practical.'"
