UK gunsmiths and custom rifle builders refusing to work on Bergara rifles because of their poor quality

[simone]

Today i was involved in a conversation on a british hunting forum. It was a purely recreational topic: the most overrated hunting rifles on the market. At some point people started bashing remington as usual until a guy, who seem to be a pretty famous custom rifle builder in the UK, said that bergaras are so bad he even refuses to work on them if a customer wanna use one for a project. Someone else suddenly said "Reports are dodgy Quality control, wildly variable accuracy, poor metal quality. A couple of well known riflesmiths I know (one may or may not post on here a bit) refuse to use components-one stating he "wouldn't grow tomatoes up one".

I never heard anything this extreme. Of course, multiple members popped up reinforcing what this smith said, even saying that most gunsmiths and custom rifles builder the UK refuse to work with these rifles. Someone said Bergaras have a very bad reputation and I shouldn't be surprised About what i was reading.

I am wondering if this phenomenon, which i am really doubtful exists, especially to the extent some guys stated on that forum, exists in the US. I should add that i wrote in that forum a few months ago, before purchasing my last rifle, to ask about bergaras and the general consensus was positive even there (?).

my experience with b14s is limited to a handful of rifles and was great for what is worth

Thanks!!

 

[Rifleman97]

Personally I think their b14 and below actions feel like garbage but they seem to shoot alright from what I've seen. I'm no metallurgist so can't speak to their metal quality. I've only shot a few though and none of them are mine.

 

[adam32+P]

Never trust a gunsmith that uses the metric system.

 

[simone]

Personally I think their b14 and below actions feel like garbage but they seem to shoot alright from what I've seen. I'm no metallurgist so can't speak to their metal quality. I've only shot a few though and none of them are mine.

I see. You mean you find them not smooth in cycling operations?

 

[simone]

Personally I think their b14 and below actions feel like garbage but they seem to shoot alright from what I've seen. I'm no metallurgist so can't speak to their metal quality. I've only shot a few though and none of them are mine.

I see. You mean you find them not smooth in cycling operation

Never trust a gunsmith that uses the metric system.

 

[Rifleman97]

I see. You mean you find them not smooth in cycling operation

Pretty much. I also don't like how much slop they seem to have. When you pull the bolt all the way back, the ones I've used have a significant amount of play in the bolt. Once the bolt is closed it seems nice and tight, so clearly it doesn't matter too much, but it just screams "cheap" to me. Like $0.99 doorknobs, they work fine but the moment you touch them you can tell they were made for pennies on the dollar. My browning made Winchester 70 is in the same price range as the b14 but feels significantly better in the hands. Again it's just a preference, but the Bergaras just feel very cheap in the hands to me compared to others in the same price range. Even the savage axis feels better than the few Bergaras I've handled, maybe some are better than others though. But if that's the case that means they have some serious quality variance.

 

[simone]

Pretty much. I also don't like how much slop they seem to have. When you pull the bolt all the way back, the ones I've used have a significant amount of play in the bolt. Once the bolt is closed it seems nice and tight, so clearly it doesn't matter too much, but it just screams "cheap" to me. Like $0.99 doorknobs, they work fine but the moment you touch them you can tell they were made for pennies on the dollar. My browning made Winchester 70 is in the same price range as the b14 but feels significantly better in the hands. Again it's just a preference, but the Bergaras just feel very cheap in the hands to me compared to others in the same price range. Even the savage axis feels better than the few Bergaras I've handled, maybe some are better than others though. But if that's the case that means they have some serious quality variance.

Man honestly when i was at EOS some months ago i tried out some winchester, browning and remington actions and they were terrible. I don't feel much difference between a b14 and a tikka or a sako action running the bolt with no ammo in it. I also tried to manipolate 3 new sauer 101 rifles at my lgs, which are known for their quality: 1 had a very gritty bolt, the other one was silky smooth and the last one was halfway. That was a big quality variance that genuinely surprised me. All bergaras i handled had a very smooth bolt. Go figure.

 

[Rifleman97]

Man honestly when i was at EOS some months ago i tried out some winchester, browning and remington actions and they were terrible. I don't feel much difference between a b14 and a tikka or a sako action running the bolt with no ammo in it. I also tried to manipolate 3 new sauer 101 rifles at my lgs, which are known for their quality: 1 had a very gritty bolt, the other one was silky smooth and the last one was halfway. That was a big quality variance that genuinely surprised me. All bergaras i handled had a very smooth bolt. Go figure.

Sounds like everybody is having quality control issues. My m70 was manufactured in 2016, but the action is like glass. Definitely not defiance machine or BAT glass, but comparatively speaking it feels wonderful compared to the roughly 2015-2020 bergara's I've shot.

I don't think I've ever shot a tikka tbh so no comparison in that department. Remington action feeling like crap doesn't surprise me in the slightest, they've been in the gutter for a few years now. I keep forgetting they even still sell guns lol

 

[simone]

Sounds like everybody is having quality control issues. My m70 was manufactured in 2016, but the action is like glass. Definitely not defiance machine or BAT glass, but comparatively speaking it feels wonderful compared to the roughly 2015-2020 bergara's I've shot.

I don't think I've ever shot a tikka tbh so no comparison in that department. Remington action feeling like crap doesn't surprise me in the slightest, they've been in the gutter for a few years now. I keep forgetting they even still sell guns lol

Quality control is not a yes or no type of thing and the amount of quality control can also vary widely inside the same company due to increase of demand and other factors. Bergara is probably in a moment when the QC is not as good as before but going from this to say that all their rifles are trash doesn't make sense. Everyone liked them until a 3 years ago and now they are trash?

 

[Rifleman97]

Quality control is not a yes or no type of thing and the amount of quality control can also vary widely inside the same company due to increase of demand and other factors. Bergara is probably in a moment when the QC is not as good as before but going from this to say that all their rifles are trash doesn't make sense. Everyone liked them until a 3 years ago and now they are trash?

I didn't like them 5 years ago when I first felt one in person. And my earlier post said

"Even the savage axis feels better than the few Bergaras I've handled, maybe some are better than others though. But if that's the case that means they have some serious quality variance."

I'm aware quality control is not a yes or no, and that there's a range that's within tolerance. Clearly their range is quite large.

 

[grouse]

Bergara firing pin assembly is garbage.

 

[simone]

I didn't like them 5 years ago when I first felt one in person. And my earlier post said

"Even the savage axis feels better than the few Bergaras I've handled, maybe some are better than others though. But if that's the case that means they have some serious quality variance."

I'm aware quality control is not a yes or no, and that there's a range that's within tolerance. Clearly their range is quite large.

This is not what i found, at least in regard to overall feel of the rifle, but thanks for the input

 

[simone]

Bergara firing pin assembly is garbage.

In what sense?

 

[FEENIX]

I am wondering if this phenomenon, which i am really doubtful exists, especially to the extent some guys stated on that forum, exists in the US. I should add that i wrote in that forum a few months ago, before purchasing my last rifle, to ask about bergaras and the general consensus was positive even there (?).

my experience with b14s is limited to a handful of rifles and was great for what is worth

This is all that matters! Some gunsmiths are biased or have specific preferences on what action to work on. My go-to gunsmith since 2003 also has a preference for action but will work on any of them.