Bergara b-14 hunter 7mm rem mag: thoughts?

[Brydawg512]

Hello all,

I am looking at the Bergara B-14 Hunter (24" barrel) in 7mm rem mag. I wanted to hear some personal experiences with this rifle. How far can I expect this gun to shoot accurately? Is it truly sub moa out of the box? Any reason NOT to buy this rifle? I plan to use handloads for this rifle and will be used for both target shooting and hunting (black bear, deer & elk).

This would be my first gun I've personally purchased, my others have been passed down so I want to make sure I'm ensuring its quality and capabilities! Unfortunately a $1000+ gun isn't in the books, and this seemed like a GREAT rifle for the price. Let me know!

Thank you all in advance

 

[BallisticsGuy]

How far will it shoot accurately? You're new at this, obviously, so we'll be nice. Look up angular units of measure, particularly minute of angle and follow along: If a rifle shoots 1 minute of angle then it makes ~1-inch groups at 100 yards and ~10-inch groups at 1000yrds, all else being equal. So, if the vital zone on your target is 5 inches wide then about 500 yards is as far as you want to take things (actually a lot closer for a number of reasons but that's another story).

I personally shoot my 7RM's out to well in excess of a mile and do very well with it. In fact, under 500 yards with them is actually super boring to shoot at all.

How far yours will shoot accurately depends entirely on your definitions and requirements and your rifle/load combo and mostly, you.

No, there is no reason based on what you've told us to not own that rifle. You haven't told us anything though.

The fact of the matter is Bergara makes a decent rifle. Every one that's been brought to one of my long range precision classes or that I've seen at a match has served its owner very well. If you're hand loading then you'll have the ability to tweak loads and find one that shoots great. I would NOT spend a lot of time on that exercise though as a 7RM has a barrel life of around 1300 rounds if you're super nice to it.

7RM is a great caliber for a lot of things and entirely too much for a lot of other things. Inside 100yrds on game as small as California blacktail deer it's liable to ruin a ton more meat than you probably want. Since nearly ever shot in California I've had has been inside 60yrds, I've found it to be too much gun for our deer. For bigger/dangerous critters like bear though it's just right. For anything with shots outside 100yrds and inside 600yrds, there's nothing in the USA I wouldn't think it insufficient for.

The fundamental question you're asking is, "Is Bergara or 7RM junk because I want to buy one." and is silly. If they made garbage rifles then:
1. They'd be selling them at big-5 for 250 bucks next to Remington 770's.
2. The company would not last long in the American market.

 

[the hunter]

Hello all,

I am looking at the Bergara B-14 Hunter (24" barrel) in 7mm rem mag. I wanted to hear some personal experiences with this rifle. How far can I expect this gun to shoot accurately? Is it truly sub moa out of the box? Any reason NOT to buy this rifle? I plan to use handloads for this rifle and will be used for both target shooting and hunting (black bear, deer & elk).

This would be my first gun I've personally purchased, my others have been passed down so I want to make sure I'm ensuring its quality and capabilities! Unfortunately a $1000+ gun isn't in the books, and this seemed like a GREAT rifle for the price. Let me know!

Thank you all in advance

Bergara makes great rifles, I have two of them, both shoot .5 moa at 100 with factory ammo. I have hadloaded for one of them and have gotten several .2 moa groups at 100 with it. Note, one of the things that made bergara famous is their high quality barrels, when you git a bergara you are going to git a good barrel.

 

[cjhunts_alot]

I had one with a 1:9 twist and it easily shot sub moa with everything I shot out of it. Hornady factory 162eldx's were the best factory ammo I tried. It has plenty of velocity to shoot out to 1000 if your optic and skill can handle it.

 

[KaSH0508]

I purchased a B14 Hunter in 7mm mag when they first came out. I bought it as a gift for my father. I picked up a box of HPH 162 ELD-x ammo and the first 5 shots out the gun went right at 1 MOA cleaning between each shot. Did this for the box of 20 and no groups went over 1 MOA. I then developed a load for it with components I had on my reloading shelf. Hornady Brass/ RL26/162 ELDx/federal 215s. It took very little effort and I ended up with multiple 5 shot groups in the .25-.35range. I then grabbed another box of factory 162s just to see how it would shoot them without cleaning in between each shot. End result was solid 1/2 MOA groups with factory ammo. It honestly was the easiest gun I ever developed a load for and shoots **** good with factory ammo. I gave it to my dad and at 65 years young he he made consistent hits on steel at 1000 with it. Hammered mule deer the past two seasons as well. One at 340 yards and another at 470 yards both bang flops. Overall it's been a good gun.

 

[Brydawg512]

I purchased a B14 Hunter in 7mm mag when they first came out. I bought it as a gift for my father. I picked up a box of HPH 162 ELD-x ammo and the first 5 shots out the gun went right at 1 MOA cleaning between each shot. Did this for the box of 20 and no groups went over 1 MOA. I then developed a load for it with components I had on my reloading shelf. Hornady Brass/ RL26/162 ELDx/federal 215s. It took very little effort and I ended up with multiple 5 shot groups in the .25-.35range. I then grabbed another box of factory 162s just to see how it would shoot them without cleaning in between each shot. End result was solid 1/2 MOA groups with factory ammo. It honestly was the easiest gun I ever developed a load for and shoots ---- good with factory ammo. I gave it to my dad and at 65 years young he he made consistent hits on steel at 1000 with it. Hammered mule deer the past two seasons as well. One at 340 yards and another at 470 yards both bang flops. Overall it's been a good gun.

I'm very pleased to hear that. My current 7mm, an old 80s model Winchester M70, is the perfect, old fashioned hunting rifle. I'm more in the market now for a more "precision savvy" rifle if you will, and for the $700 price tag it almost seemed to good to be true! You are making these 1000 yard shots with just the stock rifle and handloads?

 

[KaSH0508]

Yes stock rifle/Cheap vortex diamondback HP 3-12 / Leupold rings and a Caldwell bipod. It's nothing to fancy. I used holdovers and had to dial down to like 6.5-7 power and used the bottom post. I have a 36 in circle piece of steel set up on the Farm so not representative of a animal. Either way the steel got banged. It is not meant to be a 1000 yard gun but it will do it if you can hold and see with the minimum mag that's on the scope. If you are wanting to use it for those ranges consistently I would invest in better glass and more magnification. Oh and my handloads are 162 ELDX at 2980 FPS ES around 14 and SD of 6. I got the gun for like $560 on sale, scope/rings I bought with my cabelas points and the bipod I had lying around. For well under $1k invested it shoots awesome.