2023 Cold Bore Challenge

[Justin Crossley]

It's finally here! The first annual Rokslide Cold Bore Challenge

This challenge is designed to test your realistic Maximum Effective Range. The Challenge will start Saturday, June 3rd at 8:00 am MTN time on this thread.

You shoot one shot each day of the challenge with no warm-up or follow-up shots and no practice between days. This is the Cold Bore Challenge. We want it to simulate what you experience when hunting for your BOAL.

We are limiting the challenge to the first 100 qualified participants.

Below are the rules. READ THEM ALL, OR DON'T PARTICIPATE.

We delete ineligible posts without notice. If you have questions or comments, post those on the Q&A thread here so this thread stays clean.

1) Start a post in this thread (one post per shooter) on your first shooting day. You can’t reserve a post slot unless you’ve shot and posted a picture or video. You don't have to start on day one, but you do have to be done by July 2nd to qualify for prizes. That gives everyone five weekends to complete the challenge.

2) Call the range you think is your REALISTIC maximum effective range (MER). You must shoot your personal MER, so if it’s 600 yards, you can’t shoot 100 yards because that's all you have at your range!
Minimum range for this challenge will be 400 yards. Push yourself a bit and make an effort--that's the spirit of the challenge.

3) With no warm-up shots, shoot one cold bore shot each day of the challenge at your MER. You do not have to shoot two days consecutively, but there is NO PRACTICE between shooting days.

4) Post a photo or video of your bullet’s placement on the target. Target size is set at a 10” circle. If your target is bigger than that, paint or mark the 10” diameter so you know whether you’re in the vitals. It's a two-day/two-shot challenge, so post a photo each day in your original post, so both shots appear in one post. (Just use the "edit" button—bottom of your post on full-site, or if on Tapa Talk, hold your finger on your post for a few seconds to see the Edit option)

5) If you believe your MER is over 600 yards, you will need to qualify to shoot farther by first hitting the target between 575 and 625 yards per the rules above both times. If you are able to hit both of the first two shots, you get to move out to your MER beyond 600 and shoot two additional days at that range. The same rules apply here as in rules 3 and 4 above.

6) Be sure and mention the conditions like wind direction and speed. And give us a quick summary of your equipment. This is a gear site; we all want to know what our buddies are shooting.

7) To qualify, you must be a member posting on your own account. If you want your kids to shoot, they must post on their own accounts. (Sorry, just too messy for the judges to figure out what’s going on.)

8) Because this is the first year for this contest, we reserve the right to change or adjust the rules as necessary to achieve this challenge's intent. Remember, this is not a shooting contest. It’s a challenge to determine your MER with your hunting rifle and hunting gear.

9) The gear rules will be as simple as possible. You must shoot your big game hunting rifle with the gear you hunt with. That means no benches or Lead Sleds. Tripods, bipods, rear bags, and the like are allowed if that's how you hunt.

10) Because we're generous and have some great sponsors, we’ll be DRAWING for killer prizes for our qualifying members (Rokslide staff and family can shoot but can't win the prizes). More on prizes below.

How Points are Counted:

--Every qualified participant who shoots and posts photos of their two shots gets one entry.

--Every qualified participant who claims an MER beyond 600 yards, hits their first two shots (between 575 and 625), and completes the two additional shots at their MER beyond 600 yards will get an extra entry. Hitting the farther target is not required for the extra entry. If you miss one of your first two shots, you won't be eligible to shoot the farther MER, but you'll still get one entry like everyone else.

--For every member with at least 300 posts (on the day we qualify you), we'll double your entries.--it pays to be an active member!

--So, sub-600-yard MER gets 1 point. Two sub-600-yard hits AND two over-600-yard shots will get you 2 points.
Member with more than 300 posts, gets to double above points, so could have up to 4 points.

This is not a competition, but because we're generous and have some great sponsors, we’ll be DRAWING for killer prizes for our qualifying members (Rokslide staff and family members can shoot but can't win the prizes)

Our staff will watch the thread to ensure entry rules are followed. If you don’t fix your post in a reasonable amount of time, we’ll delete it (sorry, we don’t have time to chase!)

We will draw from those who complete the challenge according to the rules posted above.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Prizes

Swarovski Optik ATC/STC 17-40x56 Spotting Scope



G9 Defense - $500 of Ammo



Unknown Munitions - 100 Rounds of Ammo



Vortex Diamondback HD 2000 Rangefinder



onX Hunt - Elite Membership

 

[Justin Crossley]

Argali Outdoors High Country Pack



Phone Skope Bundle $140 Value



Procision Arms - Action/Barrel Ceracoat $190 Value



StHealthy Glassing Pad and two Kit Sacks.



The first ten shooters to post a video will get a set of Kifaru Game Bags.

 

[MuleyFever]

Shooting a 7 PRC on a Tikka action with a McGowen barrel, Ultra 7 suppressor and Stockys carbon stock
Shooting 420 yards from a sitting position with Primos Trigger Sticks. Scope is a Trijicon Credo. Factory 175 ELDX ammo.

Day 1. Winds were calm.

Day 2. Calm winds again.

 

[Geewhiz]

Self determined MER at a 10” target is 610 yards.

Shooting a 338 rum, Lilja barrel, nf nxs 5.5-22, and a tbac 338 ultra pushing 300 grain berger hand loads @ 2729fps. Prone on a bipod with a hoodie under the buttstock.

Qualifier shot #1 610 yards. Conditions 49* overcast, wind call of 0. Forgot my 10” stencil today so used a 8.5” paper plate as a stencil. Day 2 was shot at a 10” circle.

Qualifier shot #2 610 yards. Conditions 45* overcast, 2-4 mph wind @11 o’clock.

MER shot #1. 610 yards. I’m tempted to call this a miss. Right on the line. Not sure why, shot felt good. Never did go check the target b/c there were other shooters at the line. Conditions were similar to shots 1&2.

MER shot #2. 610 yards. No impact. Got humbled on this one. Not going to throw anybody under the bus but my suppressor did not end up fully secured to the rifle before the shot resulting in a catastrophic failure (no fault being on the manufacturer), and I was obviously too oblivious to notice. As the shot broke I noticed a giant muzzle flash and as I looked up I saw my suppressor cartwheeling through the air at the 50 yard line. Glad there were no injuries. Curious if tbac will be able to fix it. Will call when they open. In any event, if this was the one shot that counted on an animal I would have missed. Good lesson.

That’s it for me.

 

[Megalodon]

**MER 750y** stretch for sure but see how it goes.

Seekins Havak Element 6.5 PRC
Nightforce NXS 2.5-10
Spartan Precision bipod with rear bag
TBAC Ultra7
Factory Hornady 147 ELD-M

https://imgur.com/a/fGGGdtr

First hit at 600y!

Had what I was calling 3-4 mph wind from between 7 and 8 o’clock. Held left edge of plate.

Will probably come down a little in elevation tomorrow, just snuck it on.


Second hit at 600y!

This was an almost perfect crosswind from 9 o’clock. I was calling it 10 mph at my face but after looking through spotter and scope it seemed like more. Held center with a full mil (~15 mph) and where it hit on target would be about 12 mph.


First miss at 750y!

Really annoyed by this one. Conditions seemed perfect setting up. MAYBE a 5 mph wind at 10:30. That would be a .3 mil hold. I made a "bold" call and held .5 dead center. Still missed off the right side. I've got no idea, frustrated I couldn't send a follow up haha. I'm not the best at judging trace, but looks like my elevation was good and missed a few inches right. Questioning if I pulled it. You can see a pretty serious mirage left to right, but that's on the horizon way far away. Max ord should've only been about 12', so can't really blame it on that. This shot was on 6/6, uploaded today.


Second shot hit at 750y!

This is more like it. Finally a shot I'm happy with. Had probably a 5 mph wind coming from 5 o'clock so I held .2ish mils, basically right edge. Looking back at my first 750y shot I think I was correct about not being able to judge trace well, but was wrong about my elevation being good. I ran 2 ballistic calculators for the second shot. Strelok Pro (which I used for the first 3 shots) gave me an elevation hold of 4.9 mils, my sig binos with AB gave me 4.6. Looking back at my first 3 shots being high, I went with AB. Ended up almost dead center.






Glad I was able to get this wrapped up since I have back to back weekend matches coming up. Have more thoughts I may add later.

 

[Jstumbaugh]

First hit at 600. Trying to stretch MER out to 620 if I can get the angle right across the field. Little wind this morning. I estimated the wind to be 5-10 from right to left. Dialed for 2.5 moa for the wind.
Gun is a Remington 700 300wsm built from components picked up out of the classifieds here. Used HSM 185gr Berger ammo and the scope is a Vortex Viper HSLR that was a midway USA promo posted down in the “deals” section of the classifieds.

Day 2. Awesome vapor trail in the cooler morning temp.

Day 3. Winds calm left to right shooting for 620 yards. Missed??? Just to the right. Close enough to move the plate without hitting it. I’ll take a look at the plate tomorrow after shooting to see if there is any graze or mark. The plate definitely sways.

Day 4. Gusty wind right to left maybe 5-7mph. Storms rolling in. Thunder and lightning in the background. Extremely hazy/smoky from the Canadian wildfires today. My son came with me to do some shooting but the rain pushed us out after my shot. Shot broke clean and hit at 3 o’clock on the plate. I am very happy with how I shot during the event and how the challenge pushed me to stretch my MER. Coming into this I’ve only every really shot out to 525 but the challenge forced me to break the 600 mark practicing a few times before the challenge started. Toughest takeaway from the challenge is ready/guessing the wind value. Ballistic apps can tell you what to dial but guessing the wind is what makes it.

 

[Jimbee]

I set my MER at 650. No wind. In the spirit of the challenge I used my backpack and bino harness for a rest. I missed. Gun is a 6cm PBB prefit. 45 grains H1000 and 108eldm. 3-9swfa sportsmatch.


Day 2.
Somehow I failed to capture my day 2 miss on video. I decided to shoot at my 630 yd target. There was a light breeze coming from about 3 o'clock. I held the right side of the 10 inch plate and missed. Thought I hit high. Since my CBC challenge ended with my second miss, I atrached my Harris bipod, used my Gamechanger rear rest, held a little lower and shot again and missed. Dialed down .2 and tried again. Finally figured out I was missing low. Adjusted velocity on my Strelok app to 42 clicks instead of 41 and hit it 5 times in a row.


Summary
Things I've discovered that are difficult parts long range hunting and have caused misses;
Accurate rangefinding
Spotting impacts and correcting
Correctly inputting data
Consistent reloading
Shooting enough to properly zero a rifle
Reading wind
Finding/making time to practice
Lack of ranges to shoot distance

My plan for improvement:
Continue practice, I've been shooting the 20 shot positional drill posted by Form a couple times a week.
Stop messing around with multiple rifles and just concentrate on one.
Reload and buy components in bulk, (quit tinkering with different bullets/powder)
Shoot some matches. There are a couple local ones in the near future.
I think the 2 main areas I need to improve are field position shooting and figuring out how to figure out wind.
I have been shooting what I would consider quite a bit but need to do a better job verifying/adjusting my velocity. I think part of this stems from messing around with multiple rifles. I was pretty confident I could hit my 600 yd targets if there was little to no wind. I was wrong. I'm a work in progress.
A big thanks to everyone that facilitated this challenge. I hope to do better next year.

 

[Bluumoon]

Cold Bore MER claiming 675 yards



Shooting a factory Tikka 6.5CM in a KRG Bravo, Sportsmatch, SWFA 5-20



Pack, down jacket, and bino harness for a rest



140gr ELDM handloads at around 2800fps



Shot angle is pretty flat, shooting across a small canyon. Elevation 6800ft



59 degrees, measured wind variable 4-8mph from 7-8 O’clock



4 sips of coffee-not enough coffee



Qualifying shot day 1 603 yards -MISS



Guess I’m staying at 600 yards.



Practiced yesterday, missed cold bore center punched next two. LAME



I’ve been shooting at 12x to spot impacts, zoomed in a little today and didn’t see impact, not sure of my correction if any for next shot.

Day 2

603 yards again- Hit

Wind from 2 O'clock 3-6mph variable

Ranged distance time to shot 1:32 seconds, needs improvement. Wind was measured prior to start of video.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

MER 422 yards
Gun: Ruger M77 Hawkeye in 7mm Rem Mag
Ammo: Hornady Precision Hunter Eld-x 162grain
Harris bipod
Nightforce SHV 4-14 F1
Weather was partially cloudy, 70 degrees and 3-5 mph wind at my back.
Shot sitting with the bipod.
First shot was a miss
Gnats we’re horrible

Day 2 MER 420
Wind was 7-9 at my back and slightly right to left

Need more practice

 

[Wyatt.Carter]

Here we go! Excited to see how everyone does. I’ll be shooting at a 16” steel plate with a 10” white circle on it.

Shooting a Browning Hells Canyon Speed in 6.5CM ,Zeiss V4 4-16x44, shooting Berger 140 VLD with lapua brass (small primers). Velocity is about 2780fps. I’ll be using a Spartan Precision bipod with my pack as a rear support.



I’ll plan to post videos of my shots, so I’ll call the wind/weather conditions in the video.



MER: I’ll push it to 800yds (if I can make my two @600)



Pray for me and the little 6.5…



Rifle Setup:

Shot 1 @600:

Cutting it a little close but I’ll take it

Day 2: 600yds ..missed by an inch! Dang

Looks like that’s it for me! Was hoping to stretch out to 800, but maybe next time. Thanks to Rokslide, staff, and sponsors for putting on the challenge. I hope this is something that’ll continue in the years to come!

 

[beerbucksducks]

MER: 500 yards

Day 1:
DA: 1780
Wind: calm
Prone with Harris bipod and a meat bag for a rear bag.

Christensen Ridgeline 24” 6.5 CM
Burris Veracity 2.5-10x44 SFP
139 gr. Lapua Scenar
RL 16
CCI 200
Starline Brass
Sorry for the shitty spotter pic. I can run and get a close up later if need be.

MER: 500 yards

Day 2: I shot in the afternoon to get some wind, the early mornings are pretty calm. I dialed up .25 minute from my last shot and should have held another half minute for wind. Shot landed right on my sharpie line marking 10”. Barely counts as a hit ha!
DA: 4030
Wind: 3-8 mph variable right to left

 

[mtnrunner260]

MER 650.
Hope this works.
Shot at 640 with light (3ish) wind

Bergara 6.5 PRC action with proof barrel and XLR ATOM. Leupold VX5 4x14 with firedot.
Wanted to shoot sitting as prone isn't always possible.
Did a couple minutes of dry firing then took the shot. Had pack between legs for rear support.
147gr ELD-M, Retumbo, Lapua brass, fed 210 match primer.

Hornady 4DOF solution

Set up pre shot


DAY 2
About 100 miles south of day 1.
600 yards at 3pm.
Set up with target up in rocks.

Used tarp for rear support.
Shot

Was at very top edge of circle.

Solution

Justin ruled it a hit so will shoot at 650 up in the mtns this weekend. Hopefully close to 10k elevation.

DAY 3
Didn't shoot in the mtns as I wanted. Ended up burying the truck in a drift on the way back out from scouting a spot. Made it through on way in just fine. Spent an hour digging until a couple kind gentlemen happened by and gave me a pull.
So back in town hit a spot this morning.

Miss!
667 yards across a canyon with light winds. I hiked the target in then up to shooting spot. Still learning wind and it helped being at the target 20 min before shooting. Can't do that with a buck though.

Shot was sitting with pole as rear support. Definitely not as stable as prone.
The view

Solution

Impact just low. Found 147gr laying on ground. It may have nicked bottom of steel but hard to tell.


DAY 4
Returned to spot of day 3 miss. Looking for redemption but didn't find it.
Target and shooting spot close but not identical.

Just low again at 672.
Shot two more and was left then high and left.
Solution

Takeaways:
I have work to do to be confident beyond 600. There is just a lot more input and execution required to be successful.
I moved up to 458 and nailed target. Will post video in redemption thread.
This was an awesome challenge and showed I was overconfident in my MER.
Thanks for putting it on Roksliders.

 

[TX_Diver]

6/3/23 – Shot at 9AM Central (8AM Mtn). I’m fortunate to be able to shoot at the house right now.

Ended up at 416 yards as there’s a t post I can set my pack against for a sitting shot tomorrow (furthest tree from my target is 395... ☹ ) . Shooting aids are a kifaru 22 mag backpack, and a rear bag (pint size game changer). 6.5CM Tikka T3x in a KRG bravo cut to 19.25” w/ an Omega 300 on the front. SWFA 3-9 and Sportsmatch T084 rings (UM rings on order and will be swapped out eventually)

Handloaded ammo – Factory seconds 143 ELD-X from midway. 42.2gr H4350, 1x starline brass and a CCI Primer. Edit - 2610 fps Last week I had to add .1Mil to get in the center so I took the 2.35 they gave and dialed 2.4.

Target is a 10” steel plate w/ a board behind it to see how close (or far) I was if I miss.

Day 1 prone off the pack w/ the rear bag. No shooting mat or anything. 75 degrees w/ light wind (guesstimated at 5mph) from 4 o clock. Edit - Probably closer to 3 o clock at time I shot. Died to nothing shortly afterwards. I held center of the plate today.

Video of the shot – Hit on the left edge of the plate. .

Pic of the plate through the spotter. Tomorrow after shot 2 I’ll walk down and get a pic of both up close.

Day 2 miss little windier today. Probably 10-15 mph (apple weather says 11mph) mostly coming over my right shoulder. Hornady said hold .34 Mils which is just over 5" so I held on right edge of the plate. When I got to the target I had missed the backboard so I'm not 100% sure what happened.

Definitely a suspect wind call, but I'm sure my shooting skills factor in also. Felt like a made a good shot but from the angle I was at I only would have had to miss maybe 4-5" to the right to be off the backstop. At the target the wind was coming more straight on and even a bit over my left shoulder so even if I made a perfect shot it still wouldn't have taken much wind to miss.

Shot sitting today. The top of the riser was interfering with my stock when I was leaned against the t-post so I moved the pack forward. Definitely not as steady as the tree I used to shoot from like this the other day.

I'm also open to lawncare tips...

Fun challenge. I've got a few more weeks before the corn gets too high to shoot over and will give it a few more goes when I can shoot some follow up shots to confirm what went wrong if I miss.

 

[StuffItTaxidermy]

Bergara ridge 300prc
1/9 twist
Triggertech trigger
Hawkins tank st break
Hornady 225 gr. Eld match
Vortex strike eagle 5-25x56
Athlon midas carbon fiber 36mm tripod.
Armageddon gear pint size bag
Temp 68
Humidity 88%
Cloud cover 100%
No wind

484 yards flat missed

 

[QMR]

I just got done shooting with my dad.

6.5 creedmoor
Factory bullets

No wind. 416 yards and I hit a little to the right of the circle. My dad is trying to get pictures off his phonescope phone

Here is my video and my target picture. Now I've got a baseball game!

Second shot. 415 yards. A bit of wind left to right. I hit right and low and missed. I only hit the target once in the challenge and not in the circle.

I loved the cold bore challenge. Revenge next year.
Quade

 

[Cynoscion]

Edited to add in weather and other details.

Rainstorm came through right at daylight this morning so we had 72ish rain cooled degrees and a 8-10mph out of the SE at my shooting position but zero wind at the target.

Shot was prone off of a Harris bipod with a rear bag. I’d been fighting my 600 yard DOPE all week preparing for this. I wasn’t having any problems with 1st round impacts at 500, 700 or 800. Even managed a pretty decent group at 1000 yards last week but for whatever reason, 600 was kicking my butt. I was shooting anywhere from 11 MOA up to 11.75 MOA in practice. Decided to shoot 11.75 this morning bc of the soupy air after the storm. That was obviously the wrong choice or I just shanked it (probably this).

I thought my MER would be 800 yards but….

6.5 PRC Frankenstein model 700 custom with the little Nightforce NX8 in Hawkins hybrid rings shooting Unknown Munitions 156 EOL’s, Bartlein #4 barrel, APA little bastage brake, Iota crux stock, trigger tech @ 2lbs

Didn’t matter this morning. Cold bore 600 yards and sailed it about 1/2” over the 10” gong

In my defense, if it was a critter of any size, he’d be dead but it was not so I’m stuck at 600 for the 2nd day.

Boooooo!!!!’

Day 2 results same as the first

Zero wind. Temperature was 91° with a wind chill factor of 101°. Used 11 MOA dope. Mirage was HORRIBLE and sailed it left onto the 12” gong that is next to my 10” target
Some pretty poor shooting after a couple weeks of awesome practice rounds.
Even though I can’t hit crap, it was fun. Thanks for putting this on guys. Enjoyed it!

 

[rabbithuntr]

MER 449 meter impact velocity of 1829. Shooting a 73 eld with staball match mv of 2750. Rifle is a BCM 5.56 with ss410 16” barrel 2 stage trigger. Lane Scorpion king can. SWFA 6x mil scope. Shot prone with sling support.

Day 1 Conditions 50 degrees foggy with 3-5 mph cross wind.

Day 2 60 degrees with 2-4 mph wind

Initially I was a little confused, I heard impact but couldn’t see it through the scope. It makes more sense now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eric1115]

A miss!

I had a 700 yard MER goal, but that's gone now. Bummer!

All my steel is 6 and 8" so I used an old garbage 10" table saw blade to make the video hit visible/audible. I'll be seriously disappointed if we don't see on shot #2 how well the saw blade works.

Bergara Ridge in 7mm RM
Factory stock with ugly foam/tape cheek riser and fiberglass vert grip, carbon arrow shafts epoxied into the forend and arca plate mounted.
180 VLD over H1000 in Nosler brass
LRHS 4.5-18, shot was taken around 8x.
Leofoto 324CEX tripod

Pretty calm, just a poor trigger press.

Day 2 hit.
I shot two more to make sure. I got spooked with that first miss high and dialed ½MOA less for shot #2, all 3 shots today are low on the plate. Confirmed good data, poor trigger press on shot #1.

First shot is hard to see in the video but it was low left, second is low just right of center, and third is right by first hit. Blade made almost no sound, and didn't move much at all, very disappointed. I might try it as a rimfire target, but zero interest in further use as a centerfire target

 

[DosAmigos]

Cold bore challenge 1st day didn’t go as well as practice. 600 yard miss just off left edge of the 10” plate.

Fierce Carbon Rival 22” 6.5PRC Leupold Mark 5.

Nice setup but it still misses!

Day 2

Wasn’t any better than Day 1 another miss @ 600 yds. Was hoping to set my MER @ 800 yds. During practice was getting good impacts at 500 out to 800. Don’t know what happened at 600 but back to the drawing board.

Piss poor shooting even though had good practice rounds. Thanks again for the challenge

Weather is 91 with feel like of 103 and zero wind.

Rifle Fierce Carbon Rival
Leupold Mark5
Omega 300
Hornady 143 Eldx