2026 Cold Bore Challenge

[MtnBeaver]

MER 500



6 creed 22” benchmark barrel
Defiance action
Vx5 3-15

108eldm avg 3085
Alpha brass
41.4 h4350

Bipod with bino harness rear rest
9.5” gong at 506y

Day 1 hit
11c no wind

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[sageshoots1023]

Shot today with my dad and brother. My MER of 450 shooting a Remington 700 in 223 with a 77 gr SMK. Shot was prone position off a bipod.

 

[jonesn3]

MER 500 yds, first year shooting the Cold Bore Challenge

CA Ridgeline/XLR Element Mg 4.0 chassis 300 WM, 26” barrel, side port brake
Hand loaded Barnes 175gr LRX at 3098 fps

Shooting prone
Spartan bipod
Lightweight rear bag
4DOF ballistics phone app
Kestrel 2400 wind meter
Spotter: Vortex Razor Gen1 16-48x65mm w/ magview adapter

Shot 1: HIT (barely)
Sat, 06/06/26
511 yds, 0-5 mph wind typically straight away. Rifle tends to shoot 0.75-1 MOA high when cold, so I dialed 6.75 MOA
Trigger press wasn’t great, caught me by surprise slightly, still acclimating to an lighter trigger weight on this tigger tech

 

[jdvangeystel]

I got out and shot this evening- I am going to call my MER at 700 yards this year due to feeling like that is going to be as far as I can shoot accurately with a new lower power scope. I am shooting a Mountain Forged 7 SAUM on a long action throated for 190’s. shooting 168 grain McGuire Ballistics copper rose bullets at 2975 fps MV, with an Unknown Suppressors OG-L with a salmon river solutions suppressor brake and an MDT Mountain Bipod. Scope is a 2.5-10 Leupold Mark 4HD FFP with the TMR mil reticle . Today I shot prone at 676 yards. I hung 2 targets while I was doing it, the right target being a 10” circle. I had 4-5 MPH winds coming from about 3:30, but it was a bit shifty down range. I dialed 2.9 Mils and held about 2/10ths right and had a first round impact. My impact was about 2” right of center but my elevation was pretty centered up. I always enjoy this challenge starting and look forward to moving forward to day # 2. I am working on attaching the video link now, hopefully I do it right. I will attach some pictures as well.

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Day 2 shot # 2. Got up and shot early to try to beat the mirage but still had a fair amount of mirage- 676 yards, I just barely stayed on the plate today, I was fighting mirage pretty bad with a 10x scope. But I was able to qualify to move on to my max MER of 700 yards.

 

[dirtshooter]

MER 508 yards, seated shooting off of trekking poles.

As a result of the first shot I know that this really is truly my max in that position. In fact it may be a bit beyond my capabilities but it's a challenge right?

Rifle:
KS Arms 6.5 Creedmoor
Nightforce SHV 3-10x42
Wildcat Composites stock
Triggertech Canadian Trigger

Ammo: 140gr Hornady AMAX factory load

Conditions:
20-23 degrees C
Slight wind from the West
Sunny



1st shot: miss (but I killed that tree branch lol)

2nd shot: TBD!

 

[Fred]

Ha, I’ll do my best.

The gear:
New 6GT Barrel on an old t3 action. 18”.
Seems to be doing well with 116 TMK and 33gr Varget. Velocity is stabilizing between 2725-2736 fps.
Was hoping I’d have my Rokstok lite before the challenge. Unfortunately not yet. So the gun sits in a krg bravo, and has a 4-16 mil-r atacr for glass. OG65 rounds out the package. Everything but the barrel was hunted last fall.

I sewed myself an XL denim game changer, filled with about 2lbs of git-lite.
Rangefinder: Revic Binos.
View attachment 1076605
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Day 1.
This gun should stay above 1800fps out to 750yds.
I’ll try for a 700yd MER
View attachment 1076606
Well loved 10” gong.

View attachment 1076607
Wind conditions driving out today.

Starting with 578yds:

Hit. Big breath of relief
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Day 2
628yds - Hit

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Day 3
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Day4
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I have a 6GT as of last year and Love it... Good LUCK