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

Day 2 Hit
508 10mph wind avg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sageshoots1023]

Day 1. 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 and hit.

Day 2. Miss, very windy today. Wind pushed my shot into the middle gong.

 

[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

Shot 2: HIT
Mon, 06/08/26
511 yds, same as day 1, 0-4 mph wind mostly straight away, slight gust at times but minimal, held about 1 MOA left adjusting from the previous impact which was right
Trigger press felt good, hit in the upper left quadrant, felt like my elevation is pretty dialed but need to practice the fundamentals more since I appear to be inconsistent LT/RT. Overall, this was a great challenge and I feel much more confident hitting on game out to this distance, but really showed me that continued practice is needed.

Apologies for the poor footage and shooting paper at distance, not very easy to spot impacts! This challenge is late enough in the spring that shooting steel in the dry tall grass probably isn’t a smart move

 

[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 and a salmon river solutions suppressor brake- 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 left 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.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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
______________
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
_____________
Day 2
628yds - Hit

_____________
Day 3
_____________
Day4
_____________

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

 

[Clarktar]

My MER is 650 yards
Tikka 6UM, Ace barrel, rokstock, tbac gen 2, swfa 3-9. 106 gr TAP at 3350 fps. Shooting prone from spartan bipod

Day 1 580 yards hit. Wind was left to right about 2-3mph
I repainted the target after day one for better recognition of where I hit. Day one hit was right below the 6" mark in this photo


Day 1 video

Day 2: 591 yards. Swirly 1-3 mph wind.
Painted the target more better

Day 2 video

 

[Mag_7s]

MER 500 yards shooting prone with puffy jacket as rear support.

Rifle: 7SAUM. 175 Berger EOL hunting hybrids at 3030 fps out of a 26" Proof with Unknown Suressors OGL.

Target was just range steel measured at 2moa (10" @ 500)

Day 1: Hit. Windy, per usual. 17mph, with gusts of 22 and 24. Temperature was in the mid 40s. 7.75 moa of elevation with a 2.5moa left hold for wind

 

[Silver Wings]

MER 600
Shot #1 615 yards…Impact
Wind 3-4 from 9:00 held ~.3 mils
Prone/pack/bino case
Tikka T3X 6 Creedmore
PVA barrel 26”
Rokstok
RS 1.2/UM rings
109 ELD-M
Lapua srp
CCI 41
RL 16 39gr
MV 3000
Videoed through Swarovski ATC that I won in last year’s raffle!

 

[doverpack12]

MER 740ish shooting 610 yards qualifying for MER.

Tikka 300 WSM with 200.20x Bergers at 2714 fps in a warrantied Rokstok, Maven RS1.2 Mil. Seekins break for now will ultimately have a US Reaper and their new break.
Gunwerks Elevate 2.0 Bipod (Spartan Javelin in all previous years)
Molinator and Jellyfish rear bags, I've shot my past 2 elk with these bags and a deer last year with them.

50 degrees on the Mountain, mostly shooting through shade but I was in the sun from shooting location. I didn't hold any wind and when I started the video it was still, by the time I shot there was just a little breeze left to right, more of a downward thermal. Spin drift was 0.1 mil I ignored but with a little wind I should have held left of Center. Shot execution felt great, and I watched the impact in my scope, saw the plate rock right, just couldn't quite see the impact point. Used shooter for my ballistic app, it called for 3.8 Mil up.

Plate is 13" wide by 11.5" tall with a 10" diameter white circle painted

Day 1 Shot Video

Day 1 Impact Video

Day 1 Setup and Impact Target

 

[jonnyviceroy]

Going for an MER 800 yds.

Rifle is a medium Bighorn Origin with an 18” Bartlein carbon barrel chambered by SJA in 6.5 prc. XLR Magnesium, MDT mountain bipod, Scythe (I know, I know), scope is a Leupold mk4 off my NRL Hunter rifle until my NX6 or S2H gets here. We’ll see which is first lol.

Shooting a Berger 156 at 2900 fps

Shooting will be done prone with a bipod and a home sewn rear bag that is spec lite and cordura around 1.9 oz.



Tried to push myself and shoot the qualifiers on an 8” I have on a t post near my house.

Qualifier 1: 611yds. Hit (barely). Shot first thing early morning and wind conditions were calm, shooting in a canyon looks like there was some wind up higher in the drainage. Good practice.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

My MER for this gun is where I’m comfortable with for minimum impact speed… TLDR: 900 Yards.

I will be shooting 2 shots in Wyoming in 2 different spots that I’ve never shot before. If I’m successful with both qualifiers I will shoot 2 more in Arizona in 2 locations that I’ve never shot before.

The density altitude effecting the terminal range will vary quite a bit between the two different states, with today’s shot being at 5,500 DA; and where I plan to shoot in AZ having potential for around 9,000 DA.

I’ll split the difference in DA and with this Tikka 6 Creed shooting 116 TMKs out of a supressed 16” barrel…

I’ll call my MER at 900 Yards.

Target:




Rifle:

Tikka 6 Creed. Maven RS1.2 Scope. UM Low Rings. Rokstok. US Reaper 6.5 Supressor. 16” PBB 7.5 Twist. Shooting 116 TMKs with a hunting/wet safe load at 2725 average.

Shot 1 Distance/Shot Location/Shooting Position:



578 Yards.

I set the gong up on a “shelf” where a stream cuts a small drainage below, with rolling prairie hills up above. I stacked two coolers with my phone on top recording the gong during the shot. The phone and coolers are 75 yards in front of the gong and slightly off to the side. Pretty insane to hear how quickly that bullet gets to the gong.

I shot prone off my backpack with my bino harness as my rear rest.

Video and Shot Result:

 

[brucemt]

I am going to try for a mer of 650 yards.

Tikka T3x .223, factory barrel, factory stock, free floated, raised the recoil pad and installed an adjustable cheek riser. Bonded srs rail, seekins rings, and an swfa 10x.

Shooting prone off of my pack with a molinator and an lswild pack pillow for a rear bag.


Day one - hit @ 580 yards

Sorry for the long video, cant figure out how to edit it shorter in length.