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

[manitou]

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.

I have never felt a terrible Browning action... especially an Xbolt.

 

[44-40]

Never trust a gunsmith that uses the metric system.

Ya mean..like... 5.56mm, 6mm, 6.5 mm, 7mm 7.62mm, 8mm, etc. Gettin so ya just can't trust anyone!

 

[simone]

Lemme ask you this: Did your gun shop allow you to cycle live ammunition through the action? I am betting not.

This WHOLE DARN THREAD seems to fail to mention this reality. How an action feels depends a lot on its feed of live ammo. A Tikka can feel sloppy till its LOADED and then its feels tighter, IMO.

How it feels dry is pretty much worthless, since that's not what you are going do with it, now are you?

They don't allow that of course. But i onw and tried several, they feel very good with live ammo in it.. this is not the most important thing for me anyway. Reliability, accuracy and durability are. That said, the original question eas not about bolt smoothness at all but the thread degenerated quickly ahah

 

[simone]

I have never felt a terrible Browning action... especially an Xbolt.

Browning and Savage actions felt better than winchester and remington but they were not remotely comparable to the feeling i got from tikkas, sakos and bergaras, for what is worth since i cycled them without ammo. That said, i assume manufacturers cherry pick rifles for a big exposition like the one i went to so if a gun feels like a junky toy there, i can imagine what you can find in gun shops. As i said above, i was also less than impressed with the huge variability i found between 3 sauer 101 rifles i handled last month. These are supposed to be very good quality but one had a stick bolt, one a really gritty one and one was halfway. The owner of the gunshop (one of the biggest gunshops in Italy), referring to thr gritty one, just said "yeah, this must be a bad one" and handled me one of the other ones, like if this variability was totally normal among sauer rifles. Just to say.

 

[simone]

I have several bergara. One I have even put well over 1,000 rounds through, never had it fail, it has always fired. All of the 5 bergaras I own, all have shot better than the 1MOA guarantee. One, even shot .25moa out of the box with several factory ammo. All guns shot better than .6moa, with 5 shot groups.

I did have an issue with one of them failing to fire, because of firing pin issues. I called up bergara, and they had it fixed and shipped back to me in 2 weeks time. They also cleaned the gun. I can't say I've had the same luck with other factory rifles. They also paid the shipping both ways. Which, I've had an issue with another factory rifle that wanted me to pay the shipping. With a little back and forth and some convenience, I finally got that manufactured to pay the shipping. Only to ship it back with the same issues I sent it to them with.

All that being said, they're no where near as nice as my custom rifles I own. Of course, the bergara rifles are literally half the cost of one of my custom actions. Just the action, not the whole custom rifle.
I can say, I would trust taking a beregara rifle hunting.

Now, the question I have to all of you, what's the expectation of a 700-1,000 rifle? I don't expect it to be anywhere near as nice as one of my custom rifle. I also, don't expect it to shot less than the 1 MOA guarantee they clams the gun to have, but all have shot better then 1MOA. And they all have fired every time I pull the trigger. No, they don't cycle as nice as a custom action, and if they did why would we need a gunsmith?

I'm not claiming they're the best rifle out there for a factory option, but they do shoot and shoot well.

This was also my experience with many rifles from this brand. That's why i don't get all these extreme criticisms. Of course you have to consider the price range.. it looks like from these 1000 dollars rifles is expected absolute perfection.. a bad batch of shrouds break and "the rifle is made of bad metal", some early models had extractors breaking and "extractors are junk". For any reason on forums became trendy to mock Bergaras and there are multiple explainations for this. That's why i asked for facts in this thread: does US smiths and custom rifles buikders refuse to work on bergaras? This was the original question

 

[Upsidedownjack]

This was also my experience with many rifles from this brand. That's why i don't get all these extreme criticisms. Of course you have to consider the price range.. it looks like from these 1000 dollars rifles is expected absolute perfection.. a bad batch of shrouds break and "the rifle is made of bad metal", some early models had extractors breaking and "extractors are junk". For any reason on forums became trendy to mock Bergaras and there are multiple explainations for this. That's why i asked for facts in this thread: does US smiths and custom rifles buikders refuse to work on bergaras? This was the original question

Not sure why/what all the Hate for Burgura Rifles is about. I bought a HMR-PRO in 300 WM and during just the break in (less than 100 RDS) was shooting way Better than a Winchester 3oo WM I had shoot more Elk than I should have! Pictures of the Rifle, and a Small bore target reduced to shoot @50'. Shot @ 100 YDS! Thank about that! Trigger very good, bolt Smooth and with a Break, soft on. shoulder! Could have a Nicer stock, but fits me well and adj to fit me just fine! So, in short, I Like my Burgura HMR-PRO 300 WM

 

[C-130 Dude]

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!!

I got a HMR PRO in .308 last year. It shoots nice and the action is real smooth. The only thing I did is add an Ultradyne Apollo Max break and install a TT Diamond trigger. No regrets. So far.

 

[Radman]

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!!

I don't know about their mechanics but I DO like their barrels.

 

[yogibearmech]

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.

I agree. Have a friend that dislikes stiller actions. Will tell you just give him a Remington 700 it will save you money and will shoot just as good. Know another smith that will only use Bartlien and Krieger barrels. Neither Smith will own a Carbon fiber barrel

 

[Snowboy]

Lemme ask you this: Did your gun shop allow you to cycle live ammunition through the action? I am betting not.

This WHOLE DARN THREAD seems to fail to mention this reality. How an action feels depends a lot on its feed of live ammo. A Tikka can feel sloppy till its LOADED and then its feels tighter, IMO.

How it feels dry is pretty much worthless, since that's not what you are going do with it, now are you?

Agreed. What feels nice to one person is not nice to someone else. Even actions from the same manufacturer need to be tuned to the end users feel.
End result you need to be happy with whatever you choose based on many variables. There is no such thing as the perfect one for all shooters.
One thing is for sure we are all on a quest for perfection.

 

[mpayne]

My HMR 300wm is the best $850.00 I ever spent on a gun. The amount of Elk meat it has put in the freezer is priceless!

 

[Sikadog]

Can I jump in here from the UK.
Both rifles I have had built with Bergara barrels have shot wonderfully, it is correct there are a few rifle smiths in the UK who won't use Bergara barrels but that is because there are better barrels available.
If you are paying for a semi custom rifle you presume your smith is building you the best. I must admit the first one I had built took a while to shoot in but then ot was amazing.

 

[QuietTexan]

Now, the question I have to all of you, what's the expectation of a 700-1,000 rifle?

Both my Bergara's came with the highly sought after factory-installed rusted bore option. Never seen that anywhere else, not even Ruger and Savage.

 

[44-40]

I do not own a Bergara rifle, but sad to hear they have such a spoty record of quality. I've run on to problems with other manufacturers quality as of late, when ordering barrels from reputable companies. They seem to be in a hurry to fill the market with their products and the employees don't care about the quality of the work they put out. No pride in "I made that", these days.
And one reason I build my own rifles..I know the quality of the work, and I don't have to wait months on someone else, to build it, and worry if he did a good job on mine..