2024 Cold Bore Challenge

[eod.mickelson]

Finally found some time to get out and get day 1 done!

MER: 600 yards (will extend to 800 if I have time before the end of the challenge)

Equipment:
Zermatt Origin action
Timney Trigger
NX8 2.5-20 Mil-C
XLR Element 4.0MG
24" Carbon Six Barrel in 6.5 Creed
140 ELDM/H4350/Alpha brass @2780
Dead Air Nomad Ti
Ckye pod
Molinator

Target was at 590



Weather today was 74 degrees, with a 12-17 mph wind, switching between 5:30 and 6 o'clock, my favorite!

I realized in hindsight that the quality of the video was not great, but, obviously I couldn't reshoot it lol. Ill try to do better for shot 2!

 

[bowrunner81]

Made it out to do the first shot this morning. This rifle just got a new scope and I added a suppressor, so I had time to take it out last weekend to do a quick 200 yard zero and had not shot any further than that. So, I chose a close MER for this first shot because I wouldn't shoot any further given the situation anyways.

MER = 450 yards (But since I hit my first shot, I am going to push the second shot.)

Browning X-bolt SR in 7prc
Maven RS1.2 Scope
DD LTi suppressor
Backpack front rest and TAB gear rear bag
175gr eldx with 65gr H1000

8" Steel plate

First shot 462 yards and dialed 1.9mil no wind hold. It was gusty, but I shot when it died down - HIT!

Take Away from the first shot. My zero might not be quite perfect or my assumed velocity might not be quite right. The shot broke clean close to the center of the plate and I was about .1 or .2 low. For my next shot ill add .1 or so.

Day 2. Windy again but it was mostly a headwind. Tired, Headache, and dust in my eyes.
584yards - 3.1 mils dialed and no wind hold. 3.0 was the elevation and I added a mil because I think my zero is a touch low. - HIT!

Just nicked the outside edge of the 8" plate. I was pretty happy to hit that one with the wind blowing in my face and not feeling super confident in my zero. I'm definitely going to spend some more time confirming zero after this.

 

[Slick8]

I have a new rifle that I’m running a starting load just to get a little time on the barrel.

Alamo Precision Rifles in 338 Edge long throated for 300 Berger’s.
Def An-Ti, Bartline 9.3 twist, Trigger Tech, SSR gilled brake in a Manners Pro Hunter.

I’ve ran about 25 rounds through her, seeing about 1.5 inches at 300 yards from the bench and fired a few rounds last week in extreme heat and mirage to validate at 600.

I arrived a bit late this morning to a crowd at the public 600 yard range and asked the guys to not shoot a particular steel target. No such luck.

I did 1 cold bore from my tripod using my day pack for rear support at the paper. The video is from my phone as I don’t have a phone scope. If this is not suitable, please let me know, there's no hard feelings. I’ll try again next weekend for a follow up shot.
I’m going to try positioning my phone vertically and a bit farther back to get me in frame. This is a first attempt so a bit of a learning curve.

MER is 600 yards.
Conditions;
*Shot 1; temp 90 and wind was 8-10 from the 7 o'clock.
Load; starting load, 89 grains of H1k, Fed 215m and a 300 Berger.

The target is 3 inches in diameter and I added a paint can for scale.

Thanks,
Craig

The music was an accident, I didn't hear it playing in the background but I do like how the crowd cheered when I shot.

 

[ljalberta]

Squeezing in this year since I missed the last one.

The Rifle:
Barrett Fieldcraft - 6.5CM 18"
Murphy Custom Rail
Farrell Rings
SWFA 3-9
Weight: 6.85lbs

The Ammo:
CE 125 Lazer
H4350 43gr
Lapua SRP Brass
CCI 450
Velocity: 2820 FPS

Conditions:
23*C
Winds 6-12 km/h blowing from in front and the left
Pretty good mirage

My MER in a hunting scenario is probably 450 yards with this setup, although I stretch it out further at the range. That being said, I've been really challenged by the fact that the vast bulk of my shooting is from prone or from the bench, and when it comes to backpack hunting, that's not always possible. I wanted to challenge myself (embarrass myself) by either stretching the prone MER to 600, or doing a 450 MER, but shooting it from an awkward field shooting position. I chose the latter as I figured it will really show me how bad I might be at shooting from unfamiliar positions.

Target is a 10" metal gong set at 456 yards.

Shooting position is from the top of this stump that is the awkward height of being too short to take a standing shot, but too tall to kneel behind comfortably. If I leaned too far into it, it would start to shift as well. As such, I was setup in a tall kneeling position, and where I would normally use my pack rested on the ground to take up the negative space under my right shoulder, the pack was about 10" too short. I only allowed myself the items below that are normally in my pack anyway (or in the case of the custom shooting log, were found on scene).

Support Equipment:
Pack
LS 2-5 Shooting Bag
Foam Butt Pad
Custom Shooting Log

Day 1 Result - Clean Miss. I held .2 mil during a slowing in the wind with 2.3 mil dialed up in elevation. Wobble zone was too large from this position, and I felt very little confidence in getting a hit once I got behind the rifle and couldn't get a decent shooting support built up.

What I learned is I need to spend more time practicing building out actual field support shooting positions. Not only was it incredibly slow, but I really didn't find a super supportive position. I might try the second shot from some trekking poles, or maybe I'll head back to this stump for more punishment. Either way, I think a lesson is more time spend shooting in the field, and less from the pure prone position or at a range bench for me.

Day 2 Result - Clean Miss. This shot was from a seated position, using my empty pack as a front rest, and my foam pad to try and eat up the negative space under my shoulder. Wind was coming from ahead and my right at about 12km/h. Shot distance was 465 yards, and temperature was 22*C. I held .2 mil right and dialed elevation. Again, this is an unfamiliar and unpracticed shooting position, and the wobble zone was significant. It didn't feel good on the trigger squeeze, and I was not surprised when the sounds of a hit gong evaded me yet again. This was an excellent challenge to do, and I'm glad I tried from a couple field position, as it really demonstrated to me how much I suck at field shooting outside of prone with solid and familiar rests.

Looking forward to getting out and practicing more, and thanks for running the challenge again.

 

[Stephmae]

Maximum range 445 yards
Tikka 7 s a u m
180 Hornady

Full disclosure…. My husband puts me up to this every year. I don’t practice much so I look forward to it. I still rely on him for distances and where to hold in the wind. Both of my shots landed within 1” so I’m happy. And I shot better than my husband!!!!

Day 1
Strong wind from the right, held 6” right
mid day
Temp 70ish

Day 2
Still strong wind. Held same spot
Mid day
Temp 70ish

 

[Juan_ID]

Nothing like waiting til the last minute ehh?
This thing snuck up on me and I was definitely not as prepared as I should have been.
MER for the moment is 575, shot 1 was at 550. I will push it to 575 or 600 for day 2.
Gear:
Tikka t3x 20” preferred barrel prefit 22GT suppressed w/ cgs Hyperion k

Load:
Alpha Brass
88 eld
34.7gr H4350
cci450
2975fps mv

KRG Bravo
Leupold Mark4 6-24x52 w/UM tikka rings
MDT lightweight ckye pod

Day 1: overall pretty calm day, about 80* with very little observed or felt wind. Held about .1 left, impact was low. Not sure what that’s about but I’ll try and adjust for it tomorrow morning.

Day 2: Was pretty windy today and I’d guess 70* setup at 593 yards. When setting up the plate I guessed 10 mph wind from 3 o’clock. Plugged in 10mph into the revics and it said hold 1 mil but it felt a little stiffer than my initial guess so I decided to hold a little more. I also dialed an additional .1 of elevation and still hit a little low. I am not sure if my zero isn’t perfect or I just suck. I’ll try to diagnose the rifle shooting low later this week.
Not sure why it uploaded as a “short” and also accidentally recorded it in slow-mo and decided to keep the shot slow for dramatic effect.

 

[Antares]

Realistically, my MER is about 400 yards, but in the spirit of this being a "challenge", I set up a plate at 628 yards this year. Shot was -3° across a little valley that leads up into a bowl. (Spoiler: I missed both shots.)

Tikka 6.5CM 18"
NXS 2.5-10x42
KRG Bravo
CGS Hyperion
140 ELDM factory load

Shot 1: MISS
6:45 am; 39F
Wind was about 5 mph and switchy at the shooting position, coming in from one side, dying off, then coming in from the other. I decided to hold 2 MOA right, then chickened out and decided to wait for a lull and shoot straight at it. The lull came and I missed left.

Shot 2: MISS
9:00 pm; 61F
No wind at shooting position. Missed left (and maybe low?).

(Side note: I'm real jealous of guys that get splash on the ground for spotting misses.)





Shot 1:

Shot 2:

 

[Mountain Gem]

I’m shooting my dad’s rifle. It’s a 7 short action ultra mag.


We shot at 445 yards while camping.


The first day it was warm and sunny and the wind was blowing from the right. The second day was similar.

I aimed 3 inches right the first day.

The second day I forgot and aimed right at the white dot.

 

[nphunter]

I set up the target at 605 yards same as last year. Shot was prone in the brush with my pack as a rest. I really haven’t shot the rifle at all since the CBC last year, I sent 1 round at 200 since just to verify zero for my wife. It looks like I need to spend a little more time behind the trigger. Both shoots just barely missed the 10” plate.

280AI Custom model 700
Vortex HST 5-15
168VLD

Shot 1: MISS
Wind was about 15 mph and gusting at the shooting position, maybe worse across the open valley. I missed just high.

Shot 2: MISS
Same as the first day. Not sure where I missed but saw a fragment hit dirt far left. It was too windy to hear if it hit a rock or what but no big dirt cloud.

I took a follow up shot after day 2 and centered the target. I just need to try to dedicate a little more time to shoot. I haven’t had a rifle tag in close to 10 years so it’s mostly just a rifle that my wife and kids use.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

DAY 1: 672 Yards

Made the trip out to a canyon that I frequent... It's an amazing place for watching sunrises, glassing up Javelina, Coyotes, Coues Deer, Mule Deer, Big Horn Sheep, Mt. Lion, and endless Quail. It also represents very common shots that are taken here in Arizona during big game hunting, so I practice here quite often. The road getting into the canyon is a mix of two track roads, nasty washboarded washes, and some steep climbs that require 4WD and a decent lift/large tires. I've seen dozens of peoples rifles lose zero by just riding in the backseat of my Jeep, or their own vehicles on these roads. I've also winched out a few guys who didn't take me seriously when I said I don't think their vehicle was up for this one.


The Rifle:

Tikka T3X Chambered in .260
Shooting 129 Grain SSTs
Maven RS1.2 Scope
UM Tikka Rings/Level Bubble
Rokstock
High Desert Bottom Metal

This is a proven, reliable, and accurate setup that has been a very effective field rifle. It's on its 3rd barrel, 4th rifle stock, 2nd bottom metal, and 4th scope. Once the Maven scope and Tikka UM rings were installed onto the action several months ago per @Formidilosus method, it hasn't once been touched to adjust the 100 yard zero. Thousands of miles in vehicles, thousands of rounds through the rifle, and it won't come off that zero!




Setting Up For The Shot:

Got my tripod setup on a table and found a dead tree in my Meopta 15's at the top of a ridge line that I have shot at many times. It ranged at 672 yards from the shooting position with my Meopta 8x50 RF binos. I made the hike down the ridge I was on, into the canon, across a finger ridge/wash out and then climbed up the very steep canyon wall to place the target. Here is the target...




And here is a video of the shooting position. Basic prone field position using my pack as a rest. A few options to choose from as a rear rest, or to be moved up onto the pack (which was the case). Shot ended up being small UM orange bag on top of pack under the Rokstock Spartan/Pic Rail, Molinator V Shape down long ways on top of wadded up sweatshirt, along my off hand under the bag/sweatshirt to complete the rear rest. Both of these bags and a puffy sit in the top of my pack, on top of my 15's on every hunt. Puffy was swapped for an orange sweat shirt this morning.

The Shot!

I used the Kestrel to get a good wind reading at the target while setting it up, it was coming in due East as a head wind, steady at 6-9 MPH with gusts reading 13-17 MPH. I had the luxury on the walk back to get a wind reading down in the bottom of the canyon. The due East wind turned into a right to left quartering wind at half the speeds they were at the target. The steep cliffs to the South were deflecting the wind down into the canyon.

Back at the shooting position the winds had picked up even more. I noticed the target was moving in the wind a bit more as well as the all the bushes. The wind at my binos was from 3 o clock swirling to 1 o clock when I started recording the video. I hit play and you should be able to hear the narration of what's going on.

Shot process... Once I finally stopped talking in the video I grabbed the Kestrel and headed to the rifle. Loaded the magazine and chambered a round, safety on. Got a final wind read of steady 13-16 MPH with gusts clicking to 24 MPH. Made a quick judgment call taking into account the head wind at the target, and told myself what to hold for wind. Next I adjusted the bags around to get an ideal front and rear rest and got comfortable ( I had not once set up onto the rifle before taking the shot).

You may not be able to hear but I then dialed the turret for elevation. I then checked my rest by wiggling a bit while still maintaining my sight picture; I then zoomed into about 8-10X. You should be able to hear the safety clicking off next, and then... Bang. That entire process from walking back from the binos/video screen, to getting the shot off, was 39 seconds. Longer than I'd like while hunting, but for this, it all works great when the target doesn't move.

I easily spotted my shot but could not tell at all if there was a bullet hole in the target, even cranking the scope up to 14X. So I began the long hike back to the target.

The Result:

I'll let the video and photo do the talking on this one. Overall I am very happy to have a dead animal considering all the variables with this particular shot. I did over dial for the head wind at the target, but my horizontal wind hold was near perfect. I was able to just sneak it into the 10" circle! Looking forward to day 2!

Day 2: 672 Yards

I left the same target up across the canyon and somehow my duct tape held to the dead Mesquite tree, despite some high winds all day yesterday and this morning. The cardboard was pretty badly folded over and was flapping in the wind, but went ahead and used it anyway.

It was windy with higher gusts this morning than yesterday. Sustained winds were 9-12 MPH but there were very long lasting gusts clicking over 27 MPH on the Kestrel.


Setting Up For The Shot:

Today I went for a seated shot, in a comfy backpacking chair, my Big Agnes Skyline UL chair. I pretty much always bring this on hunts now and always use it for scouting trips. So much nicer than sitting on the ground/lightweight pad and it gets me up a little higher to be able to glass over brush and cactus, etc. From pulling it off the side of my pack to getting it setup does take about 25 seconds, so something to keep in mind if a target animal is on the move. It's usually used more often when I'm already setup and glassing and want to switch from glassing on the tripod to getting ready for a shot.

A few years ago I started training on taking shots from this chair with a long bipod, practicing on targets, coyotes, rabbits etc. It works very well! I've killed several big game animals out of these chairs over the last 4 or 5 years.

The Shot!

Same range from the Meopta binos as Day 1 shooting off the pack, 672 yards. I hit record on the phone and everything was still on the table, hadn't moved everything to the chair yet or gotten a sight on the target yet. So the video is in real time of inserting bipod, extending legs, loading mag, chambering round, safety on, get a wind reading, dial for elevation, get comfortable, gather sight picture, crank zoom to 8-10ish, breathe/make sure rest feels good, hold for wind, safety off, bang.

I did a better job reading the wind today despite it being higher wind gusts. Yesterday I was overthinking it with the head wind reading I got at the target, not realizing and paying attention to the fact that the wind had also shifted at the target.








Day 3: 920 Yards
Went out to a different location this morning to set up. I've shot here A LOT so I know roughly what the yardages are to most things in this area. There is a popular glassing rock outcropping that is lava rock in the middle of some desert flats, it's PRIME mule deer country.

I also saw 4 desert big horns on the way in, this smaller one didn't mind me taking my time to get the binos and tripod out and get a photo.




The Setup:
I set up my gong on the lava rock outcropping and drove back to a power line access road, where I had ranged one of the big metal power poles at 1,103 yards from the gong. Got off the road and drove into a spot where there was enough of a clearing in the cats claw brush and jumping cactus to have a clear line to the gong.

I got setup and ranged the gong at 920 yards. Wind was 4-7 MPH, barely any gusting at all, nice and steady from 2 o clock.




Here's a video of the setup...

Rokslide Cold Bore Challenge Day 3. Setup For The Shot.

www.youtube.com

The Shot!
Video speaks for itself and shooting at the steel is always more satisfying. I had a perfect elevation dial, and a really good wind hold. Should have held a touch more for the wind, but it is in there!

Rokslide Cold Bore Challenge Day 3. The Shot!

www.youtube.com

 

[longrange13]

My MER is 600 yards. Shot 600 yards today, it was 93 degrees, density altitude was 7800ft, and there was a constant 16 mph tail wind with a slight left to right component.

Rifle was a tikka t3x lite 223 shooting 77gr tmks that I am going to hunt with this year. The barrel is cut to 17”, stockys carbon stock, modular evolution bipod, nightforce atacr f1 4-16x42, nightforce medium rings, q jumbo shrimp suppressor, mk machine billet level, and mdt mamba 10rd mag. Shooting position was prone bipod, with ultralight rear bag that clips onto my pack.

My average density altitude at this range is 5000ft. My normal data is 15 moa at 600 yards. Because of the heat wave and 7800 DA, I decided to minus two clicks from the solution, additionally because of the 16mph tail wind I decided to minus another two clicks from my normal data. I dialed 14 moa. Because of the slight left to right wind, I took 16mph and divided it by 4 and held 2moa left for a 4mph wind. I haven’t trued data for this gun yet. Just have my data shot from 5000ft DA and my wind numbers. This was all just rough estimates from past experience. Will be interesting to see how the numbers line up when I put it in a calculator. Got a spine hit, not optimal, but within the 10” mark.

 

[Lowedown]

* UPDATED TO INCLUDE DAY 2 SHOT
Thank you Rokslide for doing this challenge! I finally made the time to get out this morning and send my first round! I am calling my MER 600 yards at this point. I have dropped several critters between 400 and 512 but tend to get conservative pretty quick on game. Regardless of what I have done at the range I feel like this is a pretty safe Max in IDEAL conditions with the time I have to practice and equipment. A wind meter may help me expand this later. I apologize for the video being a little grainy. My spotting scope was in a Motorcycle accident so I had to film through my binos and zoom the phone in. Anyways..

Rifle is a Bergara Ridge 7mm Rem Mag, Handloaded Hornady 162 ELD-X bullets putting along at 2836fps (accuracy node). It's wearing a Granite Precision brake, NF mount, Nikon FX-1000 4-16 and I just put it into a Stockys Carbon VG hunter stock. Since re-stocking I have very slightly adjusted zero, and not gotten to verify at distance. Therefore, I wasn't quite as confident going into this as I would normally be with this rifle. Still, I loved the one shot cold challenge
I keep a 250 yard zero so I was dialed 9 MOA. My last zero check looked half a minute high, and I was half minute high today so maybe that needs adjusted.


This location is one I recently found, and it is pretty exposed so I was happy to find no notable wind this morning! My target is 10" of painted cardboard over a smaller polymer plate. It doesn't react as well as steel when hit, but it was what I could get put together. There may have even been shoelace involved.


IMPACT



Here is my video of my Day One shot. This is my first ever youtube video LOL. Shot goes off right at the 1 minute mark in the video.

DAY 2:
This morning was a great learning experience. The light breath of air swirling on the ridge snuck up to a notable breeze while I was in my scope, then gusted at just the wrong time. I was laying in a protected spot and noticed some of it, but should have slowed down and gotten back out of my scope. I think in the future it would be wise to dial back the power to see more foilage.
Watching the video afterwards I see the target started swinging from a gust just as I was squeezing off the shot. I should have caught that!
If a guy was sending 5 rounds he may not put as much thought into the individual situations. I feel like I just missed a buck and will be thinking about and analyzing it all day!

The SHOT goes off at 3:38 if you'd rather not listen to me ramble

Day 2 Target. You can ignore the small cardboard scuff at 10 o'clock, that happened in transport


Day 2 Spectators