Is my Bergara Bergarbage?

[Tex_Hunter]

double posted

 

[BountyHunter]

You have two problems.

1. Accuracy which could be gun OR scope. Change scopes and reshoot. That will clear up the scope issue and confirm rifle is the issue. Scopes do go bad.

2. ES- shoot with factory ammo and chrono. That will help you confirm IF it is a chrono issue or an issue with your load development. If you get a 200 ES then it is chrono. Really clean throat for carbon ring too.

 

[22Kreedmire]

I bought a 300wm Bergara b14 ridge last year and had nothing but trouble with it. Shot 4 different factory loads and 150 rounds of reloads and nothing would group less than 1.5" at 100 yards. Got rid of it and won't buy a Bergara again.. bad taste in my mouth also! Long time ago I had a pencil barrel rem 700 in a Tupperware junk stock in 300wm that would shoot 1" or less consistently.. that still sucks but not near as much as that particular Bergara.

 

[101stCurrahee]

Having trouble even getting an RMA. Left on hold for ever, website issues...I don't think Bergara is for me.


On the plus side, yay I get to gun shop. Any recommendations on something similar in 300WinMag with a sub MOA guarantee that actually shoots it? Needs to be capable of accepting a thread on Dead Air muzzle brake.

 

[TBell]

Okay I'd try your loads in a different rifle if you don't have another 300 find a friend. If your still 200f/s off it ain't the gun.

 

[6.5-300 BEE]

But a Weatherby sub moa Vanguard. They always work.

 

[Bdog35]

Super frustrated. Review of this rifle and reading past experiences make it look fine, but I'm wondering if my barrel is defective? I did a proper break in procedure.

Bergara B14 HMR in 300WinMag. Gunwerks brass that's now on it's second firing. Berger 215s with H1000 powder and CCI 250s.

I try to load to perfection. My shoulder bumping, trimming, and seating is all within .001.


I fire formed my first 100 pieces and gathered data working up a ladder.The groups were all pretty terrible never even reaching 1 MOA but I figured was because of new brass. Now that I have my first round of fire formed brass I loaded as perfect as possible I'm still shooting god awful groups. It doesn't matter if I lock it up in a sled, shoot from a bench, or prone with a bipod.

My Pro Chrono 2 is showing an ES of nearly 200fps.


What in the world is going on? This has been incredibly expensive to shoot such garbage and still nowhere near a good load. Factory ammo wasn't match grade but still shot no better than 1.5MOA.

Advice?

Try Berger 185 grain or 168 grain and see what happens, try RL23 with either one. Don't give up yet.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Either people just started complaining about these rifles or all the companies are lacking in quality control anymore. More and more threads on Savage bergara and CA. Never see anything on Tikka. Sako has their crap together it seems. It's just sad.
Shep

I think at least part of it is, the vast improvement of quality of factory rifles and ammunition over the last 5-10 years has gotten more and more new shooters into long range shooting. Add to that the capability of ballistics calculators, weather meters, optics, range finders etc is now achievable at a much more affordable price point, and has gotten a lot of people into shooting while short circuiting a lot of the learning process. As more new shooters try and shoot further and further out, you will get people who have bad experiences, and a not insignificant percentage of them will blame the gun/equipment rather than their lack of experience.

Case and point this OP... is it likely he got a lemon from Bergara? Absolutely, but look at everything else in the equation. Guy has 37 posts, over half of which are in this thread bagging on a rifle he has barely more than 100rounds through, and the other half are essentially paraphrased by "hey, this is my first time handloading or shooting long range but I heard you could shoot 1 mile with a 300 win mag using this powder and bullet combo so I am going to try to do it with this Bergara I read about". The reality is, buying a good rifle and picking the right components only gets you part way there. I will also note, in one of the OPs other threads he stated that he was having no trouble at all getting sub MOA with the gun, so what happened between then and now?

The internet makes people believe they can open the box, follow the steps, and get the same results of someone who likely has years if not decades of experience learning and developing basic fundamentals (be it shooting, handloading, or whatever). The latest gear gets you awfully close, but people are so often ready to blame the equipment rather than the warm bag of meat laying down behind the trigger. Again, the law of averages dictates that every once in a while a skilled shooter will get an actual lemon and then the internet magnifies this exponentially as "Fact".

It's frustrating because you have honest hard working skilled shooters trying to diagnose a problem with limited information and each of them brings their own biases to the table.

Just a thought.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Removed

 

[101stCurrahee]

I think at least part of it is, the vast improvement of quality of factory rifles and ammunition over the last 5-10 years has gotten more and more new shooters into long range shooting. Add to that the capability of ballistics calculators, weather meters, optics, range finders etc is now achievable at a much more affordable price point, and has gotten a lot of people into shooting while short circuiting a lot of the learning process.

Case and point this OP... is it likely he got a lemon from Bergara? Absolutely, but look at everything else in the equation. Guy has 37 posts, over half of which are in this thread bagging on a rifle he has less than 100rounds through, and the other half are essentially paraphrased by "hey, this is my first time handloading or shooting long range but I heard you could shoot 1 mile with a 300 win mag using this powder and bullet combo so I am going to try to do it with this Bergara I read about". The reality is, buying a good rifle and picking the right components only gets you part way there. I will also note, in one of the OPs other threads he stated that he was having no trouble at all getting sub MOA with the gun, so what happened between then and now?

The internet makes people believe they can open the box, follow the steps, and get the same results of someone who likely has years if not decades of experience learning and developing basic fundamentals (be it shooting, handloading, or whatever). The latest gear gets you awfully close, but people are so often ready to blame the equipment rather than the warm bag of meat laying down behind the trigger. The law of averages dictates that every once in a while this lack of skill coincides with someone getting an actual lemon and then the internet magnifies this exponentially.

It's frustrating because you have honest hard working skilled shooters trying to diagnose a problem with limited information and each of them brings their own biases to the table.

Just a thought.

Wow you sure assumed a lot there. Half of it is incorrect.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Wow you sure assumed a lot there. Half of it is incorrect.

Alright, that may or may not be true (I am willing to be wrong), but then maybe tell us what happened between this (taken from one of your other threads about working up a load for this rifle):

For the most part they were all 1 MOA or below. Occasionally I got up to 2 MOA but most were good. At 77 grains I shot a <.4MOA group. at 77.5 and 78 they opened up huge to 2 MOA.

And this? (taken from the beginning of this thread):

I fire formed my first 100 pieces and gathered data working up a ladder.The groups were all pretty terrible never even reaching 1 MOA but I figured was because of new brass.

These two quotes seem to be referring to the same string, but obviously with vastly different outcomes.

 

[101stCurrahee]

Alright, that may or may not be true (I am willing to be wrong), but then maybe tell us what happened between this (taken from one of your other threads about working up a load for this rifle):


And this? (taken from the beginning of this thread):


These two quotes seem to be referring to the same string, but obviously with vastly different outcomes.

I guess I should have put never reaching REPEATABLE 1 MOA. Do you count groups if you go back for a 5 round group and they are now all over the place, and it appears to have just been chance 3 landed close together? Because that's what's happened since I started. Hey awesome I found a load that gave me a decent group. So try it again(multiple times, on different days) to find out it cant be repeated. Even when I achieved an ok 3 round group my velocity was still all over the place.

The mfg with decades of experience I talked to said it sounds like there is a defect causing gas to leak around the bullet. He said that it will occasionally get fouled up with copper giving one result, then it will get pushed out and give another result. I don't know enough about this, but it sounded like it made sense to me.

 

[mpayne]

I hope you get it fixed my HMR has been great from day one

 

[eklarsen]

215 in a 300 win mag, what did you say your COAL is?