2018 King of 2 Miles (KO2M) Highlights Report
The 2018 King of 2 Miles (KO2M) event took place July 2-4 in Raton, New Mexico. Conditions were very challenging this year, yet three shooters managed to hit the most distant 3,525-yard plate at least once in five shots, a remarkable accomplishment. At that range the bullet was in flight about six seconds.
Robert Brantley of Team Manners Composite Stocks is the new King of 2 Miles. Congrats to Robert and his team-mates. Robert amassed 85178 points, finishing over 20,000 points ahead of runner-up John Buhay. Paul Phillips of Team Applied Ballistics finished third. FULL K02M 2018 RESULTS HERE.
Here’s Robert Brantley after his superb qualifying performance, which set a new 2018 King of 2 Miles qualifying round record. Going perfect on targets 1, 2, and 3, Robert missed just one shot on Target 4 of the qualifying phase, amassing 51355 points, a new K02M record.
CLICK HERE for a very complete and thorough KO2M report created by The Precision Rifle Blog (PRB). This excellent PRB Report contains complete load and rig specifications for the top five shooters. In addition, the PRB Report includes a full run-down on this year’s event.
Though the trigger pullers get the glory, this is really a three-man game. One guy shoots, a second team member spots for hits and calls corrections, and a third watches mirage and makes wind calls.
Multi-Day, Multi-Distance Competition with Farthest Target at 3525 Yards
The K02M Competition runs in stages, with the distances getting farther with each round. After five shots on target 1 at 1547 yards, there are then three shots per target for the remaining three parts of the Qualifying round. Then, in the three-target Finals phase, there are with five shots per target. You get more points for earlier hits in each string, and there are no sighters during the match. The event started with a tough Cold Bore Challenge — a single-shot at 1689 yards, just shy of one mile. Only three out of 62 competitors made that cold-bore mile shot on a 16″ plate, about 1 MOA at that distance. After that there are two rounds with the targets arrayed as follows.
| KO2M Qualification Round 1,547 yards: 5 shots, 24” x 37” rectangle 1,719 yards: 3 shots, 24” x 37” rectangle 1,890 yards: 3 shots, 30” x 37” rectangle 2,095 yards: 3 shots, 30” x 37” rectangle |
KO2M Finals Round — July 4 2,727 yards: 5 shots, 33” x 41” rectangle 3,166 yards: 5 shots, 42” x 54” rectangle 3,525 yards: 5 shots, 48” x 60” rectangle |
Big Bore Rifles with High-BC Bullets
This year saw the continued evolution of equipment. Top shooter Brantley shot a .416 Barrett with 500gr Cutting Edge bullets. Robert’s massive 44-lb rifle featured a 39″ K&P barrel, McMillan action, and a Manners LRT (Long Range Tactical) stock designed expressly for this KO2M competition.
Second Place John Buhay shot an improved version of the .375 CheyTac, with 353gr Lehigh Defense Match Solid bullets. Buhay’s 37.6-lb rig bosted a BAT action and 36″ Krieger barrel along with a fairly conventional McMillan MBR 1K benchrest stock. Mark King built the rifle.
Third Place Paul Phillips campaigned a .416 Barrett with 550gr Cutting Edge Lazer bullets. Paul’s 42-lb rig featured a BAT action and McMillan Beast 1 stock. Shown below is the latest rifle of 2017 K02M champ Derek Rodgers, a .416 Barrett also in a McMillan Beast. Derek spotted for Phillips in the match.
Optics Options
There was quite a variety of scopes used by Top K02M competitors, evidence that a number of manufacturers now offer optics with abundant elevation and the ability to stand up to heavy recoil. Here are the optics choices for the Top Five Shooters:
1. Bushnell XRS II 4.5-30x50mm with G3 reticle in Badger UniMount
2. Nightforce ATACR 5-25x56mm with MOAR reticle, with ERA-TAC Inclined Mount
3. Nightforce ATACR 5-25×56mm, with Charlie TARAC external Prism System for Elevation
4. Leupold Mark 5HD 5-25×56mm, in Spuhr mount with Charlie TARAC
5. Burris XTR II 5-25x50mm in Barrett rings
Notably, two of the top five used the Charlie TARAC prism system. This provides a ton of extra elevation by essentially shifting the view seen through the scope. The unit fits to the scope’s front objective.
Similar Posts:
- Sunday GunDay: .416 Barrett for King of 2 Miles Competition
- Beast for the King — Reigning King of 2 Miles Gets .416 Barrett
- Paul Phillips Wins NRA Extreme Long Range Championship
- Beast in the Works — New ELR Stock from McMillan
- Ultra-Long Range — 0.44 MOA at 1,680 Yards with a .338
Tags: Applied Ballistics, Derek Rodgers, ELR, K02M, King 2 Miles, Manners Stocks, Raton
Obviously, 50-80 power scopes are not necessary. Bigger isn’t always better!
Still not sure this format is correct for competition. I think the advances in electronic targets need further examination, and competitors need to be shooting at the same targets at the same time for the true competition to occur.
Really don’t see the point of any of this. Other than a marketing ploy by AB.
I’m sure this will progress as a sport and get better. I would rather watch guys actually hit targets more than they miss. What is the purpose here.
The KO2M scoring system is a total joke!!! A first or second round hit at 1547 yards is worth more points than ANY hit at 1890 yards. To further illustrate the total absurdity of the KO2M scoring system, a first round hit at 1547 yards is worth more than a first round hit at 2095 yards (1547×5=7735 points vs. 2095×3= 6285 points).
Also, five hits in a row at 1547 yards beats anyone who hits ALL targets, on the last shot, out to and including two miles. The scoring system for the KO2M needs very close scrutiny and a TOTAL revamping. Lastly, it is absurd to travel across country to shoot a match with the potential of only firing six shots (cold bore & five on the first plate) and a potential maximum of thirty shots if you were to hit all targets on the last shot. Anyone that has shot this match will say it is luck of the draw when you get to shoot and the shooting order can greatly alter the outcome depending on conditions. Unfortunately, everyone does NOT get to shoot at the same time and under the same conditions.
EJ
so for now there are no ‘field’ rifles (light) between winners?
Disappointing to see folks complaining about different shooting sport disciplines because they are, just that, different.
1. High value for first round hits? Absolutely! This is tactical ELR where a first round hit is there to emphasize that you may only get one shot.
2. Long distance to travel to possibly fire only a few rounds? This is, currently, a once-a-year event held in a country that is thousands of miles wide. The expectation of travel for the vast majority of shooters is a given. And the number of shots taken is a direct function of how well the shooter shoots. Talk to drag racers who travel hundreds or thousands of miles to compete in an event that may be over in under 4 seconds. Stop whining, either recognize that these are the realities of this shooting sport discipline or move on.
Sorry, but I beg to differ with ELR here.
This is not tactical in any stretch of the imagination, this is target shooting and to say otherwise undermines what you are trying to achieve.
Rounds count, investment in gear and return competitors only happens if they are shooting like with like across the competition space.
The competition is lacking two things at the moment, shoulder to shoulder shooting across a set course of fire and a target that records both accuracy and precision.
Thank you for the write up. Wonderful to see this type of event grown and set standards for ELR shooting.
Thankfully this is not like other disciplines with unlimited sighter shots that allow the shooter to “walk” onto target. This sport is about more than just competing trigger fingers, the trigger press is the easy part. This event challenges the TEAM to read wind, read impacts and know their gear. This makes this far different than many other sports.
Establishing a facility with 50 matching targets in a row on a mountainside MIGHT be more “fair” when comparing groups or how individual spotters or shooters fair in those particular conditions. Maybe the sport will go that way, maybe not. I think that would be a disservice to the sport, personally, because the advantage has simply shifted to the “home team” that has the most time on the fixed range and its typical conditions. When the targets vary in location and conditions it helps to remove any “home advantage” and keep the event challenging.
I love that first round impacts have such high value, why wouldn’t they? Does it not show more command of the skill set and equipment to hit on command versus than missing and using this new data to correct your incorrect guise used on the first shot?
As for equipment, yes this sport is expensive but any long range shooting is not cheap by comparison. However, when you look at the equipment used but the shooters you see fancy software is not needed. Fancy scopes are not needed, fancy triggers are not needed. The winner didn’t need the additional expense of a Charlie Tarac, he didn’t need the extra expense of a S& B or Tangent scope. He didn’t need a fancy $80,000 thermal devise to spot shots. He didn’t need a super fancy NASA accurate adjustable scope base. He didn’t need a super precise rail set up to hold the rifle is perfect position. Some equipment is necessary while other equipment used my shooters in this sport or others can simply be crutches to make up for a skill deficit. The trap of chasing equipment is an easy one for all of us to fall victim too.
I think the best thing to come out of this and other recent ELR record matches is it shines a light of truth onto those that claim world records at crazy distances. Those people do not seem to show up to these matches because making 1 impact out of 60 or 80 shots on a target the literal size of a small barn is not the same as hitting within 3 shots on a reasonable sized target.
WOW! This is not that, that is not this, bigger is not better. What’s it cost? Two shooters should shoot at same time (is that to see who is faster on trigger or which bullet is faster??) – WTH?
Wonder how many of those replying with nothing but negative input, DO or CAN shoot/hit Anything at two miles?
Accuracy & Precision, REALLY???
At two miles, if anyone can hit any Target, is pretty darn accurate. Or do you wanna see HEAD shots or body shots??
You guys sound like you hit 2 mile targets all the time.
All I have to say to all the guys at the end is, “pretty darn good shooting, cowboy”.
Obviously those that grip about the match rules never hunted anything very far away form them. Often the fist shot is the only shot you get. It is really hard to calculate the lead and wind drift on a running target it takes the bullet over 2 seconds to strike.
It’s Two Mile match the first shot at two miles should count the most. The shots at shorter ranges are to check your scope, foul the bore, dope the wind and air density.
The scores for closer range targets are so the folks that get Maggie Drawers at 2 miles can come home with a score. Going to match and coming home with a goose egg isn’t much fun.