Anyone hunt with bergara?

M

Montefeltro

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Looking at picking up a bergara hmr for blasting the occasional coyote, punching paper and hopefully a deer this year. Anyone else use one for hunting? I'm thinking this will also be my first 6.5 creedmoor...what are some good bullets to load for deer sized game?
 
I have the hmr in 6.5 its my main hunting gun. Got a moose with it last year and a bunch of deer the last couple years. 143 eldx has worked great for me. The gun is a pretty heavy to pack around but with a decent sling it is doable.

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I had a friends Bergara in 6.5CM for a few weeks to work up a good load for it. It was not only one of the fussiest rifles as to which loads it liked, but it had the worst fouling barrel that I have worked with.
 
I've had two. A B14 Woodsman in 308 Win two years back, and a B14 Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor that I never got around to hunting with. The 308 seemed very accurate but I spent a lot more time making meat with it than shooting it off a bench. It was for sure minute of deer.

Both had nice smooth actions and very crisp trigger. They handled well. The Creedmoor was a reliable sub MOA shooter with factory ammo. I wanted to like them!

For the price paid, a significantly cheapened Remington 700 action (just because the bolt travels smoothly doesn't mean its quality) with a probably great barrel. The cheap cast bolt shroud and threads on the bolt and cocking piece pissed me off. Cheap pot metal has no place on guns that sell over $1000. Their replacement shrouds are still cast and there are pictures of them having broken as well.

I've since gone back to Remington 700s which do have their issues but at $700 a pull I really don't feel they are worse than a Bergara in any way that can't be fixed. If I wanted a heavy barreled, detachable mag rifle I would bet on being very accurate and with a smooth bolt travel if that matters, and a good trigger out of the box, I would go with a Tikka CTR and never loo back.
 
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The bolt is much smoother than a 700, the factory trigger much better too. The stock is an upgrade over the base 700.
But for the price you pay I don’t understand why the finish isn’t better. The cast parts look cheap. Nothing wrong with castings if it saves you a dollar but in this case I don’t see where the money went.
I shot a deer with my Hunter 308. I had no time to get it to shoot better than 4 MOA so my 200m shot was really stretching it but the deer fell and stayed down.
I don’t have it anymore but I’m feeling the B14 itch again so I may make more testing later.
 
TsiAwd said:
I have the hmr in 6.5 its my main hunting gun. Got a moose with it last year and a bunch of deer the last couple years. 143 eldx has worked great for me. The gun is a pretty heavy to pack around but with a decent sling it is doable.
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Very nice bull you got there sir. You say the 143 ELD-X did well? :)

Deciding on my 6.5mm load for fall now...loathe to change from a 140 Partition but the BC on that 143 ELD-X sure speaks.
 
Joel said:
Very nice bull you got there sir. You say the 143 ELD-X did well? :)

Deciding on my 6.5mm load for fall now...loathe to change from a 140 Partition but the BC on that 143 ELD-X sure speaks.
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Yes that's great to see!
I use them in my 6.5x47 and they shoot almost as good as match bullets. Performed well on 2 AB white tails I have taken with them.
 
mikeelliot said:
Yes that's great to see!
I use them in my 6.5x47 and they shoot almost as good as match bullets. Performed well on 2 AB white tails I have taken with them.
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Happy to hear that as well! And great hunting, congrats.

I was concerned they would not hold up too well against moose, or make for one hole and tough tracking. Was there a lot of fragmentation/bloodshot on your deer, Mike?
 
Maybe I do know where the money goes. When compared to a T3, the B14 costs about 230 more, and it has no plastic and comes in several action sizes. That could account for the price difference.
 
I use the 143 eld-x out of my 6.5 for deer and took a black bear with it this spring. They perform very well. For paper and distance shooting with my hmr I use the 140 Berger hybrid target
 
From a business POV it may well be worth it. A lot of people don't realize polymer can do a better job than poor metal (like what a PMAG is made of vs cast metal). Then again, people do also break Tikka bottom metal somehow, to be fair.

The different action lengths is a good point.

Perhaps some of the difference is the R&D cost and tooling, which is something the established competition had long since made back. Teething problems happen. How they are handled is worth a lot.


Copenhagen, good to hear that too!
 
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