The MOA Long Range Handgun Match was held June 18-20, 2015 near Sundance, Wyoming. This three-day event features handgun shooting at 500, 750, and 1000 yards. Shooters start at 500 on the first day, and then move to 750 on Day 2, and 1000 on Day 3. Sierra Bullets Media Relations Manager Carroll Pilant joined the action this year (as he has every year since the event’s inception). Here is his report…

Cold Turkey in Wyoming — By Carroll Pilant
Richard Mertz of MOA handgun fame came up with the idea of a match where you fired a shot at a 1000-yard target without any sighters. Thus the name “Cold Turkey”. The person closest to the X-Ring had the honor of having the first shooting position. I was actually fortunate enough to be the first person to be on target at 1000 that first year. The following year we just started drawing names for shooting positions, but the name Cold Turkey is still used, though the he official name of the match is now the MOA Long Range Handgun Match.

The MOA Long Range Handgun Match Has Three Gun Classifications:

Light Gun Class: up to 7.5 lbs and 15″ barrel
Hunter Class: up to 12 lbs and 15″ barrel
Heavy Gun Class: up to 16 lbs and 18″ barrel

The Hunter class is shot off sandbags or a bipod. Light and Heavy guns use rests. Each gun is shot at three ranges: 500, 750, 1000 yards. Competitors shoot three, 5-shot groups at the day’s designated distance. The three group sizes are totaled and the top four shooters in each relay advance to a daily shoot-off the determines the winner for each division (at that distance).

On June 18th (Thursday) we just finished up the 500-yard portion in all three categories. Friday was the 750-yard portion and Saturday was the 1000-yard finale with awards Saturday night. This is the ninth year for this match and I have been privileged to have shot all of them. This year there are shooters here from Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Canada and I believe another state or two. It is really unbelievable some of the group sizes shot here with a handgun and a really challenging match. On Thursday, I placed fourth in Heavy Gun and third in Hunter Class.