2023 Cold Bore Challenge

[MarkOrtiz]

416 yards, Ruger American 270 Win. With a Leupold Vx-freedom 4-12x40 scope. Just got this scope sighted in and it’s my first time having elevation adjustment. 130 grain Remington Core lokt because this rifle likes it. 58 degrees and no wind. We are an hour behind mountain time so we set the alarm clock to get up with the sun and drive out to our shooting spot.
I had a blast participating in the cold bow challenge this year and couldn’t wait for this once it was announced on the podcast. I even got the wife excited about it and she shot with me this morning.
Just a little low. Shooting seated off Primos trigger sticks.
Haven’t shot this far in about 8 years, but I want to be proficient out to 1/4 mile/440 yards this year and keep increasing that distance.

Shot #2 done. Same distance, about 414 yards with an 8-10 mph tail wind and 75 degrees. I’ve used 3 different ballistics calculators and come up with 3 different answers. I picked the one that seemed the closest to where we were a few weeks ago and let it fly. I’m just using the bc and velocity off the box, so there is some unknowns. I can’t wait to start working up a load with the Barnes 129lrx and chronographing to see which calculator is correct and keep practicing for my pronghorn hunt in September.

 

[mcr-85]

Day #1
I tried at 590. My boy called a miss but after looking through the spotter I did hit the target just high and right of the circle.

270 wsm
Remington 700
Benchmark Barrel
Stockys Carbon stock
SWFA 5-20x50
Tally Rings
Hatch bipod
170 berger 3050 fps

No wind and 50°. Elevation was 5245. No idea other aspects of atmospheric data.

I tried that stupid weatherflow weather meter device I have and it wouldn't connect. I pulled weather data from the nearest station. I'm not blaming my miss on that but it is frustrating. I need a Kestrel.

It was a good day hiking and shooting on the south end of the famed Paunsagaunt unit.


Shot #2:
Quade and I hiked back in to the place we shot yesterday. We slept in a little longer today since he didnt have baseball games.

590 yards. A little wind coming from behind us at our shooting spot. Before my shot I watched the weeds and trees at the target. It looked like there was more left to right wind at the target. I held on the left side of my center circle.

Today was better for me. Yesterday is upsetting. I feel like it's a shot I should have made.

Video for shot #2.

I'm rechallenging myself to do better.
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...&share_fid=45046&share_type=t&link_source=app

 

[david2duck]

Tikka 7saum
18” carbon6
McMillan Game Scout
Hawkinsw Rings w/SWFA Fixed 10 moa
SRS outdoorsman + pic rail
Thunderbeast ultra 7
Atlas bipod
LRO’s Hunters wedge rear rest
ADG, CCI 250, 180gr VLDH, N560

Day 1: 582y on a 10” gong, wind 2-5mph from 4 o’clock.

Day 2: 582y, wind 4-8 (with guest up to 12) from 10 o’clock, also an up draft this morning, held 3/4 moa left and 1/4 moa low.

Day 3
Clean miss. 729 yards. Wind 2-4 mph. Wind was coming from 3 o’clock at the shooter held 1/2moa right and touched off…. 1/2 moa right of target. Didn’t see it through the spotting but when I got to the target wind was 2-3 mph from 9 o’clock. Forgot my phone scope like an idiot and wasn’t driving back home to get it.

Day 4
Redemption. Hit at 729. Wind was almost non existent. Held 1/4 moa left and hit dead center.

I’ve always thought my MER was around 600. Wanted to stretch it out on these last two shots and test myself. Proved that I’m not ready for 700+ yet. Thanks Rokslide for putting this on. I loved driving up in the mountains and only taking one shot.

 

[Jake Leibke]

Well looks like I missed the first 10 videos….

Central time.



Gun : Tikka 22 creedmoor. Vortex 3-18 Strike Eagle scope. 88 ELDM. 3134 FPS. Bravo Stock. Rear bag and bipod. Barrel is a factory 223 compact I had reamed out to 22 cm. 152 rounds down barrel as of challenge starting.


606 yard target is just right of bay of slough.

DAY 1 WEATHER :

Day 1 Video : 606 yards :

Day 2 Weather :

Day 2 video : 606 yards : Swing and a miss.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dioni A]

Claimed MER 750
Allterra arms 6.5prc with Bushnell DMR3 shooting 147 eld-m
First shot at 589 yards
7-10 mph winds coming from 45 degrees .

Day two. Weird swirling winds today. Pretty good storm forming. Wind was predominantly at my back so no wind hold.



Few days late getting this posted. My first shot at 750 didn't go so well. Had some pretty significant wind. More so than I would have taken a shot at this distance on an animal. Under guessed the correction and was an inch or so out of the 10 ring. I should probably square up the target better to give myself the most margin next time.




Missed on shot four. Forgot to bring my rear bag and had an exceptionally bad trigger pull. Since the challenge is over I took two more shots and had them about 4 in apart in the target. Forgot to take a picture. Good reminder that a better rest can help make up for poor execution on my part.

 

[edwal]

600 yards with a Christensen Arms Ridgeline in 7 mm rem mag. With a Magpul bipod and an Athlon Ares scope. This is my first new rifle in over 20 years (primarily a bow hunter) so had to stretch funds.
Norma Whitetail 150 grain rounds ( not my hunting rounds but new gun and I need the trigger time)
Got lucky and just snuck one in. Wind was a little stronger than I had thought.

2nd shot. Honestly driving over I thought I’m going to have a hard time with this shot. Storm rolling in and gusty winds. But I figured that’s what this challenge is for , to push ourselves. I don’t have a wind meter of any sorts so looking at vegetation I estimated 10 mph coming from 67 degrees. Put it in my app and it said hold 0.98 mils. I set it at .9 , debating whether to just set it for 1 mil but thought go with your gut. LUCKILY I hit left side. 1 mil hold probably would have caused a miss because I felt real good on the shot. Love this challenge. Usually do the cold bow challenge but haven’t shot much this year due to my shoulder.
Well, that’s it for me. Tried for 675 yards today and missed the shot. Figured, we’ll I’m here and done so might as well shoot some. Made an adjustment for .2 mils for more wind and hit the next 5 out of 7 shots. I will say , this type of practice makes me much more confident on that first shot on an animal if I’ve done it numerous times in practice. I’m hoping that during the summer I can get better out to 700 yards. Thank you again for this awesome challenge!!

 

[Harvey_NW]

MER 550 yards per current conditions - Haven't had much time for practice and at 160 round count this barrel has been speeding up on me a little, pressure was on and it bit me in the hocks today not truing everything up prior to the challenge.

Rifle and load are Tikka custom 280ai, 24" Bartlein barrel, built by Kampfeld. 162gr ELD-M @ 2820 fps. Conditions were perfect, 59° with no wind. Bipod and Kuiu Kenai puffy for rear support.

Juuust a bit outside, and now I get to moap to work

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Day 2 went a little better. Realized I forgot a step in my reloading process prepping for the challenge, so I corrected them and got a hit in the zone today. Obviously still have some tuning to do. Love the spirit of this challenge, it will show you what you and your equipment are really made of!

Conditions were pretty good, 53° with light and variable winds through the canyon. Beings that I had issues yesterday I decided not to compensate for anything, just dialed and gave it a dead hold.

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[mkkjortiz]

401 yards Ruger American 270 win. 130 grain Remington Core lokt. Scope is a leupold vx-freedom 4-12x40. My first shot was little right, which I am happy with as I am always left and working on correcting. Shooting off Primos adjustable shooting sticks. Weather was a beautiful 60* and no wind.

Second shot, same equipment on a windy Father’s Day. We tried to get the wind more behind us. 400yds. Pulling left again, but still a good shot.
Second shot was heat of the day, 80* with wind gusts up to 28mph. Very typical of our Nevada afternoons.

 

[JBahr]

Personal MER 800 yards. Today getting the first of two shots around 600 yards out of the way...

Rifle: MPA 6.5 PRC Ultralight Hunter, LA Curtis Action, NX8 Scope
22" Proof Sendero Barrel Chambered with a 0.200" Throat (Std is 0.188") AW2 Reamered
Fired Once AGD brass, Neck tensioned and three way trimmed
156EOL Berger Seated 0.025" off the lands
56.5 Grains of H1000

Day One Video: 613 yards. Watch for the vapor trail coming in from bottom right of the frame. Impact! Wind non existent.

Day Two Video: 613 yards. Turn the volume up, appreciate some Johnny Cash and hear the impact after the slow mo... Vapor trail comes in from bottom left... Impact! Wind light 1-3 mph Right to Left.

Day Three Video: 801 yards. Vapor trail comes in from bottom center, Impact!!! Getting really lucky with early morning winds out on the prairie! 1-5 mph Right to Left.

Day Four Video: 802 yards. Vapor trail comes in from bottom center, Impact!!! Wind was 1-5 mph from my 8 o clock.

I got a little overzealous after my impact and ran to my bag for more. Shot three more in rapid fashion, missing my second of the three. I’ve been shooting this rifle all winter developing a new load and after struggling with consistency at higher velocities finally swallowed my ego and dropped it down into the slower wider node. Super happy with that decision and the results here! This will be my Mountain Goat rifle this year. Once my BLM area opens after it’s seasonal closure it will be time to move to the mountains and repeat the challenge at altitude with thermals.

 

[doverpack12]

Cold Bore Day 1
Overcast 60 degrees very lite rain occasionally. Next to no wind.
603 yards steel is 12”, white circle painted on it is 10”. Claiming MER 670 ish. Cardboard behind in case I miss since I don’t have anyone to spot for me and occasionally if my form isn’t great I can’t spot my shot without a muzzle device (wrote this ahead not knowing I would miss…)
260 Remington Savage model 10 that I have stiffened the forend on, installed an kydex cheek rest, painted and added a Timney trigger. Tract Toric 1” 3-15x42 (20 oz), original Spartan Javelin bipod that stays on my pack belt when hunting with a rifle and I carry the long leg extensions which I have needed more than once for deep snow, grass, steep hillsides, rear bag is a KUIU belt pouch stuffed with 3 game bags. Sig Kilo 2000 rangefinder, using Shooter ballistics app and weather flow wind meter.

Terrible shot execution with recoil management. Recoil pushed my view up and left, no audible report, when I got to the target shot impact followed the recoil. I moved my body right before the shot but must not have been square enough. Legs were uphill.
I would have missed at much shorter distances with that shot execution.
Here is to redeeming tomorrows shot.




Cold Bore Day 2
50 degrees, clear and sunny. Very slight thermal at my location going up and left, didn’t adjust or account for it because the target was still in the shade with a down draft to the right if anything.
Good shot execution, spotted my shot on the gong before I heard the report. This is the shot I should have made day 1 but the challenge served the purpose and informed me.
You can see the target in my shooting location picture today. White spot on the hillside above the corner of the road with mud puddles.

 

[robby denning]

Christensen Arms, Summit Ti
270 WSM
Swarovski, Z5 3–18 X, hash marks only
Red Kettle QR sling
Set-up weighs about 7lb 11oz
Berger bullet classic hunter 140 grains
66.9 g RL 26
3249 fps
Unknown Munnitions load
Shooting off of Nimrod daypack,
Small Phoenix shooting bag in the rear

450 MER








Day 1:
No wind at target
Less than 5 mph shooting position
Held 5” high with 400 hash mark, no wind hold

Dead buck!

Day 1:
little more wimd today but still cake:
light winds at target
Less than up to 6 mph shooting position
Held same 5” high with 400 hash mark as yesterday, but added a few inches of wind hold—not quite to edge of bull





Happy with that. I still feel like I cheated by landing on two days with hardly any wind. This would’ve been different in the typical southeast Idaho 15 to 25 mile an hour winds, but I’ll take it!

 

[sndmn11]

~683yd MER #3 miss #4 683 hit...
Qualifying shot #1 and #2 at 600yd


30-06 Weatherby Vanguard Wilderness
Stockys VG2 super custom paint
Timney trigger
Talley rail
Hawkins rings
Nightforce SHVf1



Shot 1 off spartan and backpack.
Barely in low left, no adjustment for wind. Raining and 50ish degrees.

Shot two, prone off the spartan only.
No adjustment for wind. Within the target at 1:30 oclock.

Shot#3 683yds, the shot felt fine and more stable than the first two. Missed high and left 14" from center. I guessed a 15mph wind from behind and my right, which the app said a .6mil hold.

Shot #4 683yds hit, prone with the spartan only, at about 10:30 an inch or two within the purple. Gusty wind but it had died down for my shot, I held off about .25mil.

 

[Gingerbeardman26]

Tikka T3x veil 300 WSM shooting factory Norma Bondstrike at 3089. Leupold Mk5 3.6-18x44, PR1 Mil, Hawkins Low Rings, Warne 0 MOA pic rail, Silencerco Omega with a Plan B, installed a SRS Arca/pic for tripod interface. Mounted on a RRS Anvil 30 on top of a Leupold Tripod. Shot at 498 yards kneeling off a tripod. Missed high right.




Shot 2 went better than the first. Moved over a little way from where I set up on Saturday. Was able to build a little more sturdy position, still kneeling from my tripod. Weather was around 70 at the time of the shot.

 

[lak2004]

Shooting a tikka t3x 6.5 creedmoor. 140gr eldm at 2650 fps handloads. Bushnell lrts 4.5-18 scope.
MER will be 700.

1st shot at 593 yds (onx is close but not same as rangefinder). Temp was 74*, low wind ~5mph from 64*. Not much of an angle as we were shooting from a slope at a slope.
Shot position was prone with backpack up front and rear small bag. Was kind of in a hole so had a tough time getting settled. My Hornady app says to dial up 3.73 MRAD. Held left side of plate due to slight wind.

Hit bottom left small mark circled (had a couple buddies shoot after me that aren't in the challenge). Shot felt good even though my position was a little goofy. Tried to take a shot fairly quickly after getting the spotter setup so I wasn't just milking the time and getting perfect.


White circle is 10", plate is 12"

Day 1 things learned:
-empty backpacks don't help to shoot off of, grabbed mine in a hurry this morning and had nothing in it so had to improvise by stick my soft rifle case in the bag.
-Beware of cactus.
-Wind across distance and elevation is goofy (even already knows this but just confirming)
-knowing how to macgyver things is priceless (forgot extra stuff to hang target)
-will need to paint the target again
-I need a better spotting scope!


Day 2
74* F, <5 mph wind, clear sunny afternoon. Shot with @Hank today. Went and repainted the target so we could see new hits easier. When I did I looked closer and upon inspection found that my 1st shot was out of the 10" circle. So I don't qualify for beyond 600 but I'm still going to shoot for myself out to 750-800 when I find a good spot this weekend.

I marked hit 1 in blue (lower left edge of plate) and hit 2 with red. Spoiler alert the other splash mark is from Hank.

I'll upload the video later.

 

[CM]

I will try and qualify at 600 yards with my first 2 shots, then move back to 800 yards if I don't screw the first two up.

Equipment Semi-Custom 7 SAUM, Tikka Action, 24" Proof Barrel, Allterra Carbon Hunter Stock, built by Justin at Wilderness Custom Rifles (https://wildernesscustomrifles.com/). Nightforce NX-8 2.5-20x50, Holland Level, Sportsmatch Rings, Hatch bipod. Shooting 180 grain ELD-Ms with 63.8 grains of H1000 in ADG brass at 2940 FPS. Using an Outdoor Research zip sack as a rear rest.


Day 1, 600 yards: there was a bit of a breeze left to right, I held half a minute, should have held a smidge more, but I'll take that for the first shot!

Here's a video link:

Day 2, 600 yards: It felt calm so I didn't hold any wind but the impact was a little right, so there could have been a little wind. 2 cold bore vital hits at 600 yards feels pretty good!

Day 3, 800 yards: I drove to my shooting spot before work this morning. I just squeaked this one in the kill zone. The wind was pretty calm where I was, but the 800 yard steel is on an exposed hill and the wind is always tricky. I should have held a bit more than I did, but I'm glad to be in the circle.

Day 4, 800 yards: I went to the shooting spot before work again. Conditions were very similar to day 3, so my plan was to hold left, halfway between the edge of the plate and the orange. I hurried the shot a little, it didn't feel very good when it broke, I knew it would be low as soon as the gun went off. I expected it to be a miss, but it snuck in there.

Summary: This is such good practice. Where I shoot is about a half hour from my house. Driving an hour to shoot one round seems kind of silly (and I know a bunch of you guys are driving a lot further than that), but when hunting you've got way more than that invested and a lot of times you only get one chance. This challenge mimics that pressure better than anything else I've done. I got really lucky with calm days, this easily could have gone much different for me if I had worse wind conditions. Thanks for putting this on! I'm sure it was a ton of work behind the scenes!

 

[awcopeland]

I’ve never shot an animal past ~435 yards but I figured since this is to push myself let’s have some fun. So, I went out to scout for deer this morning and took my rifle and a steel plate with me and ended up finding a perfect spot to set my steel at 565 yards. The hike was just a hair over a half mile through satan’s garden and nearly 800’ down.

Rifle: Browning x-bolt 6.8 Western w/ Eotech vudu 5-25x50 inside ARC rings and a spartan precision javelin bipod

Bullet: factory Winchester 162gr copper impact

Distance: 565 yards

Day 1/Shot 1: about 75 degrees. No wind. Missed .6 mils low. I now know why, but didn’t at the time. Saw a one antlered bull a couple hours before my shot.

Day2/ Shot 2: Missed again. Temperature was about 75 degrees as the sun came up. Wind was from about 10 o'clock position ~15-20 mph at the shooting position and almost completely calm at the target. Although I missed the intended target area, I did Nick the bottom of my steel plate. 8” low of point of aim.

Lessons learned: I don't know how to shoot steep angles.

 

[DeerJohn]

Going with an EMR of 600 yards. Zero wind this morning. I shot off of my bipod and Kuiu pack for rear rest. Made my first shot!

Day 1


Setup
- Christensen Arms MPR in 6.5 prc
- 147 ELDM Hand Loads
- Trijicon Tenmile 3-18 x 50
- Hatch Outwest Bipod





Day two was a miss. Hit a couple of inches high. There was a slight breeze and pretty ideal conditions for shooting.




I really liked this challenge. Driving out for day one I felt like I was headed out to go hunting. I even rushed my shot for no reason other than being anxious and not wanting to miss. Day two I felt pretty confident and stable. Wish I could blame it on the wind or my gun but it was just operator error. This was a great learning experience and awesome challenge.

 

[KickinNDishin]

Weatherby Camilla (wedding present)
7-08 20"
SWFA 3-9
Talley rail
TPS rings
Score-hi pillars
Spartan bipod
Shot from on top of my new Exo K4


Rushed my shot and missed at 400.

I had 100fps extra in the app, but that only is a difference of .1mil



2nd Shot
Turns out I need to practice and my rifle wasn't perfectly zero.

Slight wind from the west, otherwise perfect conditions. Missed again. Feel free to withdraw my submission.

 

[Legend]

Looks like there are some antelope/open country hunters entered. I went for a mountain elk scenario. It was a pain to get through the blowdown on a wet day.

500yds MER ish (hard to range with the dead trees)

Blueprinted rem 700
300wsm
124 grain Hammer Hunter (loaded down for my kid)
62.0 grains Varget
CCI Large primer
COAL 2.75


Swing and a miss. I tried to aim around a tree. Think it was a mental mistake.


Day 3 (got distracted and went bear hunting on day 2).

Sunny and slight left to right breeze. My ou wind meter is a wet finger and decided to not hold for wind.

Decided to ignore those green branches I was worried about. Second miss.....dang. the bullet looks like it hit the target a bit sideways. Since last I checked my bullets were round.

Awesome excercise and super glad I participated. Definitely going to replicate on my own. Punching hole at the range is pretty easy. And I really only practice to hunt so I found huge value in the soft bipod, poor rear bag, funny body position shooting.

Tha ks for motivating me!

 

[Stumpy208]

I was going to go with a MER of 650 yards, but shot at 610 for qualifying shots and missed the first one.
I shot with my buddy Pleathers1 .

Rifle: Browning X Bolt Hell's Canyon Speed 24" Barrel
Scope: Vortex HST 6x-24x
Caliber: 6.8 Western Winchester 170g Ballistic Silvertips
Rest: Wiser Precision Quik-Sticks and my EXO K3 sitting.
Target: 10" Steel Gong

Day 1: MISSED low. I don't think my dope equation was correct. Windage looked like it was good but a miss is a miss.
Wind: I don't have a kestrel or anything so local weather was 4-6 mph swirling in the canyon we shot from.

Day 2: MISSED high. I compensated for my low miss with a .75 MOA higher adjustment(which I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE). My rifle recoiled off my quik-stick rest so I was not able to see the impact. I figured it out after that shot since I could shoot more (I'll post results of my findings on the Q&A thread page 28 post #558).
Wind: Was about 1.5 times stronger than yesterday but was more consistent coming from about 3:30 - 4:00 right to left.

This was an awesome challenge to get out and do. It definitely shows that you can always use more practice and I'm going to practice in more situations like this. I look forward to participating in more of these as the years go on.