Bergara owners?

[Field28]

Looking to buy a composite stock 300 Win mag that i can treat as a plains game beater so to speak. I'm down to Tikka, Howa and Bergara.

Want to get a few opinions on the Bergaras, thanks in advance!

 

[Firebird]

My son in law has one and loves it. 300 wm with a green synthetic stock. I did the load work up for it with 200 gr swift a frames and it was very accurate, but that’s after some tweeking on my part. He has also killed a couple small mule deer bucks with it. I just asked him if he had any complaints and he said emphatically “hell no!”

 

[mdwest]

I dont own a begara.. but I have several friends that do... all of them are very accurate and very reliable rifles..

most people don't know that Ed Shilen (of Shilen rifles/barrels/actions) helped design the begara barrel and spent time with the begara team setting up their tooling, teaching them how to make barrels "his" way, etc..

and most people assume that begara, based in Spain, is a "Spainish" rifle.. that's sorta true (they are made in Spain).. but whats most relevant is (IMO) that most of the guys in the begara shop are actually Americans.. they're former USMC NCO's that worked in the Precision Weapons Section at the USMC as armorers and gunsmiths (as well as a few US Army NCOs that worked as armorers and gunsmiths at the Army Marksmanship Unit).. they were responsible for building "sniper" rifles for the USMC before they went to work at begara..

For the price point I don't know if there is a better Rem 700 clone out there...

 

[Tgood1]

i have a b14 hmr in .308, really a fantastic gun and extremely accurate.

 

[Graham Hunter]

I sell Bergara rifles and have had zero problems. Smooth and accurate at a reasonable price.

 

[Smitty]

I personally love Tikkas. I think Bergaras are fine rifles too. Bergaras are a couple of pounds heavier on average. I don't know if you would consider that good or bad, but it is something to consider.

 

[samson7x]

With those options, go Tikka.

I've had experience with 2 bergara rifles and neither would shoot worth a flip.

 

[WAB]

I have only had one Bergara. It was incorrectly chambered. In my gunsmith’s opinion, I was very lucky not to have a catastrophic failure. Bergara was OK to deal with but very careful not to admit any fault.

My friends wife has a Bergara. A known problem is too large a hole in the bolt face for firing pins. She cannot shoot federal ammo through hers and has to stick to Hornady. The fix is to drill out and sleeve the hole.

I would not buy another Bergara.

Given the three you are looking at, I would buy a Tikka.

 

[meigsbucks]

I don’t own a Bergara, but a close friend has a B14 HMR in 6.5CM that he has to work to shoot a group larger than .75”. Another friend has two HMR’s; one in 6.5CM and another in .308. Both very accurate and reliable. He’s an engineer and confesses to being OCD and finds no fault with the Bergara.

 

[Field28]

I personally love Tikkas. I think Bergaras are fine rifles too. Bergaras are a couple of pounds heavier on average. I don't know if you would consider that good or bad, but it is something to consider.

I'm a Sako guy anyway, so I'm leaning towards Tikka. I've had quite a few PH'S sing the praises of Howa, both stock and builds. It seems like a lot of Bergara really hit the market a few years back, I've never heard anything bad but I don't personally know anyone that owns one either.

 

[Goose Cracker]

I won a Bergara Premier Highlander in a raffle at a local SCI event a few years back. 308. It's a nice rifle; it works flawlessly. Fit and finish are very good. A little picky on what it likes to shoot. My rifle is the 20" barrel version that's designed to be used with a suppressor. I'm likely to start selling a few of my rifles, but my Bergara isn't on that list.

My buddy purchased a B14 HMR in 6.5 Creedmoor and it was very picky about what it would shoot well. He sold it. His favorite rifle is a Tikka.