2026 Cold Bore Challenge

Well, this is my first one!

MER: 403 yards. Why 403? Because that is the distance from our elevated, covered shooting position to our full sized deer target. We can shoot to this target from about 200 yards further, but that would require much more mowing and the fawns are dropping around here so we limit mowing to prevent chunking them in the bushhog.
Rifle: Custom Tikka, chambered in 7-08AI. Barrel is a Bartlien 8.7 twist, 20” long, spiral fluted, Rem Varmint profile, and threaded 5/8-24. It was chambered and fitted by Greg at Southern Precision Rifles. Stock is a McMillan Game Hunter (edge fill). Bottom metal and mag are Mountian Tactical. SRS hunter rail. Trigger is factory. I had a MCarbo spring in it, but went back to factory after reading about various failures here. Suppressor is a Dead Air Sandman Ti. Scope is a Nightforce SHV 4-14X50 with the Mil-R reticle. It is mounted on Mountian Tactical rail with Burris XTR Signature rings. This is not a “mountain gun”, unless you mean the WV mountains.
Load: 150 gr ELD-X, over Big Game Powder, CCI200 primer, Lapua brass with 7 firings on it. 2825 fps
Firing Position: Seated with rifle on a tripod, using my bino harness and my right leg as a rear stabilizer.
The tripod is a Bog-Pod Deathgrip that I pulled the head off of and replaced with a Zero Fox Given ARCA head.
Environmentals - 73 degrees, slightly overcast with occasional sprinkles, 85-100% humidity, no wind to speak of. Elevation is 640 ft.

Here is a shot of the range.IMG_4110.jpeg

A zoom in on the berm.
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The target
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Because the rules state a 10” circle, I painted the remainder of it on.
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The setup:
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The shot:


The result: HIT!

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Day 2

Decided to change up the position this time. Went prone using a Caldwell Deadshot front bag and a Caldwell flat bag for the rear.
Time of the shot today was right around noon, so while it was only 2 degrees hotter than yesterday (75), the sun was right overhead and there was a good bit of mirage.
Unlike yesterday, there was a slight breeze that was right to left at about 120 degrees and about 5mph (I don’t have a Kestrel, so it is a guess). I tried to confirm that it was consistent using the mirage and it looked that way.

Result - HIT! Just barely. Due to the way the hillside and river (on the left) funnel down to the end of the field, the wind down there was pretty much a dead 180 to the shot. I held just right of center and hit pretty much right where I was aiming.

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Video


This was really fun and I stressed about it quite a bit more than I probably should have. I need to clean off another pad further out so I won’t have to mow or lay in chigger infested grass next year.
 
Wasn’t sure I’d get this in due to my schedule, but decided to head down to the family ranch to make it happen this weekend. MER 500.

The gun:
- Sig Cross Sawtooth 18” 6.5 Creed
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The gear:
- Gunwerks Elevate 2.0 bipod
- NF NX8 2.5-20x
- LS Wild bag
- Filmed with Swaro ATC
- Why the brake? Going to hunt sheep in Canada in 6 weeks, so no can. Otherwise, my Scythe Ti lives on it.

The target:
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The ammo:
- Palmetto’s 140 gr Sabre Black tip. Average MV of 2515 (I put a few more rounds over the chrono after snapping the pic).
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The shot:
- Day 1: Calm, cool morning after hours of wind all night. 63* and slight breeze at my back. Set up steel at the bottom of the canyon and found a place I could shoot down from. Ended up being 513 yards. Correction was 12 minutes. **HIT!**

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Day 2:
Spend most of the morning thinning out prairie dogs and once I had managed 125 of them, I decided it was time to let the AR barrel cool haha. I had my steel with me and set up the target. Drove to an outlook and ranged it at 535. Temp was warmer at 80* at around noon. Correction was 12.9 minutes. Left to right wind at about 5 MPH, I ended up holding left edge of the plate and sent it. **HIT!**

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The brake makes spotting shots easy at the bench, but I hadn't shot with this in the field prone prior to this weekend. It really sends dirt/debris back in my face. I have a 338 diameter Hellfire 3 port brake I might toss on this just to see if helps mitigate this. I really don't need a brake for this rifle, but spotting impact is nice. Again, after my sheep hunt, the suppressor goes back on this permanently haha.
 
Well I’ve missed the past two years with my MER of 500 but I’m at it again claiming a 500 yards as my range. The exact distance here at my home range is 482 yards.
Day 1:
86 degrees with a swirling wind at about 5mph. 3100 DA

Shooting my tikka 223 with OG can and a SWFA 6x with 75gr ELDs @2700fps. Molinator bag up front on my stone glacier bag and a jellyfish and sitting pad for rear support.
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Managed to hit the top of the plate.
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Hard to tell in the video with the smoke from a brush pile but you can hear it.
 
I completed this year's CBC in the mountains instead of at my local range. I decided to shoot from a seated position with sticks and my pack instead of prone because seated is a much more likely position in the places I hunt. Both of these factors combined caused me to set my MER at 400 yards.



Savage 16 .308 with 16" barrel

SWFA 3-9X with @pods8 (Rugged Stitching) shims

Diligent Defense Enticer S-Ti with LS Wild cover @hereinaz

168 ELD-M reloads MV 2480 fps

10” steel

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Shot 1 (6/20/26): MISS

Position: Seated with trekking pole straps looped over each other, backpack as a rear bag

Conditions: Wind was variable, estimated between 8-12 mph. Held .75 MIL. Missed, shot looks high, I’m not 100% at spotting shots with my .308 from seated. Wind call was pretty close.


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Shot 2 (6/21/26): MISS

Position: Seated with trekking pole straps looped over each other, backpack as a rear bag

Conditions: Wind was variable again, estimated between 3-6 mph. Held .5 MIL. Missed, shot is left and a little high.


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I'm going to keep practicing reading wind! Thanks for putting on this challenge!
 
Shot 1 MISS

Max effective range is gonna be 600, rifle depending. This year I've primarily been carrying my sauer 100 in 6.5 creedmoor. Current DA is 3700' and 1821 fps at 650.

Swfa 10x og 6.5 130 eldm handloads that go 1.2"-1.5" for 10 shots.20260622_103632.jpg

Shooting prone off my pack, and ive been practicing using my bino harness as a rear support. I carry an ultralight bag on my pack but the bino harness is definitely quicker to use.

Shot was at 595, some wind from 1030/11oclock.

I held for .2 and it wasnt enough. Used the reticle to measure and a .5 hold would have been the ticket.
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Planned MER: 800m, 875 yards
Tikka 243 Improved:
Factory Tikka 1:8 barrel, 20"
Modified Manners EHT
SWFA 5-20 HD
UM Tikka Rings
Cheapo bipod and SSG rear bag
B30 9"
Load is 43 grains of 7828 SSC in Alpha brass, CCI 200, blem pointed 107 SMK. Training load, not a hunting load.
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Shot 1: 550m/600 yards. Miss. Estimated wind to be ~12mph, it was closer to 18 (full value). Missed the edge of the plate by .2 mil or less.

 
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