1K Yards with the Bergara B-14 HMR in 6.5 Creedmoor
I picked up this bolt action rifle quite a few years back. My original intent was to use it for some hunting, but I quickly realized how heavy this rifle can be once you add necessary items such as an optic, bipod, suppressor etc…. I literally carried this particular rifle for 1 day in the Colorado mountains before I switched over to a different setup. For years I’ve just been staring at this rifle trying to help it find it’s place among many other purposeful built and capable rifles. One thing that I always had in the back of my mind was trying to shoot out to 1,000 yards with this rifle.
Between the beginnings of this rifle and somewhere halfway to now, I had changed out the optic for one of the Brownells Match Precision Optics or MPO series. Sadly these seem to be no longer available from Brownells, but it’s possible that something like this returns down the road. I selected the MPO 3-18x50 variant to mount up top using a et of EGW rings from Brownells. This particular optic is a FFP variant with MRAD adjustments and a Christmas tree style of reticle with hold over points. The MPO itself is manufactured in Japan; I did put out an article on this a while back. It has exceptional glass for the price point and has very nice adjustments.
So recently I had the opportunity to take some rifles out to a range in Tennessee to shoot out to 1,000 yards. Of course I needed to take this Bergara B14 HMR since this is truly what it was designed to do. I selected some Federal Gold Metal Match ammo using the Sierra 140gr BTHP projectile for exactly this trip. Using a B&T bipod to keep things settled in the front, I stabilized the rear with a bag from Cole-Tac. I started out at 100 yards to ensure I was hitting exactly where I needed to hit and then I proceeded to take my shots at each yard line. There were steel targets available to check your shot placement before moving onto their digital targeting system. The main reason for this is to minimize potential costly damage to their digital targets and I was perfectly fine with taking extra shots prior to moving onto their targeting system.
After about 20 rounds I finally made it all the way out to the 1,000 yard line with my Bergara B14 HMR bolt action rifle. The cross winds were pretty brutal by this point in my run, but luckily the Brownells MPO 3-18x50 scope has a very good reticle providing me with some good wind holds. I had to hold off to the right side of the target a good bit to get positive hits. Despite not having a ton of time and ammo at this point, I was successful getting that rifle to make hits out at 1,000 yards. I sure hope that I can try this again next year or sooner if an opportunity comes available. There’s certainly a lot to learn when it comes to long range shooting. I sure wish I had such a place closely to further explore this style of shooting that’s quite new to me.
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